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Living Physical Geography
Instructor’s Manual

PART II
The Biosphere and the Geography of Life

PART SUMMARY
Like Part I, solar energy underpins all chapters in Part II. All life on Earth uses solar energy either
directly, as in the case of plants and herbivores, or indirectly, as in the case of carnivores. Part II
consists of four chapters, each exploring the biosphere from a geographer’s perspective:
Chapter 7 Patterns of Life: Biogeography
Chapter 8 Climate and Life: Biomes
Chapter 9 Soil and Water Resources
Chapter 10 The Living Hydrosphere: Ocean Ecosystems
Chapter 7 introduces the basic elements of the discipline of biogeography and explores
geographic patterns of life. Chapter 8 couples biomes with global climate types because biomes
are a result of climate. Chapter 9 explores soil and water as resources for people. The
biogeography of the oceans is discussed in Chapter 10.

TEACHING CONTEXT

Covering the biosphere immediately after the atmosphere makes sense for two reasons. First,
the theme of solar energy doing work on Earth’s physical systems continues from the
atmosphere. Living organisms use solar radiation, either directly or indirectly, for their energy
source. Second, Chapter 8 discusses biomes in the context of global climate types. Teaching
biomes and climate jointly is an efficient and logical use of classroom time. Combining them
also avoids the redundancy caused by covering climate types in the atmosphere then covering
them again in the biosphere, as is commonly done.
Similarly, soil and water resources are topics that are naturally combined. The two
resources relate to one another in the context of agriculture and feeding people.
The importance of life in the oceans has been overlooked in physical geography textbooks.
This chapter provides a portrait of the biogeography of the oceans. The oceans are important
for several reasons, particularly because they cover a significant portion of the planet and much
of humanity relies on them for food.

TEACHING TIPS
• Biogeography is an important subdiscipline within geography. Students should be exposed
to the main ideas in chapters 7 and 8, including basic geographic patterns of life, geographic

1
 patterns resulting from evolution, factors that control the geographic ranges of organisms,
organizing schemes of the biosphere, and the climate-biomes concept.
• Chapter 9’s soil and water resources is most effectively taught and learned if it is couched in
the context of providing resources for people, including food and water resources.
• Marine biogeography can be explored as sequenced in the chapter, or the material can be
tailored to suit one’s preferences and time schedule.

CHAPTER 7
Patterns of Life: Biogeography

CHAPTER SUMMARY
Three major patterns of biodiversity are that the tropics are more biodiverse than high
latitudes, large islands are more biodiverse than small islands, and organisms migrate and can
change biodiversity on a seasonal basis. Many biogeographic patterns reveal evolutionary
histories of regions and the organisms living in them. Most species’ geographic ranges are the
result of limiting factors. Organisms disperse to obtain resources. Ecological disturbance often
reduces biodiversity in an area, and organisms return to areas of disturbance through ecological
succession. The biosphere can be organized by energy flows, genetic similarities, and the
geographic space a given unit of life occupies. Coconut dispersal exemplifies the concepts of
dispersal, as well as domestication and evolution.
Three global biodiversity patterns include the latitudinal biodiversity gradient, which refers
to the tropics as being more biodiverse than high latitudes. Large islands are more biodiverse
than small islands. Biogeographic islands can include mountaintops or lakes, and so on.
Migration can also affect biodiversity for any given area.
Biogeographic patterns sometimes reveal evolutionary events for a given region. Where
two regions share similar physical characteristics but are geographically separate, such as
occurs in geographically separate deserts, genetically unrelated organisms will evolve similar
adaptations. Patterns of evolutionary divergence occur among genetically similar organisms
after they become reproductively isolated from the population from which they came.
Evolutionary divergence commonly occurs after organisms disperse to remote geographic
islands. All species arose through the process of evolution by natural selection.
Limiting factors play an important role in determining the geographic distribution of
organisms. Biological limiting factors include competition, predation, and mutualism. Physical
limiting factors include light, water, and temperature. All organisms are subject to limiting
factors.
Dispersal is the permanent relocation of individuals within a population. Dispersal is
important for both an individual and for a species. An individual may disperse to reduce limiting
factors and increase resources. A species can expand or shift its geographic range through time
as individuals disperse. When people disperse an organism to a geographic region where it did
not previously live, the organism is considered non-native, and invasive if it escapes into the
2
wild and competes with native organisms. When organisms disperse on their own to a new
location they are considered colonizers. Invasive species are a problem in most areas worldwide
today.
Most ecosystems experience disturbance in various forms, ranging from damage caused by
strong winds to devastating volcanic eruptions. All disturbance events are followed by
ecological succession, in which species return to the area that was disturbed. Fire is a type of
disturbance that was removed from many forested areas in North America. The ecological
importance of fire is now recognized by forest managers, and in many areas fire is being
allowed to return.
The biosphere is very complex. Three schemes of categorization, or hierarchies, are used to
organize the biosphere’s complexity. The trophic hierarchy is based on energy flows.
Photosynthetic organisms convert solar energy to chemical energy. This chemical energy is then
transferred to other organisms as they consume one another. In the trophic hierarchy, only
10% of the energy of one organism is transferred to the next organism. The taxonomic
hierarchy uses genetic similarities to form nested groups of organisms. The spatial hierarchy
organizes the biosphere geographically by the space that is occupied, ranging from the
individual to biomes to the entire biosphere.
The Geographic Perspectives at the end of the chapter explores the biogeographic history of
the coconut palm and its means of dispersal to illustrate the concepts of dispersal,
domestication, and mutualism. Coconuts and people are mutualist partners. The coconut palm
has benefited from people cultivating and dispersing it. People have benefited from the
coconut palm because it provides food and material resources.

TEACHING CONTEXT
Biogeography is an important subdiscipline within geography. The material in this chapter
provides a good introduction to many foundational concepts in biogeography. This chapter is
also a prerequisite for Chapter 8. Much of Chapter 8 assumes that the student has read this
chapter first.

TEACHING TIPS
• This chapter presents an abrupt departure from Part I, the atmosphere. Create a sense of
continuity by emphasizing that physical geography is ultimately about the study of energy’s
effects on Earth’s physical systems. Part II continues with the study of solar energy in the
biosphere.
• Biogeography is different from biology in that biogeography emphasizes spatial patterns.
Analysis of those patterns reveals process. Emphasize the spatial aspects of topics as much
as possible when teaching this unit.
• Students usually enjoy the Yellowstone wolf story (Figure 7.14) and mutualist interactions
among organisms. Find other examples of mutualism, but have the students determine how

3
 the relationship is an example of mutualism. Other examples include corals and their algae,
acacia and ant guardians, and squirrels and oaks/acorns.

