Archaeopteris - The First Modern Tree on Earth

Archaeopteris - The First Modern Tree on Earth Our earths first modern tree establishing itself in developing forests emerged around 370 million years ago. Ancient plants made it out of water 130 million years earlier but none were considered true trees. True tree growth only came about when plants overcame biomechanical problems to support additional weight. The architecture of the modern tree is defined by evolutionary features of strength that builds in rings to support greater and greater height and weight, of protective bark that shields the cells that conduct water and nutrients from the earth to the furthest leaves, of supportive collars of extra wood that surround the bases of each branch, and of internal layers of wood dovetail at branch junctions to prevent breakage. It took over a hundred million years for this to happen. Archaeopteris, an extinct tree that made up most of the forests across the earths surface in the late Devonian period, is considered by scientists to be the first modern tree. New collected pieces of fossils of the trees wood from Morocco have filled in parts of the puzzle to shed new light. Discovery of Archaeopteris Stephen Scheckler, a professor of biology and geological sciences at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Brigitte Meyer-Berthaud, of the Institut de lEvolution of Montpellier, France, and Jobst Wendt, of the Geological and Paleontological Institute in Germany, analyzed a trove of these African fossils. They now propose Archaeopteris to be the earliest known modern tree, with buds, reinforced branch joints, and branched trunks similar to todays modern tree. When it appeared, it very quickly became the dominant tree all over the Earth, says Scheckler. On all of the land areas that were habitable, they had this tree. Scheckler goes on to point out, The attachment of branches was the same as modern trees, with swelling at the branch base to form a strengthening collar and with internal layers of wood dovetailed to resist breaking. We had always thought this was modern, but it turns out that the first woody trees on earth had the same design. While other trees quickly met extinction, Archaeopteris made up 90 percent of the forests and stayed around a very long time. With trunks up to three feet wide, the trees grew perhaps 60 to 90 feet tall. Unlike present-day trees, Archaeopteris reproduced by shedding spores instead of seeds. Development of the Modern Ecosystem Archaeopteris stretched out its branches and canopy of leaves to nourish life in the streams. The decaying trunks and leaves and the altered carbon dioxide/oxygen atmosphere abruptly changed ecosystems all over the earth. Its litter fed the streams and was a major factor in the evolution of freshwater fishes, whose numbers and varieties exploded in that time, and influenced the evolution of other marine ecosystems, says Scheckler. It was the first plant to produce an extensive root system, so had a profound impact on soil chemistry. And once these ecosystem changes happened, they were changed for all time.   Archaeopteris made the world almost a modern world in terms of ecosystems that surround us now, Scheckler concludes.

Dissociative Identity Disorder essays

Dissociative Identity Disorder essays Multiple Personality Disorder (Dissociative Identity Disorder) is the existence within a person of two or more distinct personalities. The different personalities are referred to as alters. Alters may have experienced a distinct personal history, self-image, and identity, including a separate name, as well as age. At least two of these personalities recurrently take control of the persons behavior. There are a few typical types of alters that they multiple would produce such as a depressed, exhausted host, a strong, angry protector, a scared, hurt child, a helper, and an internal persecutor who blames one or more of the alters for the abuse they have endured. Sometimes patterned or named after the actual Individuals most likely to develop MPD share several common factors. They have endured repetitive, and often life-threatening abuse during a developmental stage of childhood. The type of abuse can vary or be a combination of physical, extreme emotional, sexual or Satanic Ritual Abuse. How a multiple creates their own inner families is as individual as each person. Even though symptoms vary from person to person, there are some basic First one is voices. Multiples do hear voices, but are merely the personalities within, communicating with one another. Often times, the MPD is diagnosed as a schizophrenic due to hear voices, but the multiple personality hears the voices inside their head in contrast to the schizophrenic which hears them from outside of themselves. Often a multiple before diagnosis will speak of noise or clatter inside making it difficult for them to concentrate. It is possible for the multiple to hear many distinct and separate voices, of all ages talking at the Another symptom is physical differences. Each alter within a multiple has their own history, personalities that are uni ...

W 4 OIS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

W 4 OIS - Essay Example Clearly, architecture is needed for a number of reasons, two of which are for the purposes of integration and standardization of an organization’s operating model (Blunt, Jones and Richard, 2003). At every point in time within the organizational development, the enterprise business model and the enterprise strategy are seen to lie apart as two independent components of the organization, that must be developed; one devoid of the other in order to bring change and success. Through architecture, there is a bridge developed between the two components of the organizational development agenda, making it possible to effectively integrate the two components into a single variable. On the issue of standardization, Blunt, Jones and Richard (2003) observed that at every point within the enterprise process such as planning, analysis, implementation, monitoring, and closure phases, it is important that a common scope of objective, aim and goal be carried out. This is necessary in ensuring that any completed enterprise or system development will be done according to a set scope. Through architecture, all these phases are given a common standardized scope to ensure that the system satisfied a uniform code (Wager, Lee and Glaser,