1.
Conservation status
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The conservation status of a group of organisms indicates whether the group still exists and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future. Various systems of conservation status exist and are in use at international, multi-country, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is the best known worldwide conservation status listing and ranking system. Also included are species that have gone extinct since 500 AD, when discussing the IUCN Red List, the official term threatened is a grouping of three categories, critically endangered, endangered, and vulnerable. Widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category, Data deficient – Not enough data to make an assessment of its risk of extinction Not evaluated – Has not yet been evaluated against the criteria. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora aims to ensure that trade in specimens of wild animals. Many countries require CITES permits when importing plants and animals listed on CITES, in the European Union, the Birds and Habitats Directives are the legal instruments that evaluate the conservation status within the EU of species and habitats. NatureServe conservation status focuses on Latin America, United States, Canada, and it has been developed by scientists from NatureServe, The Nature Conservancy, and the network of natural heritage programs and data centers. It is increasingly integrated with the IUCN Red List system and its categories for species include, presumed extinct, possibly extinct, critically imperiled, imperiled, vulnerable, apparently secure, and secure. The system also allows ambiguous or uncertain ranks including inexact numeric ranks, NatureServe adds a qualifier for captive or cultivated only, which has a similar meaning to the IUCN Red List extinct in the wild status. The Red Data Book of the Russian Federation is used within the Russian Federation, in Australia, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 describes lists of threatened species, ecological communities and threatening processes. The categories resemble those of the 1994 IUCN Red List Categories & Criteria, prior to the EPBC Act, a simpler classification system was used by the Endangered Species Protection Act 1992. Some state and territory governments also have their own systems for conservation status, in Belgium, the Flemish Research Institute for Nature and Forest publishes an online set of more than 150 nature indicators in Dutch. In Canada, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada is a group of experts that assesses and designates which wild species are in danger of disappearing from Canada. Under the Species at Risk Act, it is up to the federal government, in China, the State, provinces and some counties have determined their key protected wildlife species. There is the China red data book, in Finland, a large number of species are protected under the Nature Conservation Act, and through the EU Habitats Directive and EU Birds Directive. In Germany, the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation publishes red lists of endangered species, india has the Wild Life Protection Act,1972, Amended 2003 and the Biological Diversity Act,2002. In Japan, the Ministry of Environment publishes a Threatened Wildlife of Japan Red Data Book, in the Netherlands, the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality publishes a list of threatened species, and conservation is enforced by the Nature Conservation Act 1998. Species are also protected through the Wild Birds and Habitats Directives, in New Zealand, the Department of Conservation publishes the New Zealand Threat Classification System lists
2.
Endangered species
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An endangered species is a species which has been categorized as likely to become extinct. In 2012, the IUCN Red List featured 3079 animal and 2655 plant species as endangered worldwide, the figures for 1998 were, respectively,1102 and 1197. Many nations have laws that protect conservation-reliant species, for example, population numbers, trends and species conservation status can be found in the lists of organisms by population. The conservation status of a species indicates the likelihood that it will become extinct, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is the best-known worldwide conservation status listing and ranking system. Over 40% of the species are estimated to be at risk of extinction. Internationally,199 countries have signed an accord to create Biodiversity Action Plans that will protect endangered, in the United States, such plans are usually called Species Recovery Plans. Those species of Near Threatened and Least Concern status have been assessed and found to have relatively robust and healthy populations, though these may be in decline. The IUCN categories, with examples of animals classified by them, include, Extinct Extinct in the wild Captive individuals survive, critically endangered Faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the immediate future. Endangered Faces a high risk of extinction in the near future, vulnerable Faces a high risk of endangerment in the medium term. Near-threatened May be considered threatened in the near future, Least concern No immediate threat to species survival. A population size reduction of ≥ 50%, projected or suspected to be met within the next 10 years or three generations, whichever is the longer, based on any of to under A1. E) Quantitative analysis showing the probability of extinction in the wild is at least 20% within 20 years or five generations, there is data from the United States that shows a correlation between human populations and threatened and endangered species. Under the Endangered Species Act in the United States, species may be listed as endangered or threatened, the Salt Creek tiger beetle is an example of an endangered subspecies protected under the ESA. Some endangered species laws are controversial, also lobbying from hunters and various industries like the petroleum industry, construction industry, and logging, has been an obstacle in establishing endangered species laws. The Bush administration lifted a policy that required federal officials to consult an expert before taking actions that could damage endangered species. Under the Obama administration, this policy has been reinstated, being listed as an endangered species can have negative effect since it could make a species more desirable for collectors and poachers. This effect is potentially reducible, such as in China where commercially farmed turtles may be reducing some of the pressure to poach endangered species. Another problem with the species is its effect of inciting the use of the shoot, shovel
3.
IUCN Red List
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The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, founded in 1964, is the worlds most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the main authority on the conservation status of species. A series of Regional Red Lists are produced by countries or organizations, the IUCN Red List is set upon precise criteria to evaluate the extinction risk of thousands of species and subspecies. These criteria are relevant to all species and all regions of the world, the aim is to convey the urgency of conservation issues to the public and policy makers, as well as help the international community to try to reduce species extinction. Major species assessors include BirdLife International, the Institute of Zoology, the World Conservation Monitoring Centre, collectively, assessments by these organizations and groups account for nearly half the species on the Red List. The IUCN aims to have the category of every species re-evaluated every five years if possible, the 1964 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants used the older pre-criteria Red List assessment system. Plants listed may not, therefore, appear in the current Red List, IUCN advise that is best to check both the online Red List and the 1997 plants Red List publication. The 2006 Red List, released on 4 May 2006 evaluated 40,168 species as a whole, plus an additional 2,160 subspecies, varieties, aquatic stocks, on 12 September 2007, the World Conservation Union released the 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Russ Mittermeier, chief of Swiss-based IUCNs Primate Specialist Group, stated that 16,306 species are endangered with extinction,188 more than in 2006, the Red List includes the Sumatran orangutan in the Critically Endangered category and the Bornean orangutan in the Endangered category. The study shows at least 1,141 of the 5,487 mammals on Earth are known to be threatened with extinction, and 836 are listed as Data Deficient. The Red List of 2012 was released 19 July 2012 at Rio+20 Earth Summit, nearly 2,000 species were added, the IUCN assessed a total of 63,837 species which revealed 19,817 are threatened with extinction. With 3,947 described as endangered and 5,766 as endangered. At threat are 41% of amphibian species, 33% of reef-building corals, 30% of conifers, 25% of mammals, the IUCN Red List has listed 132 species of plants and animals from India as Critically Endangered. Extinct – No known individuals remaining, extinct in the wild – Known only to survive in captivity, or as a naturalized population outside its historic range. Critically endangered – Extremely high risk of extinction in the wild, Endangered – High risk of extinction in the wild. Vulnerable – High risk of endangerment in the wild, near threatened – Likely to become endangered in the near future. Does not qualify for a more at-risk category, widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category. Data deficient – Not enough data to make an assessment of its risk of extinction, Not evaluated – Has not yet been evaluated against the criteria
4.