CHAPTER LEARNING GOALS

After reading the chapter and working through the study guide, students should understand
the following learning objectives for the chapter:
7.1 Identify and explain major geographic patterns of life on Earth.
7.2 Discuss factors that limit the geographic ranges of organisms.
7.3 Explain how organisms expand their geographic ranges.
7.4 Discuss the role of ecological disturbance and the return of life following disturbance.
7.5 Describe three approaches to organizing the biosphere.
7.6 Assess the relationship between people and the coconut palm and apply that
knowledge to other organisms used by people.

_____________________________________________________________________________

CHAPTER FEATURES ANSWER KEY

Crunch the Numbers: Calculating Biomass

Calculate the primary producer biomass necessary to support a 0.5 kg (1.1 lb) owl.

1. Determine how many trophic levels the owl is above the primary producer level (see Figure
7.25), and what percentage of the original energy is available at the owl’s trophic level.
2. Convert the percentage of energy captured at the owl’s trophic level to a decimal (by
dividing it by 100).
3. Divide the owl’s biomass (0.5 kg) by the decimal you obtained in step 2.

Answer:
Step 1: The owl is three trophic levels up. Each level passes on 10%. Thus, the owl receives
0.1% of the energy originally available from the primary producers.
Step 2: 0.1%/100 = 0.001.
Step 3: 0.5 kg/0.001 = 500 kg of primary producer biomass are required to support one
tertiary-level consumer owl that weighs 0.5 kg.

Picture This: Sooty Shearwater Migration

Consider This
1. How do you think the sooty shearwater knows where it is in such vast geographic
space? What “map” is the bird using? Birds navigate using an internal compass that

4
 allows them to detect Earth’s magnetic field. This compass allows them to navigate
across the featureless oceans on a constant course.
2. What specific “push–pull” factors can you think of that would compel the sooty
shearwater to migrate such great distances? The most important push factor is winter.
The pull factors are nesting and mating opportunities, as well as increased food
resources.

Picture This: A Photosynthetic Slug: Plant or Animal?

Consider This
1. What trophic level(s) does the eastern emerald elysia occupy? It is a primary producer
because it makes its own energy directly from the Sun. It is also a primary consumer
because it eats algae.
2. How would photosynthesis be an advantage to this animal? Photosynthesis in animals
should be a significant advantage because animals can supplement their diet with
energy obtained from the Sun. The Sun may be a reliable source of energy during times
when other types of food are not.

Exploring with Google Earth

Problem 7.1
This placemark highlights a November 2012 eruption of Tolbachik volcano on the Kamchatka
Peninsula. Activate the folder for this problem to answer the questions below.
1. What kind of ecological succession will follow this eruption?
a. Primary succession
b. Secondary succession
(answer: B)
2. How long is this lava flow?
a. 2 km
b. 11 km
c. 18 km
d. 25 km
(answer: B)
3. Zoom out. Where is this eruption occurring?
a. Japan
b. Alaska
c. Russia
d. North Korea
(answer: C)

5
Problem 7.2
This placemark highlights the Ponderosa fire, which burned 15,000 acres in Northern California
in August 2012. Activate the folder for this problem to see a natural color satellite image of the
smoke from the Ponderosa fire burning on August 19. The red outlines show hot spots where
fires were still burning. If you zoom out, you will see the smoke column from the Chips fire to
the south and east.
1. Based on the photo accompanying this placemark, what kind of fire was this at the location
of the placemark?
a. A surface fire
b. A canopy fire
(answer: A)
2. What kind of ecological succession will occur after this fire?
a. Primary succession
b. Secondary succession
(answer: B)
3. What is the length of the burning area shown within the red outline?
a. 7 km
b. 13 km
c. 20 km
d. 100 km
(answer: A)
4. Deactivate the fires layer by clicking the folder for this problem and zooming in to the
placemark. This image was made before the fire, so no burn scar is visible. You can see a
number of bare patches made by clear-cut logging of the forest here. What kind of ecological
succession will take place in these patches?
a. Primary succession
b. Secondary succession
(answer: B)

Problem 7.3
This placemark visits the Aleutian Islands of Alaska in the North Pacific Ocean.
1. What kind of biological dispersal do island chains such as this provide?
a. Stepping-stone dispersal
b. Waif dispersal
c. Sweepstakes dispersal
(answer: A)

Problem 7.4
This placemark visits Ascension Island.
1. How far is this island from the nearest continent?
a. 500 mi

6
 b. 900 mi
c. 1,400 mi
d. 2,000 mi
(answer: B)
2. How did native terrestrial organisms reach Ascension?
a. Stepping-stone dispersal
b. Waif dispersal
c. Sweepstakes dispersal
(answer: C)

Problem 7.5
California’s Channel Islands are featured here.
1. About how far from the mainland is the island nearest to the mainland?
a. 2 mi
b. 19 mi
c. 45 mi
d. 90 mi
(answer: B)
2. Which of the Channel Islands would you expect to have the highest plant and animal
diversity?
a. San Nicolas
b. San Clemente
c. San Miguel
d. Santa Cruz
(answer: D)
3. The Channel Island fox (Urocyon littoralis) dispersed to the islands about 16,000 years ago.
By what means did it reach the islands?
a. Stepping-stone dispersal
b. Waif dispersal
c. Sweepstakes dispersal
(answer: B)
4. The fox is found on six of the islands. Assuming the fox reached the Channel Islands only
once, by what means did it disperse to the other five islands?
a. Stepping-stone dispersal
b. Waif dispersal
c. Sweepstakes dispersal
(answer: A)
5. There are six subspecies of the Channel Island fox, none of which looks like the ancestral
gray fox on the mainland. What process produced these changes?
a. Convergent evolution
b. Divergent evolution

7
 c. Ecological succession
d. Ecological disturbance
(answer: B)

Chapter Study Guide

Concept Review

The Human Sphere: Exotic Invaders

1. What is the difference between a native species and a non-native species? Non-native (or
exotic) organisms are those that have been brought outside their original geographic range by
people. Native organisms occur where they do naturally.
2. Why are non-native species sometimes destructive in their new habitats? What is missing
in those new habitats that was in their old habitats? Non-native organisms cause ecological
harm by preying upon or taking resources from native organisms, sometimes driving native
organisms to extinction. Native predators and diseases are often missing in the new
environments.
3. Can exotic species also be beneficial to people? If so, give examples. Yes. They are often
important parts of economic systems.

