Trees are really land coral.

OK, that sounded pretty random. Here me out.

Coral is a layer of living goo coating a lump of dead limestone. The 
coral grows by adding more limestone to the surface.

I know almost nothing about tree biology. However, I hypothesize that 
the wood inside a tree is actually dead (but not inert), and it is only 
the bark which is actually alive and growing. The wood is fiberous, and 
so conducts liquid and nutrients around the place, but it is the bark 
itself which forms a living skin over the dead wood underneith, and it 
is the bark that grows by adding new layers of wood.

Corollary: Do corals have growth rings?

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Invisible a écrit :
> Trees are really land coral.
> 
> OK, that sounded pretty random. Here me out.
> 
> Coral is a layer of living goo coating a lump of dead limestone. The 
> coral grows by adding more limestone to the surface.
> 
> I know almost nothing about tree biology. However, I hypothesize that 
> the wood inside a tree is actually dead (but not inert), and it is only 
> the bark which is actually alive and growing. The wood is fiberous, and 
> so conducts liquid and nutrients around the place, but it is the bark 
> itself which forms a living skin over the dead wood underneith, and it 
> is the bark that grows by adding new layers of wood.
> 

Basically, yes, this is correct. But trees also grow from their buds, so 
the overall functionning is more complex. Also, I don't think corals get 
much nutrients from the soil, and of course they don't have to mine for 
water either ;-)

In fact cells in trees are more specialized than individuals from a 
coral colony. But there are indeed similarities in the principle...

> Corollary: Do corals have growth rings?

Yes they do. Google is your friend too :-)
http://www.niwa.co.nz/news-and-publications/publications/all/wa/12-4/coral

-- 
Vincent

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Vincent Le Chevalier wrote:

> Basically, yes, this is correct. But trees also grow from their buds, so 
> the overall functionning is more complex. Also, I don't think corals get 
> much nutrients from the soil, and of course they don't have to mine for 
> water either ;-)

Trees contain lots of carbon. Where do trees get their carbon? :)

-- 
~Mike

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>> Trees are really land coral.
> 
> Basically, yes, this is correct. But trees also grow from their buds, so 
> the overall functionning is more complex. Also, I don't think corals get 
> much nutrients from the soil, and of course they don't have to mine for 
> water either ;-)
> 
> In fact cells in trees are more specialized than individuals from a 
> coral colony. But there are indeed similarities in the principle...

Yeah. Strictly a coral isn't a single organism, while a tree is. But the 
growth mechanism is quite similar.

>> Corollary: Do corals have growth rings?
> 
> Yes they do. Google is your friend too :-)
> http://www.niwa.co.nz/news-and-publications/publications/all/wa/12-4/coral

OMG! I was right about something... o_O

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Invisible wrote:

>>> Corollary: Do corals have growth rings?
>>
>> Yes they do. Google is your friend too :-)
>> http://www.niwa.co.nz/news-and-publications/publications/all/wa/12-4/coral 
>>
> 
> OMG! I was right about something... o_O

Seeing as they deposit material in layers.. yeah, it was plausible. :)

What amazes me is how some snail shells resemble a 1-D cellular automata:

http://honesthypocrite.blogspot.com/2006/02/cone-snail-shells-do-math.html

-- 
~Mike

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Mike Raiford wrote:

> What amazes me is how some snail shells resemble a 1-D cellular automata:
> 
> http://honesthypocrite.blogspot.com/2006/02/cone-snail-shells-do-math.html

What do you mean "resemble"? ;-)

(Last time I checked, a snail is a cellular organism, living cells 
frequently communicate with their neighbors by chemical messaging, and 
it's not remotely uncommon for cells to undergo programmed death...)

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Mike Raiford a écrit :
> Vincent Le Chevalier wrote:
> 
>> Basically, yes, this is correct. But trees also grow from their buds, 
>> so the overall functionning is more complex. Also, I don't think 
>> corals get much nutrients from the soil, and of course they don't have 
>> to mine for water either ;-)
> 
> Trees contain lots of carbon. Where do trees get their carbon? :)
> 
In the atmosphere essentially, they absorb it through the leaves during 
the photosynthesis process.

My point was that corals don't get anything from the soil at all... The 
calcium they use to build their skeleton comes from the water as well, 
they feed on plancton and sometimes symbiotic alguae. The trees have to 
build a more complex architecture to link roots and leaves...

-- 
Vincent

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