Taxonomy (biology)
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Taxonomy is the science of defining groups of biological organisms on the basis of shared characteristics and giving names to those groups. The exact definition of taxonomy varies from source to source, but the core of the remains, the conception, naming. There is some disagreement as to whether biological nomenclature is considered a part of taxonomy, the broadest meaning of taxonomy is used here. The word taxonomy was introduced in 1813 by Candolle, in his Théorie élémentaire de la botanique, the term alpha taxonomy is primarily used today to refer to the discipline of finding, describing, and naming taxa, particularly species. In earlier literature, the term had a different meaning, referring to morphological taxonomy, ideals can, it may be said, never be completely realized. They have, however, a value of acting as permanent stimulants. Some of us please ourselves by thinking we are now groping in a beta taxonomy, turrill thus explicitly excludes from alpha taxonomy various areas of study that he includes within taxonomy as a whole, such as ecology, physiology, genetics, and cytology. He further excludes phylogenetic reconstruction from alpha taxonomy, thus, Ernst Mayr in 1968 defined beta taxonomy as the classification of ranks higher than species. This activity is what the term denotes, it is also referred to as beta taxonomy. How species should be defined in a group of organisms gives rise to practical and theoretical problems that are referred to as the species problem. The scientific work of deciding how to define species has been called microtaxonomy, by extension, macrotaxonomy is the study of groups at higher taxonomic ranks, from subgenus and above only, than species. While some descriptions of taxonomic history attempt to date taxonomy to ancient civilizations, earlier works were primarily descriptive, and focused on plants that were useful in agriculture or medicine. There are a number of stages in scientific thinking. Early taxonomy was based on criteria, the so-called artificial systems. Later came systems based on a complete consideration of the characteristics of taxa, referred to as natural systems, such as those of de Jussieu, de Candolle and Bentham. The publication of Charles Darwins Origin of Species led to new ways of thinking about classification based on evolutionary relationships and this was the concept of phyletic systems, from 1883 onwards. This approach was typified by those of Eichler and Engler, the advent of molecular genetics and statistical methodology allowed the creation of the modern era of phylogenetic systems based on cladistics, rather than morphology alone. Taxonomy has been called the worlds oldest profession, and naming and classifying our surroundings has likely been taking place as long as mankind has been able to communicate
5.
Animalia
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Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia. The animal kingdom emerged as a clade within Apoikozoa as the group to the choanoflagellates. Animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and independently at some point in their lives and their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later in their lives. All animals are heterotrophs, they must ingest other organisms or their products for sustenance, most known animal phyla appeared in the fossil record as marine species during the Cambrian explosion, about 542 million years ago. Animals can be divided broadly into vertebrates and invertebrates, vertebrates have a backbone or spine, and amount to less than five percent of all described animal species. They include fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, the remaining animals are the invertebrates, which lack a backbone. These include molluscs, arthropods, annelids, nematodes, flatworms, cnidarians, ctenophores, the study of animals is called zoology. The word animal comes from the Latin animalis, meaning having breath, the biological definition of the word refers to all members of the kingdom Animalia, encompassing creatures as diverse as sponges, jellyfish, insects, and humans. Aristotle divided the world between animals and plants, and this was followed by Carl Linnaeus, in the first hierarchical classification. In Linnaeuss original scheme, the animals were one of three kingdoms, divided into the classes of Vermes, Insecta, Pisces, Amphibia, Aves, and Mammalia. Since then the last four have all been subsumed into a single phylum, in 1874, Ernst Haeckel divided the animal kingdom into two subkingdoms, Metazoa and Protozoa. The protozoa were later moved to the kingdom Protista, leaving only the metazoa, thus Metazoa is now considered a synonym of Animalia. Animals have several characteristics that set apart from other living things. Animals are eukaryotic and multicellular, which separates them from bacteria and they are heterotrophic, generally digesting food in an internal chamber, which separates them from plants and algae. They are also distinguished from plants, algae, and fungi by lacking cell walls. All animals are motile, if only at life stages. In most animals, embryos pass through a stage, which is a characteristic exclusive to animals. With a few exceptions, most notably the sponges and Placozoa and these include muscles, which are able to contract and control locomotion, and nerve tissues, which send and process signals
6.
Chordata
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Chordates are deuterostomes, as during the embryo development stage the anus forms before the mouth. They are also bilaterally symmetric coelomates, in the case of vertebrate chordates, the notochord is usually replaced by a vertebral column during development, and they may have body plans organized via segmentation. There are also additional extinct taxa, the Vertebrata are sometimes considered as a subgroup of the clade Craniata, consisting of chordates with a skull, the Craniata and Tunicata compose the clade Olfactores. Of the more than 65,000 living species of chordates, the worlds largest and fastest animals, the blue whale and peregrine falcon respectively, are chordates, as are humans. Fossil chordates are known from at least as early as the Cambrian explosion, Hemichordata, which includes the acorn worms, has been presented as a fourth chordate subphylum, but it now is usually treated as a separate phylum. The Hemichordata, along with the Echinodermata, form the Ambulacraria, the Chordata and Ambulacraria form the superphylum Deuterostomia, composed of the deuterostomes. Attempts to work out the relationships of the chordates have produced several hypotheses. All of the earliest chordate fossils have found in the Early Cambrian Chengjiang fauna. Because the fossil record of early chordates is poor, only molecular phylogenetics offers a prospect of dating their emergence. However, the use of molecular phylogenetics for dating evolutionary transitions is controversial and it has also proved difficult to produce a detailed classification within the living chordates. Attempts to produce family trees shows that many of the traditional classes are paraphyletic. While this has been known since the 19th century, an insistence on only monophyletic taxa has resulted in vertebrate classification being in a state of flux. Although the name Chordata is attributed to William Bateson, it was already in prevalent use by 1880, ernst Haeckel described a taxon comprising tunicates, cephalochordates, and vertebrates in 1866. Though he used the German vernacular form, it is allowed under the ICZN code because of its subsequent latinization, among the vertebrate sub-group of chordates the notochord develops into the spine, and in wholly aquatic species this helps the animal to swim by flexing its tail. In fish and other vertebrates, this develops into the spinal cord, the pharynx is the part of the throat immediately behind the mouth. In fish, the slits are modified to form gills, a muscular tail that extends backwards behind the anus. This is a groove in the wall of the pharynx. In filter-feeding species it produces mucus to gather food particles, which helps in transporting food to the esophagus and it also stores iodine, and may be a precursor of the vertebrate thyroid gland
7.