7.1 Biogeographic Patterns

4. Define biogeography and biodiversity. Biodiversity is the number and variety of living
organisms in a specified region. Biogeography is the study of the geography of life and how it
changes through space and time.
5. What is a species? A species is a group of individuals that can breed and produce fertile
offspring.
6. Describe the generalized spatial and temporal patterns of biodiversity with respect to
latitude, island size, and seasons. There are more species in the tropics than at high latitudes.
There are more species on large islands compared to small islands. There are more species
during the summer in northern regions than in winter.
7. What is evolution? Describe the basic steps of the process and explain how it works.
Evolution refers to genetically driven changes in a population caused by selective pressures
from the environment. First, in nature, more offspring are produced than the environment can
support. Second, populations are composed of genetically unique individuals. Most organisms
are made through sexual reproduction, in which half the genes of each parent are combined to
make a genetically unique offspring. Populations are therefore composed of individuals with
slightly different genetic traits. Third, beneficial genetic traits are inherited by (passed on to) the
next generation. Some of these inherited traits may be better than others at allowing an
individual to cope with environmental stress.

8
8. What is a population? Provide biogeographic examples that result from evolution once
populations are geographically isolated. A population is a group of organisms that interact and
interbreed in the same geographic area. The example used in this book is warm-water
tolerance among salmon. Other examples include penicillin-resistant strains of tuberculosis or
strains of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics.
9. What is convergent evolution? Convergent evolution is the evolutionary process in which
two or more unrelated organisms evolve to look alike.
10. What is divergent evolution? Divergent evolution is the process in which individuals in one
population evolve to look different from closely related individuals in another population.
11. What are biogeographic regions and how do they form? Biogeographic regions are
continental-scale regions that contain genetically similar groups of plants and animals. Physical
barriers, like deserts, mountains, and oceans, isolate groups of organisms in one region from
groups in another region.

7.2 Setting the Boundaries: Limiting Factors

12. Compare the terms niche and habitat. Why do species with a narrow niche usually have
limited geographic ranges? A niche can be thought of as a species’ job, or how it obtains food.
Niches occur within habitats, the physical environment in which a species lives. Species with
narrow ecological niches are intolerant of the wide range of conditions that are found across
large geographic regions.
13. What does it mean to say that an organism is endemic to a place? What factors would
cause an organism to be endemic? Endemic means that a species is found only in one
geographic area. A narrow ecological niche will often result in endemism. Also barriers to
dispersal may restrict species to limited geographic areas, like saltwater surrounding an island.
14. What is a limiting factor? Give examples of physical and biological limiting factors. Explain
how each acts to limit the range of a species. A limiting factor is any factor that prevents an
organism from reaching its reproductive or geographic potential. Physical limiting factors: light,
temperature, water. Biological limiting factors: predation, competition, mutualism. Any of these
factors can limit a species reproductively or geographically. Too much light or water or too
warm temperatures, for example, can limit organisms. Predators, competition, or a lack of
mutualists can also limit species.
15. What is Allen’s rule? How does it relate to limiting factors? Allen’s rule states that
appendage length in mammals decreases as latitude increases. Changing appendage length
with latitude (Allen’s rule) helps species reduce the limiting factor of temperature. In the south
where it is hot, longer appendages help the body radiate heat. In the north where it is cold,
shorter appendages help the body conserve heat.
16. What adaptations do many cacti have to cope with life in the desert? Cacti are adapted to
live in the desert with a waxy stem, a green photosynthetic stem, and an expandable stem.
They also reduced their leaves to spine, photosynthesize at night (CAM photosynthesis), and
have a shallow root mat to quickly absorb water after a brief thunderstorm, as often occurs
where they live.

9
17. What is a keystone species? Give an example. How does the concept of a keystone species
relate to limiting factors? The gray wolf in Yellowstone was used as an example in the text. Its
removal led to increased elk populations, decreased riparian vegetation, and more stream
erosion. Beaver and its pond ecosystems also diminished without the riparian vegetation on
which it depends. Wolf kill also supports many scavenger species. The removal of the wolf from
the park was a limiting factor for many other organisms that depend on the wolf indirectly.
Beaver, for example, depend on the wolf to control elk populations. Without that control, the
elk limit the beaver by taking its food.
18. What is mutualism? Give examples of it. How can it be a limiting factor for a given
organism? Mutualism refers to reciprocal actions that benefit two or more different species.
Examples include flowers and their pollinators, and clownfish and sea anemones. Mutualism is
a limiting factor when the mutualist partner is absent. This limits the potential of both
organisms.

7.3 Moving Around: Dispersal

19. In the context of biogeography, what is dispersal? Why do organisms disperse? Dispersal
is the movement of an organism away from where it originated. Organisms disperse to avoid
limiting factors and to gain resources. These resources may be mating, nesting, territory, or
food resources.
20. By what means do plants and animals disperse? Animals fly, walk, swim, and so on to
disperse. Plants use the wind, water, and animals to disperse.
21. What barriers present resistance to dispersal? Compare the relative ease or difficulty of
dispersing to islands close to the mainland and far away from it. Any geographic region where
limiting factors are in abundance can act as a barrier to species and limit or prevent them from
dispersing. Examples of barriers include saltwater, deserts, and mountains. There are different
degrees of barriers ranging from filters, to waif dispersal, to sweepstakes dispersal, to island
stepping-stone dispersal. A filter to dispersal occurs for islands close to the mainland.
Successfully dispersing to remote islands is extremely improbable and is called sweepstakes
dispersal.
22. Compare colonization and invasion. How does the cattle egret exemplify both concepts?
When a species disperses outside its geographic range without the aid of people, it is a natural
colonization event. When people move species outside their native ranges, the species’
successful establishment in the new region is considered an invasion. The cattle egret illustrates
both concepts because it is uncertain whether it crossed the Atlantic Ocean from Africa with
the help of people or not.

7.4 Starting Anew: Ecological Disturbance and Succession

23. What is ecological disturbance? What causes it? Ecological disturbance is a rapid event that
disrupts an ecosystem. Fire, volcanic eruptions, and farming are types of ecological disturbance.
The introduction of non-native organisms is a type of ecological disturbance. Also, the removal
of keystone species, like the wolf, is a type of ecological disturbance.

