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Nukupuʻu
''Hemignathus'' is a genus of Hawaiian honeycreepers in the subfamily Carduelinae of the family Fringillidae. All species are endemic to Hawaii. Extinctions Many of its species became extinct during the 19th and 20th centuries due to a combination of habitat destruction, introduced predators, and most importantly mosquito-borne diseases. The ʻakiapōlāʻau (''Hemignathus wilsoni'') may be the last surviving species in the genus. One species, the giant nukupu'u (''Hemignathus vorpalis''), is known only from fossils, and became extinct in prehistoric times when Polynesian settlers deforested the lowlands for agriculture. Taxonomy There are 5 species in this genus, 4 of which are extinct or possibly extinct: * Maui nukupuʻu, ''Hemignathus affinis'' - critically endangered or extinct, debated 1896 or 1990s * Kauaʻi nukupuʻu, ''Hemignathus hanapepe'' - critically endangered or extinct, debated 1899 or 1990s * Oʻahu nukupuʻu, ''Hemignathus lucidus'' - extinct, 1800s * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hawaiian Honeycreepers
Hawaiian honeycreepers are a group of small birds endemic to Hawaii. They are members of the finch family Fringillidae, closely related to the rosefinches (''Carpodacus''), but many species have evolved features unlike those present in any other finch. Their great morphological diversity is the result of adaptive radiation in an insular environment. Many have been driven to extinction since the first humans arrived in Hawaii, with extinctions increasing over the last two centuries following European discovery of the islands, with habitat destruction and especially invasive species being the main causes. Taxonomy Before the introduction of molecular phylogenetic techniques, the relationship of the Hawaiian honeycreepers to other bird species was controversial. The honeycreepers were sometimes categorized as a family Drepanididae,Clements, J. 2007. ''The Clements Checklist of the Birds of the World.'' 6th ed. other authorities considered them a subfamily, Drepanidinae, of Frin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ʻAkiapolaʻau
The akiapōlāau (''Hemignathus wilsoni''), pronounced ''ah-kee-ah-POH-LAH-OW'', is a species of Hawaiian honeycreeper that is endemic to the island of Hawaii. Its natural habitats are dry and montane moist forests, and the only bird species on the island to occupy the woodpecker niche. The bird is in length, and has an unusually curved beak-(a specialist species). The akiapolaau is a pudgy bird which has a whitish bottom and tail, black legs, yellow chest, orangish head, black face mask and bill and gray black wings. The male's song is either a loud, short ''pit-er-ieu'' or a rapid ''warba-warba''. Its various calls include an upslurred whistle, a short ''cheedle-ee'' warble, and a short ''sweet''. Due to the recent disappearance of the Kauai nukupuu in the 1900s and the Maui nukupu u in the 1990s, leading to fears that they may be extinct, the akiapōlāau may be the last of its genus. It is the only member of the subgenus ''Heterorhynchus'', which has a woodpecker-lik ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Finch
The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches generally have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often have colourful plumage. They occupy a great range of habitats where they are usually resident and do not migrate. They have a worldwide native distribution except for Australia and the polar regions. The family Fringillidae contains more than two hundred species divided into fifty genera. It includes the canaries, siskins, redpolls, serins, grosbeaks and euphonias, as well as the morphologically divergent Hawaiian honeycreepers. Many birds in other families are also commonly called "finches". These groups include the estrildid finches ( Estrildidae) of the Old World tropics and Australia; some members of the Old World bunting family ( Emberizidae) and the New World sparrow family ( Passerellidae); and the Darwin's finches of the Galapagos islands, now considered members of the tanager family (Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maui Nukupuʻu
The Maui nukupuu (''Hemignathus affinis'') is a species of nukupuʻu Hawaiian honeycreeper that was endemic to the island of Maui in the Hawaiian Islands. The small, five-inch-long bird lived only in eastern Maui, where it was dependent on high-elevation mesic and wet forests of ōhia lehua (''Metrosideros polymorpha'') and koa (''Acacia koa''). These two species of trees attract insects, causing the Maui nukupuu to have a higher chance of finding a meal near these trees. It was last sighted in the late 1990's, and is most likely extinct. Description The males were colored green on the nape and head, and yellow on its face, neck, belly, and bottom. The females were completely olive green and were quieter than their male counterparts. Juveniles were gray and green. The bird's inch-long bill was used to peck for insects in the tree's bark. Population This species existed in the Hanawi Area Reserve from 3,000 feet to 4,500 feet above sea level. It formerly survived at lower ele ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carduelinae