Aves
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Birds, a subgroup of Reptiles, are the last living examples of Dinosaurs. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the 5 cm bee hummingbird to the 2.75 m ostrich. They rank as the class of tetrapods with the most living species, at ten thousand. Birds are the closest living relatives of crocodilians, the fossil record indicates that birds evolved from feathered ancestors within the theropod group of saurischian dinosaurs. True birds first appeared during the Cretaceous period, around 100 million years ago, Birds, especially those in the southern continents, survived this event and then migrated to other parts of the world while diversifying during periods of global cooling. Primitive bird-like dinosaurs that lie outside class Aves proper, in the broader group Avialae, have been found dating back to the mid-Jurassic period, around 170 million years ago. Birds have wings which are more or less developed depending on the species, the digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely adapted for flight. Some bird species of aquatic environments, particularly seabirds and some waterbirds, have evolved for swimming. Many species annually migrate great distances, Birds are social, communicating with visual signals, calls, and bird songs, and participating in such social behaviours as cooperative breeding and hunting, flocking, and mobbing of predators. The vast majority of species are socially monogamous, usually for one breeding season at a time, sometimes for years. Other species have breeding systems that are polygynous or, rarely, Birds produce offspring by laying eggs which are fertilised through sexual reproduction. They are usually laid in a nest and incubated by the parents, most birds have an extended period of parental care after hatching. Some birds, such as hens, lay eggs even when not fertilised, songbirds, parrots, and other species are popular as pets. Guano is harvested for use as a fertiliser, Birds prominently figure throughout human culture. About 120–130 species have become extinct due to human activity since the 17th century, human activity threatens about 1,200 bird species with extinction, though efforts are underway to protect them. Recreational birdwatching is an important part of the ecotourism industry, the first classification of birds was developed by Francis Willughby and John Ray in their 1676 volume Ornithologiae. Carl Linnaeus modified that work in 1758 to devise the taxonomic classification system currently in use, Birds are categorised as the biological class Aves in Linnaean taxonomy. Phylogenetic taxonomy places Aves in the dinosaur clade Theropoda, Aves and a sister group, the clade Crocodilia, contain the only living representatives of the reptile clade Archosauria
8.
Passeriformes
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A passerine is any bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. A notable feature of passerines compared to other orders of Aves is the arrangement of their toes, sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders, with over 5,000 identified species. It has roughly twice as many species as the largest of the mammal orders and it contains more than 110 families, the second-most of any order of tetrapods. The passerines contain several groups of parasites such as the viduas, cuckoo-finches. Most passerines are omnivorous, while the shrikes are carnivorous, the order is divided into three suborders, Tyranni, Passeri, and the basal Acanthisitti. Oscines have the best control of their syrinx muscles among birds, producing a range of songs and other vocalizations. Most passerines are smaller than members of other avian orders. The heaviest and altogether largest passerines are the thick-billed raven and the races of common raven. The superb lyrebird and some birds-of-paradise, due to long tails or tail coverts, are longer overall. The smallest passerine is the short-tailed pygmy tyrant, at 6.5 cm and 4.2 g, the foot of a passerine has three toes directed forward and one toe directed backward, called anisodactyl arrangement. This arrangement enables the birds to perch upon vertical surfaces, such as trees. The toes have no webbing or joining, but in some cotingas, the hind toe joins the leg at the same level as the front toes. The passeriformes have this toe arrangement in common with hunting birds like eagles, the leg arrangement of passerine birds contains a special adaptation for perching. This enables passerines to sleep while perching without falling off and this is especially useful for passerine birds that develop nocturnal lifestyles. Most passerine birds develop 12 tail feathers, although the superb lyrebird has 16, certain species of passerines have stiff tail feathers, which help the birds balance themselves when perching upon vertical surfaces. Some passerines, specifically in the family Ploceidae, are known for their elaborate sexual ornaments. A well-known example is the long-tailed widowbird, the chicks of passerines are altricial, blind, featherless, and helpless when hatched from their eggs. Hence, the chicks require extensive parental care, vinous-throated parrotbill has two egg colours, white and blue
9.
Cotingidae
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The cotingas are a large family of passerine bird species found in Central America and tropical South America. Cotingas are birds of forests or forest edges, which mostly eat fruit or insects, comparatively little is known about this diverse group, although all have broad bills with hooked tips, rounded wings, and strong legs. Cotingas vary widely in social structure, there is a roughly 50/50 divide in the family between species with biparental care, and those in which the males play no part in raising the young. The purple-throated fruitcrow lives in groups in which one female lays an egg. In cotinga species where only the females care for the eggs and young, other lekking cotingids like the bellbirds and screaming piha, have distinctive and far-carrying calls. The females of both lekking and biparental species are duller than the males, nests range from tiny to very large. Many species lay an egg in a nest so flimsy that the egg can be seen from underneath. This may make the nests hard for predators to find, fruiteaters build more solid cup nests, and the cocks-of-the-rock attach their mud nests to cliffs. The nests may be open cups or little platforms with loosely woven plant material, the clutches comprise one to four eggs. Incubation typically takes fifteen to twenty-eight days, fledging usually occurs at 28-33 days. Deserts, open woodlands, coastal mangroves, and humid tropical forests, Cotingas face very serious threats from loss of their habitats. A number of species previously placed in this family have recently placed in the family Tityridae Snow. The relationship between climate and annual cycles in the Cotingidae, the Cotingas, Bellbirds, Umbrella birds and their allies. ISBN 0-19-858511-X Cotinga videos on the Internet Bird Collection Cotinga sounds on xeno-canto. org
10.
Umbrellabird
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Umbrellabirds are birds in the genus Cephalopterus. They are found in rainforests of Central and South America, with a total length of 35–50 cm, they are among the largest members of the cotinga family, and the male Amazonian umbrellabird is the largest passerine in South America. They are almost entirely black, and have a conspicuous crest on the top of their head, all have an inflatable wattle on the neck, which serves to amplify their loud, booming calls. This wattle may reach a length of 35 cm in the long-wattled umbrellabird, females resemble males, but are noticeably smaller and have a reduced crest and wattle. They feed on fruits, large insects and occasionally small vertebrates, the males gather in loose leks, where they call and extend their wattle to attract females. The flimsy nest is entirely by the females, which incubate. These birds will gather in leks to migrated to the mountains in March, of the three species, two, the long-wattled and bare-necked umbrellabird, are threatened by habitat loss and to a lesser extent by hunting. Pp. 101–103 in, del Hoyo, J. Elliott, A. & Christie, handbook of the Birds of the World. The Cotingas, Bellbirds, Umbrella birds and their allies
11.
