Question

In the autumn, squirrels store acorns for the winter using a distributed file system. Unfortunately, the squirrels may not remember where their resources are stored, leading to a lossy file system. As a result, some acorns grow into trees which consume carbon dioxide. Design another computer operating system that likewise battles global climate change by strategically losing track of data. How does the OS determine which data should be discarded and which should be retained?

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Answer 1

• The two researchers are studying why squirrels cache only certain acorns of the 32 species of oaks across eastern North America.
• The studies by Steele and Smallwood, associate professor of biology at the University of Richmond, could have a significant impact on oak forest regeneration.
• A drought during the summer could also kill developing seeds. Trees will often shut the pores in their leaves to save water, which also reduces their ability to take in carbon dioxide for photosynthesis.
• Because all the trees within a local area are experiencing essentially the same weather, these environmental cues can help coordinate their seed production, acting like a reset button they've all pushed at the same time.
• Gray squirrels may devour many acorns, but by storing and failing to recover up to 74 percent of them, these rodents aid regeneration and dispersal of oaks.
• Tree squirrels are one of the most important animals for helping oaks spread, because they store acorns in the ground, practically planting baby oak trees," says Smallwood.
• If you have oak trees in your neighborhood, perhaps you’ve noticed that some years the ground is carpeted with their acorns, and some years there are hardly any. Biologists call this pattern, in which all the oak trees for miles around make either lots of acorns or almost none, “masting.”
• In New England, naturalists have declared this fall a mast year for oaks: All the trees are making tons of acorns all at the same time.
• First, producing a big crop of seeds takes a lot of energy. Trees make their food through photosynthesis: using energy from the Sun to turn carbon dioxide into sugars and starch. There’s only so many resources to go around, though. Once trees make a big batch of seeds, they may need to switch back to making new leaves and wood for a while, or take a year or two to replenish stored starches, before another mast.
• Scientists know that when a plant is damaged by insects, it often releases chemicals into the air that signal to its other branches and to neighboring plants that they should turn on their defenses. Similar signals could potentially help trees coordinate seed production.
• Investigation of tree-to-tree communication is still in its infancy, however. For instance, ecologists recently found that chemicals released from the roots of the leafy vegetable mizuna can affect the flowering time of neighboring plants
• During the autumn and winter months their main diet consists of nuts and seeds. Active throughout the year, the squirrels store large quantities of seeds and nuts--usually acorns-- to see them through the winter.
• To a squirrel, the acorn is a package of energy that can be easily opened and eaten in less than half the time needed for other, harder nuts or stored for use months later," says Smallwood.
• For instance, rodent populations often boom in response to high seed production.
• This in turn results in more food for rodent-eating predators like hawks and foxes; lower nesting success for songbirds, if rodents eat their eggs; and potentially higher risk of transmission of diseases like hantavirus to people.
• The seeds of masting trees have also historically been important for feeding human populations, either directly or as food for livestock. Acorns were a staple in the diet of Native Americans in California, with families carefully tending particular oaks and storing the nuts for winter.
• In Spain, the most prized form of ham still comes from pigs that roam through the oak forests, eating up to 20 pounds of acorns each day.
• For trees like oaks that depend on having their seeds carried away from the parent tree and buried by animals like squirrels, a mast year has an extra benefit.
• When there are lots of nuts, squirrels bury more of them instead of eating them immediately, spreading oaks across the landscape.
• The researchers found that in those red oak acorns that were eaten, frequently only the top half--the end farthest from the embryo--were consumed. Because the embryos were not destroyed, these damaged red oak acorns also germinated.
• The germination and the bitter-tasting tannins might explain why a white oak acorn is more likely to be consumed on the spot and why only the top half of a red acorn is eaten.
• The higher levels of tannins are located near the bottom of the acorn, where the embryo is located. That factor may influence the squirrels  choices, says Steele.
• If an acorn germinates before the squirrel can recover it, up to half its stored energy goes to the seedling rather than the squirrel.