The cardueline finches are a subfamily, Carduelinae, one of three subfamilies of the finch family Fringillidae, the others being the Fringillinae and the Euphoniinae. The Hawaiian honeycreepers are now included in this subfamily. Except for the Hawaiian honeycreepers which underwent adaptive radiation in Hawaii and have evolved a broad range of diets, cardueline finches are specialised seed eaters, and unlike most passerine birds, they feed their young mostly on seeds, which are regurgitated.Newton, 1973, p. 31 Besides this, they differ from the other finches in some minor details of their skull. They are adept at opening seeds and clinging to stems, unlike other granivorous birds, such as sparrows and buntings, which feed mostly on fallen seeds. Some members of this subfamily are further specialised to feed on a particular type of seed, such as cones in the case of crossbills. Carduelines forage in flocks throughout the year, rather than keeping territories, and males defend ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kauaʻi Nukupuʻu
The Kauai nukupuu (''Hemignathus hanapepe'') is an extinct species of nukupuʻu once found throughout parts of the Hawaiian island of Kauai. It was an insect eater that picked out its tiny prey from tree bark. The males were yellowish with brown wings, while the females were grayish brown with a yellow throat streak. Conservation The species was abundant until the 19th century, when the loss of its lowland forests to slash and burn farming methods damaged its habitat. By 1889, this bird was very rare, though it could still be found in small flocks in the higher forests. The last confirmed sighting was in 1899; if the species survived after this time, it likely became confined to the Alakaʻi Wilderness Preserve. From 1984-1998, it was recorded several times in this area, but later analysis of these sightings indicates that almost all these observations were likely of Kauaʻi ʻamakihi (''Chlorodrepanis stejnegeri''). It was also feared that the winds from Hurricane Iniki in 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oʻahu Nukupuʻu
The Oahu nukupuu (''Hemignathus lucidus'') is an extinct species of nukupuu, a type of Hawaiian honeycreeper native to Oahu, which was similar to its cousins from the Islands of Kauai and Maui. It is yellowish greyish with a long hooked beak to find insects. This bird is now extinct due to human activity. Description The males were mostly yellow across the belly and on the head. From the bend of the wing, the feathers were primarily olive green. Its lores and legs were black. The females and the young had similar coloration with the exception that the yellow was a dull yellow. They had a long decurved beak approximately one and a half inch in length, the upper bill being twice as long as the lower. Using their upper bill to pluck insects found underneath tree bark, the Oahu nukupuu fed on insects on flowering trees such as the koa (''Acacia koa'') and ohia (''Metrosideros polymorpha''). These trees attract a large amount of insects due to their nectar-filled flowers. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endemic Fauna Of Hawaii
Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 also be referred to as an ''endemism'' or, in scientific literature, as an ''endemite''. Similarly, many species found in the Western ghats of India are examples of endemism. Endemism is an important concept in conservation biology for measuring biodiversity in a particular place and evaluating the risk of extinction for species. Endemism is also of interest in evolutionary biology, because it provides clues about how changes in the environment cause species to undergo range shifts (potentially expanding their range into a larger area or bec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holocene Extinction
The Holocene extinction, also referred to as the Anthropocene extinction or the sixth mass extinction, is an ongoing extinction event caused exclusively by human activities during the Holocene epoch. This extinction event spans numerous families of plants and animals, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and invertebrates, impacting both terrestrial and marine life, marine species. Widespread degradation of biodiversity hotspots such as coral reefs and rainforests has exacerbated the crisis. Many of these extinctions are undocumented, as the species are often undiscovered before their extinctions. Current extinction rates are estimated at 100 to 1,000 times higher than natural background extinction rates and are accelerating. Over the past 100–200 years, biodiversity loss has reached such alarming levels that some conservation biologists now believe humankind, human activities have triggered a mass extinction, or are on the cusp of doing so. As such, after the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agriculture
Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to live in the cities. While humans started gathering grains at least 105,000 years ago, nascent farmers only began planting them around 11,500 years ago. Sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle were domesticated around 10,000 years ago. Plants were independently cultivated in at least 11 regions of the world. In the 20th century, industrial agriculture based on large-scale monocultures came to dominate agricultural output. , small farms produce about one-third of the world's food, but large farms are prevalent. The largest 1% of farms in the world are greater than and operate more than 70% of the world's farmland. Nearly 40% of agricultural land is found on farms larger than . However, five of every six farm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