10
24. Review the importance of fire to western North American forests. What problem has
developed? What is being done to address it? Fire is an integral and necessary element in
many ecosystems worldwide, including North American forests. In areas where fire naturally
occurred with frequency, the vegetation and organisms living there were adapted and
coevolved with fire. In the 1930s the U.S. Forest Service implemented a policy of fire
suppression. This caused fuels to build up. Now with the increased fuel loads in the forests, fires
burn hotter and uncontrollably. Prescribed burns and mechanical thinning are being used to
reduce fuels loads.
25. What is ecological succession? What causes it? What are seres? Succession is the step-by-
step changes in vegetation in an ecosystem that follow a disturbance event. Ecological
disturbance causes succession. Seres are stages of succession. For example, after a disturbance
event grasses and ferns may be the first sere. This may be followed by shrubs, then small trees,
then mature oak forest. Each of these are examples of seres.
26. What is a climax community? Is this model always accurate? The climax model idea states
that if left undisturbed, vegetation will return to its original state. The model is not accurate.
The problem with the climax community model is that it ignores anthropogenic influences,
climate change, non-native species and the occurrence of repeated disturbance events that
continually reset the clock of succession. The modern view sees geographic regions as
composed of mosaics of different seres.

7.5 Three Ways to Organize the Biosphere

27. What three hierarchies are used to organize the biosphere? Explain what each is based
on. The biosphere is organized by energy flow in trophic systems, by genetic relationships
among organisms in the taxonomic system, and by spatial units of life in the spatial hierarchy.
28. What are trophic levels? Where do producers and consumers fit in? What is a tertiary
consumer? Trophic levels are different levels of ecosystems through which energy and matter
flow. Photosynthetic organisms are at the base of trophic systems, and herbivores are the next
level up. Above herbivores are carnivores. Producers are photosynthetic organisms. On land,
they are plants. In the oceans, they are mostly algae. Consumers eat the producers. A tertiary
consumer occupies the fourth trophic level in an ecosystem. It is a carnivore.
29. Compare a food chain with a food web. Which is more representative of the real world?
Food chains are conceptual models that show energy flow along a linear path. Food webs show
energy flow that branches among different organisms within the same trophic level, or energy
is shown to skip trophic levels. Food webs represent the real complexity of energy flow in
ecosystems.
30. What is the 10% rule in relation to trophic levels? This rule states that on average only 10%
of the energy passes up from one trophic level to the next. This happens because of energy loss
through heat and because organisms do not metabolize all of the matter—it passes through the
digestive tract.

11
31. What types of consumers recycle dead organisms? Scavengers (such as a coyote) eat
carrion, detritivores (such as an earthworm) eat rotting organic material, decomposers (like
fungi and bacteria) break down organic remains into simpler compounds.
32. What are homologous traits? How are they used to create taxonomic groups? These are
traits that originate from a single ancestral trait. In other words, they share a genetic
relationship. Organisms that share a common ancestor have homologous traits. Taxonomists
group organisms by shared genetic similarities.
33. Compare common names and scientific names. On what is each based? How is each type
of name useful? There are often several common names for a single species. Scientific names
assign only one genus and species name for each species. Common names are in the local
language, but scientific names are always in Latin. Common names are generally based on
superficial appearance. Scientific names are based on genetic similarities among organisms.
Common names are easy to use and remember, but they can be misleading because there are
many of them. Scientific names can be unfriendly to the public, but they are efficient and
provide useful information about the organism’s genetic relationships to other organisms.
34. What is a community? How is the term defined? Give examples of a few communities. A
community consists of different populations of organisms interacting in a geographic area. Tide
pool community, grazing community in grasslands, ponderosa pine community, songbird
community, and so on. There are no hard rules in referencing a community.
35. What is the carbon cycle? What is the nitrogen cycle? How do they work? Why are they
important? The carbon cycle refers to how the carbon atom moves within and between Earth’s
physical systems. The nitrogen cycle refers to how the nitrogen moves within and between
Earth’s physical systems. Both carbon and nitrogen are essential elements for living beings.
Both have different reservoirs and means of movement. Generally, nitrogen travels from the
air, into soil, then into plants, then into other living organisms, and eventually back to the
atmosphere. Nitrogen from the atmosphere must be fixed so plants can use it. Carbon cycles in
much the same way as nitrogen. One important difference is that carbon is stored in the
lithosphere in fossil fuels. When people burn these fuels the carbon becomes carbon dioxide in
the atmosphere. This contributes to climate change.

7.6 Geographic Perspectives: Journey of the Coconut

36. Is Cocos the genus or the species name for the coconut palm? It’s the genus.
37. What are the two basic varieties of coconut palm and where did each originate? The
Indian variety originated in the Indian Ocean, and the Pacific variety originated in Southeastern
Asia.
38. The coconut uses two main modes of dispersal. What are they? Hydrochory (by water) and
by humans.
39. Where did Austronesians disperse the coconut? Where did Europeans disperse it?
Austronesians dispersed it throughout the Pacific Ocean and into Madagascar in the Indian
Ocean. Europeans dispersed it throughout the Atlantic Ocean and the western coastline of the
Americas.

12
40. What are the two primary limiting factors controlling the coconut’s geographic range?
Low humidity and low temperature.
41. What is artificial selection? How does it relate to domestication? How does the coconut
illustrate the process of artificial selection? Artificial selection occurs when people select
desirable traits from organisms. Organisms like the coconut are domesticated through artificial
selection. Through time, people create versions of these organisms that suit the needs of
people. The modern Cocos nucifera is a product of artificial selection through many years.
Compared to its wild ancestors, as studied in the fossil record, modern coconut seeds are much
larger.
42. Describe the ecological relationship between humans and the coconut. Coconut and
people are an example of mutualism—both parties have benefited in the relationship.

Critical-Thinking Questions

1. The theory of evolution has been a source of controversy between scientists and some
religious groups since it was first developed. Do you find it controversial? Explain. Answers
will vary. Religiously minded students may take offense or they may not. The instructor may
wish to mention that science explains “how” things come about but it does not explain nor
attempt to explain “why” things come about. Framing the issue this way can be very productive
and stimulate class discussion.
2. What trophic level(s) do you occupy? Why is it more efficient for people to eat as primary
consumers rather than as secondary consumers? People with plant-based diets exclusively
(called vegan) are primary consumers. Everybody else is omnivorous and primary, secondary,
tertiary consumers and so on, depending on what the meal is. Because of the loss of 90% of
energy with each higher trophic level, it’s more efficient to feed plants or grain directly to
people rather than to animals first.
3. By definition, when people move an organism to a new place, that organism is non-native.
People brought the coconut to Hawai’i over one thousand years ago. Because that was so
long ago, do you think enough time has passed that we can consider this plant native to
Hawai’i now? Explain. Answers will vary. There is no right answer. Students may stick to the
strict definition that any species brought outside its native geographic range by people is non-
native. They may also argue that enough time has elapsed, several thousand years in some
cases, for the organism to be considered native.
4. Does evolutionary convergence (Section 7.1) form from analogous traits or homologous
traits (Section 7.5)? Explain. It forms from analogous traits. Convergence, by definition, occurs
when two unrelated organisms come to look alike. This can only happen in an analogous
context.
5. Compare natural selection (Section 7.1) with artificial selection (Section 7.6). How are they
the same and how are they different? They are the same in that characteristics or traits are

13
being selected. With natural selection, nature does the selecting. With artificial selection,
people do the selecting.

