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Field Vole
The short-tailed field vole, short-tailed vole, or simply field vole (''Microtus agrestis'') is a grey-brown vole, around 10 cm in length, with a short tail. It is one of the most common mammals in Europe, with a range extending from the Atlantic coast to Lake Baikal. These voles are found in moist grassy habitats, such as woodland, marsh or on river banks. Although they make shallow burrows, they usually build nests above ground. They are an important food source for owls and some other predators and their population size tends to peak and trough cyclically. Field voles breed prolifically, mainly in summer, but often all year round, even under snow. Females produce up to seven litters a year, each averaging from four to six young which are weaned after about fourteen days. The short-tailed field vole is both widespread and common and is listed as being of "Least Concern" by the IUCN. Description The short-tailed field vole is a small, dark brown rodent with a short tail, di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming organisms. He is known as the "father of modern Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy". Many of his writings were in Latin; his name is rendered in Latin as and, after his 1761 ennoblement, as . Linnaeus was born in Råshult, the countryside of Småland, in southern Sweden. He received most of his higher education at Uppsala University and began giving lectures in botany there in 1730. He lived abroad between 1735 and 1738, where he studied and also published the first edition of his ' in the Netherlands. He then returned to Sweden where he became professor of medicine and botany at Uppsala. In the 1740s, he was sent on several journeys through Sweden to find and classify plants and animals. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Festuca Rubra
''Festuca rubra'' is a species of grass known by the common name red fescue or creeping red fescue. It is widespread across much of the Northern Hemisphere and can tolerate many habitats and climates. It is best adapted to well-drained soils in cool, temperate climates; it prefers shadier areas and is often planted for its shade tolerance. Wild animals browse it, but it has not been important for domestic forage due to low productivity and palatability. It is also an ornamental plant for gardens. Description ''Festuca rubra'' is perennial and has sub-species that have rhizomes and/or form bunchgrass tufts. It mainly exists in neutral and acidic soils. It can grow between 2 and 20 cm tall. Like all fescues, the leaves are narrow and needle like, making it less palatable to livestock. The swards that it forms are not as tufted as sheep's fescue (''Festuca ovina'') or wavy hair grass (''Deschampsia flexuosa''). The tufted nature is what gives the grass its springy characterist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microtus
''Microtus'' is a genus of voles found in North America, Europe and northern Asia. The genus name refers to the small ears of these animals. About 62 species are placed in the genus. They are stout rodents with short ears, legs and tails. They eat green vegetation such as grasses and sedges in summer, and grains, seeds, root and bark at other times. The genus is also called "meadow voles". 
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Red List Of Threatened Species
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. It uses a set of precise criteria to evaluate the extinction risk of thousands of species and subspecies. These criteria are relevant to all species and all regions of the world. With its strong scientific base, the IUCN Red List is recognized as the most authoritative guide to the status of biological diversity. A series of Regional Red Lists are produced by countries or organizations, which assess the risk of extinction to species within a political management unit. The aim of the IUCN Red List is to convey the urgency of conservation issues to the public and policy makers, as well as help the international community to reduce species extinction. According to IUCN the formally stated goals of the Red List are to provide scie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scramble Competition
In ecology, scramble competition (or complete symmetric competition or exploitation competition) refers to a situation in which a resource is accessible to all competitors (that is, it is not monopolizable by an individual or group). However, since the particular resource is usually finite, scramble competition may lead to decreased survival rates for all competitors if the resource is used to its carrying capacity. Scramble competition is also defined as " finite resource hatis shared equally amongst the competitors so that the quantity of food per individual declines with increasing population density".Den Berg, V., Rossing, W., and Grasman, J. (2006). "Contest and Scramble Competition and the Carry-Over Effect in Globodera spp. In Potato-Based Crop Rotations Using an Extended Ricker Model". Journal of Nematology, 38(2):210-220. A further description of scramble competition is "competition for a resource that is inadequate for the needs of all, but which is partitioned equally ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Territory (biology)
In ethology, territory is the sociographical area that an animal consistently defends against conspecific competition (or, occasionally, against animals of other species) using agonistic behaviors or (less commonly) real physical aggression. Animals that actively defend territories in this way are referred to as being territorial or displaying territorialism. Territoriality is only shown by a minority of species. More commonly, an individual or a group of animals occupies an area that it habitually uses but does not necessarily defend; this is called its home range. The home ranges of different groups of animals often overlap, and in these overlap areas the groups tend to avoid each other rather than seeking to confront and expel each other. Within the home range there may be a ''core area'' that no other individual group uses, but, again, this is as a result of avoidance. Function The ultimate function of animals inhabiting and defending a territory is to increase the indivi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birth