Binomial nomenclature
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Such a name is called a binomial name, a binomen, binominal name or a scientific name, more informally it is also called a Latin name. The first part of the name identifies the genus to which the species belongs, for example, humans belong to the genus Homo and within this genus to the species Homo sapiens. The formal introduction of system of naming species is credited to Carl Linnaeus. But Gaspard Bauhin, in as early as 1623, had introduced in his book Pinax theatri botanici many names of genera that were adopted by Linnaeus. Although the general principles underlying binomial nomenclature are common to these two codes, there are differences, both in the terminology they use and in their precise rules. Similarly, both parts are italicized when a binomial name occurs in normal text, thus the binomial name of the annual phlox is now written as Phlox drummondii. In scientific works, the authority for a name is usually given, at least when it is first mentioned. In zoology Patella vulgata Linnaeus,1758, the original name given by Linnaeus was Fringilla domestica, the parentheses indicate that the species is now considered to belong in a different genus. The ICZN does not require that the name of the person who changed the genus be given, nor the date on which the change was made, in botany Amaranthus retroflexus L. – L. is the standard abbreviation used in botany for Linnaeus. – Linnaeus first named this bluebell species Scilla italica, Rothmaler transferred it to the genus Hyacinthoides, the ICN does not require that the dates of either publication be specified. Prior to the adoption of the binomial system of naming species. Together they formed a system of polynomial nomenclature and these names had two separate functions. First, to designate or label the species, and second, to be a diagnosis or description, such polynomial names may sometimes look like binomials, but are significantly different. For example, Gerards herbal describes various kinds of spiderwort, The first is called Phalangium ramosum, Branched Spiderwort, is aptly termed Phalangium Ephemerum Virginianum, Soon-Fading Spiderwort of Virginia. The Latin phrases are short descriptions, rather than identifying labels, the Bauhins, in particular Caspar Bauhin, took some important steps towards the binomial system, by pruning the Latin descriptions, in many cases to two words. The adoption by biologists of a system of binomial nomenclature is due to Swedish botanist and physician Carl von Linné. It was in his 1753 Species Plantarum that he first began using a one-word trivial name together with a generic name in a system of binomial nomenclature. This trivial name is what is now known as an epithet or specific name
12.
John Gould
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John Gould FRS was an English ornithologist and bird artist. He has been considered the father of study in Australia. His identification of the birds now nicknamed Darwins finches played a role in the inception of Darwins theory of evolution by natural selection, Goulds work is referenced in Charles Darwins book, On the Origin of Species. Gould was born in Lyme Regis, Dorset, the first son of a gardener and he and the boy probably had a scanty education. Shortly afterwards his father obtained a position on an estate near Guildford, Surrey and he was for some time under the care of J. T. Aiton, of the Royal Gardens of Windsor. The young Gould started training as a gardener, being employed under his father at Windsor from 1818 to 1824 and he became an expert in the art of taxidermy. In 1824 he set himself up in business in London as a taxidermist, Goulds position brought him into contact with the countrys leading naturalists. This meant that he was often the first to see new collections of birds given to the Zoological Society of London, in 1830 a collection of birds arrived from the Himalayas, many not previously described. Gould published these birds in A Century of Birds from the Himalaya Mountains, the text was by Nicholas Aylward Vigors and the illustrations were lithographed by Goulds wife Elizabeth, daughter of Nicholas Coxen, of Kent. Most of Goulds work were rough sketches on paper from which artists created the lithographic plates. This work was followed by four more in the seven years. It was completed in 1837, Gould wrote the text, and his clerk, Edwin Prince, some of the illustrations were made by Edward Lear as part of his Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae in 1832. Lear, however, was in difficulty, and he sold the entire set of lithographs to Gould. The books were published in a large size, imperial folio. Eventually 41 of these volumes were published, with about 3000 plates and they appeared in parts at £3 3s. A number, subscribed for in advance, and in spite of the expense of preparing the plates, Gould succeeded in making his ventures pay. This was a period for Gould who also published Icones Avium in two parts containing 18 leaves of bird studies on 54 cm plates as a supplement to his previous works. No further monographs were published as in 1838 he and his moved to Australia to work on the Birds of Australia
13.
Bird
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Birds live worldwide and range in size from the 5 cm bee hummingbird to the 2.75 m ostrich. They rank as the class of tetrapods with the most living species, at ten thousand. As a subgroup of Reptilia, birds are the closest living relatives of crocodilians, while birds, the fossil record indicates that birds are also the last surviving representatives of dinosauria, having evolved from feathered ancestors within the theropod group of saurischian dinosaurs. True birds first appeared during the Cretaceous period, around 100 million years ago, dNA-based evidence finds that birds diversified dramatically around the time of the Cretaceous–Palaeogene extinction event which killed off all other dinosaur lineages. Birds, especially those in the continents, survived this event. Primitive bird-like dinosaurs that lie outside class Aves proper, in the broader group Avialae, have been found dating back to the mid-Jurassic period. Birds have wings which are more or less developed depending on the species, the digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely adapted for flight. Some bird species of aquatic environments, particularly seabirds and some waterbirds, have evolved for swimming. Many species annually migrate great distances, Birds are social, communicating with visual signals, calls, and bird songs, and participating in such social behaviours as cooperative breeding and hunting, flocking, and mobbing of predators. The vast majority of species are socially monogamous, usually for one breeding season at a time, sometimes for years. Other species have breeding systems that are polygynous or, rarely, Birds produce offspring by laying eggs which are fertilised through sexual reproduction. They are usually laid in a nest and incubated by the parents, most birds have an extended period of parental care after hatching. Some birds, such as hens, lay eggs even when not fertilised, songbirds, parrots, and other species are popular as pets. Guano is harvested for use as a fertiliser, Birds prominently figure throughout human culture. About 120–130 species have become extinct due to human activity since the 17th century, human activity threatens about 1,200 bird species with extinction, though efforts are underway to protect them. Recreational birdwatching is an important part of the ecotourism industry, the first classification of birds was developed by Francis Willughby and John Ray in their 1676 volume Ornithologiae. Carl Linnaeus modified that work in 1758 to devise the taxonomic classification system currently in use, Birds are categorised as the biological class Aves in Linnaean taxonomy. Phylogenetic taxonomy places Aves in the dinosaur clade Theropoda, Aves and a sister group, the clade Crocodilia, contain the only living representatives of the reptile clade Archosauria
14.
