Posidonia australis: Difference between revisions
Content deleted Content added
Cite book convert |
m date format audit, minor formatting |
||
| (15 intermediate revisions by 14 users not shown) | |||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{ |
{{Short description|Species of plant}} |
||
{{Use dmy dates|date= |
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}} |
||
{{ |
{{Use Australian English|date=June 2022}} |
||
{{Speciesbox |
{{Speciesbox |
||
| image = Posidonia australis Spencers Gulf.jpg |
| image = Posidonia australis Spencers Gulf.jpg |
||
| Line 14: | Line 14: | ||
'''''Posidonia australis''''', also known as '''fibre-ball weed''' or '''ribbon weed''', is a species of [[seagrass]] that occurs in the southern waters of Australia. It forms large meadows important to environmental conservation. Balls of decomposing detritus from the foliage are found along nearby shore-lines. |
'''''Posidonia australis''''', also known as '''fibre-ball weed''' or '''ribbon weed''', is a species of [[seagrass]] that occurs in the southern waters of Australia. It forms large meadows important to environmental conservation. Balls of decomposing detritus from the foliage are found along nearby shore-lines. |
||
In 2022, a single stand in [[Shark Bay]] was reported by scientists to be the largest plant in the world. |
In 2022, a single stand in [[Shark Bay]] was reported by scientists to not only be the largest plant in the world, but the largest organism by square size.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2022-05-31 |title=It's a clone, and it's massive: World's largest plant found off WA coast|publisher=ABC News|location=Australia |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2022-06-01/worlds-largest-plant-seagrass-meadow-shark-bay-giant-clone/101112726 |access-date=2023-10-11}}</ref> |
||
==Description== |
==Description== |
||
[[File:Posidonia australis fruits and seed.jpg|thumb|left|From left: immature fruits attached to plant, mature fruit released from plant, splitting fruit ready to release seed |
[[File:Posidonia australis fruits and seed.jpg|thumb|left|From left: immature fruits attached to plant, mature fruit released from plant, splitting fruit ready to release seed.]] |
||
''Posidonia australis'' is a flowering plant occurring in dense meadows, or along channels, in white sand. It is found at depths from {{cvt|1|-|15|m|ft|0}}. Subsurface [[rhizome]]s and roots provide stability in the sands it occupies. Erect rhizomes and leaves reduce the accumulation of [[silt]]. |
''Posidonia australis'' is a flowering plant occurring in dense meadows, or along channels, in white sand. It is found at depths from {{cvt|1|-|15|m|ft|0}}. Subsurface [[rhizome]]s and roots provide stability in the sands it occupies. Erect rhizomes and leaves reduce the accumulation of [[silt]]. |
||
| Line 26: | Line 26: | ||
''Posidonia australis'' reproduction usually occurs through sexual or asexual methods but, under extreme conditions, by [[pseudovivipary]].<ref>[https://atlasofscience.org/what-happens-when-plant-sex-fails/ Elizabeth Sinclair. What happens when (plant) sex fails? Atlas of Science, 2016]</ref> |
''Posidonia australis'' reproduction usually occurs through sexual or asexual methods but, under extreme conditions, by [[pseudovivipary]].<ref>[https://atlasofscience.org/what-happens-when-plant-sex-fails/ Elizabeth Sinclair. What happens when (plant) sex fails? Atlas of Science, 2016]</ref> |
||
A 2013 study showed that ''P. australis'' can [[Carbon sequestration|sequester carbon]] 35 times more efficiently than [[ |
A 2013 study showed that ''P. australis'' can [[Carbon sequestration|sequester carbon]] 35 times more efficiently than [[rainforest]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newsroom.uts.edu.au/news/2013/08/humble-plants-may-save-the-planet|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130819034834/http://www.newsroom.uts.edu.au/news/2013/08/humble-plants-may-save-the-planet|url-status=dead|archive-date=19 August 2013|title=Humble plants may save the planet|work=University of Technology, Sydney|date=14 August 2013|access-date=15 August 2013}}</ref> |
||
