Studies near Lituya Bay showed that plants in this genus promote podzolization, fueling autogenic succession towards an acidic community where they dominate. For 10 points each:
[10h] Name this genus of ecosystem engineers that force reliance on rainwater by raising the acrotelm into a mound. Most of the volume of plants in this genus comprises water-retaining hyaline cells.
ANSWER: Sphagnum moss [prompt on moss]
[10m] This quantity for a hummock of sphagnum is only about a meter a day in the vertical. The presence of tracheids in vascular plants increases this quantity, symbolized K, which is higher for gravelly soils than sandy ones.
ANSWER: hydraulic conductivity [accept soil permeability; prompt on porosity]
[10e] The water that seeps out of sphagnum bogs is colored by these polyphenolic compounds, whose astringent taste discourages herbivory, but pleases some winetasters.
ANSWER: tannins [accept tannoids]
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