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Moe Island
Moe Island is an island long in the South Orkney Islands off Antarctica, separated from the south-west end of Signy Island by Fyr Channel. It was charted by Captain Petter Sørlle in 1912–13, and named after M. Thoralf Moe of Sandefjord, Norway, a contemporary whaling captain who worked in this area. The northernmost point of the island is Spaull Point, named by United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee (UK-APC) after Vaughan W. Spaull, British Antarctic Survey (BAS) biologist on Signy Island, 1969. Antarctic Specially Protected Area The island has been designated an Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA 109) mainly for its biological values, especially the banks of '' Chorisodontium''–''Polytrichum'' moss turf and ''Andreaea''–''Usnea '' fellfield. The cryptogamic flora is diverse, though in places the moss turf is subject to damage by Antarctic fur seals. The mites '' Stereotydeus villosus'' and ''Gamasellus racovitzai'', as well as the springtail ''Cryptopygu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cryptogam
A cryptogam (scientific name Cryptogamae) is a plant (in the wide sense of the word) or a plant-like organism that reproduces by spores, without flowers or seeds. The name ''Cryptogamae'' () means "hidden reproduction", referring to the fact that no seed is produced, thus cryptogams represent the non-seed bearing plants. Other names, such as "thallophytes", "lower plants", and "spore plants" are also occasionally used. As a group, Cryptogamae are the opposite of the Phanerogamae () or Spermatophyta (), the seed plants. The best-known groups of cryptogams are algae, lichens, mosses, and ferns, but it also includes non-photosynthetic organisms traditionally classified as plants, such as fungi, slime molds, and bacteria. The classification is now deprecated in Linnaean taxonomy. At one time, the cryptogams were formally recognised as a group within the plant kingdom. In his system for classification of all known plants and animals, Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) divided the plant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antarctic Prion
The Antarctic prion (''Pachyptila desolata'') also known as the dove prion, or totorore in Māori, is the largest of the prions, a genus of small petrels of the Southern Ocean. Taxonomy The Antarctic prion was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's ''Systema Naturae''. He placed it with the other petrels in the genus ''Procellaria'' and coined the binomial name ''Procellaria desolata''. Gmelin based his description on the "brown-banded petrel" that had been described in 1785 by the English ornithologist John Latham from a specimen supplied by the naturalist Joseph Banks that had been collected on the "Isle of Desolation", now the Kerguelen Islands. The Antarctic prion is now one of seven prions placed in the genus ''Pachyptila'' that was introduced in 1811 by the German zoologist Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek ''pakhus '' meaning "dense" or "thick ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seabird
Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding niches have resulted in similar adaptations. The first seabirds evolved in the Cretaceous period, and modern seabird families emerged in the Paleogene. In general, seabirds live longer, breed later and have fewer young than other birds do, but they invest a great deal of time in their young. Most species nest in colonies, which can vary in size from a few dozen birds to millions. Many species are famous for undertaking long annual migrations, crossing the equator or circumnavigating the Earth in some cases. They feed both at the ocean's surface and below it, and even feed on each other. Seabirds can be highly pelagic, coastal, or in some cases spend a part of the year away from the sea entirely. Seabirds and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bird Colony
A bird colony is a large congregation of individuals of one or more species of bird that nest or roost in proximity at a particular location. Many kinds of birds are known to congregate in groups of varying size; a congregation of nesting birds is called a breeding colony. Colonial nesting birds include seabirds such as auks and albatrosses; wetland species such as herons; and a few passerines such as weaverbirds, certain blackbirds, and some swallows. A group of birds congregating for rest is called a communal roost. Evidence of colonial nesting has been found in non- neornithine birds ( Enantiornithes), in sediments from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of Romania. Variations on colonial nesting in birds Approximately 13% of all bird species nest colonially. Nesting colonies are very common among seabirds on cliffs and islands. Nearly 95% of seabirds are colonial, leading to the usage, seabird colony, sometimes called a rookery. Many species of terns nest in colonie ... [...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] |
Cryptopygus Antarcticus
The Antarctic springtail, ''Cryptopygus antarcticus'', is a species of springtail native to Antarctica and Australia. ''Cryptopygus antarcticus'' average long and weigh only a few micrograms. Like other springtails, the Antarctic springtail too has been found to be useful as a bioindicator of pollution and has been used to study microplastic pollution in Antarctica. They also tend aggregate, by signaling to other individuals via pheromones, specially when temperatures Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer. Thermometers are calibrated in various temperature scales that historically have relied o ... are low, to avoid a high water loss rate. References Collembola Animals described in 1901 Fauna of Heard Island and McDonald Islands {{springtail-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Springtail
Springtails (Collembola) form the largest of the three lineages of modern hexapods that are no longer considered insects (the other two are the Protura and Diplura). Although the three orders are sometimes grouped together in a class called Entognatha because they have internal mouthparts, they do not appear to be any more closely related to one another than they are to all insects, which have external mouthparts. Collembolans are omnivorous, free-living organisms that prefer moist conditions. They do not directly engage in the decomposition of organic matter, but contribute to it indirectly through the fragmentation of organic matter and the control of soil microbial communities. The word ''Collembola'' is from the ancient Greek "glue" and "peg"; this name was given due to the existence of the collophore, which was previously thought to stick to surfaces to stabilize the creature. Some DNA sequence studies suggest that Collembola represent a separate evolutionary line fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gamasellus Racovitzai
''Gamasellus'' is a genus of mites in the family Ologamasidae. There are more than 60 described species in ''Gamasellus''. Species These 69 species belong to the genus ''Gamasellus'': * '' Gamasellus acutus'' Karg, 1997 * ''Gamasellus alexandrovae'' Davydova, 1982 * '' Gamasellus alpinus'' Schweizer, 1949 * ''Gamasellus bellavistae'' Emberson, 1967 * ''Gamasellus borealis'' (Koch, 1879) * ''Gamasellus caucasicus'' Bregetova & Troitsky, 1981 * '' Gamasellus changbaiensis'' Bei & Yin, 1995 * '' Gamasellus concinus'' (Womersley, 1942) * '' Gamasellus cooperi'' (Womersley, 1961) * '' Gamasellus cophinus'' Lee, 1973 * '' Gamasellus davydovae'' Vinnik, 1993 * '' Gamasellus deepdalensis'' (Ryke, 1962) * ''Gamasellus discutatus'' (Lee, 1966) * '' Gamasellus dunhuaensis'' Ma, 2003 * '' Gamasellus exiquns'' Davydova, 1982 * '' Gamasellus ezoensis'' Ishikawa, 1983 * ''Gamasellus falciger'' (Canestrini & Canestrini, 1881) * '' Gamasellus falculatus'' Athias-Henriot, 1961 * '' Gamasellus gri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
