|
Lake Corangamite
Lake Corangamite , a hypersaline endorheic lake, is located near Colac in the Lakes and Craters region of the Victorian Volcanic Plains of south-west Victoria, Australia. The lake's salinity levels have increased dramatically as the lake level has dropped in recent decades. It is Australia's largest permanent saline lake, covering approximately with a circumference of . It forms part of the Ramsar-listed Western District Lakes wetland site. The indigenous name of the lake is recorded as ''Kronimite''. Physical features and hydrology The waterbody is surrounded to the south and east by rocky outcrops (known locally as the ''stony rises'') which were formed by lava flows from Mount Porndon to the south-west and Mount Warrion to the east. The Red Rock volcanic complex overlooks the south east shore at Alvie. The Mount Warrion flows caused the lake to form by blocking drainage to the east. As is typical of lakes in the area, the eastern flanks of the lake consist of lunettes for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Foxhow
Foxhow is a locality in Victoria, Australia, Victoria, Australia, located 200 km south-west of Melbourne in an agricultural area at the northern end of Lake Corangamite. Foxhow Post Office opened around 1902 and closed in 1959 although an earlier office had a brief existence around 1870. References Towns in Victoria (state) Shire of Corangamite {{BarwonSouthWest-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Open And Closed Lakes
Open and closed lakes refer to the major subdivisions of lakes – bodies of water surrounded by land. Exorheic, or open lakes drain into a river, or other body of water that ultimately drains into the ocean. Endorheic basins fall into the category of endorheic or closed lakes, wherein waters do not drain into the ocean, but are reduced by evaporation, and/or drain into the ground. Open lake An open lake is a lake where water constantly flows out under almost all climatic circumstances. Because water does not remain in an open lake for any length of time, open lakes are usually fresh water: dissolved solids do not accumulate. Open lakes form in areas where precipitation is greater than evaporation. Because most of the world's water is found in areas of highly effective rainfall, most lakes are open lakes whose water eventually reaches the sea. For instance, the Great Lakes' water flows into the St. Lawrence River and eventually the Atlantic Ocean. Open lakes typically have st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waterbird
A water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird, is a bird that lives on or around water. In some definitions, the term ''water bird'' is especially applied to birds in freshwater ecosystems, although others make no distinction from seabirds that inhabit marine environments. Some water birds (e.g. wading birds) are more terrestrial while others (e.g. waterfowls) are more aquatic, and their adaptations will vary depending on their environment. These adaptations include webbed feet, beaks, and legs adapted to feed in the water, and the ability to dive from the surface or the air to catch prey in water. The term ''aquatic bird'' is sometimes also used in this context. A related term that has a narrower meaning is waterfowl. Some piscivorous birds of prey, such as ospreys and sea eagles, hunt aquatic prey but do not stay in water for long and lives predominantly over dry land, and are not considered water birds. The term waterbird is also used in the context of conservation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding important sites for birds, maintaining and restoring key bird habitats, and empowering conservationists worldwide. It has a membership of more than 2.5 million people across 116 country partner organizations, including the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the Wild Bird Society of Japan, the National Audubon Society and American Bird Conservancy. BirdLife International has identified 13,000 Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas and is the official International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List authority for birds. As of 2015, BirdLife International has established that 1,375 bird species (13% of the total) are threatened with extinction ( critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable). BirdLife International p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Important Bird Area
An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International. There are over 13,000 IBAs worldwide. These sites are small enough to be entirely conserved and differ in their character, habitat or ornithological importance from the surrounding habitat. In the United States the Program is administered by the National Audubon Society. Often IBAs form part of a country's existing protected area network, and so are protected under national legislation. Legal recognition and protection of IBAs that are not within existing protected areas varies within different countries. Some countries have a National IBA Conservation Strategy, whereas in others protection is completely lacking. History In 1985, following a specific request from the European Economic Community, Birdlife International ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australian Pelican
The Australian pelican (''Pelecanus conspicillatus'') is a large waterbird in the family Pelecanidae, widespread on the inland and coastal waters of Australia and New Guinea, also in Fiji, parts of Indonesia and as a vagrant in New Zealand. It is a predominantly white bird with black wings and a pink bill. It has been recorded as having the longest bill of any living bird. It mainly eats fish, but will also consume birds and scavenge for scraps if the opportunity arises. Taxonomy The Australian pelican was first described by Dutch naturalist Coenraad Jacob Temminck in 1824. Its specific epithet is derived from the Latin verb conspicere, meaning 'to behold', and refers to the 'spectacled' appearance created by its conspicuous eye markings. Description The Australian pelican is medium-sized by pelican standards, with a wingspan of . Weight can range from , although most of these pelicans weigh between .''CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses'' by John B. Dunning Jr. (Editor). C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Banded Stilt
