The future climate adapted gardens : the green rooms of Elisefarm: a garden design study focused on plants

I det här examensarbetet undersöks möjlig gestaltning av växtval för att motverka och bli anpassade till klimatförändringarna i Skåne år 2055. De förhöjda mängderna växthusgaser i atmosfären påverkar temperaturen i på jorden. På norra halvklotet kommer klimatzonerna flyttas mot nordligare breddgrader. Klimatet i Skåne kommer att förändras på grund av klimatförändringarna och därmed även växtligheten. Sommarhalvåret kommer att bli varmare, nederbörden kommer minska och vegetationsperioden bli längre. Därmed kommer detta att påverka vilka växter som kan användas i trädgårdssammanhang för att klara de nya förändrade väderförhållanden. Ett nytt bostadsområde ska uppföras på Elisefarms mark och två tomter kommer i det här examensarbetet att gestaltas efter dess ståndort ur ett nytt klimatperspektiv. Uppdraget går ut på att göra två tilltalande förslag med växterna i fokus. Arbetets syfte är att informera trädgårdsägare växternas verkan på klimatet och val av växter. Frågeställningarna undersöks genom litteratur för att kartlägga framtidens klimat i Skåne samt genom att studera bäst lämpligt växtmaterial som kan mildra eller passa in på den framtida klimatsituationen samt gestalta tomterna ur bästa klimatperspektiv. Två ståndpunkter som tagits i beaktning. Hur kan vi/ eller kan vi genom smart planering av små trädgårdar bidra till att minska vår påverkan på klimatet och bromsa den negativa utvecklingen? Vilka växtval ska göras med växtlighet givet de förändringar som sker i vår klimatzon? Växtlistor med främst perenner tas fram med grund av litteraturen och genereras till gestaltningen. Arbetet frambringar illustrationsplaner, sektioner, planteringsplaner som förmedlar för blivande tomtägare och läsare.This thesis examines possible design of plant selection to counteract and to adapt to the climate changes in Skåne in 2055. The increased amounts of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere affect the temperature on earth. In the Northern Hemisphere, the climate zones will be moved towards more northerly latitudes. The climate in Skåne will change due to the climate changes and thus the vegetation as well. The summer semester will be warmer, precipitation will decrease and the vegetation period will be longer. Thus, this will affect which plants can be used in a garden context to cope with the new changed weather conditions. A new residential area is to be built on Elisefarm’s land, and two plots of land will be studied in this thesis according to their location from a new climate perspective. The task is to make two additional proposals with the plants in focus. The aim of the work is to inform garden owners about the effects of plants on the climate and the choice of plants. The questions are investigated through literature in order to map the future climate in Scania and by studying the most suitable plant material that can mitigate or fit into the future climate situation and shape the plots from the best climate perspective. Two positions taken into consideration are How can/or can we, through smart planning of small gardens, contribute to reducing our impact on the climate and slow down negative developments? What plant choices should be made with vegetation given the changes that are occurring in our climate zone? Plant lists with mainly perennials are produced on the basis of the literature and generated for the design. The work produces illustration plans, sections, planting plans that convey to prospective plot owners and readers

Motor control of locomotor hindlimb posture in the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis)