Test Yourself

1. True or false? When a species disperses on its own to a new location outside its geographic
range, it is considered a native species. (answer: true)
2. True or false? Allen’s rule states that there are more species in the tropics than at higher
latitudes. (answer: false)
3. True or false? After ecological disturbance, ecosystems do not always return to the same
climax community that existed prior to the disturbance. (answer: true)
4. True or false? Many species have more than one common name. (answer: true)
5. Multiple choice: What an organism does to obtain food is called its
a. niche.
b. habitat.
c. prey.
d. community.
(answer: niche)
6. Multiple choice: Which of the following is not an evolutionary adaptation to fire by plants?
a. Serotinous cones
b. Crown sprouting
c. Deep roots
d. Fire-proof leaves
(answer: D)
7. Multiple choice: Which of the following does fire suppression often cause?
a. A small fire
b. A crown fire
c. A surface fire
d. A prescribed burn
(answer: B)
8. Multiple choice. Which of following is not an example of a limiting factor?
a. Temperature
b. Light
c. Predation
d. A scavenger
(answer: D)
9. Fill in the blank: A __________ is a stage of ecological succession following ecological
disturbance. (answer: sere)
10. Fill in the blank: __________ is the term used to describe an interaction between two
species from which both species benefit. (answer: Mutualism)

14
Picture This. Your Turn

1. What trophic level do the copper sharks occupy? The sharks occupy the fourth trophic level
or the tertiary consumer level.
2. Given the 10% rule, how much energy from the primary producers do they receive? They
receive 0.1% of the energy from the primary producers, phytoplankton.

15
Living Physical Geography Questions

1. Why do animals migrate? Animals migrate from areas where resources are in short supply to
areas where they are more abundant.
2. Why do cacti have spines? Cacti have spines to ward off animals trying to take their stores of
water.
3. How are wolves important to ecosystems? Wolves function as keystone species in
ecosystems, and many unrelated species benefit from their presence.
4. Why do coconuts float? Coconuts float because they have evolved to disperse long distances
on ocean currents.

16
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
The threidy knit he’s woven wi’,
’Ud fain destroy what sicht he has
O’ this puir transitory stage,
Yet tho’ he kens the fragment is
O’ little worth he e’er can view,
Jalousin’ it’s a cheatrie weed,
He tyauves wi’ a’ his micht and main
To keep his sicht despite his kind
Conspirin’ as their nature is
’Gainst ocht wi’ better sicht than theirs.

What gars him strive? He canna tell—

It may be nocht but cussedness.
—At best he hopes for little mair
Than his suspicions to confirm,
To mock the sicht he hains sae weel
At last wi’ a’ he sees wi’ it,
Yet, thistle or no’ whate’er its end,
Aiblins the force that mak’s it grow
And lets him see a kennin’ mair
Than ither folk and fend his sicht
Agen their jealous plots awhile
’ll use the poo’ers it seems to waste,
This purpose ser’d, in ither ways,
That may be better worth the bein’
—Or sae he dreams, syne mocks his dream
Till Life grows sheer awa’ frae him,
And bratts o’ darkness plug his een.

It may be nocht but cussedness,

But I’m content gin a’ my thocht
Can dae nae mair than let me see,
Free frae desire o’ happiness,
The foolish faiths o’ ither men
In breedin’, industry, and War,
Religion, Science, or ocht else
Gang smash—when I ha’e nane mysel’,
Or better gin I share them tae,
Or mind at least a time I did!

Aye, this is Calvary—to bear

Your Cross wi’in you frae the seed,
And feel it grow by slow degrees
Until it rends your flesh apairt,
And turn, and see your fellow-men
In similar case but sufferin’ less
Thro’ bein’ mair wudden frae the stert!...

I’m fu’ o’ a stickit God.

That’s what’s the maitter wi’ me,
Jean has stuck sic a fork in the wa’
That I row in agonie.

Mary never let dab.

She was a canny wumman.
She hedna a gaw in Joseph at a’
But, wow, this seecund comin’!...

Narodbogonosets[10] are my folk tae,

But in a sma’ way nooadays—
A faitherly God wi’ a lang white beard,
Or painted Jesus in a haze
O’ blue and gowd, a gird aboot his heid
Or some sic thing. It’s been a sair come-doon,
And the trade’s nocht to what it was.
Unnatural practices are the cause.
Baith bairns and Gods’ll be obsolete soon
(The twaesome gang thegither), and forsooth
Scotland turn Eliot’s waste—the Land o’ Drouth.

But even as the stane the builders rejec’

Becomes the corner-stane, the time may be
When Scotland sall find oot its destiny,
And yield the vse-chelovek.[11]
—At a’ events, owre Europe flaught atween,
My whim (and mair than whim) it pleases
To seek the haund o’ Russia as a freen’
In workin’ oot mankind’s great synthesis....

Melville[12] (a Scot) kent weel hoo Christ’s

Corrupted into creeds malign,
Begotten strife’s pernicious brood
That claims for patron Him Divine.
(The Kirk in Scotland still I cry
Crooks whaur it canna crucify!)

Christ, bleedin’ like the thistle’s roses,

He saw—as I in similar case—
Maistly, in beauty and in fear,
’Ud “paralyse the nobler race,
Smite or suspend, perplex, deter,
And, tortured, prove the torturer.”

And never mair a Scot sall tryst,

Abies on Calvary, wi’ Christ,
Unless, mebbe, a poem like this’ll
Exteriorise things in a thistle,
And gi’e him in this form forlorn
What Melville socht in vain frae Hawthorne....

Spirit o’ strife, destroy in turn

Syne this fule’s Paradise, syne that;
In thee’s in Calvaries that owrecome
Daith efter Daith let me be caught,

Or in the human form that hauds

Us in its ignominious thrall,
While on brute needs oor souls attend
Until disease and daith end all,

Or in the grey deluded brain,

Reflectin’ in anither field
The torments o’ its parent flesh
In thocht-preventin’ thocht concealed,

Or still in curst impossible mould,

Last thistle-shape men think to tak’,
The soul, frae flesh and thocht set free,
On Heaven’s strait if unseen rack.

There may be heicher forms in which

We can nae mair oor plicht define,
Because the agonies involved
’ll bring us their ain anodyne.

