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SCALE: Unless otherwise noted, these images are two centimeters wide and just under
one and a half centimeters tall. To estimate the dimensions of zoom images, compare
to their corresponding wide-angle shot. A fully-zoomed image can represent an area
of the soil a mere three millimeters wide and two millimeters tall!
Site: UCSC Arboretum
P. ponderosa is a large evergreen conifer; mature trees can be over one meter in diameter at breast height. Ponderosa pines can be distinguished from other pines by their characteristic large seperated bark-plates and symmetrical cones. Ponderosa pine thrive in Santa Cruz county's dry inland marine sand deposits, and are commonly associated with manzanita, knobcone pine, and various oaks. |
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This image shows a root in transition. The older part, at the top of the image, is reddish-brown. The white part of the root is more recent. |
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Zoom in on above image where the root changes color. |
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Zoom in on a broken young root tip. |
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A centipede! This voracious predator was lurking just beneath the surface of the ground. |
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Fine root... |
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Root hairs... |
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New root growth... |
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Another new root... |
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Zoom in on the growing tips from the root above. |
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Old roots near the surface. |
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A zone of large woody roots, also near the surface. |
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Lateral root growth... |
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These fungal growths could be associated with the roots in this image. |
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Full zoom on the above image. The cloudy appearance is characteristic of soil fungi, whose individual hyphae are too small to be visible with our camera. |
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These spots are microbes that have colonized the moist area underneath the buried rhizotron tube. |
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This white area is probably the mycelial mat of a fungus living in the soil. |
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Young emerging root tip... |
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Young growing tips with red root in lower right. |