full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Valentin Hammoudi: How tall can a tree grow?

Unscramble the Blue Letters

This mdoel, known as the “hydraulic lotimiitan hypothesis,” is currently our best explanation for why trees have limited heights, even in perfect growing cnnotdoiis. And using this model alongside growth rates and known needs for nutrients and photosynthesis, researchers have been able to pporose height limits for specific species. So far these limits have held up – even the world’s tallest tree still flals about fifteen meters below the cap. Researchers are still investigating the possible explanations for this limit, and there may not be one universal reosan why trees stop growing. But until we learn more, the height of trees is yet another way that gravity, literally, shapes life on Earth.

Open Cloze

This _____, known as the “hydraulic __________ hypothesis,” is currently our best explanation for why trees have limited heights, even in perfect growing __________. And using this model alongside growth rates and known needs for nutrients and photosynthesis, researchers have been able to _______ height limits for specific species. So far these limits have held up – even the world’s tallest tree still _____ about fifteen meters below the cap. Researchers are still investigating the possible explanations for this limit, and there may not be one universal ______ why trees stop growing. But until we learn more, the height of trees is yet another way that gravity, literally, shapes life on Earth.

Solution

  1. falls
  2. conditions
  3. reason
  4. limitation
  5. propose
  6. model

Original Text

This model, known as the “hydraulic limitation hypothesis,” is currently our best explanation for why trees have limited heights, even in perfect growing conditions. And using this model alongside growth rates and known needs for nutrients and photosynthesis, researchers have been able to propose height limits for specific species. So far these limits have held up – even the world’s tallest tree still falls about fifteen meters below the cap. Researchers are still investigating the possible explanations for this limit, and there may not be one universal reason why trees stop growing. But until we learn more, the height of trees is yet another way that gravity, literally, shapes life on Earth.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
phloem sap 4
grow taller 2
xylem sap 2

Important Words

  1. cap
  2. conditions
  3. earth
  4. explanation
  5. explanations
  6. falls
  7. fifteen
  8. gravity
  9. growing
  10. growth
  11. height
  12. heights
  13. held
  14. hypothesis
  15. investigating
  16. learn
  17. life
  18. limit
  19. limitation
  20. limited
  21. limits
  22. literally
  23. meters
  24. model
  25. nutrients
  26. perfect
  27. photosynthesis
  28. propose
  29. rates
  30. reason
  31. researchers
  32. shapes
  33. species
  34. specific
  35. stop
  36. tallest
  37. tree
  38. trees
  39. universal