[Taxacom] Another interesting paper (1981) on divaricates, moas, and climate

[Kenneth Kinman]

Dear All,
        After reading that paper by Greenwood and Atkinson, 1977, I then read a followup paper by McGlone and Webb, 1981.  They say "In this paper we restate the 'climatic' hypothesis for the origin of divaricating plants, first proposed by Diels (1897), and since elaborated and extended by other authors."
        That makes more sense than moas.  Environmental factors, such as harsh climate (but perhaps soil fertility as well?), were probably selective factors influencing the increase of divaricating plants in various parts of the world.  When moas came along later in New Zealand, their browsing probably just added yet another selection factor which results in New Zealand having a greater percentage of divaricates than anywhere else.   Moas had nothing to do with the origin of divaricating plants (which happened earlier).
        But what triggered the actual origin of divarication is still the question.  Environmental factors (harsh climate; and perhaps soil fertility?) would probably just be selection factors favoring divaricating plants in some regions after divarication arose.   How such plants actually originated seems to be a separate question from what selective factors then affected their differential survival in various places.   Even California and Arizona have quite a few such plants, although their form of divarication is apparently often less extreme than in places like New Zealand.
       Anyway, here is a weblink to the paper by McGlone and Webb, 1981:   https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1770/567d9e7bfda13ee4d473ed4ca3a07f549bb0.pdf
                          ------------------Ken Kinman
P.S.  I just read the paper "Hungry Moas and Divaricating Shrubs", which also concluded that moas had nothing to do with the "origins" of divaricating plants.

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From: Taxacom <taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu> on behalf of Kenneth Kinman via Taxacom <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
Sent: Thursday, November 7, 2019 8:19 PM
To: taxacom <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Moas and divaricates

Note that only members of that Society can access the current newsletter at their website.
There is a very interesting paper (Greenwood and Atkinson, 1977) on this subject available online (see weblink below).
                                  ---------------Ken Kinman

                  https://newzealandecology.org/nzje/2780.pdf


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From: Taxacom <taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu> on behalf of John Grehan via Taxacom <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
Sent: Thursday, November 7, 2019 5:50 PM
To: taxacom <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
Subject: [Taxacom] Moas and divaricates

For anyone interested in host plant relationships of extinct moas and the
origin of divaricating plants there is a small article published in the
Botanical Society of Otago on that subject. If interested, I can provide a
pdf or you can access the newsletter at the Society websites at
https://www.bso.org.nz/newsletter It is the most recent newsletter.

Grehan, J.R. Hungry Moas and Divaricating Shrubs. Botanical Society of
Otago Newsletter 88: 19-22.
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