LSI Blog - Friday, July 23, 2010
'Primitive' Peat Moss Uses Air Gun to
Reproduce
Moss can shoot spores several inches into the air.
Summary: For the first time ever, a plant has been found to reproduce by
means of tiny but powerful air guns. Using high speed video, researchers
discovered that Sphagnum moss, better known as peat moss and
considered a "primitive" plant, shoots out tiny mushroom clouds of spores
in order to reproduce itself.
According to the report in the July 23 Science magazine, the spore cloud
takes on the shape of a vortex ring, a donut-shaped form that holds
together like a smoke ring as it travels through the air in a very efficient
manner. "It's not just a puff of air, it's a very special puff of air," said
Dwight Whitaker, a physicist at Pomona College in California who helped
conduct the study.
The plant's tiny waterlogged reproductive capsules are packed with
spores and air. As they dry out in the sun, they begin to shrink into a
tube shape, compressing the air trapped inside. When the air pressure
becomes too great, the spores explode out of the tubes and take on the
shape of mushroom clouds as they ride the wind to new habitats.
Whitaker said the spores wouldn't stay clumped together without forming
a vortex ring and would just fall uselessly to the ground. Since the winds
the spores use for their rides start about 4 inches off the ground, the rings
shoot more than 4.3 inches into the air with some reaching as high as 6.7
inches, more than 80 times the height of the launching capsules.
The spores have also been found to travel very fast as they are launched,
reaching almost 89 mph. Whitaker's co-author, botanist Joan Edwards,
said the moss has been greatly underestimated. "A Venus flytrap is a
couch potato compared to our plant," she remarked. "Sphagnum's body
is very simple, and yet it's doing this very complicated thing." Sphagnum
moss covers about one percent of the earth's surface, an area more than
twice the size of Texas.
(Photograph of Sphagnum moss from Wikipedia.)
To read the entire article, click on YAHOO NEWS.
Comment: One can really sense the excitement that these researchers
feel over their discovery. A so-called primitive plant able to do such a
clever thing in order to continue the existence of its species. As
creationists though, we might not want to use the word "primitive," which
means "being the first or earliest of its kind," because the original
ancestors of all kinds of plants came into existence on the same day of
creation.
If by "primitive" we mean "simple," that definition too is open to
questioning. So-called simple creatures can do so many surprising
things. Take a "simple" animal called an earthworm. It has an amazing
digestive system which according to Wikipedia can turn dirt into rich
humus, 5 times richer in nitrogen, 7 times richer in phosphates and 11
times richer in potash than the surrounding soil. Also, how many animals
can be cut in half and regenerate themselves into two separate
individuals, as the earthworm has the potential to accomplish?
If you want to believe in Darwin's theory, then you must know of a way
that the peat moss could have reproduced itself before it learned to
shoot its spores several inches into the air. If you want to believe in
\evolution, then you must have a theory as to how the ground could
become rich enough to support plant life before earthworms evolved and
learned to change dirt into humus. I think it is much more logical to believe
that God designed such amazing plants and animals with all their abilities
\right at the beginning of the world.
Of all the amazing things God has done, I believe His plan of salvation was
\the most amazing of all. He sent His only Son, Jesus, down to earth to
take on the form of a man and suffer and die (God died!) for our sins
although Christ Himself was sinless, just so we could live forever in
heaven. That is truly remarkable.
'Primitive' Peat Moss Uses Air Gun to
Reproduce
Moss can shoot spores several inches into the air.
Summary: For the first time ever, a plant has been found to reproduce by
means of tiny but powerful air guns. Using high speed video, researchers
discovered that Sphagnum moss, better known as peat moss and
considered a "primitive" plant, shoots out tiny mushroom clouds of spores
in order to reproduce itself.
According to the report in the July 23 Science magazine, the spore cloud
takes on the shape of a vortex ring, a donut-shaped form that holds
together like a smoke ring as it travels through the air in a very efficient
manner. "It's not just a puff of air, it's a very special puff of air," said
Dwight Whitaker, a physicist at Pomona College in California who helped
conduct the study.
The plant's tiny waterlogged reproductive capsules are packed with
spores and air. As they dry out in the sun, they begin to shrink into a
tube shape, compressing the air trapped inside. When the air pressure
becomes too great, the spores explode out of the tubes and take on the
shape of mushroom clouds as they ride the wind to new habitats.
Whitaker said the spores wouldn't stay clumped together without forming
a vortex ring and would just fall uselessly to the ground. Since the winds
the spores use for their rides start about 4 inches off the ground, the rings
shoot more than 4.3 inches into the air with some reaching as high as 6.7
inches, more than 80 times the height of the launching capsules.
The spores have also been found to travel very fast as they are launched,
reaching almost 89 mph. Whitaker's co-author, botanist Joan Edwards,
said the moss has been greatly underestimated. "A Venus flytrap is a
couch potato compared to our plant," she remarked. "Sphagnum's body
is very simple, and yet it's doing this very complicated thing." Sphagnum
moss covers about one percent of the earth's surface, an area more than
twice the size of Texas.
(Photograph of Sphagnum moss from Wikipedia.)
To read the entire article, click on YAHOO NEWS.
Comment: One can really sense the excitement that these researchers
feel over their discovery. A so-called primitive plant able to do such a
clever thing in order to continue the existence of its species. As
creationists though, we might not want to use the word "primitive," which
means "being the first or earliest of its kind," because the original
ancestors of all kinds of plants came into existence on the same day of
creation.
If by "primitive" we mean "simple," that definition too is open to
questioning. So-called simple creatures can do so many surprising
things. Take a "simple" animal called an earthworm. It has an amazing
digestive system which according to Wikipedia can turn dirt into rich
humus, 5 times richer in nitrogen, 7 times richer in phosphates and 11
times richer in potash than the surrounding soil. Also, how many animals
can be cut in half and regenerate themselves into two separate
individuals, as the earthworm has the potential to accomplish?
If you want to believe in Darwin's theory, then you must know of a way
that the peat moss could have reproduced itself before it learned to
shoot its spores several inches into the air. If you want to believe in
\evolution, then you must have a theory as to how the ground could
become rich enough to support plant life before earthworms evolved and
learned to change dirt into humus. I think it is much more logical to believe
that God designed such amazing plants and animals with all their abilities
\right at the beginning of the world.
Of all the amazing things God has done, I believe His plan of salvation was
\the most amazing of all. He sent His only Son, Jesus, down to earth to
take on the form of a man and suffer and die (God died!) for our sins
although Christ Himself was sinless, just so we could live forever in
heaven. That is truly remarkable.
