Question: You are the consulting biochemist for a project looking at the evolution of ecosystems across Nor…
Show transcribed image text You are the consulting biochemist for a project looking at the evolution of ecosystems across North America. Your colleagues are working on tooth samples from herbivores (sloths and horses) during the most recent ice age (~21,000 years ago) and have asked you to interpret the three ecosystems, of nearly identical ages, based on carbon stable isotope values and a few other discoveries at the site. What plant metabolisms dominated at each particular site? The plant community in Wyoming was full of: The plant community in Montana was full of: The plant community in Arizona was full of: Your colleagues doing follow-up work report that in the soil sample immediately above the Montana soil samples-that is, immediately after the Montana ecosystem you described above-they begin to see carbon isotope values identical to ones previously found in Arizona (that is, -18%o). Oddly enough, no changes are seen in younger soil samples from Wyoming or Arizona. What types of plants are entering the ecosystem? Make one prediction about an environmental parameter that might be driving this change, and the geographic scope of this change.
You are the consulting biochemist for a project looking at the evolution of ecosystems across North America. Your colleagues are working on tooth samples from herbivores (sloths and horses) during the most recent ice age (~21,000 years ago) and have asked you to interpret the three ecosystems, of nearly identical ages, based on carbon stable isotope values and a few other discoveries at the site. What plant metabolisms dominated at each particular site? The plant community in Wyoming was full of: The plant community in Montana was full of: The plant community in Arizona was full of: Your colleagues doing follow-up work report that in the soil sample immediately above the Montana soil samples-that is, immediately after the Montana ecosystem you described above-they begin to see carbon isotope values identical to ones previously found in Arizona (that is, -18%o). Oddly enough, no changes are seen in younger soil samples from Wyoming or Arizona. What types of plants are entering the ecosystem? Make one prediction about an environmental parameter that might be driving this change, and the geographic scope of this change.
