CONTINUITY OF INTRASPECIES CHANGE AND IMPOSSIBILITY OF TRANSITION BETWEEN SPECIES

Prof. Dr. Murat ÜNAL¹, Prof. Dr. Lütfi BEHÇET^2
1Van Yüzüncü Yıl University. Faculty of Education. Biology Education Department, Van.
²Bingöl UniversityFaculty of Arts and Sciences, BiologyDepartment.
muratunal yyu.edu.tr

Biosystematic studies, which are shaped by the development of science and technology, show that each species is created with its own characteristics.

Every living being is equipped by the Creator with the ability to give answers to the environment within the limits of its genetic potential. Those answers actually form a continuity in series of continuation. This continuity in the biological activity of an living being is called ecocline in the sense of ecological line. If the species’ ecological boundaries and their responses to the environment are not studied in detail, intraspecies variations are often defined as different species by mistake. With this diversification series, they aim to meet the need for intermediate forms under thecover of science. The concept of ecological line shows us that each species is limited to its genetic codes, that those limits can only be changed by the will of the Creator, and that this wise change cannot be attributed to the environmental effects that are deprived of the ability to plan and target. In the past, it was accepted that intraspecies changes were intermittent and stair-stepped; the plant whoseeach difference in these steps was reflected on the phenotype was called ecotype (ecological type). However, recent research has shown that the changes in the species are continuous and that it showed continuity depending on the changing ecology along a line and hence has shown that there is no new ecotype formation after an ecotype is formed with a definite termination.

A lot of work has been done to explain the relationship between living beings and the environment until today and the basic principles that determine the outlines of this relationship have been tried to be put forward. However, a claim that the creation of the universe, the functioning of its laws, the perfect design of the living beings were all made and are still being made by something blind, deaf and ignorant thing called nature (all of the living and non-living beings in the universe), which has no will and which is deprived of the ability to plan, has been imposed as science. Every living thing is created with the equipment and ability to live in certain environments. The interaction between the environment and living beings is the subject of ecology. The issues of when, within which limits and how a living being that develops in an environment is given the ability to give new responses in order to make its life easy are the issues that interest  plant genetics and plant morphology as well as plant ecology. Besides, the feedback of the plant’s responses to the changing environment and the investigation of the relevant foundations interest physiology and genetics as well as ecology. Therefore, it is necessary to know some ecological basic concepts and to consider them together in order to understand the interaction. Some of those basic concepts are as follows: ecosystem (every thinker needs to accept fact that there is no system without a plan and program), law of the minimum and rules of tolerance.

The universe, the solar system, the world and seasons are necessary for the formation of an apple. One thing interacts with everything in the universe. Therefore, in order to place one thing in its proper place, it is necessary to know the relationship network and the place of everything in the system and to manage the system.

About 100 years ago, a researcher named Humboldt wrote that everything was to some extent connected and in solidarity; the King Friedrich called it ecosystem; it was also called holocoenotic. The concept of ecosystem was also demonstrated by Billings that a single environmental factor cannot influence the abundance or distribution of species and the isolation of a species because environmental factors act together and are in solidarity. [1] Therefore, plant distribution has been accepted as the best determinant of the study of all important environmental factors. We can explain it with an example: In addition to non-living agents such as soil, light, water and gases for the formation of an apple, pollinator insects are necessary for the formation of the apple seed; besides, micro and macro organisms in the soil, i.e. biotic components are necessary for the development of the seed. Thus, the universe, the solar system, the world and seasons are necessary for the formation of an apple. One thing interacts with everything in the universe. Therefore, in order to place one thing in its proper place, it is necessary to know the relationship network and the place of everything in the system and to manage the system. This is possible only by a master planner with infinite power and management by only one being.Therefore, it is not possible to take part in the ecosystem in an unplanned and unscheduled manner.

In 1840, Justusvon Liebig, an agriculturist and physiologist, stated that any crop developed based on the nutrient with the lowest amount among the nutrients in the soil; he called it the “law of the minimum”. However, in the scientific world today, the substances used by plants in the least amount in the soil are not regarded as only limiting, but instead whichever factor that the living being needs is below the critical level (the factors like water used by the plant in large amounts are also limiting) is considered the most important limiting factor in development. Although the development and spread of a species in certain areas is shaped according to the common effects of all environmental factors on varying scale, the limiting value of one of these factors is more (critical level) in the foreground than the effects of other factors.