Yet still we suffer and still sall,

Altho’, puir fules, we mayna kent
As lang as like the thistle we
In coil and in recoil are pent.

And ferrer than mankind can look

Ghast shapes that free but to transfix
Twine rose-crooned in their agonies,
And strive agen the endless pricks.

The dooble play that bigs and braks

In endless victory and defeat
Is in your spikes and roses shown,
And a’ my soul is haggar’d wi’t....

Be like the thistle, O my soul,

Heedless o’ praise and quick to tak’ affront,
And growin’ like a mockery o’ a’
Maist life can want or thole,
And manifest forevermair
Contempt o’ ilka goal.

O’ ilka goal—save ane alane;

To be yoursel’, whatever that may be,
And as contemptuous o’ that,
Kennin’ nocht’s worth the ha’en,
But certainty that nocht can be,
And hoo that certainty to gain.

For this you still maun grow and grope

In the abyss wi’ ever-deepenin’ roots
That croon your scunner wi’ the grue
O’ hopeless hope
—And gin the abyss is bottomless,
Your growth’ll never stop!...

What earthquake chitters oot

In the Thistle’s oorie shape,
What gleids o’ central fire
In its reid heids escape,
And whatna coonter forces
In growth and ingrowth graip
In an eternal clinch
In this ootcuissen form
That winna be outcast,
But triumphs at the last
(Owre a’ abies itsel’
As fer as we can tell,
Sin’ frae the Eden o’ the world
Ilka man in turn is hurled,
And ilka gairden rins to waste
That was ever to his taste?)

O keep the Thistle ’yont the wa’

Owre which your skeletons you’ll thraw.

I, in the Thistle’s land,

As you[13] in Russia where
Struggle in giant form
Proceeds for evermair,
In my sma’ measure ’bood
Address a similar task,
And for a share o’ your
Appallin’ genius ask.

Wha built in revelations

What maist men in reserves
(And only men confound!)
A better gift deserves
Frae ane wha like hissel
(As ant-heap unto mountain)
Needs bigs his life upon
The everloupin’ fountain
That frae the Dark ascends
Whaur Life begins, Thocht ends
—A better gift deserves
Than thae wheen yatterin’ nerves!

For mine’s the clearest insicht

O’ man’s facility
For constant self-deception,
And hoo his mind can be
But as a floatin’ iceberg
That hides aneth the sea
Its bulk: and hoo frae depths
O’ an unfaddomed flood
Tensions o’ nerves arise
And humours o’ the blood
—Keethin’s nane can trace
To their original place.

Hoo mony men to mak’ a man

It tak’s he kens wha kens Life’s plan.

But there are flegsome deeps

Whaur the soul o’ Scotland sleeps
That I to bottom need
To wauk Guid kens what deid,
Play at stertle-a-stobie,
Wi’ nation’s dust for hobby,
Or wi’ God’s sel’ commerce
For the makin’ o’ a verse.

“Melville, sea-compelling man,

Before whose wand Leviathan
Rose hoary-white upon the Deep,”[14]
What thou hast sown I fain ’ud reap
O’ knowledge ’yont the human mind
In keepin’ wi’ oor Scottish kind,
And, thanks to thee, may aiblins reach
To what this Russian has to teach,
Closer than ony ither Scot,
Closer to me than my ain thocht,
Closer than my ain braith to me,
As close as to the Deity
Approachable in whom appears
This Christ o’ the neist thoosand years.

As frae your baggit wife

You turned whenever able,
And often when you werena,
Unto the gamin’ table,
And opened wide to ruin
Your benmaist hert, aye brewin’
A horror o’ whatever
Seemed likely to deliver
You frae the senseless strife
In which alane is life,
—As Burns in Edinburgh
Breenged arse-owre-heid thoro’
A’ it could be the spur o’
To pleuch his sauted furrow,
And turned frae a’ men honour
To what could only scunner
Wha thinks that common-sense
Can e’er be but a fence
To keep a soul worth ha’en
Frae what it s’ud be daein’
—Sae I in turn maun gie
My soul to misery,
Daidle disease
Upon my knees,
And welcome madness
Wi’ exceedin’ gladness
—Aye, open wide my hert
To a’ the thistle’s smert.

And a’ the hopes o’ men

Sall be like wiles then
To gar my soul betray
Its only richtfu’ way,
Or as a couthie wife
That seeks nae mair frae life
Than domesticity
E’en wi’ the likes o’ me—
As gin I could be carin’
For her or for her bairn
When on my road I’m farin’
—O I can spend a nicht
In ony man’s Delicht
Or wi’ ony wumman born
—But aye be aff the morn!

In a’ the inklin’s cryptic,

Then, o’ an epileptic,
I ha’e been stood in you
And droukit in their grue
Till I can see richt through
Ilk weakness o’ my frame
And ilka dernin’ shame,
And can employ the same
To jouk the curse o’ fame,
Lowsed frae the dominion
O’ popular opinion,
And risen at last abune
The thistle like a mune
That looks serenely doon
On what queer things there are
In an inferior star
That couldna be, or see,
Themsel’s, except in me.

Wi’ burnt-oot hert and poxy face

I sall illumine a’ the place,
And there is ne’er a fount o’ grace
That isna in a similar case.

Let a’ the thistle’s growth

Be as a process, then,
My spirit’s gane richt through,
And needna threid again,
Tho’ in it sall be haud’n
For aye the feck o’ men
Wha’s queer contortions there
As memories I ken,
As memories o’ my ain
O’ mony an ancient pain.
But sin’ wha’ll e’er wun free
Maun tak’ like coorse to me,
A fillip I wad gi’e
Their eccentricity,
And leave the lave to dree
Their weirdless destiny.

It’s no’ withoot regret

That I maun follow yet
The road that led me past
Humanity sae fast,
Yet scarce can gi’e a fate
That is at last mair fit
To them wha tak’ that gait
Than theirs wha winna ha’e’t,
Seein’ that nae man can get
By ony airt or wile,
A destiny quite worth while
As fer as he can tell
—Or even you yoursel’!

And O! I canna thole

Aye yabblin’ o’ my soul,
And fain I wad be free
O’ my eternal me,
Nor fare mysel’ alane
—Withoot that tae be gane,
And this, I ha’e nae doot,
This road’ll bring aboot.

The munelicht that owre clear defines

The thistle’s shrill cantankerous lines
E’en noo whiles insubstantialises
Its grisly form and ’stead devises
A maze o’ licht, a siller-frame,
As ’twere God’s dream frae which it came,
Ne’er into bein’ coorsened yet,
The essence lowin’ pure in it,
As tho’ the fire owrecam’ the clay,
And left its wraith in endless day.