Costa Rica
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It has a population of around 4.5 million, of whom nearly a quarter live in the metropolitan area of the capital and largest city, San José. Costa Rica was sparsely inhabited by people before coming under Spanish rule in the 16th century. Since then, Costa Rica has remained among the most stable, prosperous, following a brief civil war, it permanently abolished its army in 1949, becoming one of only a few sovereign nations without a standing army. Costa Rica is a member of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie. The country has consistently performed favourably in the Human Development Index, placing 69th in the world as of 2015 and its rapidly developing economy, once heavily dependent on agriculture, has diversified to include sectors such as finance, pharmaceuticals, and ecotourism. Costa Rica is known for its environmental policies, being the only country to meet all five UNDP criteria established to measure environmental sustainability. Costa Rica officially plans to become a country by 2021. In 2012, it became the first country in the Americas to ban recreational hunting, historians have classified the indigenous people of Costa Rica as belonging to the Intermediate Area, where the peripheries of the Mesoamerican and Andean native cultures overlapped. More recently, pre-Columbian Costa Rica has also described as part of the Isthmo-Colombian Area. The oldest evidence of occupation in Costa Rica is associated with the arrival of various groups of hunter-gatherers about 10,000 to 7,000 years BCE in the Turrialba Valley. The presence of Clovis culture type spearheads and arrows from South America opens the possibility that, in this area, agriculture became evident in the populations that lived in Costa Rica about 5,000 years ago. They mainly grew tubers and roots, for the first and second millennia BCE there were already settled farming communities. These were small and scattered, although the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture as the livelihood in the territory is still unknown. The earliest use of pottery appears around 2,000 to 3,000 BCE, shards of pots, cylindrical vases, platters, gourds and other forms of vases decorated with grooves, prints, and some modelled after animals have been found. The impact of indigenous peoples on modern Costa Rican culture has been small compared to other nations. Costa Rica was described as the poorest and most miserable Spanish colony in all America by a Spanish governor in 1719, for all these reasons, Costa Rica was, by and large, unappreciated and overlooked by the Spanish Crown and left to develop on its own. Costa Rica became a democracy with no oppressed mestizo or indigenous class. It was not long before Spanish settlers turned to the hills, where they found rich volcanic soil, like the rest of Central America, Costa Rica never fought for independence from Spain
15.
Panama
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Panama, officially called the Republic of Panama, is a country usually considered to be entirely in North America or Central America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, the capital and largest city is Panama City, whose metropolitan area is home to nearly half of the countrys 4.1 million people. Panama was inhabited by indigenous tribes prior to settlement by the Spanish in the 16th century. Panama broke away from Spain in 1821 and joined a union of Nueva Granada, Ecuador, when Gran Colombia dissolved in 1831, Panama and Nueva Granada remained joined, eventually becoming the Republic of Colombia. With the backing of the United States, Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903, in 1977 an agreement was signed for the total transfer of the Canal from the United States to Panama by the end of the 20th century, which culminated on 31 December 1999. Revenue from canal tolls continues to represent a significant portion of Panamas GDP, although commerce, banking, in 2015 Panama ranked 60th in the world in terms of the Human Development Index. Since 2010, Panama remains the second most competitive economy in Latin America, covering around 40 percent of its land area, Panamas jungles are home to an abundance of tropical plants and animals – some of them to be found nowhere else on the planet. There are several theories about the origin of the name Panama, some believe that the country was named after a commonly found species of tree. Others believe that the first settlers arrived in Panama in August, when butterflies abound, the best-known version is that a fishing village and its nearby beach bore the name Panamá, which meant an abundance of fish. Captain Antonio Tello de Guzmán, while exploring the Pacific side in 1515, in 1517 Don Gaspar De Espinosa, a Spanish lieutenant, decided to settle a post there. In 1519 Pedrarias Dávila decided to establish the Empires Pacific city in this site, the new settlement replaced Santa María La Antigua del Darién, which had lost its function within the Crowns global plan after the beginning of the Spanish exploitation of the riches in the Pacific. Blending all of the above together, Panamanians believe in general that the word Panama means abundance of fish and this is the official definition given in social studies textbooks approved by the Ministry of Education in Panama. However, others believe the word Panama comes from the Kuna word bannaba which means distant or far away, at the time of the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century, the known inhabitants of Panama included the Cuevas and the Coclé tribes. These people have disappeared, as they had no immunity from European infectious diseases. The earliest discovered artifacts of indigenous peoples in Panama include Paleo-Indian projectile points, later central Panama was home to some of the first pottery-making in the Americas, for example the cultures at Monagrillo, which date back to 2500–1700 BC. These evolved into significant populations best known through their spectacular burials at the Monagrillo archaeological site, the monumental monolithic sculptures at the Barriles site are also important traces of these ancient isthmian cultures. Before Europeans arrived Panama was widely settled by Chibchan, Chocoan, the largest group were the Cueva. The size of the population of the isthmus at the time of European colonization is uncertain
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Range (biology)
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In biology, the range or distribution of a species is the geographical area within which that species can be found. Within that range, dispersion is variation in local density, many terms are used to describe the new range, such as non-native, naturalized, introduced, transplanted, invasive, or colonized range. Introduced typically means that a species has been transported by humans across a geographical barrier. For species found in different regions at different times of year, terms such as summer range, for species for which only part of their range is used for breeding activity, the terms breeding range and non-breeding range are used. For mobile animals, the natural range is often used. Geographic or temporal qualifiers are added, for example, British range or pre-1950 range. A second example, some species of bird depend on water, usually a river, swamp, etc. or water related forest, a further example of a bird wildlife corridor would be a mountain range corridor. Bird species in these corridors are connected to a range for the species or are in an isolated geographic range. Biological dispersal Colonisation Human–wildlife conflict Occupancy-abundance relationship Species distribution
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Cotinga
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The cotingas are a large family of passerine bird species found in Central America and tropical South America. Cotingas are birds of forests or forest edges, which mostly eat fruit or insects, comparatively little is known about this diverse group, although all have broad bills with hooked tips, rounded wings, and strong legs. Cotingas vary widely in social structure, there is a roughly 50/50 divide in the family between species with biparental care, and those in which the males play no part in raising the young. The purple-throated fruitcrow lives in groups in which one female lays an egg. In cotinga species where only the females care for the eggs and young, other lekking cotingids like the bellbirds and screaming piha, have distinctive and far-carrying calls. The females of both lekking and biparental species are duller than the males, nests range from tiny to very large. Many species lay an egg in a nest so flimsy that the egg can be seen from underneath. This may make the nests hard for predators to find, fruiteaters build more solid cup nests, and the cocks-of-the-rock attach their mud nests to cliffs. The nests may be open cups or little platforms with loosely woven plant material, the clutches comprise one to four eggs. Incubation typically takes fifteen to twenty-eight days, fledging usually occurs at 28-33 days. Deserts, open woodlands, coastal mangroves, and humid tropical forests, Cotingas face very serious threats from loss of their habitats. A number of species previously placed in this family have recently placed in the family Tityridae Snow. The relationship between climate and annual cycles in the Cotingidae, the Cotingas, Bellbirds, Umbrella birds and their allies. ISBN 0-19-858511-X Cotinga videos on the Internet Bird Collection Cotinga sounds on xeno-canto. org
