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Movile Cave
Movile Cave () is a cave near Mangalia, Constanța County, Romania discovered in 1986 by Cristian Lascu a few kilometers from the Black Sea coast. It is notable for its unique groundwater ecosystem abundant in hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide, but low in oxygen. Life in the cave has been separated from the outside for the past 5.5 million years and it is based completely on chemosynthesis rather than photosynthesis. Similar caves where life partly or fully depends on chemosynthesis have been found in Ein-Nur Cave and Ayalon Cave (Israel), Frasassi Caves (Italy), Melissotrypa Cave (Greece), Tashan Cave (Iran), caves in the Sharo-Argun Valley in the Caucasus Mountains, Lower Kane Cave and Cesspool Cave (USA), and Villa Luz Cave (Mexico). Chemical environment The air in the cave is very different from the outer atmosphere. The level of oxygen is only a third to half of the concentration found in open air (7–10% O2 in the cave atmosphere, compared to 21% O2 in air), and about ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mangalia
Mangalia (, tr, Mankalya), ancient Callatis ( el, Κάλλατις/Καλλατίς; other historical names: Pangalia, Panglicara, Tomisovara), is a city and a port on the coast of the Black Sea in the south-east of Constanța County, Northern Dobruja, Romania. The municipality of Mangalia also administers several summertime seaside resorts: Cap Aurora, Jupiter, Neptun, Olimp, Saturn, Venus. History The Greek town Callatis existed until the mid-7th century under this name. Life in the town resumed from the 10th century. In the 13th century Callatis came to be known as Pangalia. The Vlachs called it Tomisovara and the Greeks called it Panglicara. From the 16th century the town had acquired its present name, Mangalia. A Greek colony named Callatis was founded in the 6th century BC by the city of Heraclea Pontica. Its first silver coinage was minted around 350 BC. In 72 BC, Callatis was conquered by the Roman general Lucullus and was assigned to the Roman province of Moesia Infe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Woodlouse
A woodlouse (plural woodlice) is an isopod crustacean from the polyphyleticThe current consensus is that Oniscidea is actually triphyletic suborder Oniscidea within the order Isopoda. They get their name from often being found in old wood. The first woodlice were marine isopods which are presumed to have colonised land in the Carboniferous, though the oldest known fossils are from the Cretaceous period. They have many common names and although often referred to as terrestrial isopods, some species live semiterrestrially or have recolonised aquatic environments. Woodlice in the families Armadillidae, Armadillidiidae, Eubelidae, Tylidae and some other genera can roll up into a roughly spherical shape ( conglobate) as a defensive mechanism; others have partial rolling ability, but most cannot conglobate at all. Woodlice have a basic morphology of a segmented, dorso-ventrally flattened body with seven pairs of jointed legs, specialised appendages for respiration and like ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stygofauna
Stygofauna are any fauna that live in groundwater systems or aquifers, such as caves, fissures and vugs. Stygofauna and troglofauna are the two types of subterranean fauna (based on life-history). Both are associated with subterranean environments – stygofauna are associated with water, and troglofauna with caves and spaces above the water table. Stygofauna can live within freshwater aquifers and within the pore spaces of limestone, calcrete or laterite, whilst larger animals can be found in cave waters and wells. Stygofaunal animals, like troglofauna, are divided into three groups based on their life history - stygophiles, stygoxenes, and stygobites. # Stygophiles inhabit both surface and subterranean aquatic environments, but are not necessarily restricted to either. # Stygoxenes are like stygophiles, except they are defined as accidental or occasional presence in subterranean waters. Stygophiles and stygoxenes may live for part of their lives in caves, but don't complete th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nepa (insect)
''Nepa'' is a genus belonging to the family Nepidae, known as water scorpions. There are six species found in freshwater habitats in the Northern Hemisphere. They are oval-bodied, aquatic insects with raptorial front legs. Like other members of the Nepidae, they have a pair of nonretractable cerci-like breathing tubes on the terminal abdominal segment, a characteristic which readily distinguishes them from the Belostomatidae. Their primary staples are other insects and small aquatic vertebrates. They can inflict a painful bite when handled. Etymology 'Nepa' is a classical Latin word for a 'scorpion' or ' crab'. Species The following species are included in ''Nepa'': * '' Nepa anophthalma'' Decu et al., 1994 (see Movile Cave) * '' Nepa apiculata'' Uhler, 1862 * ''Nepa cinerea'' Linnaeus, 1758 - type species * '' Nepa dollfusi'' Esaki, 1928 * '' Nepa grandis'' Linnæus, 1758 * '' Nepa hoffmanni'' Esaki, 1925 * '' Nepa monteilsensis'' Nel, 1988 * '' Nepa plana'' Sulzer, 1776 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microbial Mat
A microbial mat is a multi-layered sheet of microorganisms, mainly bacteria and archaea, or bacteria alone. Microbial mats grow at interfaces between different types of material, mostly on submerged or moist surfaces, but a few survive in deserts. A few are found as endosymbionts of animals. Although only a few centimetres thick at most, microbial mats create a wide range of internal chemical environments, and hence generally consist of layers of microorganisms that can feed on or at least tolerate the dominant chemicals at their level and which are usually of closely related species. In moist conditions mats are usually held together by slimy substances secreted by the microorganisms. In many cases some of the bacteria form tangled webs of filaments which make the mat tougher. The best known physical forms are flat mats and stubby pillars called stromatolites, but there are also spherical forms. Microbial mats are the earliest form of life on Earth for which there is good fossi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bacteria
Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among the first life forms to appear on Earth, and are present in most of its habitats. Bacteria inhabit soil, water, acidic hot springs, radioactive waste, and the deep biosphere of Earth's crust. Bacteria are vital in many stages of the nutrient cycle by recycling nutrients such as the fixation of nitrogen from the atmosphere. The nutrient cycle includes the decomposition of dead bodies; bacteria are responsible for the putrefaction stage in this process. In the biological communities surrounding hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, extremophile bacteria provide the nutrients needed to sustain life by converting dissolved compounds, such as hydrogen sulphide and methane, to energy. Bacteria also live in symbiotic and parasitic relationsh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fungi
A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from the other eukaryotic kingdoms, which by one traditional classification include Plantae, Animalia, Protozoa, and Chromista. A characteristic that places fungi in a different kingdom from plants, bacteria, and some protists is chitin in their cell walls. Fungi, like animals, are heterotrophs; they acquire their food by absorbing dissolved molecules, typically by secreting digestive enzymes into their environment. Fungi do not photosynthesize. Growth is their means of mobility, except for spores (a few of which are flagellated), which may travel through the air or water. Fungi are the principal decomposers in ecological systems. These and other differences place fungi in a single group of related organisms, named the ''Eumycota'' (''t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Food Chain
A food chain is a linear network of links in a food web starting from producer organisms (such as grass or algae which produce their own food via photosynthesis) and ending at an apex predator species (like grizzly bears or killer whales), detritivores (like earthworms or woodlice), or decomposer species (such as fungi or bacteria). A food chain also shows how organisms are related to each other by the food they eat. Each level of a food chain represents a different trophic level. A food chain differs from a food web because the complex network of different animals' feeding relations are aggregated and the chain only follows a direct, linear pathway of one animal at a time. Natural interconnections between food chains make it a food web. Food chains were first introduced by the Arab scientist and philosopher Al-Jahiz in the 10th century and later popularized in a book published in 1927 by Charles Elton, which also introduced the food web concept. A common metric used to quant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endemism
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, the Cape sugarbird is found exclusively in southwestern South Africa and is therefore said to be ''endemic'' to that particular part of the world. An endemic species can be also be referred to as an ''endemism'' or in scientific literature as an ''endemite''. For example '' Cytisus aeolicus'' is an endemite of the Italian flora. '' Adzharia renschi'' was once believed to be an endemite of the Caucasus, but it was later discovered to be a non-indigenous species from South America belonging to a different genus. The extreme opposite of an endemic species is one with a cosmopolitan distribution, having a global or widespread range. A rare alternative term for a species that is endemic is "precinctive", which applies to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nepa Anophthalma
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is a United States environmental law that promotes the enhancement of the environment and established the President's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). The law was enacted on January 1, 1970.United States. National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. , Approved January 1, 1970. ''et seq.'' To date, more than 100 nations around the world have enacted national environmental policies modeled after NEPA. Prior to NEPA, Federal agencies were mission oriented. An example of mission orientation was to select highway routes as the shortest route between two points. NEPA was necessary to require Federal agencies to evaluate the environmental effects of their actions. NEPA's most significant outcome was the requirement that all executive Federal agencies prepare environmental assessments (EAs) and environmental impact statements (EISs). These reports state the potential environmental effects of proposed Federal agency actions. Further, U ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Water Scorpion
Nepidae is a family of exclusively aquatic Heteropteran insects in the order Hemiptera. They are commonly called water scorpions for their superficial resemblance to scorpions, due to their raptorial forelegs and the presence of a long slender process at the posterior end of the abdomen, resembling a tail. There are 14 genera in the family, in two subfamilies, Nepinae and Ranatrinae. Members of the genus ''Ranatra'', the most widespread and species-rich genus, are sometimes called needle bugs or water stick insects as they are slenderer than ''Nepa''. While water scorpions do not sting with their tail, they do have a painful bite (strictly speaking a sting by their pointed proboscis), but this is much less harmful to humans than a true scorpion's sting. Range and habitat Nepidae are found on all continents except Antarctica. They mostly inhabit stagnant or slow-moving freshwater habitats like ponds, marshes, canals and streams. Exceptionally they have also been recorded from hyp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cryptopidae
The Cryptopidae are a family of scolopendromorph centipedes. Cryptopids are blind (lacking ocelli) and possess 21 pairs of legs. The genus ''Cryptops'' is the numerically largest in the family, comprising over 150 species worldwide. Classification The four genera, with at least 184 species, are: *''Cryptops'' Leach, 1815 *'' Paracryptops'' Pocock, 1891 *'' Tonkinodentus'' Schileyko, 1992 *'' Trigonocryptops'' Verhoeff, 1906 The genera ''Plutonium'' and '' Theatops'', formerly classified in the cryptopid subfamily Plutoniuminae, are now placed in the recently elevated family Plutoniumidae Plutoniumidae is a family of centipedes belonging to the order Scolopendromorpha. Centipedes in this family are blind and have 21 pairs of legs. Genera: * ''Plutonium Plutonium is a radioactive chemical element with the symbol Pu and at .... References Centipede families Scolopendromorpha {{Myriapoda-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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