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We've polished off all the leftovers from the pot luck supper so it was time to return the dishes my friends had left behind. Spike took care of most of the deliveries but I took Rainbow Dash's ice bucket back myself. Dash's house is on a cloud and Spike doesn't have wings.
On my way back I dropped by Fluttershy's cottage. Fluttershy and Amethyst Star have been analyzing the data we collected last week and comparing their results to what's in the literature. They summed up the number of species, estimated their relative abundance and the living biomass, worked out the trophic structure of the communities, the net productivity in relation to the biomass of the plants and the food chain efficiency of the communities.
In calculating the species richness index, Fluttershy pointed out that the diversity in the study area would not have increased, the previously unrecorded species would have always been there, it's just that they had been dormant or hidden during previous surveys. Still, the new observations bumped up the diversity of the Crystal Empire taiga, regardless of which formula you might use to express it.
What bugs Fluttershy and has her doubting her data is the biomass pyramid. In the energy transfer from the plant trophic level to the herbivore trophic level, the food chain efficiency is reminiscent of some aquatic environments where the single celled plants breed so fast that they can maintain a stable population despite being outnumbered by their tiny grazers. But in this taiga, these are not multi-generational fast breeding species with low energy costs. These are complex plants and animals, often with one or only a few breeding cycles per season.
Even if you discount sunlight and temperature dependent growth, nutrients would be a limiting factor. With all the nutrients drained from the poor soils of the taiga and raised bogs and held in the above ground growth and animal life, this level of productivity is unsustainable. The nutrients just can't be recycled fast enough. Although it's possible the activity of the tazlewurms and lemnings may dredge up legacy nutrients from deep in the permanently frozen subsoil, there is going to be a crash. Probably in the fall when it will be colder and the plants naturally slow down and die back.
In short, Fluttershy and Amethyst Star are still working on it.
Meanwhile, in the Sweet Apple Acres' parcel of amazing growth, Applejack and Big Mac were out watering zap apple trees. This afternoon, another storm rolled in, with crows, and the trees bloomed.
On my way back I dropped by Fluttershy's cottage. Fluttershy and Amethyst Star have been analyzing the data we collected last week and comparing their results to what's in the literature. They summed up the number of species, estimated their relative abundance and the living biomass, worked out the trophic structure of the communities, the net productivity in relation to the biomass of the plants and the food chain efficiency of the communities.
In calculating the species richness index, Fluttershy pointed out that the diversity in the study area would not have increased, the previously unrecorded species would have always been there, it's just that they had been dormant or hidden during previous surveys. Still, the new observations bumped up the diversity of the Crystal Empire taiga, regardless of which formula you might use to express it.
What bugs Fluttershy and has her doubting her data is the biomass pyramid. In the energy transfer from the plant trophic level to the herbivore trophic level, the food chain efficiency is reminiscent of some aquatic environments where the single celled plants breed so fast that they can maintain a stable population despite being outnumbered by their tiny grazers. But in this taiga, these are not multi-generational fast breeding species with low energy costs. These are complex plants and animals, often with one or only a few breeding cycles per season.
Even if you discount sunlight and temperature dependent growth, nutrients would be a limiting factor. With all the nutrients drained from the poor soils of the taiga and raised bogs and held in the above ground growth and animal life, this level of productivity is unsustainable. The nutrients just can't be recycled fast enough. Although it's possible the activity of the tazlewurms and lemnings may dredge up legacy nutrients from deep in the permanently frozen subsoil, there is going to be a crash. Probably in the fall when it will be colder and the plants naturally slow down and die back.
In short, Fluttershy and Amethyst Star are still working on it.
Meanwhile, in the Sweet Apple Acres' parcel of amazing growth, Applejack and Big Mac were out watering zap apple trees. This afternoon, another storm rolled in, with crows, and the trees bloomed.