These are the moments when a’ sense

Like mist is vanished and intense,
Magic emerges frae the dense
Body o’ bein’ and beeks immense
As, like a ghinn oot o’ a bottle,
Daith rises frae’s when oor lives crottle.

These are the moments when my sang

Clears its white feet frae oot amang
My broken thocht, and moves as free
As souls frae bodies when they dee.
There’s naething left o’ me ava’
Save a’ I’d hoped micht whiles befa’.

Sic sang to men is little worth.

It has nae message for the earth.
Men see their warld turned tapsalteerie,
Drookit in a licht owre eerie,
Or sent birlin’ like a peerie—
Syne it turns a’ they’ve kent till then
To shapes they can nae langer ken.

Men canna look on nakit licht.

It flings them back wi’ darkened sicht,
And een that canna look at it,
Maun draw earth closer roond them yet
Or, their sicht tint, find nocht instead
That answers to their waefu’ need.

And yet this essence frae the clay

In dooble form aye braks away,
For, in addition to the licht,
There is an e’er-increasin’ nicht,
A nicht that is the bigger, and
Gangs roond licht like an airn band
That noo and then mair tichtly grips,
And snuffs it in a black eclipse,
But rings it maistly as a brough
The mune, till it’s juist bricht enough—
O wull I never lowse a licht
I canna dowse again in spite,
Or dull to haud within my sicht?

The thistle canna vanish quite.

Inside a’ licht its shape maun glint,
A spirit wi’ a skeleton in’t

The world, the flesh, ’ll bide in us

As in the fire the unburnt buss,
Or as frae sire to son we gang
And coontless corpses in us thrang.

And e’en the glory that descends

I kenna whence on me depends,
And shapes itsel’ to what is left
Whaur I o’ me ha’e me bereft,
And still the form is mine, altho’
A force to which I ne’er could grow
Is movin’ in’t as ’twere a sea
That lang syne drooned the last o’ me
—That drooned afore the warld began
A’ that could ever come frae Man.

And as at sicna times am I,

I wad ha’e Scotland to my eye
Until I saw a timeless flame
Tak’ Auchtermuchty for a name,
And kent that Ecclefechan stood
As pairt o’ an eternal mood.

Ahint the glory comes the nicht

As Maori to London’s ruins,
And I’m amused to see the plicht
O’ Licht as’t in the black tide droons,
Yet even in the brain o’ Chaos
For Scotland I wad hain a place,
And let Tighnabruaich still
Be pairt and paircel o’ its will,
And Culloden, black as Hell,
A knowledge it has o’ itsel’.

Thou, Dostoevski, understood,

Wha had your ain land in your bluid,
And into it as in a mould
The passion o’ your bein’ rolled,
Inherited in turn frae Heaven
Or sources fer abune it even.
Sae God retracts in endless stage
Through angel, devil, age on age,
Until at last his infinite natur’
Walks on earth a human cratur’
(Or less than human as to my een
The people are in Aiberdeen);
Sae man returns in endless growth
Till God in him again has scouth.

For sic a loup towards wisdom’s croon

Hoo fer a man maun base him doon,
Hoo plunge aboot in Chaos ere
He finds his needfu’ fittin’ there,
The matrix oot o’ which sublime
Serenity sall soar in time!

Ha’e I the cruelty I need,

Contempt and syne contempt o’ that,
And still contempt in endless meed
That I may never yet be caught
In ony satisfaction, or
Bird-lime that winna let me soar?

Is Scotland big enough to be

A symbol o’ that force in me,
In wha’s divine inebriety
A sicht abune contempt I’ll see?

For a’ that’s Scottish is in me,

As a’ things Russian were in thee,
And I in turn ’ud be an action
To pit in a concrete abstraction
My country’s contrair qualities,
And mak’ a unity o’ these
Till my love owre its history dwells,
As owretone to a peal o’ bells.

And in this heicher stratosphere

As bairn at giant at thee I peer....

O Jean, in whom my spirit sees,

Clearer than through whisky or disease,
Its dernin’ nature, wad the searchin’ licht
Oor union raises poor’d owre me the nicht.

I’m faced wi’ aspects o’ mysel’

At last wha’s portent nocht can tell,
Save that sheer licht o’ life that when we’re joint
Loups through me like a fire a’ else t’ aroint.

Clear my lourd flesh, and let me move

In the peculiar licht o’ love,
As aiblins in Eternity men may
When their swack souls nae mair are clogged wi’ clay.

Be thou the licht in which I stand

Entire, in thistle-shape, as planned,
And no’ hauf-hidden and hauf-seen as here
In munelicht, whisky, and in fleshly fear,

In fear to look owre closely at

The grisly form in which I’m caught,
In sic a reelin’ and imperfect licht
Sprung frae incongruous elements the nicht!

But wer’t by thou they were shone on,

Then wad I ha’e nae dreid to con
The ugsome problems shapin’ in my soul,
Or gin I hed—certes, nae fear you’d thole!

Be in this fibre like an eye,

And ilka turn and twist descry,
Hoo here a leaf, a spine, a rose—or as
The purpose o’ the poo’er that brings ’t to pass.

Syne liberate me frae this tree,

As wha had there imprisoned me,
The end achieved—or show me at the least
Mair meanin’ in’t, and hope o’ bein’ released.

I tae ha’e heard Eternity drip water

(Aye water, water!), drap by drap
On the a’e nerve, like lichtnin’, I’ve become,
And heard God passin’ wi’ a bobby’s feet
Ootby in the lang coffin o’ the street
—Seen stang by chitterin’ knottit stang loup oot
Uncrushed by th’ echoes o’ the thunderin’ boot,
Till a’ the dizzy lint-white lines o’ torture made
A monstrous thistle in the space aboot me,
A symbol o’ the puzzle o’ man’s soul
—And in my agony been pridefu’ I could still
Tine nae least quiver or twist, watch ilka point
Like a white-het bodkin ripe my inmaist hert,
And aye wi’ clearer pain that brocht nae anodyne,
But rose for ever to a fer crescendo
Like eagles that ootsoar wi’ skinklan’ wings
The thieveless sun they blin’
—And pridefu’ still
That ’yont the sherp wings o’ the eagles fleein’
Aboot the dowless pole o’ Space,
Like leafs aboot a thistle-shank, my bluid
Could still thraw roses up
—And up!

O rootless thistle through the warld that’s pairt o’ you,

Gin you’d withstand the agonies still to come,
You maun send roots doon to the deeps unkent,
Fer deeper than it’s possible for ocht to gang,
Savin’ the human soul,
Deeper than God himsel’ has knowledge o’,
Whaur lichtnin’s canna probe that cleave the warld,
Whaur only in the entire dark there’s founts o’ strength
Eternity’s poisoned draps can never file,
And muckle roots thicken, deef to bobbies’ feet.

