na'rìng - forest

[Mythrandia]

http://www.sloimpact.com/plants_notice.pdf
The ability of plants to sense touch is not restricted to carniverous plants that show rapid responses to contact with prey insects or to thigmotropic plants that use contact with objects to wind or climb them.  It is a common character of plants to sense even very light touch, e.g. by wind...

A plant may respond to both phases of this attack...can trigger plant defense affecting herbivorous arthropods directly or indirectly...

Oviposition-induced plant compounds, ovicidal substances, hypersensitive responses, growth of neoplasms

can directly repel the herbivorous attackers, kill them using toxins or lower the nutritive value of the herbivore's food.

attract carnivorous enemies, e.g. by herbivore-induced extrafloral nectar production, release of plant volatiles...

http://www.sloimpact.com/plant_signals.pdf
Dynamic and systemic plant defences
Systemic induction of resistance at the phenotypic level
Long-distance signals in the SAR response
Long-distance signals in the wound response
What qualifies a factor as a transported signal?
To qualify fully as a long-distance signal, however, a factor must (i) induce a detectable response, (ii) be produced or released at the
site of attack, (iii) be translocated from the attacked to the systemic tissue, and (iv) accumulate in the systemic tissue before resistance expression takes place.
Methyl Salicylate (MeSA) as long-distance signal in systemic acquired resistance
Salicylic acid (SA) induces resistance to many pathogens [14,78] and accumulates locally in pathogen-infected tissues of different species such as Arabidopsis [79], tobacco [16], and cucumber [17]. SA bleeds out of petioles of pathogen-infected leaves [16,17] and labelling studies have confirmed systemic transport of SA from pathogen-infected leaves.  However, SAR can develop before SA levels rise in petioles of infected leaves [19], and accumulation and perception of SA are only critical in the systemic organs [20]. Recently, Park and coworkers provided evidence that MeSA, rather than SA, functions as the critical mobile signal
Volatiles in long-distance signalling
Likely candidates in airborne long-distance signalling
(Z)-jasmone
MeJA
theGLV
(Z)-3-hexenyl acetate
GLVs that have an a,b-unsaturated carbonyl group can trigger defence through their activity as reactive electrophile
species
dissolving of volatiles in the membranes combined with interactions with membrane proteins, which are similar to the odorant-binding proteins of insects [72], leads to changes in transmembrane potentials and thereby induces gene activity
Benefits of airborne and vascular signalling
Allowing 'eavesdropping' by neighbouring plants might have ecological costs because neighbours usually compete for light,
water and soil nutrients.
phloem fluxes are usually directed towards non-photosynthesizing tissues, whereas transport through xylem vessels follows the upwards transpiration flow.
volatile signal molecules can reach distal plant parts faster than compounds that are transported through vascular tissues
speed of defence activation is crucially important for the effectiveness of resistance to pathogens
Vascular and airborne signalling interact for optimal resistance expression
putative ecological cost of external signalling: 'eavesdropping' by neighbours. Volatile-mediated signalling is most effective over relatively short distances, and the probability that the leaf nearest to an attacked one belongs to the same plant is relatively high.

http://www.sloimpact.com/plants_globalchange.pdf
BVOC emissions: why do they matter in research into global change?
BVOC emissions in a changing world: an increasingly fragrant world?
Global change effects on BVOC emissions
contrasting results within the literature reporting effects of elevated CO2, ozone and eutrophication on constitutive isoprenoid emissions can result fromdifferent groups of BVOCs (e.g. isoprene and monoterpenes) presenting different responses
there is a clear tendency of BVOC emissions to increase under future higher ozone levels, but this ismost evident for OVOC emissions, HIV and GLV emissions (Figure Ia) and constitutive monoterpene and sesquiterpene emissions (no study reporting emission decreases),
than for isoprene which has shown both positive and negative effects (Figure Ic).
Effects of the other components of global change
Because of this species-specificity, changes in land use and cover and the consequent shifts in species dominance can also dramatically affect BVOC emissions. For example, many plant species migrating to northern latitudes and higher altitudes are strong emitters of BVOCs such as isoprene and monoterpenes. This is true of most broad-leaved Populus and Quercus species and essentially
all conifers (Ref. [32] and references therein) [44].
abandonment of agricultural land in temperate regions, and subsequent aforestation with evergreens such as Eucalyptus, Quercus or Pinus, which are strong emitters of BVOCs throughout the year
Global warming increases the number of species that can grow in given temperate environments and leads to shifts in vegetation types The fastest species movement is as a result of the profit-driven globalized trade in exotic plants and agricultural, forestry and gardening practices that alleviate dispersal limitations and biological and environmental constraints
Experimental evidence suggests that many global environmental changes have direct effects on BVOC release at leaf level, either increasing (straight lines) or having a diverse effect (broken lines)
high concentrations of ozone and severe drought (as well as increased UV, actually not shown in the scheme) reduce foliar carbon gain and increase oxidative stress
Altered plant protection against abiotic stress
Altered plant defense against biotic stressors
Altered plant reproduction
Environmental alterations mediated by changes in BVOC emissions
Atmospheric chemistry: CO2, ozone, hydroxyl radicals, methane
Global change effects
Ecological and evolutive effects
Atmospheric and climatic effects