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Amazonian umbrellabird
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The Amazonian umbrellabird is a species of bird in the family Cotingidae native to the Amazon basin with a separate population on the eastern slopes of the Andes. The male bird is black, with a black crest and inflatable wattle on the throat. Both have a flight, described as woodpecker-like, and the male has a loud. The Amazonian umbrellabird feeds on fruit and berries, and may take insects. It forages singly, in pairs or in groups, in the forest canopy, hopping from branch to branch. Much larger than the female, the male Amazonian umbrellabird is likely the largest passerine in South America as well as the largest suboscine passerine in the world, the male Amazonian umbrellabird grows to a weight of 480–571 grams and a length of 48–55 centimetres. The female averages 41–44 centimetres and weighs up to 380 grams and this species has pale eyes, whereas in other umbrellabirds the eye is black. The undulating flying method of species is considered quite woodpecker-like. The Amazonian umbrellabird is usually seen flying only across openings in the forest, such as over rivers, and usually boldly hops branch to branch while in trees. This species occurs in two populations, One found in woodland and forest, mainly near rivers, in the Amazon basin. The Amazonian umbrellabird is found variously in small groups, pairs or individually and they are usually seen in or near the canopy but due to their wary behavior and scarcity at open spots they are easily missed for a bird of this size. They are heard in the more often than they are seen. Fruit and berries are usually preferred but insects, spiders and insect larvae are eaten opportunistically, a Guide to the Birds of Colombia, Steven L. Hilty & William L. Brown, Princeton University Press. The Cotingas, Bellbirds, Umbrella birds and their allies
19.
Habitat
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A habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant, or other type of organism. The term typically refers to the zone in which the organism lives and it is the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the physical environment that surrounds a species population. Every organism has certain habitat needs for the conditions in which it will thrive, habitat types include polar, temperate, subtropical and tropical. The terrestrial vegetation type may be forest, steppe, grassland, the word habitat has been in use since about 1755 and derives from the Latin third-person singular present indicative of habitāre, to inhabit, from habēre, to have or to hold. Habitat can be defined as the environment of an organism. It is similar in meaning to a biotope, an area of environmental conditions associated with a particular community of plants. Generally speaking, animal communities are reliant on specific types of plant communities, some plants and animals are generalists, and their habitat requirements are met in a wide range of locations. The small white butterfly for example is found on all the continents of the world apart from Antarctica and its larvae feed on a wide range of Brassicas and various other plant species, and it thrives in any open location with diverse plant associations. Disturbance is important in the creation of biodiverse habitats, in the absence of disturbance, a climax vegetation cover develops that prevents the establishment of other species. Lightning strikes and toppled trees in tropical forests allow species richness to be maintained as pioneering species move in to fill the gaps created. Similarly coastal habitats can become dominated by kelp until the seabed is disturbed by a storm, another cause of disturbance is when an area may be overwhelmed by an invasive introduced species which is not kept under control by natural enemies in its new habitat. Terrestrial habitat types include forests, grasslands, wetlands and deserts, within these broad biomes are more specific habitats with varying climate types, temperature regimes, soils, altitudes and vegetation types. Many of these habitats grade into each other and each one has its own communities of plants. A habitat may suit a particular species well, but its presence or absence at any particular location depends to some extent on chance, on its dispersal abilities, freshwater habitats include rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, marshes and bogs. Although some organisms are found across most of these habitats, the majority have more specific requirements, similarly, aquatic plants can be floating, semi-submerged, submerged or grow in permanently or temporarily saturated soils besides bodies of water. Marine habitats include brackish water, estuaries, bays, the sea, the intertidal zone. Further variations include rock pools, sand banks, mudflats, brackish lagoons, sandy and pebbly beaches, the benthic zone or seabed provides a home for both static organisms, anchored to the substrate, and for a large range of organisms crawling on or burrowing into the surface. A desert is not the kind of habitat that favours the presence of amphibians, with their requirement for water to keep their skins moist, nevertheless, some frogs live in deserts, creating moist habitats underground and hibernating while conditions are adverse
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Subtropical
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The subtropics are geographic and climate zones located roughly between the tropic circle of latitude at 23.5 latitude and temperate latitudes. Subtropical climates are characterized by warm to hot summers and cool to mild winters with infrequent frost. Subtropical climates can occur at elevations within the tropics, such as in the southern end of the Mexican Plateau and in Vietnam. Six climate classifications use the term to define the various temperature. A great portion of the deserts are located within the subtropics. Within savanna regimes in the subtropics, a wet season is seen annually during the summer, within Mediterranean climate regimes, the wet season occurs during the winter. Areas bordering warm oceans are prone to heavy rainfall from tropical cyclones. Plants such as palms, citrus, mango, lychee, the tropics have been historically defined as lying between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, located at 23. 45° north and south latitude respectively. The poleward fringe of the subtropics is located at approximately 40° north and south latitude respectively, northern fringes of the type can go further north due to moderating effects of ocean streams, like in parts of Southern Europe due to heat transported by the Gulf Stream. Several methods have used to define the subtropical climate. In the Trewartha climate classification, a subtropical region should have at least eight months with a temperature greater than 10 °C. According to the Troll-Paffen climate classification, there exists one large subtropical zone named the warm-temperate subtropical zone. According to the E. Neef climate classification, the zone is divided into two parts, Rainy winters of the west sides and Eastern subtropical climate. According to the Wilhelm Lauer & Peter Frankenberg climate classification, the zone is divided into three parts, high-continental, continental, and maritime. According to the Siegmund/Frankenberg climate classification, subtropical is one of six zones in the world. Heating of the earth near the equator leads to large amounts of upward motion and convection along the trough or Intertropical convergence zone. The upper-level divergence over the near-equatorial trough leads to air rising and moving away from the equator aloft, as the air moves towards the Mid-Latitudes, it cools and sinks, which leads to subsidence near the 30th parallel of both hemispheres. This circulation is known as the Hadley cell and leads to the formation of the subtropical ridge, many of the worlds deserts are caused by these climatological high-pressure areas, located within the subtropics
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Tropical
