biology

List of Attalea species

List of Attalea species is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand List of Attalea species rather than just read about it. In short: Experts disagree about the number of species in Attalea (broadly defined) a genus in the Arecaceae, the palm family. In 1965, Dutch taxonomist Jan Gerard Wessels Boer estimated that as many as 100 species may be in the genus.

Key takeaways

List of Attalea species belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect List of Attalea species to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of List of Attalea species from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Experts disagree about the number of species in Attalea (broadly defined) a genus in the Arecaceae, the palm family. In 1965, Dutch taxonomist Jan Gerard Wessels Boer estimated that as many as 100 species may be in the genus. In their 1996 Field Guide to the Palms of the Americas Andrew Henderson and coauthors recognised 29 species in the genus, while Sidney Glassman recognised 65 species in his 1999 treatment of the group. Largely following Glassman's lead, Rafaël Govaerts and John Dransfield recognised 67 species in their 2005 World Checklist of Palms. An important element of this disagreement is the decision by Glassman to define species more narrowly than Henderson. As a result, what Henderson interpreted as variation within species, Glassman took as differences between morphologically similar species. This problem is complicated by the fact that many of these species are poorly represented in herbarium collections. The large size of the leaves, inflorescences and fruit of many Attalea species makes them difficult to collect. In addition, many important collections, including type specimens, have been lost or destroyed. Sparse or incomplete collections make it difficult to differentiate variation within a single species from variation between different species. Taxonomic uncertainty is exacerbated by frequent hybridisation between species.

Varying accounts The three recent treatments (Henderson and coauthors, Glassman, and Govaerts and Dransfield) recognised a total of 73 species, but only 20 species are accepted by all of them. The remainder account for either nine species or more than 40. For example, what Andrew Henderson considered a single species, Attalea attaleoides, other authors have considered a species complex consisting of four or five species. Glassman doubted the validity of A. attaleoides as a species, and described four new species from material that had previously been attributed to A. attaleoides—A. camopiensis, A. degranvillei, A. guianensis and A. maripensis. Govaerts and Dransfield accepted both Glassman's four species and A. attaleoides. However, Jean-Christophe Pintaud was of the opinion that A. guianensis, A. maripensis and A. attaleoides were all very similar, and thought it likely that they all represented the same species. Another species complex in Attalea includes A. speciosa and related species. Henderson (1995) recognised A. speciosa and A. spectabilis, considering the latter to either be an acaulescent form of A. speciosa or a hybrid between A. microcarpa and it. Govaerts and Dransfield accepted A. spectabilis, but Glassman considered it a dubious taxon. Attalea vitrivir was recognised as a distinct species by Michael Balick and coauthors; Glassman and Govaerts and Dransfield concurred, but Henderson considered it part of A. speciosa. Glassman also described a fourth member of this group, A. brejinhoensis, and it is accepted by Govaerts and Dransfield.

List

References

External links Attalea from World Checklist of Selected Plant Families

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with List of Attalea species

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what List of Attalea species claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to List of Attalea species before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about List of Attalea species ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of List of Attalea species

In research: List of Attalea species appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses List of Attalea species in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: List of Attalea species is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Attalea (plant), Lists of plant species, Lists of trees, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for List of Attalea species outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “List of Attalea species” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study List of Attalea species in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what List of Attalea species means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain List of Attalea species out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is List of Attalea species in simple terms?

Why does List of Attalea species matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study List of Attalea species?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on List of Attalea species.