In 2022, a study by the School of Biological Sciences and Oceans Institute at The University of Western Australia showed that a single plant of this species can grow [[Vegetative reproduction|vegetatively]] by using [[rhizome]]s to cover an extensive area, similar to [[St. Augustine grass|buffalo grass]]. This particular specimen has double the number of chromosomes of other studied populations (40 chromosomes instead of the usual 20).<ref>{{Cite web |author=Katie Hunt |title=World's largest plant discovered in Australia |url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/01/world/seagrass-australia-worlds-largest-plant-living-organism-scn/index.html |access-date=2022-06-02 | |
In 2022, a study by the School of Biological Sciences and Oceans Institute at The University of Western Australia showed that a single plant of this species can grow [[Vegetative reproduction|vegetatively]] by using [[rhizome]]s to cover an extensive area, similar to [[St. Augustine grass|buffalo grass]]. This particular specimen has double the number of chromosomes of other studied populations (40 chromosomes instead of the usual 20).<ref>{{Cite web |author=Katie Hunt |title=World's largest plant discovered in Australia |url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/01/world/seagrass-australia-worlds-largest-plant-living-organism-scn/index.html |access-date=2022-06-02 |publisher=CNN}}</ref> |
||
<!-- The rhizome type stems are in two forms; growing beneath the sand up to 0.15 m and rising above the sand to give its tufted appearance. All stems are approximately 10 mm thick and upright in habit. This arrangement of the rhizomes eventually forms a [[matte]]; the surface contains the active parts of the plant, whereas the centre is a dense network of roots and decomposing stems. |
<!-- The rhizome type stems are in two forms; growing beneath the sand up to 0.15 m and rising above the sand to give its tufted appearance. All stems are approximately 10 mm thick and upright in habit. This arrangement of the rhizomes eventually forms a [[matte]]; the surface contains the active parts of the plant, whereas the centre is a dense network of roots and decomposing stems. |
||
--> |
--> |
||
| Line 34: | Line 34: | ||
==Distribution== |
==Distribution== |
||
[[File:West Beach wrack.JPG|thumb|Detrital ''P. australis'' accumulation at [[West Beach, South Australia]]]] |
[[File:West Beach wrack.JPG|thumb|Detrital ''P. australis'' accumulation at [[West Beach, South Australia]]]] |
||
This species is found in waters around the southern coast of Australia. In [[Western Australia]] |
This species is found in waters around the southern coast of Australia. In [[Western Australia]] it occurs in the [[Shark Bay, Western Australia|Shark Bay]] region, around islands of the [[Houtman Abrolhos]], and southward along the coast of the [[Swan Coastal Plain]]. The species is recorded at the edge of the [[Esperance Plains]], the [[Archipelago of the Recherche]], at the southern coast of the southwest region. The range extends to the east to coastal areas of New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, and Victoria.<ref name="Keulen"/> |
||
A sign of a nearby occurrence of ''[[Posidonia]]'' is the presence of masses of decomposing leaves on beaches, forming fibrous balls. |
A sign of a nearby occurrence of ''[[Posidonia]]'' is the presence of masses of decomposing leaves on beaches, forming fibrous balls. |
||
| Line 40: | Line 40: | ||
==Largest known organism== |
==Largest known organism== |
||
{{See also|Largest organisms}} |
{{See also|Largest organisms}} |
||
A research article in the Proceedings of the Royal Society<ref name="Edgeloe">{{cite journal |last1=Edgeloe |first1=Jane M. |last2=Severn-Ellis |first2=Anita A. |last3=Bayer |first3=Philipp E. |last4=Mehravi |first4=Shaghayegh |last5=Breed |first5=Martin F. |last6=Krauss |first6=Siegfried L. |last7=Batley |first7=Jacqueline |last8=Kendrick |first8=Gary A. |last9=Sinclair |first9=Elizabeth A. |title=Extensive polyploid clonality was a successful strategy for seagrass to expand into a newly submerged environment |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |date=1 June 2022 |volume=289 |issue=1976 |pages=20220538 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2022.0538 |pmid=35642363 |pmc=9156900 |url=https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.0538 |access-date=1 June 2022}}</ref> reported in June 2022 that genetic testing had revealed that samples of ''Posidonia australis'' taken from a meadow in [[Shark Bay]] up to {{convert|180|km|mi|abbr=in}} apart were all from a single [[Vegetative reproduction|clone]] of the same plant. The plant covers an area of [[seafloor]] of around {{convert|200|km2|acre|abbr=in}}.<ref name="Readfearn 2022"/> This would make it the largest known organism in the world, exceeding the size of a colony of the ''[[Armillaria ostoyae]]'' fungus in [[Malheur National Forest]], [[Oregon]] that extends {{convert|9.1|km2|acre|sigfig=1|abbr=in}}, as well as a stand of [[Pando (tree)|quaking aspen trees]] in [[Utah]] that extends more than {{cvt|40|ha|acre|sigfig=1}}.<ref name="Readfearn 2022"/> |
