Sandbox:Bio Group Project 2

PLEASE READ:

To edit this document make a note in the document under the question you are working on then save the edit. Then copy the section you are going to work on into another word editor. After you are finished the work reopen the edit view, copy your work under the relevant question, and save your changes.

This way we can at least minimize the likelyhood of inadvertently editing out the good work of our comrades.

Summary of the news article (max 500 words in total)

1. State the major finding(s) reported in the news article. (200 words max)

Anthropogenic fire can cause evolutionary and biological processes on seed morphology. Researchers found that anthropogenic fire acts as a selective pressure determining a seed's shape, pericarp thickness, and pubescence. In particular they found that the species Helenium aromaticum responded to anthropogenic fires by increasing in roundness, pericarp thickness, and pubescence.

2. What did the scientists/researchers do exactly in their study? Note, you do not necessarily need to describe ALL studies/experiments they did; you may choose one that you think is the most important (or one that you can fully understand). (200 words max)

They hypothesized that members of H. aromaticum that grew in areas where fire was common would produce seeds that were rounder, more pubescent, and thicker in pericarp than those that grew in areas where fires did not frequently occur. To test their hypothesis they compared regions of the Chilean Matorral where natural fires did not frequently occur to regions of the Matorral where anthropogenic fire was common. By observing differences in the samples of H. aromaticum taken from these two types of regions they could correlate specific morphological traits to the presence of anthropogenic fire.

3. What are the future implications or coping strategies based on the news articles? (100 words max)

The article directly states that the role of anthropogenic fire as a selective agent is probably underestimated, implying that many ecosystems worldwide have already been affected or altered in some way due to anthropogenic fire. The article also suggests that with the increase in frequency of these anthropogenic fires, namely due to climate change and increasing human activity, we should expect and predict ecosystems worldwide to be altered in some way due to this selective force.

Summary of the original scientific article (500 words max total) To minimize confusion, this article can be abbreviated as article (O)

4. Discuss with your group members the original article and that news article refers to. Ask for help if you do not understand. You should be able to explain very well the section(s) of the article that refer to the figure or table that you chose. Insert the figure or table you chose from the primary article in the space below (resize if necessary to make legible). Note: try to use the insert picture/image function in Word rather than copying and pasting the figure if possible (resize the table/figure if necessary to make it legible). Do not include the caption of the table or figure now; you will be asked to describe or explain the figure/table in your own words later.

[!!! insert fig. 1 here]

5. Describe the objective of the specific experiment that yielded the results shown in the figure/table above. Include the hypothesis that the researchers were testing. If no hypothesis was explicitly stated, describe the research question that the scientists were trying to answer. Alternatively, you may describe the specific pieces of information the figure intends to convey (i.e., you provide the caption for the figure or table) The bottom line: when readers read your description, they would know what the figure or table intends to tell them (please read question 7 below; question 5 and 7 do not ask for the same thing) (100 words max).

The objective of the experiment was to test four specific hypotheses. The first was that seeds from areas of high fire frequency would be smaller, rounder, more pubescent and thicker than seeds from areas of low fire frequency. The second was that as fire frequency in an area increased, variability of seed traits within that area would decrease. The third was that the likelihood of a seed's survival after fire would be directly related to the four traits tested for in hypothesis one. The fourth was that the four traits would be heritable in populations of Helenium aromaticum. (the above is exactly 98 words; take that word limit!)

6. Describe the experiment, including (1) the controls (and the purpose of each control), (2) the treatments, other relevant information such as (3) sample size or number of replicates, and (4) what was measured (with units), etc. If the study was not an experiment, describe how it was conducted (150 words max).

The study was not an experiment; it was a correlation study. It was conducted by choosing 10 populations of Helenium aromaticum from the Chilean Mattoral and then using dendrochronological technologies to determine fire frequency and site productivity within each population. In addition, the size, height/width ratio, pubescence, and pericarp thickness of the seeds within a population were measured. These two sets of data were then studied and compared to determine whether they were related, and if they were, how. As well, a fire selection experiment was conducted on a population of moderate fire frequency, though no other specific details were given. Finally, the researchers estimated the heritability of the fire-selected traits by comparing the expression of those traits in maternal plants to the expression of those traits in their progeny.

7. Describe the results shown in the figure (do not provide an explanation or interpretation). Include any patterns, trends, anomalies and observation about the variability of the data if appropriate. Do not include explanation or interpretation (100 words max).

The results show that there are linear relationships between fire frequency within a region and the three traits tested for: seed pubescence, seed shape, and pericarp thickness. (Richard: I honestly feel that this is all we need to say for this question, since it explicitly tells us not to provide an explanation or interpretation, and tells us to present just the results.)

8. Describe the specific conclusions or interpretation (but not both) drawn (either by you or by the authors) from the experiment/study whose results appear in the figure/table above. Keep in mind that your readers will most likely not read the entire scientific article so they lack a comprehensive understanding of what the researchers wanted to say. You may have to provide your own conclusion or interpretation, in light of the limited results (one figure/table) you presented, to help readers makes sense of the results (100 words max).

Our conclusion is that the results of Figure 1 directly prove the first hypothesis proposed by the researchers. There is no better way to prove that seeds from areas of high fire frequency are smaller, rounder, more pubescent, and thicker, than to find a linear relationship between these traits and fire frequency. However, the results of this one figure can do nothing to prove the other three hypotheses proposed by the researchers.

9. Were the results of this experiment/study, as shown in the figure/table you presented, described in the news article? If yes, does the results support the conclusions described in the news article? Explain (50 words max). The result we derived was the result emphasized by the news article. The result definitely contributed to the conclusion that the news article came to, however, said conclusion could not have been derived without the incorporation of the results of the other experiments performed by the researchers.

The scientific article cited by the original scientific article (O) To minimize confusion, this cited scientific article may be abbreviated as the article (C)

10. The complete citation for your selected article (C) which was cited in the article (O) above:

Running SW (2006) Climate change. Is global warming causing more, larger wildfires? Science 313:927–928. (Richard: pay attention, I think something here should be italicized in the final product)

11. Briefly describe the experiment or the study in the article (C) that you find relevant to the original article (O). If there were more than one experiment or study, choose one most relevant to the results of (O) to describe. Please include the objective of the study and what the researchers did, including control and treatments if appropriate (no need to include the sample size) (150 words max).

[!!! Elliott]

12. If there is a table or figure in article (C) that show the results of the study or experiment you described in 11, insert the table or the figure below. It is fine if you found no table or figure suitable for showing the results of the study you described (resize the figure/table and the box below as necessary).

[!!! Elliott]

13. Describe the results shown in the figure or table above. If no table of figure, describe the results of the study/experiment you mentioned in 11. (100 words max).

[!!! Elliott]

14. Explain how the results you described in 13 above are relevant to the findings in the article (O) (max 150 words).

[!!! Elliott]