Birth is the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring, also referred to in technical contexts as parturition. In mammals, the process is initiated by hormones which cause the muscular walls of the uterus to contract, expelling the fetus at a developmental stage when it is ready to feed and breathe. In some species the offspring is precocial and can move around almost immediately after birth but in others it is altricial and completely dependent on parenting. In marsupials, the fetus is born at a very immature stage after a short gestation and develops further in its mother's womb pouch. It is not only mammals that give birth. Some reptiles, amphibians, fish and invertebrates carry their developing young inside them. Some of these are ovoviviparous, with the eggs being hatched inside the mother's body, and others are viviparous, with the embryo developing inside her body, as in the case of mammals. Mammals Large mammals, such as primates, cattle, horses, some ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Induced Ovulator
Induced ovulation is when a female animal ovulates due to an externally-derived stimulus during, or just prior to, mating, rather than ovulating cyclically or spontaneously. Stimuli causing induced ovulation include the physical act of coitus or mechanical stimulation simulating this, sperm and pheromones. Ovulation occurs at the ovary surface and is described as the process in which an oocyte (female germ cell) is released from the follicle. Ovulation is a non-deleterious 'inflammatory response' which is initiated by a luteinizing hormone (LH) surge. The mechanism of ovulation varies between species. In humans the ovulation process occurs around day 14 of the menstrual cycle, this can also be referred to as 'cyclical spontaneous ovulation'. However the monthly menstruation process is typically linked to humans and primates, all other animal species ovulate by various other mechanisms. Spontaneous ovulation is the ovulatory process in which the maturing ovarian follicles secrete ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barn Owl
The barn owl (''Tyto alba'') is the most widely distributed species of owl in the world and one of the most widespread of all species of birds, being found almost everywhere except for the polar and desert regions, Asia north of the Himalayas, most of Indonesia, and some Pacific Islands. It is also known as the common barn owl, to distinguish it from the other species in its family, Tytonidae, which forms one of the two main lineages of living owls, the other being the typical owls (''Strigidae''). There are at least three major lineages of barn owl: the western barn owl of Europe, western Asia, and Africa; the eastern barn owl of southeastern Asia and Australasia; and the American barn owl of the Americas. Some taxonomic authorities classify barn owls differently, recognising up to five separate species; and further research needs to be done to resolve the disparate taxonomies. There is considerable variation of size and colour among the approximately 28 subspecies, bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chamerion Angustifolium
''Chamaenerion angustifolium'' is a perennial herbaceous flowering plant in the willowherb family Onagraceae. It is known in North America as fireweed, in some parts of Canada as great willowherb, in Britain and Ireland as rosebay willowherb. In the United Kingdom it is also known as bombweed, as a result of its rapid appearance on city bomb sites during the Blitz of World War II; the plant is also traditionally known as Saint Anthony's laurel. It is also known by the synonyms ''Chamerion angustifolium'' and ''Epilobium angustifolium''. It is native throughout the temperate Northern Hemisphere, including large parts of the boreal forests. Description The reddish stems of this herbaceous perennial are usually simple, erect, smooth, high with scattered alternate leaves. The leaves are spirally arranged, entire, narrowly lanceolate, and pinnately veined, the secondary leaf veins anastomosing, joining together to form a continuous marginal vein just inside the leaf margins. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deschampsia Cespitosa
''Deschampsia cespitosa'', commonly known as tufted hairgrass or tussock grass, is a perennial tufted plant in the grass family Poaceae. Distribution of this species is widespread including the eastern and western coasts of North America, parts of South America, Eurasia and Australia. The species is cultivated as an ornamental garden plant, and numerous cultivars are available. The cultivars 'Goldschleier' and 'Goldtau' have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. It is a larval host to the Juba skipper and the umber skipper. Description A distinguishing feature is the upper surface of the leaf blade which feels rough and can cut in one direction, but is smooth in the opposite direction. The dark green upper sides of the leaves are deeply grooved. It can grow to tall, and has a long, narrow, pointed ligule. It flowers from June until August. It can be found on all types of grassland, although it prefers poorly drained soil. It forms a major componen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ranunculus
''Ranunculus'' is a large genus of about almost 1700 to more than 1800 species of flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae. Members of the genus are known as buttercups, spearworts and water crowfoots. The genus is distributed in Europe, North America and South America. The familiar and widespread buttercup of gardens throughout Northern Europe (and introduced elsewhere) is the creeping buttercup ''Ranunculus repens'', which has extremely tough and tenacious roots. Two other species are also widespread, the bulbous buttercup ''Ranunculus bulbosus'' and the much taller meadow buttercup ''Ranunculus acris''. In ornamental gardens, all three are often regarded as weeds. Buttercups usually flower in the spring, but flowers may be found throughout the summer, especially where the plants are growing as opportunistic colonizers, as in the case of garden weeds. The water crowfoots (''Ranunculus'' subgenus ''Batrachium''), which grow in still or running water, are sometimes tr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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