Authors: MINORSKY PETER V
Publish Date: 1998/07/01
Volume: 82, Issue: 1, Pages: 133-140
Abstract
Davis and Davis Mathematical Modelling8 730–733 1987 have previously concluded based on data collected from 42 locations around the world that the ratio of righthanded to lefthanded palm trees Cocos nucifera L exhibits hemispheric differences lefthanded palms are in the majority in the Northern Hemisphere and righthanded palms are in the majority in the Southern Hemisphere Weighted and unweighted linear regression analyses of their data reveal that the skewing quotient lefthanded—righthanded/total is better correlated with magnetic dip latitude than with geographic or geomagnetic centred dipole latitude The hypothesis is advanced that latitudedependent biases in foliar spiral direction may be associated with the temporally varying component of the earths magnetic field It is known that changes in the current strength of the ionospheric dynamo induce clockwise earth currents in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise earth currents in the Southern Hemisphere The hypothesis is advanced that these earth currents which are measurable in trees bias the diffusion of auxin or auxin transport proteins in young embryos such that lefthanded trees are produced preferentially in the Northern Hemisphere and righthanded in the Southern Hemisphere Some tests of the Induced Current Hypothesis are proposed Copyright 1998 Annals of Botany Company
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