A mony-brainchin’ candelabra fills

The lift and’s lowin’ wi’ the stars;
The Octopus Creation is is wallopin’
In coontless faddoms o’ a nameless sea.
I am the candelabra, and burn
My endless candles to an Unkent God.
I am the mind and meanin’ o’ the octopus
That thraws its empty airms through a’ th’ Inane.

And a’ the bizzin’ suns ha’e bigged

Their kaims upon the surface o’ the sea.
My lips may feast for ever, but my guts
Ken naething o’ the Food o’ Gods.

“Let there be Licht,” said God, and there was

A little: but He lacked the poo’er
To licht up mair than pairt o’ space at aince,
And there is lots o’ darkness that’s the same
As gin He’d never spoken
—Mair darkness than there’s licht,
And dwarfin’t to a candle-flame,
A spalin’ candle that’ll sune gang oot.
—Darkness comes closer to us than the licht,
And is oor natural element. We peer oot frae’t
Like cat’s een bleezin’ in a goustrous nicht
(Whaur there is nocht to find but stars
That look like ither cats’ een),
Like cat’s een, and there is nocht to find
Savin’ we turn them in upon oorsels;
Cats canna.
Darkness is wi’ us a’ the time, and Licht
But veesits pairt o’ us, the wee-est pairt
Frae time to time on a short day atween twa nichts.
Nae licht is thrawn on them by ony licht.
Licht thraws nae licht upon itsel’;
But in the darkness them wha’s een
Nae fleetin’ lichts ha’e dazzled and deceived
Find qualities o’ licht, keener than ony licht,
Keen and abidin’;
That show the nicht unto itsel’,
And syne the licht,
That queer extension o’ the dark,
That seems a separate and a different thing,
And, seemin’ sae, has lang confused the dark,
And set it at cross-purposes wi’ itsel’.

O little Life
In which Daith guises and deceives itsel’,
Joy that mak’s Grief a Janus,
Hope that is Despair’s fause-face,
And Guid and Ill that are the same,
Save as the chance licht fa’s!

And yet the licht is there,

Whether frae within or frae withoot.
The conscious Dark can use it, dazzled nor deceived.
The licht is there, and th’ instinct for it,
Pairt o’ the Dark and o’ the need to guise,
To deceive and be deceived,
But let us then be undeceived
When we deceive,
When we deceive oorsels.
Let us enjoy deceit, this instinct in us.
Licht cheenges naething,
And gin there is a God wha made the licht
We are adapted to receive,
He cheenged naething,
And hesna kythed Hissel!
Save in this licht that fa’s whaur the Auld Nicht was,
Showin’ naething that the Darkness didna hide,
And gin it shows a pairt o’ that
Confoondin’ mair than it confides
Ev’n in that.

The epileptic thistle twitches

(A trick o’ wund or mune or een—or whisky).
A brain laid bare,
A nervous system,
The skeleton wi’ which men labour
And bring to life in Daith
—I, risen frae the deid, ha’e seen
My deid man’s eunuch offspring.
—The licht frae bare banes whitening evermair,
Frae twitchin’ nerves thrawn aff,
Frae nakit thocht,
Works in the Darkness like a fell disease,
A hungry acid and a cancer,
Disease o’ Daith-in-Life and Life-in-Daith.

O for a root in some untroubled soil,

Some cauld soil ’yont this fevered warld,
That ’ud draw darkness frae a virgin source,
And send it slow and easefu’ through my veins,
Release the tension o’ my grisly leafs,
Withdraw my endless spikes,
Move coonter to the force in me that hauds
Me raxed and rigid and ridiculous
—And let my roses drap
Like punctured ba’s that at a Fair
Fa’ frae the loupin’ jet!
—Water again!...

Omsk and the Calton turn again to dust,

The suns and stars fizz out with little fuss,
The bobby booms away and seems to bust,
And leaves the world to darkness and to us.

The circles of our hungry thought

Swing savagely from pole to pole.
Death and the Raven drift above
The graves of Sweeney’s body and soul.

My name is Norval. On the Grampian Hills

It is forgotten, and deserves to be.
So are the Grampian Hills and all the people
Who ever heard of either them or me.

What’s in a name? From pole to pole

Our interlinked mentality spins.
I know that you are Deosil, and suppose
That therefore I am Widdershins.

Do you reverse? Shall us? Then let’s.

Cyclone and Anti?—how absurd!
She should know better at her age.
Auntie’s an ass, upon my word.

This is the sort of thing they teach

The Scottish children in the school.
Poetry, patriotism, manners—
No wonder I am such a fool....

Hoo can I graipple wi’ the thistle syne,

Be intricate as it and up to a’ its moves?
A’ airts its sheenin’ points are loupin’ ’yont me,
Quhile still the firmament it proves.

And syne it’s like a wab in which the warld

Squats like a spider, quhile the mune and me
Are taigled in an endless corner o’t
Tyauvin’ fecklessly....

The wan leafs shak’ atour us like the snaw.

Here is the cavaburd in which Earth’s tint.
There’s naebody but Oblivion and us,
Puir gangrel buddies, waunderin’ hameless in’t.

The stars are larochs o’ auld cottages,

And a’ Time’s glen is fu’ o’ blinnin’ stew.
Nae freen’ly lozen skimmers: and the wund
Rises and separates even me and you.[15]

I ken nae Russian and you ken nae Scots.

We canna tell oor voices frae the wund.
The snaw is seekin’ everywhere: oor herts
At last like roofless ingles it has f’und,

And gethers there in drift on endless drift,

Oor broken herts that it can never fill;
And still—its leafs like snaw, its growth like wund.—
The thistle rises and forever will!...

The thistle rises and forever will,

Getherin’ the generations under’t.
This is the monument o’ a’ they were,
And a’ they hoped and wondered.

The barren tree, dry leafs, and cracklin’ thorns,

This is the mind o’ a’ humanity,
—The empty intellect that left to grow
’ll let nocht ither be.

Lo! It has choked the sunlicht’s gowden grain,

And strangled syne the white hairst o’ the mune.
Thocht that mak’s a’ the food o’ nocht but Thocht
Is reishlin’ grey abune....

O fitly frae oor cancerous soil

May this heraldic horror rise!
The Presbyterian thistle flourishes,
And its ain roses crucifies....

No’ Edinburgh Castle or the fields

O’ Bannockburn or Flodden
Are dernin’ wi’ the miskent soul
Scotland sae lang has hod’n.