|
Claerwen National Nature Reserve
The Claerwen reservoir and dam in Powys, Wales, were the last additions to the Elan Valley Reservoirs system built to provide water for the increasing water demand of the city of Birmingham and the West Midlands. The dam is built mainly of concrete, with the exterior dam face in dressed stone. The dam is a gravity dam built upon solid rock foundations as the pressure of the reservoir behind should be in equilibrium with the total weight of the dam itself thus causing complete stability. The Claerwen dam was finished in 1952 and was given a late Victorian effect so that it blended in with the earlier dams in the valley. It was necessary to employ the services of Italian stonemasons as British ones were still at work in London during the post-war rebuilding process of the late 1940s. The dam took six years to complete and was almost twice the size of the other dams in the Elan valley. The Claerwen reservoir is almost the size of all the other reservoirs in the Elan Valley system ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in 2021 of 3,107,500 and has a total area of . Wales has over of coastline and is largely mountainous with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon (), its highest summit. The country lies within the Temperateness, north temperate zone and has a changeable, maritime climate. The capital and largest city is Cardiff. Welsh national identity emerged among the Celtic Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, and Wales was formed as a Kingdom of Wales, kingdom under Gruffydd ap Llywelyn in 1055. Wales is regarded as one of the Celtic nations. The Conquest of Wales by Edward I, conquest of Wales by Edward I of England was completed by 1283, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhayader
Rhayader (; cy, Rhaeadr Gwy; ) is a market town and community in Powys, Wales, within the historic county of Radnorshire. The town is from the source of the River Wye on Plynlimon, the highest point of the Cambrian Mountains, and is located at the junction of the A470 road and the A44 road north of Builth Wells and east of Aberystwyth. The population was 2,088, with 55% of the community having some form of Welsh identity, according to the 2011 census. The community is the largest in Wales by area, with . It includes the Elan Valley. Rhayader holds the record for the lowest-ever temperature recorded in Wales, -23.3 °C on 21 January 1940. Etymology The name, Rhayader, is a partly-Anglicised form of its Welsh name, ''Y Rhaeadr'' (the waterfall), or, to distinguish it from other places named after waterfalls, "Rhaeadr Gwy" (waterfall n theWye). Strictly speaking, according to place-name spelling conventions in Welsh, the name of the town would be 'Rhaeadr-gwy', ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Top Gear (2002 TV Series)
''Top Gear'' is a British motoring magazine and factual television programme, designed as a relaunched version of the Top Gear (1977 TV series), original 1977 show of the same name by Jeremy Clarkson and Andy Wilman for the BBC, and premiered on 20 October 2002. The programme focuses on the examination and reviewing of motor vehicles, primarily cars, though this was expanded upon after the broadcast of its earlier series to incorporate films featuring motoring-based challenges, special races, timed laps of notable cars, and celebrity timed laps on a course specially-designed for the relaunched programme. The programme drew acclaim for its visual and presentation style since its launch, which focused on being generally entertaining to viewers, as well as Top Gear controversies, criticism over the controversial nature of its content. The show was also praised for its occasionally-controversial humor and lore existing in not just the automotive community but in the form of internet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Merlin (bird)
The merlin (''Falco columbarius'') is a small species of falcon from the Northern Hemisphere, with numerous subspecies throughout North America and Eurasia. A bird of prey once known colloquially as a pigeon hawk in North America, the merlin breeds in the northern Holarctic; some migrate to subtropical and northern tropical regions in winter. Males typically have wingspans of , with females being slightly larger. They are swift fliers and skilled hunters who specialize in preying on small birds in the size range of sparrows to quail. The merlin has for centuries been well regarded as a falconry bird. In recent decades merlin populations in North America have been significantly increasing, with some merlins becoming so well adapted to city life that they forgo migration. Nomenclature The merlin was described and illustrated by the English naturalist Mark Catesby (as the "pigeon hawk") in his ''Natural history of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands'' published in 1729–17 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red Kite
The red kite (''Milvus milvus'') is a medium-large bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as eagles, buzzards, and harriers. The species currently breeds in the Western Palearctic region of Europe and northwest Africa, though it formerly also occurred in northern Iran. It is resident in the milder parts of its range in western Europe and northwest Africa, but birds from northeastern and Central Europe winter further south and west, reaching south to Turkey. Vagrants have reached north to Finland and south to Israel, Libya and Gambia. Taxonomy The red kite was described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the 10th edition of his ''Systema Naturae'' under the binomial name ''Falco milvus''. The word ''milvus'' was the Latin name for the bird. In 1799 the French naturalist Bernard Germain de Lacépède moved the species to the genus ''Milvus'' creating the tautonym. Two subspecies are recognised: * ''M. m. mil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Butterwort
''Pinguicula'', commonly known as the butterworts, is a genus of carnivorous flowering plants in the family Lentibulariaceae. They use sticky, glandular leaves to lure, trap, and digest insects in order to supplement the poor mineral nutrition they obtain from the environment. Of the roughly 80 currently known species, 13 are native to Europe, 9 to North America, and some to northern Asia. The largest number of species is in South and Central America. Etymology The name ''Pinguicula'' is derived from a term coined by Conrad Gesner, who in his 1561 work entitled ''Horti Germaniae'' commented on the glistening leaves: ''"propter pinguia et tenera folia…"'' (Latin ''pinguis'', "fat"). The common name "butterwort" reflects this characteristic. Characteristics The majority of ''Pinguicula'' are perennial plants. The only known annuals are ''P. sharpii'', ''P. takakii'', ''P. crenatiloba'', and ''P. pumila''. All species form stemless rosettes. Habitat Butterworts can be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drosera Rotundifolia
