Seams in the Mist (M.Sc.)
In September of 2024 I travelled to Sabah, Malaysia, to collect data for my M.Sc. thesis: Seams in the Mist. I found genetic differentiation between populations of four species of dipterocarps (Dipterocarpaceae Blume) in varying trait dimensions, and that these were influenced by progenic environmental gradients. I also inventoried proxies to insect communities and was able to identify traits influencing their community structure. There was a clear linear pathway from genetic and environmental influence on trait expression to said traits influencing extended phenotypes. This is a novel discovery for the dipterocarps, and one of few studies finding extended phenotypic expression in the humid tropics. And since their traits influence this phenotypic extension, any manipulation of them will introduce selection on symbionts.
Humans have been breeding crops for utility for thousands of years. Forest trees are now bred for commerce across the world. In Sweden, today, hundreds of millions of conifer seedlings are planted every year to regenerate logged forests so to dominate the canopy in the future. And there are no criteria for reducing their extended phenotypes’ diversities; no concern for their associated communities and their dependency on host genetics. Studies like this contribute with evidence supporting a sober approach to tree-breeding through acknowledging the infinitely complex dynamics of ecological genetics and forces us to consider the fact that genetic content produces tendrils that reach far beyond the expression of its own body. I do not think I could sum this up better than this of part of the thesis discussion:
“As selection coerces dipterocarp populations to float between their respective ends of resource economic spectra, their foliar communities shrink and expand at the behest of niche spaces, weaving and folding through time. It is no longer adequate to consider genomes as conspecific entities; genes change through selection beyond populations. Therefore, as dipterocarp genetic diversity continues to degrade, cascades bereaving substrate for their extended foliar phenotypes ought to be expected. My results extend the empirical evidence supporting ecocentric, and not phytocentric, approaches to plant-breeding.”
Carabidocoenoses and Fragments of Forests (B.Sc.)
Early 2023 I wrote my B.Sc. thesis in forest biology: Carabidocoenoses and Fragments of Forests. I aimed at developing a method of quantifying functional landscape scale and land-type effects on taxa sampled in positions. The models are based on ground beetle (Carabidae Latreille) pitfall trap data, which effectively can be substituted with any population data of biologically limited taxa—as to keep ecological contingency during analysis—sampled in positions.
The final product makes me proud, perhaps detrimentally. As its author, I have a decent understanding of the thesis’ limits, which I, in my opinion, make clear in the discussion. In my view, therefore, these probably undermine my work gratuitously. Nevertheless, I feel uncomfortable claiming any adamant conclusions. Reading ecological literature and writing the analysis did, on the contrary, confidently inspire some ephemeral thought on landscapes—the ubiquitous subject of my writing. Some of these were captured in the prologue, which I, in hindsight appropriately, wrote post hoc. If I were to claim anything, which I learned as a consequence of producing this thesis, I would selfishly quote its, spiritually, final paragraph:
“Functionally, then, landscapes are the arenas of interactive change. Change as the volatilization of the current state, not necessarily continually in any direction. Change in a self-governing vector of an overwhelming amount of dimensions, unbound by their faculties. Change through the integration of collaborative fundamental principles, endlessly wrestling with environmental entropy. An open and truly incorporative system, incapable of dilution and thus ultimately illuminating. Landscapes produce the meaningful interconnectedness between individuals—the sources of being—and habitats—the hosts of all life.”
Below is the self-published version. The official version is available in the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences’ archive.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Simon H. Arns
