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#trees

2 public questions tagged with this topic.

Ecosystem Pyramid

In which ecosystem can the pyramid of numbers be inverted?

A forest can display an inverted or spindle-shaped pyramid of numbers because a small number of large trees support many herbivorous insects, birds, epiphytes, and parasites. Counting individuals ignores body size, so one massive producer may sustain thousands of much smaller consumers. Higher predator levels may again contain fewer individuals, creating a spindle profile rather than a simple monotonic inversion. This does not violate energetic constraints: producer biomass and production can still exceed the energy transferred to consumers. Higher trophic levels are often vulnerable because l

Ref: Fundamentals of Ecology, Odum & Barrett, 5th Ed., Ch. 3

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Terristial Biomes

In Raunkiaer’s classification, trees and lianas are categorized as:

“Phanerophytes” for in raunkiaer’s classification, trees and lianas are categorized as. This relationship follows from the ecological mechanism represented by the terms in the item, not merely from an association between their names. A biome label describes a broad climatic and structural pattern rather than a single taxonomic assemblage. Similar climates can produce convergent vegetation on different continents even when the species themselves are unrelated. The remaining alternatives—“Chamaephytes”, “Therophytes”, “Hemicryptophytes”—refer to different states, processes, or scales and therefo

Ref: Campbell Biology, Urry et al., 12th Ed., Ch. 52

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