The American animal ecologist Victor Shelford (1913), inspired by Liebig’s results, developed a concept called ‘tolerance theory’ in 193 for the first time. This theory states that one species being tolerant to one factor does not mean that it will be tolerant to another factor, that organisms with large tolerance spread to larger areas and that if a factor is not suitable for the species, its tolerance to other factors will also change. [2]

Each plant species responds to the environment based on the abilities inherent in its nature. Those responses become visible in its phenotype (outward appearance). Therefore, the responses given to the environment change as the characteristics of the environment change. However, if the environment changes gradually, those responses will continue based on change along the line where the ecology changes; it is called the ecocline (ecological line).

Intra-species change is the response given by each member of a species to the environment they are located in. The response is not unlimited. The border is determined by the Creator.

We will try to explain it with an example: Suppose that we take bean seeds taken from the same bean plant and sow themin a line beginning from the district of Kuşadası (Aydın) sea level elevation (0 m) from the coast and randomly along a line ending at 5137 m height of Mount Ağrı (Ararat) at 1 km intervals (the distance between those two cities is 1648 km). The ecological characteristics (climate, topography, soil characteristics, biotic effects, etc.) change from as we movethe coast of Aydın to Mount Ağrı. Therefore, the progress of bean seeds sown at 1 km intervals and the response of the beans to the changing environment will change. There will be many changes in the phenotype of the plant from Kuşadası to Mount Ağrı and there will be many different bean variants in appearance to some extent.

When the bean plants growing from the seeds sown at 1648 points between the two cities are examined, many different ecotypes will be seen. However, physiological responses in the growing bean plants are in the form of a continuous change depending on ecology. The plants in each step were named as “ecotypes” for the macro changes seen only in morphology, with the understanding as if ecotypes were separated with a definite boundary (the change was previously thought as a ladder step). It is now accepted that this change is uninterrupted, that the physiological responses constantly change along a line (Figure 1) (even if the changes at the micro level are not seen in the phenotype); that is, the view of “ecocline”, which means change along the ecological line, is more appropriate. [3]

This state, which we can call intra-species change, is the response given by each member of a species to the environment they are located in. The response is not unlimited. The border is determined by the Creator. Even to think that the change is limitless will bring questions that we will not be able to answer such as: “Where will the species stop?”“Will the species be able to survive at the point where it is?” However, there is no confusion and uncertainty in the real world. It means the Creator, who creates everything, controls His creatures every moment. He does not leave anything up to chance, nature and the species itself.

At the beginning of the twentieth century (in 1922), a research was made by scientists from 4 different branches (consisting of geneticists, physiologists, taxonomists and ecologists) along a transect (323 km) starting fromsea level elevation in North America to the height of 3600 m; they watched 60 species (they started with 180 species) for 16 years and evaluated the results. It was found in the research that responses to the changing environment were shaped at a certain time and that their reinstatement wouldhappen in the course of time. [4]

Findings

This research was made along a long line of 400 km in the east of Turkey between Bingöl andVan provinces. There are different ecologies such as vegetation diversity, changing soil structure, topography, precipitation and climate characteristics there.

Figure 1. The concept of ecocline. Diagrams showing the difference between the concepts of ecotype and ecocline. At the initial step, the ecotypes are different and separate due to discontinuity in the morphology and other characteristics of each one (vertical lines indicate discontinuity). In ecocline, there is no discontinuity; the variation is completely continuous (modified from Barbour, Burk & Pitts 1987).

Figure 2. Photograph 1. A close-up view of the striped squill (Puschkinia scilloides).

The morphological and phenological structure of Striped Squill (Puschkinia scilloides), which is given in the picture in Figure 2, which is granted by Allah the genetic potential to live in a wide area, were examined. The results were compared with the values in the Flora of Turkey (Table 1).

