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Neuston
Neuston, also known as pleuston, are organisms that live at the surface of the ocean or an estuary, or at the surface of a lake, river or pond. Neuston can live on top of the water surface or may be attached to the underside of the water surface. They may also exist in the surface microlayer that forms between the top side and the underside. Neuston have been defined as "organisms living at the air/water interface of freshwater, estuarine, and marine habitats or referring to the biota on or directly below the water’s surface layer." The word neuston comes from the Greek ''neustos'', meaning "swimming" + -on (as in plankton). This term first appears in the biological literature in 1917. The alternative term pleuston comes from the Greek ''plein'', meaning "to sail or float". The first known use of this word was in 1909, before the first known use of neuston. In the past various authors have attempted distinctions between neuston and pleuston, but these distinctions have not been ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sea Surface Microlayer
The sea surface microlayer (SML) is the boundary interface between the atmosphere and ocean, covering about 70% of Earth's surface. With an operationally defined thickness between 1 and , the SML has physicochemical and biological properties that are measurably distinct from underlying waters. Recent studies now indicate that the SML covers the ocean to a significant extent, and evidence shows that it is an aggregate-enriched biofilm environment with distinct microbial communities. Because of its unique position at the air-sea interface, the SML is central to a range of global marine biogeochemical and climate-related processes. The sea surface microlayer is the boundary layer where all exchange occurs between the atmosphere and the ocean. The chemical, physical, and biological properties of the SML differ greatly from the sub-surface water just a few centimeters beneath.Zhang, Zhengbin et al. (2003). Studies on the sea surface microlayer II. The layer of sudden change of physica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duckweed
Lemnoideae is a subfamily of flowering aquatic plants, known as duckweeds, water lentils, or water lenses. They float on or just beneath the surface of still or slow-moving bodies of fresh water and wetlands. Also known as bayroot, they arose from within the arum or aroid family (Araceae), so often are classified as the subfamily Lemnoideae within the family Araceae. Other classifications, particularly those created prior to the end of the twentieth century, place them as a separate family, Lemnaceae. These plants have a simple structure, lacking an obvious stem or leaves. The greater part of each plant is a small organized "thallus" or "frond" structure only a few cells thick, often with air pockets (aerenchyma) that allow it to float on or just under the water surface. Depending on the species, each plant may have no root or may have one or more simple rootlets. Reproduction is mostly by asexual budding (vegetative reproduction), which occurs from a meristem enclosed at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spirodela Polyrhiza
''Spirodela polyrhiza'' ( ''S. polyrrhiza'') is a species of duckweed known by the common names common duckmeat, greater duckweed, great duckmeat, common duckweed, and duckmeat. It can be found nearly worldwide in many types of freshwater habitat. Description ''Spirodela polyrhiza'' is a perennial aquatic plant usually growing in dense colonies, forming a mat on the water surface. Each plant is a smooth, round, flat disc 0.5 to 1.0 cm wide. Its upper surface is mostly green, sometimes red, while the lower surface is dark red. It produces several minute roots and a pouch containing male and female flowers. The top part dies in the fall and the plant often overwinters as a turion. The turion sinks to the bottom of the water body and stays in a dormant phase, until water temperature reaches 15 °C. The turions then germinate on the bottom of the water body and start a new life cycle. As this species lives in ponds and slow-moving water bodies, differs developmentally fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waterstrider
The Gerridae are a family of insects in the order Hemiptera, commonly known as water striders, water skeeters, water scooters, water bugs, pond skaters, water skippers, or water skimmers. Consistent with the classification of the Gerridae as true bugs (i.e., suborder Heteroptera), gerrids have mouthparts evolved for piercing and sucking, and distinguish themselves by having the unusual ability to walk on water, making them pleuston (surface-living) animals. They are anatomically built to transfer their weight to be able to run on top of the water's surface. As a result, one could likely find water striders present in any pond, river, or lake. Over 1,700 species of gerrids have been described, 10% of them being marine. While 90% of the Gerridae are freshwater bugs, the oceanic '' Halobates'' makes the family quite exceptional among insects. The genus ''Halobates'' was first heavily studied between 1822 and 1883 when Buchanan-White collected several different species during th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Water Spider
The diving bell spider or water spider (''Argyroneta aquatica'') is the only species of spider known to live almost entirely under water. It is the only member of the genus ''Argyroneta''. When out of the water, the spider ranges in colour from mid to dark brown, although the hairs on the abdomen give it a dark grey, velvet-like appearance. It is native to freshwater habitats in Europe and Asia. Uniqueness of aquatic behavior ''A. aquatica'' is the only known species of spider that spends almost all its life underwater, including resting, catching and eating prey, mating, egg laying, and overwintering. It only briefly surfaces to replenish its oxygen supply and occasionally will bring prey to the surface. There are several other spiders that are semiaquatic, either periodically living underwater or willing to dive. For example, certain '' Desis'' species spend the high tide in an air-filled underwater retreat made from silk and forage on land in the intertidal zone during low ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gyrinus Natator
