Miracle of Science

ussopp

Pollination and Dissemination of Flowering Plants

Hi all, i'm not going to blabbling about the biology here. I know it's boring. But i'm going to make it simple and interested.

Well, flowers and trees are just like human. They are living creatures and they need to spread offspring too. They have no eyes, but they can 'feel' the environment and react with it. The first and foremost process of reproduction is pollination. Fertilization occurs when pollen grains containing the male gametes entering to the carpel of flowering plants, where it holds the female gametes - ovule. There are 2 ways in common that flowers being pollinated. Whether it is mediated by an organism (pollinator) or without it.

Pollination mediated by organism is termed Biotic Pollination. It has special adapted features to attract pollinator such as large and colorful flower petals, short stems, filaments, and stils. Also it produces sweet nectar or smell, much bigger and stickier pollen grains. Whereby pollination occurs without involvement of organism is called Abiotic Pollination. It is mediated often by wind or water. So compare to biotic pollination, it has much longer stem, filaments, stils etc. It does not produce nectar or smell because wind/water is not a living creature. And it has smaller and non-sticky pollen grains that suits the movement of wind/water. Simply saying, their adaptations are superb.

I use amazon Waterlily flower for example. During the first day of flower opening, it is pure white in color and give off strong perfume to attract flying beetles.





Pitifully, the life of any one bloom is short. It opens only in the evening and closes at night. And it closed for the whole of the next day, slowlly flushing pink.





On the second evening, it opens again. Then it closes for its last time. Why does it behave in this extraordinary way? Actually, it's a neat way to avoid any chance of being fertilized by its own pollen. The perfume it produces during the first evening attracts beetles. They bring with them pollen from other lilies, and enter to the flower chamber. Then, the lily closes its petals. The beetles will be held captive inside for 24 hours.





The following evening, the flower opens its gate and the beetles are free to go. The flower has showered the beetles with its own pollen during their long stay. Now, red and odourless, the flower is no longer attractive to beetles. So they will go in search of white flowers on another plant. By carrying the pollen and bringing about cross-fertilization. When mission has completed, the flower withdraws back into the water.





We study biology, and we observe its occurances. From there we know the reasons how or what it is meant for. But beyond that, do we ever think why it behaves such a way? Just the example i given, the amazon waterlily flower, how does it know the best adaptation in surviving? I mean, flower has no eyes, how does it know there will be existence of flying beetles that will bring them pollen? What if it assumes there isn't any flying or moving organism/insects?

Now, let's look at another example. Rambutan, my favorite fruit ever. As we know, it falls under Biotic Pollination because it needs a pollinator to disseminate its ripen fruits and seeds. Or simply saying, we and animals are the seeding agent. It relies on these moving organisms to eat the fruit and bring away the seeds in order to produce more fruiting plants. So, when the fruit has ripen, it produces bright and attractive color, and smell too (for exotic fruits). Depends on variation of trees. Such as mango, lychee, berries etc .





Why it has such features? How does it know human and animals will be attracted? Or another way of saying, how does it know these creatures have lust (eg: hunger, adore on brightful colors)? It is because everything has been preset by Allah - the only and one creator. All rules and laws follow Allah's will. Nothing will happen by itself without the will of Allah. He is merciful because He grows plants and fruits for our enjoyment, so that we could be thankful to Him, and to search for His existence.

"Who have appointed the earth a resting-place for you, and the sky a canopy; and caused water to pour down from the sky, thereby producing fruits as food for you. And do not set up rivals to Allah when youknow (better)." (Al-Baqarah: 22)

And in Islam it encourages human to think and study everything surrounds us.

"Have they not pondered upon themselves? Allah created not the heavens (sky) and the earth, and that which is between them, save with truth and for a destined end. But truly many of mankind are disbelievers in the meeting with their Lord." (Al-Ruum: 8)

SUBHANALLAH.....

p.s: credit to presa1200....all are his own words...

[ Last edited by  ussopp at 31-8-2008 10:59 AM ]

jebeng

I wonder if kite dpt menyelesaikan misteri alam cam kalo angkasa ngan worm hole,big bang n so on...cam nano tech,anti matter n lain2...adakah ilmu kite dh abis penghujung nye...huhu...

p/s: hanya la 'if' sahaja..realitinye ssh nk selesaikan...maybe i think hasilnye pastilah setimpal dengan kepayahan misteri tu..lg ssh misteri tu..lg advance la penemuan sesuatu teknologi/fenomena itu...

cluesan

talking about wormhole, if we could ever manipulate/create the wormhole, it would be easier for the astronauts to traverse to other galaxy, because from what i know, wormhole is a shortcut through space. one could travel between space with speed faster than light. (of course if the light enters the wormhole, it would be faster than you).

for now wormhole is just a theory. no evidence that the wormhole exists. but it would great if someday, wormhole can be created and manipulated. in a myth, that a wormhole can even allow time traveling!!!

this is the theory of wormhole :-

aku_EnSeM

The idea of worm hole is very interesting. But I wonder what would happen if we enter such kind of 'higher' dimension...

jebeng

Sepemahaman aku la tgk movie la...wormhole ni x leh di trigger oleh manusia....but natural causes...cam ribut @ hujan....rasenyela....huhu....hanya kene predict when it will happen and use it...seperti yg kiter tahu space @ ruang msih lg misteri...even kiter nye graviti pon kite x phm lg...cume yg kalutnye samada worm hole 2 same ngn black hole @ x?..kalo blackhole kompem mati...not sure enough....