The banded stilt (''Cladorhynchus leucocephalus'') is a nomadic wader of the stilt and avocet family, Recurvirostridae, native to Australia. It belongs to the monotypic genus ''Cladorhynchus''. It gets its name from the red-brown breast band found on breeding adults, though this is mottled or entirely absent in non-breeding adults and juveniles. Its remaining plumage is pied and the eyes are dark brown. Nestling banded stilts have white down, unlike any other species of wader. Breeding is triggered by the filling of inland salt lakes by rainfall, creating large shallow lakes rich in tiny shrimp on which the birds feed. Banded stilts migrate to these lakes in large numbers and assemble in large breeding colonies. The female lays three to four brown- or black-splotched whitish eggs on a scrape. If conditions are favourable, a second brood might be laid, though if the lakes dry up prematurely the breeding colonies may be abandoned. The banded stilt is considered to be a species o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isopod
Isopoda is an order of crustaceans that includes woodlice and their relatives. Isopods live in the sea, in fresh water, or on land. All have rigid, segmented exoskeletons, two pairs of antennae, seven pairs of jointed limbs on the thorax, and five pairs of branching appendages on the abdomen that are used in respiration. Females brood their young in a pouch under their thorax. Isopods have various feeding methods: some eat dead or decaying plant and animal matter, others are grazers, or filter feeders, a few are predators, and some are internal or external parasites, mostly of fish. Aquatic species mostly live on the seabed or bottom of freshwater bodies of water, but some taxa can swim for a short distance. Terrestrial forms move around by crawling and tend to be found in cool, moist places. Some species are able to roll themselves into a ball as a defense mechanism or to conserve moisture. There are over 10,000 identified species of isopod worldwide, with around 4,5 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brine Shrimp
''Artemia'' is a genus of aquatic crustaceans also known as brine shrimp. It is the only genus in the family Artemiidae. The first historical record of the existence of ''Artemia'' dates back to the first half of the 10th century AD from Urmia Lake, Iran, with an example called by an Iranian geographer an "aquatic dog," although the first unambiguous record is the report and drawings made by Schlösser in 1757 of animals from Lymington, England. ''Artemia'' populations are found worldwide in inland saltwater lakes, but not in oceans. ''Artemia'' are able to avoid cohabiting with most types of predators, such as fish, by their ability to live in waters of very high salinity (up to 25%). The ability of the ''Artemia'' to produce dormant eggs, known as cysts, has led to extensive use of ''Artemia'' in aquaculture. The cysts may be stored indefinitely and hatched on demand to provide a convenient form of live feed for larval fish and crustaceans. Nauplii of the brine shrimp ''Artemia' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Over Exploitation
Overexploitation, also called overharvesting, refers to harvesting a renewable resource to the point of diminishing returns. Continued overexploitation can lead to the destruction of the resource, as it will be unable to replenish. The term applies to natural resources such as water aquifers, grazing pastures and forests, wild medicinal plants, fish stocks and other wildlife. In ecology, overexploitation describes one of the five main activities threatening global biodiversity. Ecologists use the term to describe populations that are harvested at an unsustainable rate, given their natural rates of mortality and capacities for reproduction. This can result in extinction at the population level and even extinction of whole species. In conservation biology, the term is usually used in the context of human economic activity that involves the taking of biological resources, or organisms, in larger numbers than their populations can withstand. The term is also used and defined some ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Small-mouth Hardyhead
''Atherinosoma microstoma'', commonly known as the small mouth hardyhead, is a species of silverside native to southeastern Australia. It occurs in streams, inland lakes, estuaries and the nearby coastal waters of south-eastern Australia, from Tuggerah Lakes in New South Wales to Lake George in South Australia, as well as in the Bass Strait in Tasmania and Victoria. This species frequently forms schools and they prefer to be among sea grass beds or other aquatic vegetation. This species was described as ''Atherina microstoma'' by Albert Günther of the British Museum (Natural History) in 1872 with the type locality given as Tasmania. Francis de LaPorte de Castelnau used the species he had named as ''Atherinosoma vorax'' as the type species of the genus he called ''Atherinosoma'' but this was a synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flat-headed Gudgeon
''Butis butis'', the crazy fish, duckbill sleeper, or upside-down sleeper, is a species of sleeper goby that are native to brackish and freshwater coastal habitats of the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean from the African coast to the islands of Fiji. They prefer well-vegetated waters and can frequently be found in mangrove swamps. They are small, drably-colored fish, reaching a maximum length of only . They are predatory and are known for their behavior of swimming vertically – or even upside down – while hunting. Description Crazy fish range in length from in length. The head is subcylindrical and flattened dorsoventrally, and slightly concave in the area between the tip of the snout to just behind the eyes. The mouth is very large, with a lower jaw extending past the upper jaw. Both contain multiple rows of tiny, bristle-like, sharp teeth. A pair of nostrils is present on each side of the snout (four in all) midway between the tip of the snout and the eyes. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Isopod")