A research article in the Proceedings of the Royal Society<ref name="Edgeloe">{{cite journal |last1=Edgeloe |first1=Jane M. |last2=Severn-Ellis |first2=Anita A. |last3=Bayer |first3=Philipp E. |last4=Mehravi |first4=Shaghayegh |last5=Breed |first5=Martin F. |last6=Krauss |first6=Siegfried L. |last7=Batley |first7=Jacqueline |last8=Kendrick |first8=Gary A. |last9=Sinclair |first9=Elizabeth A. |title=Extensive polyploid clonality was a successful strategy for seagrass to expand into a newly submerged environment |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |date=1 June 2022 |volume=289 |issue=1976 |pages=20220538 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2022.0538 |pmid=35642363 |pmc=9156900 |url=https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.0538 |access-date=1 June 2022}}</ref> reported in June 2022 that [[genetic testing]] had revealed that samples of ''Posidonia australis'' taken from a meadow in [[Shark Bay]] up to {{convert|180|km|mi|abbr=in}} apart were all from a single [[Vegetative reproduction|clone]] of the same plant. The plant covers an area of [[seafloor]] of around {{convert|200|km2|acre|abbr=in}}.<ref name="Readfearn 2022"/> This would make it the largest known organism in the world by area, exceeding the size of a colony of the ''[[Armillaria ostoyae]]'' fungus in [[Malheur National Forest]], [[Oregon]] that extends {{convert|9.1|km2|acre|sigfig=1|abbr=in}}, as well as a stand of [[Pando (tree)|quaking aspen trees]] in [[Utah]] that extends over more than {{cvt|40|ha|acre|sigfig=1}}.<ref name="Readfearn 2022"/> |
||
The plant is estimated to have taken at least 4,500 years<ref name="Edgeloe" /> to grow to this size by using [[rhizome]]s to colonise new parts of the seafloor, assuming a rhizome growth rate of around {{cvt|35|cm|in}} a year.<ref name="Kilvert 2022">{{cite web | last=Kilvert | first=Nick | title=World's largest plant discovered right under our noses in Western Australia | |
The plant is estimated to have taken at least 4,500 years<ref name="Edgeloe" /> to grow to this size by using [[rhizome]]s to colonise new parts of the seafloor, assuming a rhizome growth rate of around {{cvt|35|cm|in}} a year.<ref name="Kilvert 2022">{{cite web | last=Kilvert | first=Nick | title=World's largest plant discovered right under our noses in Western Australia | publisher=ABC News|location=Australia | date=1 June 2022 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2022-06-01/worlds-largest-plant-seagrass-meadow-shark-bay-giant-clone/101112726 | access-date=1 June 2022}}</ref><ref name="Readfearn 2022">{{cite web | last=Readfearn | first=Graham | title=Scientists discover 'biggest plant on Earth' off Western Australian coast | website=[[The Guardian]] | date=1 June 2022 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/01/what-the-hell-australian-scientists-discover-biggest-plant-on-earth-off-wa-coast | access-date=1 June 2022}}</ref> This age puts it among the [[List of longest-living organisms#Clonal plant and fungal colonies|oldest known clonal plants]] too. |
||
==Taxonomy== |
==Taxonomy== |
||
This species is a member of the family [[Posidoniaceae]], one of eight occurring in Australia. The ninth member, ''[[Posidonia oceanica]]'', is found in the Mediterranean sea. The genus name for this species, ''Posidonia'', is given for the god of the seas [[Poseidon]], and ''australis'' refers to the southern distribution. |
This species is a member of the family [[Posidoniaceae]], one of eight occurring in Australia. The ninth member, ''[[Posidonia oceanica]]'', is found in the Mediterranean sea. The genus name for this species, ''Posidonia'', is given for the god of the seas [[Poseidon]], and ''australis'' refers to the southern distribution. |
||
