Rebecca Haumann, from Erika Edwards' (http://www.brown.edu/Research/Edwards_Lab/index.php) Plant Diversity course at Brown University (Biol 0430), describes how different plants cope with drying out.
Visit creaturecast.org for more stories about the unexpected world of Biology.
The hand-drawn animations were photographed at the Brown University Science Center (http://brown.edu/academics/science-center/). The music is "gentle marimba" by Alastair Cameron (http://www.cameronmusic.co.uk/).
[taxonomy:binomial=Polypodium polypodioides]
2010-11-20 Lower Austria, district Wiener Neustadt-Land (1240 msm Quadrant 8260/2).German name: Lanzen-SchildfarnID is provisional; no microscopic evidence was available - update 2013-02-02: ID corrected by Stamnariophilus, see below and also here.
2010.06.13 Lower Austria, Hollabrunn/Thaya National Park (300 m AMSL).Rare, that is if ID is correct.Sporangia in july/august.German name: Grnspitz-Streifenfarn (?!)ID: Fischer & al., Exkursionsflora (2008 3rd): ID is provisional as sporangia weren't developped yet and as young plants of Asplenium trichomanes show stems which are green at the tip (and will grow brown later) while those of A. adulterinum have green-tipped stems even on adult plants; I will try and back up ID through visiting the same place later this year - as A. adulterinum only grows on serpentine and magnesite this species is rather rare but the green tip still balances ID towards this species.
On a bank in forest north of Casadero along the road to the Cedars but not in the serpentine area (Sonoma County, California, US). This is a fairly dissected form of P. californicum but is not dissected enough to be P. dudleyi and has narrower fronds than that species. Image I12-0437, Feb. 4th 2012.