''Drosera rotundifolia'', the round-leaved sundew, roundleaf sundew, or common sundew, is a carnivorous species of flowering plant that grows in bogs, marshes and fens. One of the most widespread sundew species, it has a circumboreal distribution, being found in all of northern Europe, much of Siberia, large parts of northern North America, Korea and Japan but is also found as far south as California, Mississippi and Alabama in the United States of America and in New Guinea. Description The leaves of the common sundew are arranged in a basal rosette. The narrow, hairy, long petioles support round laminae. The upper surface of the lamina is densely covered with red glandular hairs that secrete a sticky mucilage. A typical plant has a diameter of around , with a tall inflorescence. The flowers grow on one side of a single slender, hairless stalk that emanates from the centre of the leaf rosette. White or pink in colour, the five-petalled flowers produce , light brown, sl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luronium Natans
''Luronium natans'' is a species of aquatic plant commonly known as the floating water-plantain. It is the only recognized species in the genus ''Luronium'', native to western and central Europe, from Spain to Britain to Norway east to Ukraine. Description Stems elongated, rising in the water or creeping and rooting at the nodes. Submerged leaves (if present) basal, linear; floating or aerial leaves elliptical to ovate. Flowers hermaphrodite, long-pedunculate in the axils of the floating or aerial leaves. Stamens 6. Carpels 6–15 in an irregular whorl, free, each with 1 ovule; styles apical. Fruitlets achenial, longitudinally many-ribbed, with a short apical beak. 2''n'' = 42. ''Luronium natans'' can be a difficult plant to identify. It is both very variable and resembles many other aquatic plants with strap-like leaves such as bur-reeds (''Sparganium''), young water-plantain plants (''Alisma''), arrowheads (''Sagittaria''), lesser water-plantain (''Baldellia'') ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mire
A mire, peatland, or quagmire is a wetland area dominated by living peat-forming plants. Mires arise because of incomplete decomposition of organic matter, usually litter from vegetation, due to water-logging and subsequent anoxia. All types of mires share the common characteristic of being saturated with water, at least seasonally with actively forming peat, while having their own ecosystem. Like coral reefs, mires are unusual landforms that derive mostly from biological rather than physical processes, and can take on characteristic shapes and surface patterning. A quagmire is a floating (quaking) mire, bog, or any peatland being in a stage of hydrosere or hydrarch (hydroseral) succession, resulting in pond-filling yields underfoot. Ombrotrophic types of quagmire may be called quaking bog (quivering bog). Minerotrophic types can be named with the term quagfen. There are four types of mire: bog, fen, marsh and swamp. A bog is a mire that, due to its location relative to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oligotrophic
An oligotroph is an organism that can live in an environment that offers very low levels of nutrients. They may be contrasted with copiotrophs, which prefer nutritionally rich environments. Oligotrophs are characterized by slow growth, low rates of metabolism, and generally low population density. Oligotrophic environments are those that offer little to sustain life. These environments include deep oceanic sediments, caves, glacial and polar ice, deep subsurface soil, aquifers, ocean waters, and leached soils. Examples of oligotrophic organisms are the cave-dwelling olm; the bacterium " ''Candidatus'' Pelagibacter communis", which is the most abundant organism in the oceans with an estimated 2 × 1028 individuals in total; and the lichens with their extremely low metabolic rate. Etymologically, the word "oligotroph" is a combination of the Greek adjective ''oligos'' (ὀλίγος) meaning "few" and the adjective ''trophikos'' (τροφικός)) meaning "feeding". Plant adaptatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biome
A biome () is a biogeographical unit consisting of a biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which they are found and a shared regional climate. Biomes may span more than one continent. Biome is a broader term than habitat and can comprise a variety of habitats. While a biome can cover large areas, a microbiome is a mix of organisms that coexist in a defined space on a much smaller scale. For example, the human microbiome is the collection of bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms that are present on or in a human body. A biota is the total collection of organisms of a geographic region or a time period, from local geographic scales and instantaneous temporal scales all the way up to whole-planet and whole-timescale spatiotemporal scales. The biotas of the Earth make up the biosphere. Etymology The term was suggested in 1916 by Clements, originally as a synonym for '' biotic community'' of Möbius (1877). Later, it gained its c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acidic Soil
Soil pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity (alkalinity) of a soil. Soil pH is a key characteristic that can be used to make informative analysis both qualitative and quantitatively regarding soil characteristics. pH is defined as the negative logarithm (base 10) of the activity of hydronium ions ( or, more precisely, ) in a solution. In soils, it is measured in a slurry of soil mixed with water (or a salt solution, such as ), and normally falls between 3 and 10, with 7 being neutral. Acid soils have a pH below 7 and alkaline soils have a pH above 7. Ultra-acidic soils (pH 9) are rare. Soil pH is considered a master variable in soils as it affects many chemical processes. It specifically affects plant nutrient availability by controlling the chemical forms of the different nutrients and influencing the chemical reactions they undergo. The optimum pH range for most plants is between 5.5 and 7.5; however, many plants have adapted to thrive at pH values out ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