The species was first described by [[Joseph Dalton Hooker|Joseph Hooker]] in ''[[Flora Tasmaniae]]''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hooker|first=J. D.|date=1860|title=The botany of the Antarctic voyage of H.M. discovery ships Erebus and Terror|volume=III Flora Tasmaniæ II Monocotyledones and Acotyledones|page= 43|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/28467228}}</ref> |
The species was first described by [[Joseph Dalton Hooker|Joseph Hooker]] in ''[[Flora Tasmaniae]]''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hooker|first=J. D.|date=1860|title=The botany of the Antarctic voyage of H.M. discovery ships Erebus and Terror|volume=III Flora Tasmaniæ II Monocotyledones and Acotyledones|page= 43|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/28467228}}</ref> [[Common name]]s for the plant include fibre-ball weed and ribbon weed.<ref name="Readfearn 2022"/> |
||
[[Common name]]s for the plant include fibre-ball weed and ribbon weed.<ref name="Readfearn 2022"/> |
|||
== Conservation status == |
== Conservation status == |
||
| Line 62: | Line 61: | ||
{{Taxonbar|from=Q3399633}} |
{{Taxonbar|from=Q3399633}} |
||
{{Authority control}} |
|||
[[Category:Posidonia|australis]] |
[[Category:Posidonia|australis]] |
||
| Line 67: | Line 67: | ||
[[Category:Flora of South Australia]] |
[[Category:Flora of South Australia]] |
||
[[Category:Flora of Tasmania]] |
[[Category:Flora of Tasmania]] |
||
[[Category:Flora of Victoria ( |
[[Category:Flora of Victoria (state)]] |
||
[[Category:Angiosperms of Western Australia]] |
[[Category:Angiosperms of Western Australia]] |
||
[[Category:Monocots of Australia]] |
[[Category:Monocots of Australia]] |
||
Latest revision as of 22:00, 7 April 2024
| Posidonia australis | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Order: | Alismatales |
| Family: | Posidoniaceae |
| Genus: | Posidonia |
| Species: | P. australis
|
| Binomial name | |
| Posidonia australis | |
Posidonia australis, also known as fibre-ball weed or ribbon weed, is a species of seagrass that occurs in the southern waters of Australia. It forms large meadows important to environmental conservation. Balls of decomposing detritus from the foliage are found along nearby shore-lines.
In 2022, a single stand in Shark Bay was reported by scientists to not only be the largest plant in the world, but the largest organism by square size.[2]
Description
[edit]
Posidonia australis is a flowering plant occurring in dense meadows, or along channels, in white sand. It is found at depths from 1–15 m (3–49 ft). Subsurface rhizomes and roots provide stability in the sands it occupies. Erect rhizomes and leaves reduce the accumulation of silt.
The leaves are ribbon-like and 11–20 mm (0.43–0.79 in) wide. They are bright green, perhaps becoming browned with age.[3] The terminus of the leaf is rounded or absent through damage. They are arranged in groups with older leaves on the outside, longer and differing in form from the younger leaves they surround.
The species is monoecious. The flowers appear on small spikes on leafless stems, two bracts on each spike. The plant pollinates by hydrophily, by dispersing in the water.[4]
Posidonia australis reproduction usually occurs through sexual or asexual methods but, under extreme conditions, by pseudovivipary.[5]
A 2013 study showed that P. australis can sequester carbon 35 times more efficiently than rainforests.[6]
In 2022, a study by the School of Biological Sciences and Oceans Institute at The University of Western Australia showed that a single plant of this species can grow vegetatively by using rhizomes to cover an extensive area, similar to buffalo grass. This particular specimen has double the number of chromosomes of other studied populations (40 chromosomes instead of the usual 20).[7]
Distribution
[edit]
This species is found in waters around the southern coast of Australia. In Western Australia it occurs in the Shark Bay region, around islands of the Houtman Abrolhos, and southward along the coast of the Swan Coastal Plain. The species is recorded at the edge of the Esperance Plains, the Archipelago of the Recherche, at the southern coast of the southwest region. The range extends to the east to coastal areas of New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, and Victoria.[4]
A sign of a nearby occurrence of Posidonia is the presence of masses of decomposing leaves on beaches, forming fibrous balls.
