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Ecosystems and their environment

Species interactions, geographic patterns, symbiotic partnerships and carbon moving through the ocean.

Subjects: Ecology

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Symbiosis

Recognizing a partner, building a shared body and maintaining a compartment inherited from a partner.

6 problems

Animal navigation

Magnetic senses, stellar compasses, remembered smells and routes through the ocean.

4 problems

Problems in this collection

9 problems

Species coexistence

Many species persist together despite competing for resources. Which mechanisms keep any one competitor from excluding the others in real, changing ecosystems?

Latitudinal diversity gradient

Many groups contain more species near the equator than near the poles. Which ecological and evolutionary processes generate this large-scale pattern?

Mast seeding

Some plants produce huge seed crops together, then little for years. How do weather cues and stored resources set that rhythm?

Arbuscule maintenance

Does nutrient delivery by a fungal branch inside a root influence how long the plant maintains it?

Coral bleaching

Heat stress can disrupt the partnership between corals and their photosynthetic symbionts. Which cellular pathways cause symbiont loss in different conditions?

Biological carbon-pump efficiency

Ocean plankton capture carbon, but much is recycled before it reaches depth. What determines how much carbon from different organisms survives that journey?

Bergmann’s rule

Many birds are larger in colder places, but the pattern varies. Which inherited and developmental mechanisms create these geographic size differences?

Coral larval settlement

A swimming coral larva touches a microbial film and may attach and become a polyp. Which signals in a natural mixed biofilm make both steps happen?

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