Forest diversity from Canada to the sub-tropics influenced by family proximity
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Seeing the forest through the trees
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Study shows religion is a potent force for cooperation, conflict
How species diversity is maintained is a fundamental question in biology. In a new study, a team of Indiana University biologists has shown for the first time that diversity is influenced on a spatial scale of unparalleled scope, in part, by how well tree seedlings survive under their own parents.
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Seeing the forest through the trees
Imagine you are walking through a forest. All around you are trees of different species, age, size and height. It looks pretty random, right? Wrong.
In research funded by the National Science Foundation, Brian Enquist of the department of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona and his team have discovered a secret in the trees: Hidden among and within the architecture of the branches are fundamental rules that link the size, shape, age and in fact everything about a single tree to all the trees in a forest.
In research funded by the National Science Foundation, Brian Enquist of the department of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona and his team have discovered a secret in the trees: Hidden among and within the architecture of the branches are fundamental rules that link the size, shape, age and in fact everything about a single tree to all the trees in a forest.
This rule or code reoccurs as the tree grows, creating a fractal a repeating pattern like a spiral of daughter branches emanating from the mother branch or tree trunk.
Study shows religion is a potent force for cooperation, conflict
Across history and cultures, religion increases trust within groups but also may increase conflict with other groups, according to an article in a special issue of Science.
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