|
Auckland Snipe
The Auckland snipe (''Coenocorypha aucklandica aucklandica''), also known as the Auckland Island snipe, is a small bird in the sandpiper family. It is the isolated nominate subspecies of the subantarctic snipe that is endemic to the Auckland Islands, a subantarctic island group south of New Zealand in the Southern Ocean. Taxonomy and etymology The Auckland snipe was first collected in 1840 both by Charles Wilkes’ United States Exploring Expedition, and James Ross’ ''Erebus'' and ''Terror'' Antarctic expedition, with the British specimens forming the basis for George Gray's 1844 description. The species name, and hence the subspecific epithet, refer to the type locality. Description The subspecies is generally similar to others in the genus, being a small, brown, cryptically patterned snipe with a long bill, short neck, tail and legs, and short, rounded wings. Females are slightly larger than males, weighing about 107 g compared with the males’ 82–94 g. Distribution a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Joseph Hullmandel
Charles Joseph Hullmandel (15 June 1789 – 15 November 1850) was born in London, where he maintained a lithographic establishment on Great Marlborough Street from about 1819 until his death. He was born in Queen Street, Mayfair. His father was a German-speaking musician and composer, Nicolaus Joseph Hüllmandel (1751–1823), a native of Strasbourg who became a pupil of C. P. E. Bach and from 1780 spent ten years as a fashionable music teacher in Paris. In 1787 he married a Mademoiselle du Cazan, who was of a noble French family, and in 1789 sent his wife to England, following her in 1790, as the French Revolution unfolded. As a young man, Charles Hullmandel studied art and spent several years living and working in continental Europe. He learned printmaking and printed many of his own works.''The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Review'', vol. 189 (1851), p. 209 In 1818, he set up a printing press in London after a visit to Munich with Rudolph Ackermann, and went on to study c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HMS Terror (1813)
HMS ''Terror'' was a specialised warship and a newly developed bomb vessel constructed for the Royal Navy in 1813. She participated in several battles of the War of 1812, including the Battle of Baltimore with the bombardment of Fort McHenry. She was converted into a polar exploration ship two decades later, and participated in George Back's Arctic expedition of 1836–1837, the successful Ross expedition to the Antarctic of 1839 to 1843, and Sir John Franklin's ill-fated attempt to force the Northwest Passage in 1845, during which she was lost with all hands along with . On 12 September 2016, the Arctic Research Foundation announced that the wreck of ''Terror'' had been found in Nunavut's Terror Bay, off the southwest coast of King William Island. The wreck was discovered south of the location where the ship was reported abandoned, and some from the wreck of HMS ''Erebus'', discovered in 2014. Early history and military service HMS ''Terror'' was a bomb ship built over ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herbfield
Herbfields are plant communities dominated by herbaceous plants, especially forbs and grasses. They are found where climatic conditions do not allow large woody plants to grow, such as in subantarctic and alpine tundra environments. Herbfield is defined in New South Wales (Australia) government legislation as native vegetation that predominantly does not contain an over-storey or a mid-storey and where ground cover is dominated by non-grass species. The New Zealand Department of Conservation The Department of Conservation (DOC; Māori: ''Te Papa Atawhai'') is the public service department of New Zealand charged with the conservation of New Zealand's natural and historical heritage. An advisory body, the New Zealand Conservation Au ... has described herbfield vegetation as that in which the cover of herbs in the canopy is 20–100%, and in which herb cover is greater than that of any other growth form, or of bare ground.Lux et al. (2009). Various kinds of herbfield include ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shrubland
Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It may be the mature vegetation type in a particular region and remain stable over time, or a transitional community that occurs temporarily as the result of a disturbance, such as fire. A stable state may be maintained by regular natural disturbance such as fire or browsing. Shrubland may be unsuitable for human habitation because of the danger of fire. The term was coined in 1903. Shrubland species generally show a wide range of adaptations to fire, such as heavy seed production, lignotubers, and fire-induced germination. Botanical structural form In botany and ecology a shrub is defined as a much-branched woody plant less than 8 m high and usually with many stems. Tall shrubs are mostly 2–8 m high, small shrubs 1–2 m high and su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Forest
A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines a forest as, "Land spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees higher than 5 meters and a canopy cover of more than 10 percent, or trees able to reach these thresholds ''in situ''. It does not include land that is predominantly under agricultural or urban use." Using this definition, '' Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020'' (FRA 2020) found that forests covered , or approximately 31 percent of the world's land area in 2020. Forests are the predominant terrestrial ecosystem of Earth, and are found around the globe. More than half of the world's forests are found in only five countries (Brazil, Canada, China, Russia, and the United States). The largest share of forests (45 percent) are in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olearia
''Olearia'', most commonly known as daisy-bush, is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Asteraceae, the largest of the flowering plant families in the world. Olearia are found in Australia, New Guinea and New Zealand. The genus includes herbaceous plants, shrubs and small trees. The latter are unusual among the Asteraceae and are called tree daisies in New Zealand. All bear the familiar daisy-like composite flowerheads in white, pink, mauve or purple. Description Plants in the genus ''Olearia'' are shrubs of varying sizes, characterised by a composite flower head arrangement with single-row ray florets enclosed by small overlapping bracts arranged in rows. The flower petals are more or less equal in length. The centre of the bi-sexual floret is disc shaped and may be white, yellowish or purplish, generally with 5 lobes. Flower heads may be single or clusters in leaf axils or at the apex of branchlets. Leaves may be smooth, glandular or with a sticky secretion. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grassland
