tolerant of serpentine soils

Explain how natural selection might have played a role in the evolution of species tolerant of serpentine soils.

Expert Solution

Step 1: Evolution and its importance

Evolution is responsible for the sustenance of organisms on the earth. There are some features present in an organism that tend to be transferred to the descendants from the ancestors.

Step 2: Plants and their survival in the serpentine soil

Serpentine soil is produced from ultramafic rocks rich in heavy elements but poor in essential elements like nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, etc. These soils also have low moisture content.

Plants need water and essential elements for their growth and survival. Thus, an average plant does not develop appropriately in the serpentine soil due to the non-availability of essential elements and low moisture.

Step 3: Adaptation of plants for survival in serpentine soils

The variant plants that have strong roots to uptake nutrients and water in the serpentine soil can survive here. These plants have also developed special features to adapt to the higher level of elements present in the serpentine soil.

The variant species is selected due to natural selection, which allows maintaining its population. The serpentine tolerant properties are transferred to its descendants, and gradually, serpentine-adapted plant species have evolved.

The species that have adapted to the serpentine soils tend to reproduce and survive in that soil. Due to evolutionary adaptation, the offspring produced from these ancestral plants have the genetic makeup to stay in the serpentine soil.

Raffay answered 1 year ago

The ability of unsaturated field soils to retain water is critical to the soils field capacity....

The ability of unsaturated field soils to retain water is critical to the soils field capacity. A team of engineers investigated the water retention properties of soil cores comprising silt loam. At a given pressure the water content of the soil was determined to be approximately normally distributed with mean 0.27 and standard deviation 0.04. i. What is the probability that the water content is less than 0.30? ii. What is the probability that the water content is between 0.23...

List eleven tests conducted on soils from a soils investigation. a- Indicate whether each test requires...

List eleven tests conducted on soils from a soils investigation. a- Indicate whether each test requires a disturbed or undisturbed sample. b- Indicate whether each test is used from granular or clay soils.

Coarse grained soils behave differently than fine grained soils. What is the primary soil property responsible...

Coarse grained soils behave differently than fine grained soils. What is the primary soil property responsible for the different engineering behavior of coarse versus fine grained soils, and why is it important?

What is the region with the highest amount of carbon in soils

A scientist wants to culture Organism A, a bacterium that is salt tolerant, penicillin resistant and...

A scientist wants to culture Organism A, a bacterium that is salt tolerant, penicillin resistant and turns bright purple in the presence of chemical X. You are the culture media consultant and must recommend ways that she might enrich her nutrient agar to create a selective and a differential media for Organism A. You recommend the following two “recipes”. HINT This is an imaginary bacterium. You are to design two imaginary media- do not suggest ones such a MacConkey agar....

Conifers are drought tolerant plants. If this is true, why are Pacific Northwest forests dominated by...

Conifers are drought tolerant plants. If this is true, why are Pacific Northwest forests dominated by conifers, when we think of the Pacific Northwest as being very wet?

Do you think that the United States is tolerant of “difference?” Our country was founded on...

Do you think that the United States is tolerant of “difference?” Our country was founded on the concept of religious tolerance, but...Wikipedia defines religious intolerance as: Religious intolerance, rather, is when a group (e.g., a society, religious group, non-religious group) specifically refuses to tolerate practices, persons or beliefs on religious grounds (i.e., intolerance in practice). What do you think? Are there some cultures more tolerant/less tolerant? Are the U.S. experiences any different than that of other cultures? Frame your discussion...

How precast concrete piles could be assisted in penetration of soils

Use these terms correctly to describe the process of digesting lactose from milk in lactose tolerant...

Use these terms correctly to describe the process of digesting lactose from milk in lactose tolerant individuals: lactose, lactase, digestion, protein synthesis, transcription, translation, polypeptide chain, protein, disaccharide, monosaccharide, milk, mitochondria.

Discuss or show how soils buffer attempts to increase soil pH.

Question