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The tropics are a region of the Earth surrounding the equator. The tropics are also referred to as the zone and the torrid zone. The tropics include all the areas on the Earth where the Sun is at a point directly overhead at least once during the solar year. The tropics are distinguished from the climatic and biomatic regions of Earth, which are the middle latitudes. Tropical is sometimes used in a sense for a tropical climate to mean warm to hot and moist year-round. Many tropical areas have a dry and wet season, the wet season, rainy season or green season, is the time of year, ranging from one or more months, when most of the average annual rainfall in a region falls. Areas with wet seasons are disseminated across portions of the tropics and subtropics, under the Köppen climate classification, for tropical climates, a wet season month is defined as a month where average precipitation is 60 millimetres or more. Tropical rainforests technically do not have dry or wet seasons, since their rainfall is distributed through the year. When the wet season occurs during the season, or summer, precipitation falls mainly during the late afternoon. The wet season is a time when air quality improves, freshwater quality improves and vegetation grows significantly, floods cause rivers to overflow their banks, and some animals to retreat to higher ground. Soil nutrients diminish and erosion increases, the incidence of malaria increases in areas where the rainy season coincides with high temperatures. Animals have adaptation and survival strategies for the wetter regime, unfortunately, the previous dry season leads to food shortages into the wet season, as the crops have yet to mature. Regions within the tropics may well not have a tropical climate, there are alpine tundra and snow-capped peaks, including Mauna Kea, Mount Kilimanjaro, and the Andes as far south as the northernmost parts of Chile and Argentina. Under the Köppen climate classification, much of the area within the tropics is classed not as tropical but as dry including the Sahara Desert. Tropical plants and animals are those native to the tropics. Tropical ecosystems may consist of rainforests, dry forests, spiny forests, desert. There are often significant areas of biodiversity, and species present, particularly in rainforests. In biogeography, the tropics are divided into Paleotropics and Neotropics, together, they are sometimes referred to as the Pantropic
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Forest
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A forest is a large area dominated by trees. Hundreds of more precise definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as density, tree height, land use, legal standing. According to the widely used Food and Agriculture Organization definition, forests covered four billion hectares or approximately 30 percent of the land area in 2006. Forests are the dominant terrestrial ecosystem of Earth, and are distributed across the globe, Forests account for 75% of the gross primary productivity of the Earths biosphere, and contain 80% of the Earths plant biomass. Forests at different latitudes and elevations form distinctly different ecozones, boreal forests near the poles, tropical forests near the equator, higher elevation areas tend to support forests similar to those at higher latitudes, and amount of precipitation also affects forest composition. Human society and forests influence each other in both positive and negative ways, Forests provide ecosystem services to humans and serve as tourist attractions. Forests can also affect peoples health, human activities, including harvesting forest resources, can negatively affect forest ecosystems. Although forest is a term of common parlance, there is no universally recognised precise definition, there are three broad categories of forest definitions in use, administrative, land use, and land cover. Land use definitions are based upon the purpose that the land serves. For example, a forest may be defined as any land that is used primarily for production of timber, land cover definitions define forests based upon the type and density of vegetation growing on the land. Such definitions typically define a forest as an area growing trees above some threshold and these thresholds are typically the number of trees per area, the area of ground under the tree canopy or the section of land that is occupied by the cross-section of tree trunks. Under such land cover definitions, and area of land only be defined as forest if it is growing trees, areas that fail to meet the land cover definition may be still included under while immature trees are establishing if they are expected to meet the definition at maturity. Under land use definitions, there is variation on where the cutoff points are between a forest, woodland, and savanna. Under some definitions, forests require high levels of tree canopy cover, from 60% to 100%, excluding savannas. Other definitions consider savannas to be a type of forest, the term was not endemic to Romance languages, and cognates in Romance languages, such as Italian foresta, Spanish and Portuguese floresta, etc. are all ultimately borrowings of the French word. The exact origin of Medieval Latin foresta is obscure, uses of the word forest in English to denote any uninhabited area of non-enclosure are now considered archaic. The word was introduced by the Norman rulers of England as a term denoting an uncultivated area legally set aside for hunting by feudal nobility. These hunting forests were not necessarily wooded much, if at all, however, as hunting forests did often include considerable areas of woodland, the word forest eventually came to mean wooded land more generally
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Montane forest
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Montane ecosystems refers to any ecosystem found in mountains. These ecosystems are affected by climate, which gets colder as elevation increases. They are stratified according to elevation, dense forests are common at moderate elevations. However, as the elevation increases, the climate becomes harsher, as elevation increases, the climate becomes cooler, due to a decrease in the greenhouse effect. The characteristic flora and fauna in the mountains tend to depend on elevation. This dependency causes life zones to form, bands of similar ecosystems at similar altitude, one of the typical life zones on mountains is the montane forest, at moderate elevations, the rainfall and temperate climate encourages dense forests to grow. Holdridge defines the climate of montane forest as having a biotemperature of between 6 and 12 °C, where biotemperature is the mean temperature considering temperatures below 0 °C to be 0 °C. Above the elevation of the montane forest, the trees thin out in the zone, become twisted krummholz. Therefore, Montane forests often contain trees with twisted trunks and this phenomenon is observed due to the increase in the wind strength with the elevation. The elevation where trees fail to grow is called the tree line. The biotemperature of the zone is between 3 and 6 °C. Above the tree line the ecosystem is called the zone or alpine tundra, dominated by grasses. The biotemperature of the zone is between 1.5 and 3 °C. Many different plant species live in the environment, including perennial grasses, sedges, forbs, cushion plants, mosses. Alpine plants must adapt to the conditions of the alpine environment, which include low temperatures, dryness, ultraviolet radiation. Alpine plants display adaptations such as structures, waxy surfaces. Because of the characteristics of these zones, the World Wildlife Fund groups a set of related ecoregions into the montane grassland and shrubland biome. Climates with biotemperatures below 1.5 °C tend to consist purely of rock, Montane forests occur between the submontane zone and the subalpine zone. The elevation at which one habitat changes to another varies across the globe, the upper limit of montane forests, the forest line or timberline, is often marked by a change to hardier species that occur in less dense stands
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Habitat loss