cluesan

some said that if a human went through a wormhole, he will suffer brain damage or even death since the pressure will be so immense that ordinary humans can't stand. still, we still have a long way to go until we can solved the nature of a wormhole. if the wormhole theory can't be proven, why such an idea arised? "Masakan pokok bergoyang kalau tiada angin".

cluesan

no, black hole tak sama ngan wormhole. totally different. kesan daripada blackhole lebih dahsyat, dipanggil spaghetition, klu ada satu object masuk dlm blackhole, benda tu akan terbelah dua, dan dua akan terbelah kepada empat, dan seterusnya sehingga tiada apa yg tinggal. klu wormhole, lebih kepada brain damage n internal damage. (as far as i know, i may be wrong)

aku_EnSeM

aha...

well, i think entering another dimension wouldn't be that easy. I can't think how a lower dimensional being can exist in a higher dimensional space.  

jebeng

Originally posted by cluesan at 1-9-2008 06:18 PM
no, black hole tak sama ngan wormhole. totally different. kesan daripada blackhole lebih dahsyat, dipanggil spaghetition, klu ada satu object masuk dlm blackhole, benda tu akan terbelah dua, dan牋...

some other theories said that worm hole also some kind of black hole....and x sure la sbb x der tested experiment pon....and kalo bc kat wiki kite kene pki -ve mass/anti matter utk hasilkan tenaga travel ikut wormhole...borak stail org xtau quantum fizik ni..kalo silap info sori aa...huhu

p/s: kalo la aku idup 1000thun...aku blajar sume mende ni...huhu...

cluesan

neither do i. aku pun tak belajar pasal Quantum Physics ni. jz minat je. so sesapa yg belajar tu, boleh perbetulkan apa2 fakta yang salah. menurut Schwarzschild, dua white hole bertembung, membentuk satu wormhole (dalam masa yg sangat singkat), dan berpisah semula menjadi dua black hole.

aku_EnSeM

nmpknya, untuk manusia boleh fully utilise the ability of worm hole that can help us travel faster than the speed of light, kite kene mampu untuk buat worm hole ni bile2 yg kite nk.. so klulah xde cre lain nk buat worm hole selain dr menggabungkan due white hole, rsenye kite just tgu fenomena alam utk create white hole before we can travel that far...

this is just the same as naik kapal layar.. kene tgu arah angin n magnitude yg sesuai sblm boleh berlayar. in case of white hole, waper lme nk tgu?

cluesan

White hole ni sebenarnya terjadi dengan cara yg sama dengan black hole.

Schwarzschild punya wormhole theory ni menunjukkan bahawa wormhole ni sangat tak stabil, dimana bila dua white hole bertembung, wormhole akan terbentuk dalam masa yg sangat singkat sebelum berpecah menjadi dua blackhole.

tapi klu tgk gambarajah kat atas, wormhole ni mcm mustahil nk dilalui, sebab nature white hole dan black hole yg sangat berlainan. seperti yg kita tahu, black hole ni menyedut semua object di sekelilingnya. manakala white hole pulak dia membuang object2 keluar darinya.

so dari gambarajah kat atas, tgk anak panah kuning, bila dua white hole(keluar) bertemu, membentuk satu wormhole dan kemudiannya terpisah membentuk black hole(masuk). bila ada object lalu wormhole tu, dia akan terperangkap di tengah2 sebelum membentuk black hole. by the time wormhole tu hilang, object tu da takkan wujud lagi sebab da hancur.

aku_EnSeM

oo.. cmne die leh terperangkap kt tgh2? hihihi...

cluesan

aku pun tak berapa tau mcm mana nk terangkan. mungkin sebab nature white hole ngan black hole yg berlainan. tgk anak panah kuning kat gambar atas, white hole bergabung n membentuk wormhole, dan masa tu nature white hole iaitu 'reject' akan berubah kepada 'sucking' iaitu black hole. wormhole ni pun berlaku dlm masa yg sangat singkat. sebenarnya masih tak jelas phenomenon ni, they need more research.

jebeng

Malaysia ni ade pakar kuantum fizik ker??...sape ek??...

jebeng

aku rase la..maybe 2 white & black hole tu bergabung and graviti die akan jdik neutral and x collide antara satu same len cam satelit antara bumi and bulan...so maybe la leh lalu since graviti jdik sifar...as we know black hole ni akan menyedut jirim utnk menampung jisim sblumnye....maybe perkadaran sedutan permasa die lebih tinggi dari white hole tu..terdpt perbezaan graviti maka die akan x stabil n maybe split...

p/s:merapu dibulan pose ni....haha...x der otai2 bidang berkaitan ke kat sini..leh gak la tanye

cluesan

threats from cyber "terrorism" were a result of technological development which focused on "convergence technology" resulting in "quantum technology". - Bernard Dompok.

aku_EnSeM

nice.. if we have infinitely contracted space vs. infinitely expanded space, i wonder what would happen, bcoz math can't really deal with infinity..

Then how would they solve such equation that they might obtain on combining both black and white hole together...

cluesan

aku fobia ckit ngan equation ni.

guynextdoor

dear hohoho (horlicks ka? ) agreed with your idea. but, dah selak2 3 pages, i would like to see forummer's contributions rather than borak2 kosong, sbb thead borak with (generous) credit is already there. so, appreciate your cooperations, ya!

i am so pleased if you guys could describe a bit about the miracle (of science) you wanna share plus with the pic/s it will be wonderful!

do not worry about the credits, i might not be online so regular but if i do, any postings that catch my attention will get ratus2 credits or at least some lah kan. tawaran ratus2 terhad untuk bulan yang mulia ini sahaja. so, happy digging and posting here wokay!

selamat berpuasa to all.