OK So. As you may know my dad is a colonel in the army. He is brigade commander. ok So it works like this



team - like 4 peeps

2 teams in a squad

like 6 squads per platoon

3-4 platoons per company

4-6 companys in a batalian

then like 5 batalians is a brigade...


So my dad has to watch like ALL these people.. and he has to make sure there good and stuff... and ya so there is like ALOT of new peeps

So like there is like idk but for somereason we went to this place where the new peeps live and i was looking at there yard and there wer super super super short dandelines like... litterally like no stem...


can anyone guess why all the dandelines have like NO stem in this new peeps area... i know why but i want you to guess!


is there any army peeps in here??? i bet they no y too lol

I've got to admit, that post was pretty painful to read. It's very good that you are interested in science, but can you please work on writing. It's just as important as understanding dandelion adaptation, or how neurons work, etc.

I don't want to be a complete troll, so I'll guess that it has something to do with how the recruits are treated to toughen them up, or whatever. Something the new guys have to do?

so BarbieGirl...do you have any military documents your dad has? just for fun peeka-booo, send some of them to me.

Since when does the Army allow beards?

I'm going to give this thread one day to come up to some semblance of biology

so BarbieGirl...do you have any military documents your dad has? just for fun peeka-booo, send some of them to me.

Draqon.. you want to trade military secrets don't you ? First get me the Nukes. then we'll talk...:D

Anyways, what the hell do dandelions have to do with army training ? Or am i just confused ? or is it Confuzed ?

stems are a waste because army will just walk and break them?

Well, I guess the Army makes the new peeps do dumb stuff when there bad. Like clean toylets or pick dandelines or cut grass with scisors.

So everyday the new peeps have to go pick l the dandelines from the yard.

so naturally the higher the dandelines are, the easier they are seen and easier to be picked.. they never get a chance to spread there seeds.

The dandelines with no or really really low stems are super close to the ground so they are harder to see and harder to pick.

So the dandelines in that area adapted a better way to be able to survive there predator!!!

Its evolution right in front of our eyes

=D
next time I go, ill get a pic

Do u like it??

yeah I suppose in time stems would shrink

the army is retarded

babie how long has that been a base?

It takes centuries for that kind of evolution to happen not a couple of years

babie how long has that been a base?

It takes centuries for that kind of evolution to happen not a couple of years

Evolution doesn't take centuries. If you define evolution as the change in allele frequencies over time, then evolution can occur in as little as one generation. Darwin himself had many breeding experiments demonstrating that you could select for all sorts of traits in a very short period of time.

Assume that stem length is controlled by a single allele, and that that allele exists in the population of dandelions in such a way that some dandelions WILL be shorter than others. This means that the short allele is dominant over the long allele, that there is some degree of codominance, or several short homozygotes exist.

Assume that there is no genetic flow into the population.

Assume that being shorter offers some fitness advantage.

Over time, the longer dandelions will be cut down, and only the short ones will persist.

Of course, with dandelions, we know that the population is not isolated, so there is gene flow into the population. Stem length is probably controlled by multiple locii, and dominance is probably not complete. That doesn't matter, of course, since there is still selection for short stemmed dandelions.

What happens, most likely, is that dandelions seed themselves from nearby and grow. Some have long stems, some have short. Then the military guys cut them down, and all that are left are the short ones. In fact, no evolution could be taking place, if gene flow into the field was high enough. Despite the tall ones being cut, field would be continuously reseeded, essentially setting the metapopulation's allele frequency to the field's allele frequency.

It may not even be that complicated. Dandelions could simply have varying length stems on the same plant, and the long ones are simply cut down.

i was about to write that maybe it was simply a case that she had come along AFTER the long stem ones had been picked already but you already said that:p

Just for interest sake there are dandilons here with no stems (and we live FAR away from US bases:p) so i doubt it had anything to do with the millatry. If anything its more likly got to do with the lawn mower but even thats iffy. It could be just how they grow:p

If tall dandelions were cut by either mower or grunt, before they could reproduce, then you could possibly see fixation to a short dandelion. This is fairly likely, given their short generations, ubiquity of habitat (most dandelions are under the same selection pressures, as they all occupy similar habitat, thus gene flow would be of little importance), and the fact that having your botanical dick hacked off would certainly reduce fitness (in other words, a high selection coefficient).

Roman that ignores outside influance though ie the dandlions on the road side that the counciles never seem to get around to cutting. Your right though it would advantage those that go under the mower without being cut

Here is a question though, if thats the case why dont OTHER grasses that we use as lawns adapt to have grass seeds (and leaves) that never need moving because they grow to less than 20mm (for aguments sake:p)

There are grasses that are short and stubby. Crabgrass, for instance. For whatever reason, though, we want a grass that needs mowing. And given the nature of the common lawn, it's not surprising that we need to mow it.

There is relatively little herbivory or disturbance. Water and nitrogen are plentiful. The only limiting factor is who gets the sunlight. So without mowing, grasses want to grow as tall as possible.

Say you got a grass that only grew up 20 mm. Terrific. You stop mowing, your lawn looks great. For a little while. Then a species of grass moves in that grows to 200mm. Shucks. Looks like you're going to have to mow. Though what we plant in our lawns is as much a product of culture as it is anything else. It's meant to be a futile, meaningless exercise.

I doubt there is any adaptation here. When plants are cut, they grow out shorter and bushier without changing genes.

It's so unfair. It's been so cloudy and rainy... I didn't notice till now.. dandelines like sun lol.


Anyways... wait till u see them lol.. they r like LOW.. lower then n e i ever seen..... its definitly not normal

It's so unfair. It's been so cloudy and rainy... I didn't notice till now.. dandelines like sun lol.


Anyways... wait till u see them lol.. they r like LOW.. lower then n e i ever seen..... its definitly not normal

oh yeah and soon they will get real low, so low that you want be able to see them. *spooky*