Table 1 Comparison of the morphological characteristics of Striped Squill (Puschkinia scilloides)

In addition, the ecological foundations of morphological and phenotypic differentiation was tried to be supported by soil analysis (Table 2).

Table 2. Soil characteristics of the habitats in different regions where Striped Squill (P. scilloides) develops

Discussion

There are many variations in several characteristics like the plant length, leaf size and number of flowers, which are phenotypical features, of the Striped Squill (Puschkinia scilloides), which has a wide distribution in the east of Turkey, in the samples collected in the provinces of Bingöl and Van. In the soil where we collected the striped squill samples that develop around the forests in the province of Bingöl, the amount of phosphorus (P2O5) is 8.24 kg/da, the rate of lime (CaCO3) is % 4.43, the amount of organic substances is 12.1% and pH is 7.2 in % 1.12 while in the soil where we collected the P. Scilloides samples that develop on Mount Pirreşit in the province of Van and that are in compliance with the definition in the Flora of Turkey, there is no phosphorus (P2O5), the rate of lime (CaCO3) is % 0.88, the amount of organic substances is 5.35% and pH is 6.5. [5] These two environments, in which the striped squill develop, are under the influence of quite different ecology. This different ecology affects the physiology of the plant, causing important anatomical and morphological differences. For, the climate (rainfall, temperature, light, wind, etc.) topography and soil features cause very different physiological events and ecophysiological behaviors in the plant. [6] For instance, the cold impact at high altitudes affects the disintegration of organic matter adversely; the organic matter is very high and the phosphorus amount is very low in the soils where the Striped Squill develop on Mount Pirreşit but theamount of organic matter is less and phosphorus is high around the forests in the province of Bingöl: This indicates the difference in biological activity of microorganisms in two habitats.[7]

Conclusion

This state, which we can call intra-species change, is the response given by each member of a species to the environment they are located in. The response is not unlimited. The border is determined by the Creator.

Biosystematic studies, which are shaped by the development of science and technology, show that each species is created with its own characteristics. As the biological data are produced, the place of the species in the living world becomes clear. These data show that nature, causes and self-occurrence are not possible. Therefore, it is clear that the attempts to attribute all scientific data to a common ancestor with the preliminary acceptance of the common ancestor is absolutely meaningless

With the development of technology in recognizing plants, observations with the naked eye are gradually being replaced by in-depth examination with instruments and accumulation of knowledge in detail and at the atomic level. Therefore, as our knowledge about plants increases,the creatures we previously described as simple turn out to be as complex as or more complex and subtler than the ones that we described as complex.

This state, which we can call intra-species change, is the response given by each member of a species to the environment they are located in. The response is not unlimited. The border is determined by the Creator.

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[1] Billings,W. D., 1952. The Environmental Complex in Relation to Plant Growth and Distribution. The Quarterly Review of Biology 27, no. 3: 251-265.
[2] Öztürk, M.,Pirdal, M., Gökçeoğlu, M., Tokur, S., 1989.Bitkilerde Ekotipik Farklılaşma, Doğa TU Botanik D. 13.3: 572-583; Öztürk, M., Seçmen, Ö., Bitki Ekolojisi, Ege Üniversitesi, Fen Fakültesi Yayınları, Yayın No: 141, 1996, İzmir – Bornova
[3] Barbour M.G., Burk J.H.&Pitts W.D., 1987. Terrestrial Plant Ecology. The Benjamin/ Cummings Publishing Company, Inc. California. USA.
[4] Barbour, Burk &Pitts, . ibid.
[5] Davis, P.H., 1984. Davis, P.H., Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands,Vol.8, Edinburgh Univ. Press., Edinburgh. 1984.
[6] Öztürk, M.,Pirdal, M., Gökçeoğlu, M., Tokur, S., 1989.Bitkilerde Ekotipik Farklılaşma, Doğa TU Botanik D. 13.3: 572-583
[7] Behçet, L., Ünal, M., 2001. Doğu Anadolu Bölgesinde B Karelerinde Toplanan Çeşitli Taksonlarda Belirlenen Varyasyonlar, Gazi Üniversitesi Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü Dergisi, 14 (4): 1095-1116.