Biology 1615- Article Summary

Alisa Western
Irregular Droughts Trigger Mass Flowering in Aseasonal Tropical Forests in
Asia
How the seasons shift and what changes with them is a worldwide
phenomenon. However, in certain parts of Asia, the flowers have decided to
bloom and wilt at unknown times, never seeming to follow a consistent
temperature or season. This has been documented and viewed for hundreds
of years, and scientists finally decided to find out why.
Scientists started collecting data in 1993 and would continue until
2003, a total of 10 years, before concluding their results. It was proposed
that one of two climatic factors could be behind the general flowering:
drought or temperature drop. Another hypothesis was that the plants could
somehow predict which years would be best for the survival of its offspring.
The flowers were left alone to grow normally as they had for centuries.
Several devices were used to collect rainfall amounts, meteorological data,
and temperature changes. Data was being recorded as often as every 30
minutes. Alongside with the atmosphere data, the flowers growth and
reproduction was monitored. There were two separate fields of flowers, both
having the same data recorded at the same periods of time.
The mass general flowering was observed in 1996, 1997, 1998, and
2001. Temperature drop was recorded in the 1996 and 1997 events, but not
in the other two. Therefore, ruling this cause out, it was not consistent
enough to have been a plausible cause of the flower growth to have occurred
over centuries. Whenever the rainfall would drop to about 40 mm or less this
triggered a mass reproduction of the flowers in both the studied fields. This
was observed preceding all 4 mass floral growths, as well as a couple smaller
ones throughout the 10-year study. The correlation of fruit production was
recorded, and in the case of the years with the flowering there were 45-82
fruiting events. Compared to other years without the mass floral growth
where there were 6 events or less recorded.
The results from the collected data mean that drought has a key
influence in the reproduction of the irregular flower growth in Asia. This is a
very important discovery as the flower growth correlates with fruit
production, giving manufactures a better idea of when the best times of
reproduction are. As well as many plant species can only reproduce
successfully during the event of the irregular mass flowering. So future
changes in global warming may have a huge effect on this phenomenon,
which then would have serious effects on the forest regeneration in certain
areas. This theory is still being tested across Asia to this day, as each
scientist brings their own say or new ideas to the matter.
I found this article very intriguing. Most the others were conducted
more in a lab or on a smaller more technical scale. I enjoyed reading about
this scientific discover mainly because I never knew something like this was

Biology 1615- Article Summary

a problem in the world. Most would think certain plants have a very specific
season of reproduction and grow every year. Where in Asia these flowers
could go years without growing, and then stay in bloom for another couple
years. I also felt like this experiment connected with my own interests of the
environment and gardening. I think this data will help predict many future
general flowering in Asia and help many people there, especially the farmers
that rely on the fruit reproduction for their business.