''Gyrinus natator'', the common whirligig beetle, is a species of beetle native to the Palearctic realm, including much of Europe. Its range extends northwards as far as Norway, Finland, and the Saint Petersburg area of Russia. It is an aquatic beetle and moves rapidly around on the surface or swims underwater in still or slow-moving fresh water. Description ''Gyrinus natator'' is a small oval beetle, about long and wide. The highest point of the body is near the middle. The dorsal surface is black with a metallic sheen, and the ventral surface is mainly black, although the epipleura (skirt) can be brown or even reddish. The limbs are reddish or yellowish. There are rows of minute punctures in the elytra, the outer rows being slightly more clearly demarcated than the inner ones. It is very similar in appearance to ''Gyrinus substriatus'' and '' Gyrinus suffriani''. Distribution and habitat In Europe, this whirligig beetle is found in Austria, Belarus, the Czech Republic, mainla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whirligig
A whirligig is an object that spins or whirls, or has at least one part that spins or whirls. It can also be a pinwheel, spinning top, buzzer, comic weathervane, gee-haw, spinner, whirlygig, whirlijig, whirlyjig, whirlybird, or simply a whirly. They are most commonly powered by the wind but can be hand-, friction- or motor-powered. They can be used as kinetic garden ornaments, and can be designed to transmit sound and vibration into the ground to repel burrowing rodents. Types Whirligigs can be divided into four categories: button, friction, string and wind-driven. Button whirligigs Button whirligigs, also known as button spinners and buzzers, are the oldest known whirligigs. They require only a piece of clay or bone and a strip of hide. The ancient Greeks had their own version of this toy, called an ''iynx'', and Native American cultures had another in 500 BC. Many a child of the Great Depression from the southern Appalachians and Ozarks remembers a button or token, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Surface Tension
Surface tension is the tendency of liquid surfaces at rest to shrink into the minimum surface area possible. Surface tension is what allows objects with a higher density than water such as razor blades and insects (e.g. water striders) to float on a water surface without becoming even partly submerged. At liquid–air interfaces, surface tension results from the greater attraction of liquid molecules to each other (due to cohesion) than to the molecules in the air (due to adhesion). There are two primary mechanisms in play. One is an inward force on the surface molecules causing the liquid to contract. Second is a tangential force parallel to the surface of the liquid. This ''tangential'' force is generally referred to as the surface tension. The net effect is the liquid behaves as if its surface were covered with a stretched elastic membrane. But this analogy must not be taken too far as the tension in an elastic membrane is dependent on the amount of deformation of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gerris
''Gerris'' is a bug genus in the family Gerridae (water striders). Species The genus ''Gerris'' contains 43 species in 3 subgenera: Subgenus ''Gerris'' Subgenus ''Gerriselloides'' * '' Gerris asper'' (Fieber, 1860) * '' Gerris brachynotus'' Horváth, 1907 * '' Gerris kiritshenkoi'' Kanyukova, 1979 * '' Gerris lateralis'' Schummel, 1832 Subgenus ''Macrogerris'' * '' Gerris cui'' Esaki, 1925 * ''Gerris gracilicornis'' Horváth, 1879 * '' Gerris insularis'' Motschulsky, 1866 * '' Gerris issikii'' Miyamoto, 1961 * '' Gerris lundbladi'' Andersen & Chen, 1993 * '' Gerris tigrinus'' Brown, 1949 * '' Gerris yezoensis'' Miyamoto, 1958 Mating system Species of genus ''Gerris'' demonstrate a high degree of female control over most aspects of mating and there is significant evidence that supports antagonistic coevolution, and the convenience polyandry hypothesis of multiple matings. There is evidence to suggest that the post-copulatory guarding exhibited by ''Gerris buenoi'' - and oth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Water Strider
The Gerridae are a family of insects in the order Hemiptera, commonly known as water striders, water skeeters, water scooters, water bugs, pond skaters, water skippers, or water skimmers. Consistent with the classification of the Gerridae as true bugs (i.e., suborder Heteroptera), gerrids have mouthparts evolved for piercing and sucking, and distinguish themselves by having the unusual ability to walk on water, making them pleuston (surface-living) animals. They are anatomically built to transfer their weight to be able to run on top of the water's surface. As a result, one could likely find water striders present in any pond, river, or lake. Over 1,700 species of gerrids have been described, 10% of them being marine. While 90% of the Gerridae are freshwater bugs, the oceanic ''Halobates'' makes the family quite exceptional among insects. The genus ''Halobates'' was first heavily studied between 1822 and 1883 when Buchanan-White collected several different species during the C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hypogastrura
''Hypogastrura'' is a genus of springtails and allies in the family Hypogastruridae. There are at least 150 described species in the genus. Their name means ‘lack of a stomach tail’. See also * List of Hypogastrura species References Poduromorpha Springtail genera {{springtail-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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