Crocodilians are unusual among quadrupedal tetrapods in their frequent use of a wide variety of hindlimb postures, ranging from sprawling to a more erect high walk. In this study, we use synchronized kinematic videos and electromyographic recordings to test how the activity patterns of hindlimb muscles in American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis Daudin) differ between sprawling and more upright postures. Previous force platform analyses suggested that upright posture in alligators would require greater activation by hindlimb extensors to counter increases in the flexor moments exerted about joints by the ground reaction force during upright stance. Consistent with these predictions, ankle extensors (gastrocnemius) and knee extensors (femorotibialis internus and iliotibialis 2) exhibit increases in signal intensity during the use of more upright stance. Bone loading data also predicted that activation patterns for hip adductors spanning the length of the femur would not differ between sprawling and more upright posture. Correspondingly, motor patterns of the adductor femoris were not altered as posture became more upright. However, the adductor puboischiofemoralis externus 3, which inserts far proximally on the femur, displays significant increases in burst intensity that could contribute to the greater femoral adduction that is integral to upright posture. In contrast to patterns in alligators, in mammals EMG burst intensity typically decreases during the use of upright posture. This difference in the motor control of limb posture between these taxa may be related to differences in the relative sizes of their feet. Alligator feet are large relative to the hindlimb and, as a result, the ground reaction force shifts farther from the limb joints during upright steps than in mammals, increasing flexor moments at joints and requiring alligator extensor muscles to exert greater forces to keep the limb in equilibrium. However, several alligator hindlimb muscles show no differences in motor pattern between sprawling and upright posture. The wide range of motor pattern modulations between different postures in alligators suggests considerable independence of neural control among the muscles of the alligator hindlimb

In vivo femoral strains in swimming turtles: Influence of locomotor medium on limb bone loading

The transition from aquatic to terrestrial habitats was an event in vertebrate evolution that preceded a sudden radiation of species. Subsequently some vertebrate lineages have returned to their ancestral aquatic habitats. It is known that vertebrate bone structure can vary depending on habitat. The evolutionary explanation for this is attributable to the fact that loads on the skeleton varies depending on the environment organisms inhabit. Terrestrial vertebrates would be expected to experience greater loads on their bones versus aquatic vertebrates due to body support demands, but there are no experimental data to test this hypothesis or quantify the difference. We tested how loads differed on the appendicular skeleton between use in terrestrial and aquatic habitats by recoding in vivo femoral strains during swimming and walking in turtles. We predicted that since swimming exerts less force on the limbs, peak load magnitudes would be lower during swimming versus walking, but that load peaks would be nearly equal during the thrust and recovery phases of the swimming limb cycle. Our data support our first prediction, with average peak strain magnitudes of swimming being half those of walking. Loading regimes were similar between both swimming and walking with compressive axial strains experienced dorsally on the femur. However, our second prediction was not supported, because peak strains were much higher during the thrust phase. Our results indicate that even when environmental forces are lessened, limb muscles play a large role in the production of bone loads

Mechanics of limb bone loading during terrestrial locomotion in river cooter turtles (Pseudemys concinna)

Studies of limb bone loading during terrestrial locomotion have focused primarily on birds and mammals. However, data from a broader functional and phylogenetic range of species are critical for understanding the evolution of limb bone function and design. Turtles are an interesting lineage in this context. Although their slow walking speeds and robust limb bones might lead to low locomotor forces and limb bone stresses similar to other non-avian reptiles, their highly sprawled posture could produce high bending loads, leading to high limb bone stresses similar to those of avian and mammalian species, as well as high torsion. To test between these possibilities, we evaluated stresses experienced by the femur of river cooter turtles (Pseudemys concinna) during terrestrial walking by synchronizing measurements of three-dimensional joint kinematics and ground reaction forces (GRFs) during isolated hindlimb footfalls. Further, we evaluated femoral safety factors for this species by comparing our locomotor stress calculations with the results of mechanical property tests. The net GRF magnitude at peak tensile bone stress averaged 0.35 BW (body weight) and was directed nearly vertically for the middle 40–65% of the contact interval, essentially orthogonal to the femur. Peak bending stresses experienced by the femur were low (tensile: 24.9±9.0 MPa; compressive: –31.1±9.1 MPa) and comparable to those in other reptiles, yet peak shear stresses were higher than those in other reptiles, averaging 13.7±4.2 MPa. Such high torsion is present despite cooters lacking a large tail, a feature that has been hypothesized to contribute to torsion in other reptiles in which the tail is dragged along the ground. Comparison of femoral stresses to measurements of limb bone mechanical properties in cooters indicates safety factors to yield of 13.9 in bending and 6.3 in torsion, considerably higher than values typical for birds and mammals, and closer to the elevated values calculated for other reptile species. Thus, not only do turtle limb bones seem considerably `over-designed\u27 for resisting the loads that they encounter, but comparisons of bone loading across tetrapod lineages are consistent with the hypothesis that low limb bone loads, elevated torsion and high safety factors may be primitive features of limb bone design

In vivo locomotor strain in the hind limb bones of Alligator mississipiensis and Iguana iguana: implications for the evolution of limb bone safety factor and non-sprawling limb posture.