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Habitat destruction is the process in which natural habitat is rendered unable to support the species present. In this process, the organisms that used the site are displaced or destroyed. Habitat destruction by human activity is mainly for the purpose of harvesting natural resources for production and urbanization. Clearing habitats for agriculture is the cause of habitat destruction. Other important causes of habitat destruction include mining, logging, trawling, habitat destruction is currently ranked as the primary cause of species extinction worldwide. Perhaps the greatest threat to organisms and biodiversity is the process of habitat loss, temple found that 82% of endangered bird species were significantly threatened by habitat loss. Endemic organisms with limited ranges are most affected by destruction, mainly because these organisms are not found anywhere else within the world. Many endemic organisms have very specific requirements for their survival that can only be found within a certain ecosystem, extinction may also take place very long after the destruction of habitat, a phenomenon known as extinction debt. Habitat destruction can also decrease the range of certain organism populations, one of the most famous examples is the impact upon Chinas giant panda, once found across the nation. Now it is found in fragmented and isolated regions in the southwest of the country. Biodiversity hotspots are chiefly tropical regions that feature high concentrations of species and. These hotspots are suffering from loss and destruction. Most of the habitat on islands and in areas of high human population density has already been destroyed. Islands suffering extreme habitat destruction include New Zealand, Madagascar, the Philippines, South and East Asia — especially China, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Japan — and many areas in West Africa have extremely dense human populations that allow little room for natural habitat. Marine areas close to highly populated coastal cities also face degradation of their coral reefs or other marine habitat and these areas include the eastern coasts of Asia and Africa, northern coasts of South America, and the Caribbean Sea and its associated islands. Regions of unsustainable agriculture or unstable governments, which may go hand-in-hand, central America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Amazonian tropical rainforest areas of South America are the main regions with unsustainable agricultural practices and/or government mismanagement. Areas of high agricultural output tend to have the highest extent of habitat destruction, in the U. S. less than 25% of native vegetation remains in many parts of the East and Midwest. Only 15% of land area remains unmodified by human activities in all of Europe, tropical rainforests have received most of the attention concerning the destruction of habitat
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BirdLife International
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It is the worlds largest partnership of conservation organisations, with over 120 partner organisations. BirdLife International was founded as in 1922 the International Council for Bird Preservation by American ornithologists T. Gilbert Pearson and it changed its name in 1993 to BirdLife International. In addition to the programmes, there are global programmes. Together these programmes help the partnership to focus and work on common priorities and they provide the framework for planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating conservation work. BirdLife International publishes a magazine, World Birdwatch, which contains recent news and authoritative articles about birds, their habitats. BirdLife International is the official Red List authority for birds, for the International Union for Conservation of Nature, in the 2012 assessment,1,313 species of birds are considered threatened with extinction. This represents 13% of the 10,064 extant bird species in the world
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International Union for Conservation of Nature
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The International Union for Conservation of Nature is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. It is involved in gathering and analysis, research, field projects, advocacy, lobbying. IUCNs mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve nature and to ensure that any use of resources is equitable. Over the past decades, IUCN has widened its focus beyond conservation ecology and now incorporates issues related to equality, poverty alleviation. Unlike other international NGOs, IUCN does not itself aim to mobilize the public in support of nature conservation and it tries to influence the actions of governments, business and other stakeholders by providing information and advice, and through lobbying and partnerships. The organization is best known to the public for compiling and publishing the IUCN Red List. IUCN has a membership of over 1200 governmental and non-governmental organizations, some 11,000 scientists and experts participate in the work of IUCN commissions on a voluntary basis. It employs approximately 1000 full-time staff in more than 60 countries and its headquarters are in Gland, Switzerland. IUCN has observer and consultative status at the United Nations, and plays a role in the implementation of several conventions on nature conservation. It was involved in establishing the World Wide Fund for Nature, in the past, IUCN has been criticized for placing the interests of nature over those of indigenous peoples. In recent years, its relations with the business sector have caused controversy. It was previously called the International Union for Protection of Nature, establishment In 1947, the Swiss League for the Protection of Nature organised an international conference on the protection of nature in Brunnen. It is considered to be the first government-organized non-governmental organization, the initiative to set up the new organisation came from UNESCO and especially from its first Director General, the British biologist Julian Huxley. At the time of its founding IUPN was the international organisation focusing on the entire spectrum of nature conservation Early years. Its secretariat was located in Brussels and its first work program focused on saving species and habitats, increasing and applying knowledge, advancing education, promoting international agreements and promoting conservation. Providing a solid base for conservation action was the heart of all activities. IUPN and UNESCO were closely associated and they jointly organized the 1949 Conference on Protection of Nature. In preparation for this conference a list of endangered species was drawn up for the first time
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Snow, D.W.
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David William Snow was a celebrated English ornithologist born in Windermere, Westmorland. He won a scholarship to Eton and started there in 1938 just before his 14th birthday. He won a scholarship to study classics at New College, Oxford but was called up to serve in the navy in April 1943 and served on ships including destroyers, frigates. After the end of World War II, he spent a year sailing through the Far East, in 1946 he returned to Oxford and switched from classics to the study of zoology, earning a D. Phil degree in 1953. In 1958, David married Barbara Kathleen Whitaker, who was the warden of Lundy Island, Barbara Snow was also a noted ornithologist and a geologist. From 1957 to 1961 the Snows worked for the New York Zoological Society at the research centre in Trinidad. Here they made detailed studies of the oilbirds and the fascinating and very complex courtship dances of the white-bearded manakin, from 1963 to 1964 he was the Director of the Charles Darwin Research Station in the Galapagos Islands. He was Director of CDRS during the landmark expedition mounted from the University of California at Berkeley called the Galápagos International Scientific Project. He was also Director of Research for the British Trust for Ornithology from 1964 to 1968, from 1987 to 1990 he was president of the British Ornithologists Union. David Snow edited The Ibis, Bird Study and the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists Club, Snow is commemorated in the name of the cotinga genus Snowornis and the critically endangered Alagoas antwren. With his wife, Barbara, Snow made a contribution to our understanding of the evolutionary consequences of fruit-eating in birds. This left them plenty of opportunity to develop elaborate rituals to impress the dowdier females, following Barbaras death in 2007, he published Birds in Our Life, an account of their lives and their close ornithological partnership. Snow died at age 84 and is survived by two sons, in 1972 David and his wife Barbara were joint recipients of the American Ornithologists Unions Brewster Medal. He was elected president of the British Ornithologists Union and in 1982 was awarded its Godman-Salvin Medal for outstanding contributions to ornithology, the migration of the Greenland Wheatear. The breeding of the Blackbird Turdus merula at Oxford, the displays of the manakins Pipra pipra and Tyranneutes virescens. The display of the Orange-headed manakin, condor 65 Snow, D. W. & Snow, B. K. Breeding and the cycle in three Trinidad thrushes. Wilson Bulletin 75 Snow, D. W. & Snow, breeding seasons and annual cycles of Trinidad Land-Birds
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International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