A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica and are found in most ecoregions of the Earth. Furthermore, grasslands are one of the largest biomes on earth and dominate the landscape worldwide. There are different types of grasslands: natural grasslands, semi-natural grasslands, and agricultural grasslands. They cover 31–69% of the Earth's land area. Definitions Included among the variety of definitions for grasslands are: * "...any plant community, including harvested forages, in which grasses and/or legumes make up the dominant vegetation." * "...terrestrial ecosystems dominated by herbaceous and shrub vegetation, and maintained by fire, grazing, drought and/or freezing temperatures." (Pilot Assessment of Global Ecosystems, 2000) * "A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tussock (grass)
Tussock grasses or bunch grasses are a group of grass species in the family Poaceae. They usually grow as singular plants in clumps, tufts, hummocks, or bunches, rather than forming a sod or lawn, in meadows, grasslands, and prairies. As perennial plants, most species live more than one season. Tussock grasses are often found as forage in pastures and ornamental grasses in gardens. Many species have long roots that may reach or more into the soil, which can aid slope stabilization, erosion control, and soil porosity for precipitation absorption. Also, their roots can reach moisture more deeply than other grasses and annual plants during seasonal or climatic droughts. The plants provide habitat and food for insects (including Lepidoptera), birds, small animals and larger herbivores, and support beneficial soil mycorrhiza. The leaves supply material, such as for basket weaving, for indigenous peoples and contemporary artists. Tussock and bunch grasses occur in almost any habitat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rose Island, New Zealand
Rose Island is an uninhabited island, and with an area of 121 hectares the fifth largest of the Auckland Islands group, a subantarctic chain that forms part of the New Zealand Outlying Islands. It is located in the northeast of the group, in the mouth of Port Ross, Auckland Island and south west of the larger Enderby Island. It was stocked with rabbits and provided with a boatshed for the relief of castaways during the nineteenth century. The rabbits have since been eradicated by the Department of Conservation, and provides a secure home for a population of Auckland Islands teal. The vegetation on Rose contains rata, and while much original vegetation has been destroyed, it is less modified than much of the Auckland Islands. See also * Composite Antarctic Gazetteer * SCAR * Territorial claims in Antarctica * New Zealand Subantarctic Islands * List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands#List of subantarctic islands * List of islands of New Zealand * List of islands * Desert i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ewing Island, New Zealand
Ewing Island is an uninhabited island, part of the Auckland Islands group, a subantarctic chain that forms part of the New Zealand outlying islands. It lies in the north-east of the group, close to the mouth of Port Ross, immediately to the south of the larger Enderby Island and off the north-eastern tip of the main Auckland Island. Important Bird Area The island is part of the Auckland Island group Important Bird Area (IBA), identified as such by BirdLife International because of the significance of the group as a breeding site for several species of seabirds as well as the endemic Auckland shag, Auckland teal, Auckland rail and Auckland snipe.BirdLife International. (2012). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Auckland Islands. Downloaded from on 23 January 2012. Both red-crowned parakeets and yellow-crowned parakeets live on Ewing Island, making this the second southernmost location of living parrots. See also * Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research * New Zealand subant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Disappointment Island
Disappointment Island is one of seven uninhabited islands in the Auckland Islands archipelago, in New Zealand. It is south of the country's main South Island and from the northwest end of Auckland Island. It is home to a large colony of white-capped albatrosses: about 65,000 pairs – nearly the entire world's population – nest there. Also on the island is the Auckland rail, endemic to the archipelago; once thought to be extinct, it was rediscovered in 1966. History On 7 March 1907, the '' Dundonald'', a steel, four-masted barque, sank after running ashore on the west side of Disappointment Island. Twelve men drowned and sixteen survivors waited seven months for rescue. They survived on supplies from the castaway depot on Auckland Island. The island was visited by a scientific expedition in November 1907. Etymology The etymology of Disappointment Island is unclear; however, the naming of islands that lacked resources—such as the Disappointment Islands—may have been ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enderby Island
Enderby Island is part of New Zealand's uninhabited Auckland Islands archipelago, south of mainland New Zealand. It is situated just off the northern tip of Auckland Island, the largest island in the archipelago. Geography and geology Enderby Island lies off the northeastern extremity of Auckland Island, directly across from the mouth of Port Ross, from which it is separated by some . Several islands lie in the strait between the two islands, notably Rose, Ewing, and Ocean Islands. Of these, Rose Island lies between the two closest points on Auckland and Enderby Island, separated from them by two narrow channels, each some in width. The island comprises around 1% of the total land area of the Auckland island group. Enderby Island has few notable geographic features. It is surrounded by cliffs and rocky shorelines, with the only landing point being at Sandy Bay in the island's southwest. Several historic huts are located at this bay, which is also home to a breeding colony of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> HMS Terror (1813)")