Largest known organism
[edit]A research article in the Proceedings of the Royal Society[8] reported in June 2022 that genetic testing had revealed that samples of Posidonia australis taken from a meadow in Shark Bay up to 180 km (110 miles) apart were all from a single clone of the same plant. The plant covers an area of seafloor of around 200 km2 (49,000 acres).[9] This would make it the largest known organism in the world by area, exceeding the size of a colony of the Armillaria ostoyae fungus in Malheur National Forest, Oregon that extends 9.1 km2 (2,000 acres), as well as a stand of quaking aspen trees in Utah that extends over more than 40 ha (100 acres).[9]
The plant is estimated to have taken at least 4,500 years[8] to grow to this size by using rhizomes to colonise new parts of the seafloor, assuming a rhizome growth rate of around 35 cm (14 in) a year.[10][9] This age puts it among the oldest known clonal plants too.
Taxonomy
[edit]This species is a member of the family Posidoniaceae, one of eight occurring in Australia. The ninth member, Posidonia oceanica, is found in the Mediterranean sea. The genus name for this species, Posidonia, is given for the god of the seas Poseidon, and australis refers to the southern distribution.
The species was first described by Joseph Hooker in Flora Tasmaniae.[11] Common names for the plant include fibre-ball weed and ribbon weed.[9]
Conservation status
[edit]IUCN lists this species as "near threatened",[1] while the meadows in New South Wales have been listed by the Commonwealth of Australia as an endangered ecological community since 2015.[12]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Short, F.T.; Carruthers, T.J.R.; Waycott, M.; Kendrick, G.A.; Fourqurean, J.W.; Callabine, A.; Kenworthy, W.J.; Dennison, W.C. (2010). "Posidonia australis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2010: e.T173333A6993340. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-3.RLTS.T173333A6993340.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
- ^ "It's a clone, and it's massive: World's largest plant found off WA coast". Australia: ABC News. 31 May 2022. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
- ^ "Posidonia australis". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
- ^ a b Mike van Keulen. "The genus Posidonia König (nom. cons.) (Posidoniaceae)". Murdoch University.
- ^ Elizabeth Sinclair. What happens when (plant) sex fails? Atlas of Science, 2016
- ^ "Humble plants may save the planet". University of Technology, Sydney. 14 August 2013. Archived from the original on 19 August 2013. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
- ^ Katie Hunt. "World's largest plant discovered in Australia". CNN. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
- ^ a b Edgeloe, Jane M.; Severn-Ellis, Anita A.; Bayer, Philipp E.; Mehravi, Shaghayegh; Breed, Martin F.; Krauss, Siegfried L.; Batley, Jacqueline; Kendrick, Gary A.; Sinclair, Elizabeth A. (1 June 2022). "Extensive polyploid clonality was a successful strategy for seagrass to expand into a newly submerged environment". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 289 (1976): 20220538. doi:10.1098/rspb.2022.0538. PMC 9156900. PMID 35642363. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
- ^ a b c d Readfearn, Graham (1 June 2022). "Scientists discover 'biggest plant on Earth' off Western Australian coast". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
- ^ Kilvert, Nick (1 June 2022). "World's largest plant discovered right under our noses in Western Australia". Australia: ABC News. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
- ^ Hooker, J. D. (1860). The botany of the Antarctic voyage of H.M. discovery ships Erebus and Terror. Vol. III Flora Tasmaniæ II Monocotyledones and Acotyledones. p. 43.
- ^ Australian Government. "Species Profile and Threats Database: Posidonia australis seagrass meadows of the Manning-Hawkesbury ecoregion". Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment.
External links
[edit]- Posidonia australis occurrence data from Australasian Virtual Herbarium
- "Posidonia australis". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government.
- Tyerman, SD; Hatcher, AI; West, RJ; Larkum, AWD (1984). "Posidonia australis Growing in Altered Salinities: Leaf Growth, Regulation of Turgor and the Development of Osmotic Gradients". Functional Plant Biology. 11 (2). CSIRO: 35. doi:10.1071/pp9840035.
| Authority control databases: National |
|---|