Limb postures of terrestrial tetrapods span a continuum from sprawling to fully upright; however, most experimental investigations of locomotor mechanics have focused on mammals and ground-dwelling birds that employ parasagittal limb kinematics, leaving much of the diversity of tetrapod locomotor mechanics unexplored. This study reports measurements of in vivo locomotor strain from the limb bones of lizard (Iguana iguana) and crocodilian (Alligator mississippiensis) species, animals from previously unsampled phylogenetic lineages with non-parasagittal limb posture and kinematics. Principal strain orientations and shear strain magnitudes indicate that the limb bones of these species experience considerable torsion during locomotion. This contrasts with patterns commonly observed in mammals, but matches predictions from kinematic observations of axial rotation in lizard and crocodilian limbs. Comparisons of locomotor load magnitudes with the mechanical properties of limb bones in Alligator and Iguana indicate that limb bone safety factors in bending for these species range from 5.5 to 10.8, as much as twice as high as safety factors previously calculated for mammals and birds. Limb bone safety factors in shear (3.9-5.4) for Alligator and Iguana are also moderately higher than safety factors to yield in bending for birds and mammals. Finally, correlations between limb posture and strain magnitudes in Alligator show that at some recording locations limb bone strains can increase during upright locomotion, in contrast to expectations based on size-correlated changes in posture among mammals that limb bone strains should decrease with the use of an upright posture. These data suggest that, in some lineages, strain magnitudes may not have been maintained at constant levels through the evolution of a non-sprawling posture unless the postural change was accompanied by a shift to parasagittal kinematics or by an evolutionary decrease in body size

Mechanics of limb bone loading during terrestrial locomotion in the green iguana (Iguana iguana) and American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis)

In vivo measurements of strain in the femur and tibia of Iguana iguana (Linnaeus) and Alligator mississippiensis (Daudin) have indicated three ways in which limb bone loading in these species differs from patterns observed in most birds and mammals: (i) the limb bones of I. iguana and A. mississippiensis experience substantial torsion, (ii) the limb bones of I. iguana and A. mississippiensis have higher safety factors than those of birds or mammals, and (iii) load magnitudes in the limb bones of A. mississippiensis do not decrease uniformly with the use of a more upright posture. To verify these patterns, and to evaluate the ground and muscle forces that produce them, we collected three-dimensional kinematic and ground reaction force data from subadult I. iguana and A. mississippiensis using a force platform and high-speed video. The results of these force/kinematic studies generally confirm the loading regimes inferred from in vivo strain measurements. The ground reaction force applies a torsional moment to the femur and tibia in both species; for the femur, this moment augments the moment applied by the caudofemoralis muscle, suggesting large torsional stresses. In most cases, safety factors in bending calculated from force/video data are lower than those determined from strain data, but are as high or higher than the safety factors of bird and mammal limb bones in bending. Finally, correlations between limb posture and calculated stress magnitudes in the femur of I. iguana confirm patterns observed during direct bone strain recordings from A. mississippiensis: in more upright steps, tensile stresses on the anterior cortex decrease, but peak compressive stresses on the dorsal cortex increase. Equilibrium analyses indicate that bone stress increases as posture becomes more upright in saurians because the ankle and knee extensor muscles exert greater forces during upright locomotion. If this pattern of increased bone stress with the use of a more upright posture is typical of taxa using non-parasagittal kinematics, then similar increases in load magnitudes were probably experienced by lineages that underwent evolutionary shifts to a non-sprawling posture. High limb bone safety factors and small body size in these lineages could have helped to accommodate such increases in limb bone stress

