Homework session 2
Diana Bonilla
Q. humboldttii description
To carry out this activity, I chose a Colombian species of great interest I am currently working with: Q. humboldtii Bonpl. (1805). Next, I will tell you why this species is so particular.
The first thing that usually comes to mind when one thinks of tropical ecosystems is tropical rain forests with highly diverse plant communities and low relative abundance. However, there are exceptions to the general pattern in which a single tree species accounts for more than 60% of the abundance. An example of these monodominant forests are those composed of Quercus L. Quercus is an important genus of woody angiosperms in the Neotropics, where it is distributed from central Mexico to the northern Andes. The highest species diversity for the genus Quercus in the Americas occurs in the mountains of southern Mexico, but as we move toward Central America, we note a gradual reduction in oak species diversity, to the point that in Colombia there is only one species of oak: Q. humboldtii.
Q. humboldttii taxonomy
| TaxonConceptID | AcceptedName | Basionym | Parent | Level | ViewID |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | NA | NA | kingdom | NA |
| 2 | 2 | NA | 1 | family | NA |
| 3 | 3 | NA | 2 | genus | NA |
| 4 | 4 | NA | 3 | species | NA |
| TaxonUsageID | TaxonConceptID | TaxonName | AuthorName |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Plantae | NA |
| 2 | 2 | Fagaceae | NA |
| 3 | 3 | Quercus | NA |
| 4 | 4 | Quercus humboldtii | Bonpl. |
The code used to create the taxlist object is:
quercus_sp <- new("taxlist")
levels(quercus_sp) <- c("species","genus","family","kingdom")
quercus_sp <- add_concept(quercus_sp, TaxonName = "Plantae", Level = "kingdom")
quercus_sp <- add_concept(quercus_sp, TaxonName = "Fagaceae", Level = "family", Parent = 1)
quercus_sp <- add_concept(quercus_sp, TaxonName = "Quercus", Level = "genus", Parent = 2)
quercus_sp <- add_concept(quercus_sp, TaxonName = "Quercus humboldtii", Level = "species", Parent = 3)
author <- c(rep("NA",3),"Bonpl.")
quercus_sp@taxonNames$AuthorName <- authorQ. humboldttii anatomy
Quercus humboldtii is an evergreen tree which grows to a height of 25 metres (82 feet) and a diameter of 1 m (3 ft 3 in), with buttresses of up to 1 m. Its bark is reddish gray or gray and fissured, breaking into squares and flaking. The leaves are simple, alternate and lanceolate, up to 10–20 centimetres (4–8 inches) long, and clustered at the ends of the branches. The flowers are small, yellow, and unisexual, with a racemic inflorescence. Male flowers are numerous, with long-styled female flowers in a cupula. The fruit is a light brown, ovoid capsule, or acorn, with a leathery pericarp, 20–25 millimetres (3⁄4–1 inch) in diameter and 50–70 mm (2–2+3⁄4 in) long, resting on a scaly cupule. Only one fruit per cupule is developed, and the inside of the acorn shell is woolly.