This just in:

Yes, man has successfully created the first living organism. Its a cell... w00T! EPIC WIN! Haha, but actually this cell is the groundbreaking foundation for a new generation of science called Synthetic Biology.

This cell can replicate and Synthetic Biologists are saying that this cell will be used in...

Fuels
Medicine
Growth
Artificial Life (that has a while to go)
http://timnovate.wordpress.com/2010/05/21/hello-cynthia-first-man-made-cell/

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=rat+neuron+dish+flight+simulator
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/10/041022104658.htm
'Brain' In A Dish Acts As Autopilot, Living Computer
a collection of 25,000 living neurons, or nerve cells, taken from a rat's brain and cultured inside a glass dish
interacts with an F-22 fighter jet flight simulator through a specially designed plate called a multi-electrode array and a common desktop computer
essentially a dish with 60 electrodes arranged in a grid at the bottom
brain and the simulator establish a two-way connection, similar to how neurons receive and interpret signals from each other to control our bodies.
scientists can decode how a neural network establishes connections and begins to compute,
You see one extend a process, pull it back, extend it out – and it may do that a couple of times, just sampling who's next to it, until over time the connectivity starts to establish itself," he said. "(The brain is) getting its network to the point where it's a live computation device."
the neurons first receive information from the computer about flight conditions: whether the plane is flying straight and level or is tilted to the left or to the right. The neurons then analyze the data and respond by sending signals to the plane's controls. Those signals alter the flight path and new information is sent to the neurons, creating a feedback system.
the brain currently is able to control the pitch and roll of the simulated aircraft in weather conditions ranging from blue skies to stormy, hurricane-force winds,
the crucial bit of information between inputs and the stuff that comes out

Myth has granted Tsahìk cooperation in processing omnidirectional units uninfluenced by speaker azimuth. We have formed a tsampongu, tslolam? My tsmuke and my tsmukan are agents. I am a toktor. Are you txen? Can you hear the Utral Aymokriyä? Your voice is a vul among the Utral Aymokriyä. Directions to the next ultxa, which will occur Albada, are written on the obelisk beside the Ithaenc Cathedral in Thistledown.

[Tíngay outíngay]

Just a joking question my good man. (this is Jono by the way, not Sam, He or Him)
What was going on in your mind? There might be a logical connection between all of these, but as far as i see it not only is it a wall of text, there seems to be no understanding of the subject matter shown in this wall of text. There also seems to be no logical lead on from one to another in any real meaningful way (sorry, got distracted by a tangential segment of my mind there (sorry, that was a gift from Sam and He)).

Just some quick thoughts from reading this and the sites that you have put in there.

[Mythrandia]

Plants sense touch.  They respond to attackers by using toxins, or lowering the nutrient value of their food.  They have long-distance signalling systems.  A site being attacked releases a signal molecule into a medium, and flows through this medium until it accumulates into the systemic tissue, where active sites on the signal molecule (e.g. an a,b-unsaturated carbonyl site) bind to sites on membrane proteins, triggering a cascade of organized reactions.  Signal molecules float through the air, preparing sites on the plant for signal pulses that travel through the tissue.  Nearby plants can eavesdrop on airborne signals.  A nearby plant with the signal-molecule vocabulary to recognize the existing threats is adapted to prepare itself for the threats that are affecting its neighbors.   Concentrations of these signal molecules in a given region fluctuate in response to changes in ecological parameters, such as temperature and concentrations of water/ozone.

Humans have recently recognized their ability to synthesize lifeforms by translating strings of characters stored from digital computers into sequences of base-pairs stored in self-replicating molecules that express selected traits in the synthetic lifeforms.  It is possible to grow a brain in a dish and use it to control an airplane.  Correspondingly, it is possible to grow lifeforms that act as biosensors to detect presence of signal molecules, and relay that information to a brain in a dish that monitors ecological parameters on a global scale.  It is feasible to build Ewya.

[Niwantaw]

lets get right on it then