SJÄLVETS OLIDLIGA LÄTTHET

I denna artikel kommer självet att diskuteras utifrån ett något annorlunda perspektiv. Genom att fokusera på den enskildes ekologiska sammanhang och positionering förs diskussionen kring självet ur ett interaktionistiskt perspektiv. I artikeln argumenterar jag för att självet bör förstås som ett tillstånd, där den enskildes existens, varat, kommuniceras med omgivningen. Argumentationen baseras på ett socialpsykologiskt perspektiv betraktat utifrån existentialistiska ställningstaganden. Detta perspektiv medför att en sociopsykologisk intervention eller prevention, måste utgå från den enskildes självbild. En självbild som skapas, omskapas och upprätthålls i en ekologisk miljö. Självbilden är inte bara en individuell konstruktion, eller ontologisk realitet, självet är en existentiell kommunikation i syfte att bli sedd och att se

Performance and scaling of a novel locomotor structure: adhesive capacity of climbing gobiid fishes

Many species of gobiid fishes adhere to surfaces using a sucker formed from fusion of the pelvic fins. Juveniles of many amphidromous species use this pelvic sucker to scale waterfalls during migrations to upstream habitats after an oceanic larval phase. However, adults may still use suckers to re-scale waterfalls if displaced. If attachment force is proportional to sucker area and if growth of the sucker is isometric, then increases in the forces that climbing fish must resist might outpace adhesive capacity, causing climbing performance to decline through ontogeny. To test for such trends, we measured pressure differentials and adhesive suction forces generated by the pelvic sucker across wide size ranges in six goby species, including climbing and non-climbing taxa. Suction was achieved via two distinct growth strategies: (1) small suckers with isometric (or negatively allometric) scaling among climbing gobies and (2) large suckers with positively allometric growth in non-climbing gobies. Species using the first strategy show a high baseline of adhesive capacity that may aid climbing performance throughout ontogeny, with pressure differentials and suction forces much greater than expected if adhesion were a passive function of sucker area. In contrast, large suckers possessed by non-climbing species may help compensate for reduced pressure differentials, thereby producing suction sufficient to support body weight. Climbing Sicyopterus species also use oral suckers during climbing waterfalls, and these exhibited scaling patterns similar to those for pelvic suckers. However, oral suction force was considerably lower than that for pelvic suckers, reducing the ability for these fish to attach to substrates by the oral sucker alone

Forelimb kinematics and motor patterns of swimming loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta): are motor patterns conserved in the evolution of new locomotor strategies?

Novel functions in animals may evolve through changes in morphology, muscle activity or a combination of both. The idea that new functions or behavior can arise solely through changes in structure, without concurrent changes in the patterns of muscle activity that control movement of those structures, has been formalized as the neuromotor conservation hypothesis. In vertebrate locomotor systems, evidence for neuromotor conservation is found across evolutionary transitions in the behavior of terrestrial species, and in evolutionary transitions from terrestrial species to flying species. However, evolutionary transitions in the locomotion of aquatic species have received little comparable study to determine whether changes in morphology and muscle function were coordinated through the evolution of new locomotor behavior. To evaluate the potential for neuromotor conservation in an ancient aquatic system, we quantified forelimb kinematics and muscle activity during swimming in the loggerhead sea turtle, Caretta caretta. Loggerhead forelimbs are hypertrophied into wing-like flippers that produce thrust via dorsoventral forelimb flapping. We compared kinematic and motor patterns from loggerheads with previous data from the red-eared slider, Trachemys scripta, a generalized freshwater species exhibiting unspecialized forelimb morphology and anteroposterior rowing motions during swimming. For some forelimb muscles, comparisons between C. caretta and T. scripta support neuromotor conservation; for example, the coracobrachialis and the latissimus dorsi show similar activation patterns. However, other muscles (deltoideus, pectoralis and triceps) do not show neuromotor conservation; for example, the deltoideus changes dramatically from a limb protractor/elevator in sliders to a joint stabilizer in loggerheads. Thus, during the evolution of flapping in sea turtles, drastic restructuring of the forelimb was accompanied by both conservation and evolutionary novelty in limb motor patterns