1.
Photographic plate
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Photographic plates preceded photographic film as a capture medium in photography. The light-sensitive emulsion of silver salts was coated on a plate, typically thinner than common window glass. Glass plates were far superior to film for research-quality imaging because they were stable and less likely to bend or distort. Early plates used the wet collodion process, the wet plate process was replaced late in the 19th century by gelatin dry plates. Glass plate photographic material largely faded from the market in the early years of the 20th century, as more convenient. Workshops on the use of glass plate photography as a medium or for artistic use are still being conducted. A number of observatories, including Harvard College and Sonneberg, maintain large archives of photographic plates, many solar system objects were discovered by using photographic plates, superseding earlier visual methods. Discovery of minor planets using photographic plates was pioneered by Max Wolf beginning with his discovery of 323 Brucia in 1891, the first natural satellite discovered using photographic plates was Phoebe in 1898. Glass-backed plates, rather than film, were used in astronomy because they do not shrink or deform noticeably in the development process or under environmental changes. Photographic plates were also an important tool in early high-energy physics, Photographic emulsions were originally coated on thin glass plates for imaging with electron microscopes, which provided a more rigid, stable and flatter plane compared to plastic films. Beginning in the 1970s, high-contrast, fine grain emulsions coated on thicker plastic films manufactured by Kodak, Ilford and these films have largely been replaced by digitally imaging technologies. The earliest flexible films of the late 1880s were sold for use in medium-format cameras. The plastic was not of high optical quality and tended to curl. Initially, a transparent plastic base was more expensive to produce than glass, quality was eventually improved, manufacturing costs came down, and most amateurs gladly abandoned plates for films. After large-format high quality cut films for professional photographers were introduced in the late 1910s, CCD cameras have several advantages over glass plates, including high efficiency, linear light response, and simplified image acquisition and processing. The manufacture of plates has been discontinued by Kodak, Agfa. In the realm of traditional photography, a number of historical process enthusiasts make their own wet or dry plates from raw materials. Several institutions have established archives to preserve photographic plates and prevent their valuable historical information from being lost, the emulsion on the plate can deteriorate
2.
Dismorphia
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Dismorphia is a genus of butterflies in the subfamily Dismorphiinae. Atlas of Neotropical Lepidoptera, Checklist, Part4A Hesperioidea–Papilionoidea, gainesville, Florida, Scientific Publishers, Inc. pp. 99–100. Images representing Dismorphia at Consortium for the Barcode of Life
3.
Ithomiini
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Ithomiini is a butterfly tribe in the nymphalid subfamily Danainae. Some authors consider the group to be a subfamily and these butterflies are exclusively Neotropical, found in humid forests from sea level to 3000 m, from Mexico to Argentina. There are around 370 species in some 40–45 genera, ithomiines are unpalatable because their adults seek out and sequester pyrrolizidine alkaloids from plants that they visit, especially composite flowers and wilted borages. The slow-flying adults are Müllerian mimics of each other as well as of many other Lepidoptera, henry Walter Bates referred to a transparency group of Amazon butterfly species. It was originally with seven species belonging to six different genera, reginald Punnett suggested 28 species of this peculiar facies are known, though some are excessively rare. Identification of adult ithomiines relies on hindwing venation and male androconial scales, ithomiine larvae feed mostly on Solanaceae host plants. Exceptions are the basal genera Tithorea, Aeria, and Elzunia that, like Tellervo and some Danainae, feed on Echiteae vines, as well as Megoleria. This was first experimentally demonstrated in 1889 when Thomas Belt fed ithomiines to birds, the spider Nephila, the butterflies were consistently rejected, but other insects were eaten. Lincoln P. Besides, Vasconcellos-Neto and Lewinsohn demonstrated that the neotropical orb-weaving spider Nephila clavipes released unharmed 14 species of field-caught ithomiine butterflies. The source of the chemicals in the bodies of adult ithomiines proved not to be their larval host plants, as was first suggested. Adults of ithomiine, mainly males, visit flowers of some Boraginaceae, Asteraceae, Apocynaceae and Orchidaceae, dead or withered plants are also visited and, when feeding on these plants, the butterflies scratch the tissues with their legs and suck the oozing sap. These plants are known to contain alkaloids, indicating their role as chemical sources for sequestration. Other butterfly and moth species that sequester pyrrolizidine alkaloids also visit similar sources, eisners best-selling popular science book For Love of Insects tells the story of this exciting discovery. The sister group to the tribe Ithomiini is either the small tribe Tellervini or the larger tribe Danaini, the relationships of the three tribes in the subfamily Danainae are still unclear. Source, The higher classification of Nymphalidae, at Nymphalidae. net Note, Note, Names preceded by an equal sign are synonyms, homonyms, rejected names or invalid names. In, E. Bauer & T. Frankenbach, Butterflies of the World,16 color plates - illustrates 252 specimens covering subset of the 320 known species, many of which are divided into subspecies. Brown, Jr. K. S. and A. V. L. Freitas, juvenile stages of Ithomiinae, overview and systematics. Tropical Lepidoptera 5, 9-20. pdf See Links, media related to Ithomiini at Wikimedia Commons Illustrated Checklist Florida Museum TOL General information on ithomiine butterflies Pteron In Japanese but binomial names
4.
Nymphalidae
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The Nymphalidae are the largest family of butterflies with about 6,000 species distributed throughout most of the world, belonging to the superfamily Papilionoidea. These are usually medium-sized to large butterflies, Most species have a reduced pair of forelegs and many hold their colourful wings flat when resting. Many species are coloured and include popular species such as the emperors, monarch butterfly, admirals, tortoiseshells. Rafinesque introduced the name Nymphalia as a name in diurnal Lepidoptera. Rafinesque did not include Nymphalis among the genera, but Nymphalis was unequivocally implied in the formation of the name. The attribution of the Nymphalidae to Rafinesque has now been widely adopted, for terms see External morphology of Lepidoptera. In the adult butterflies, the first pair of legs is small or reduced, the caterpillars are hairy or spiky with projections on the head, and the chrysalids have shiny spots. e. Given off by the subcostal vein before apex of the cell, the hindwings have internal and precostal veins. The cell in both wings is closed or open, often closed in the fore, open in the hindwing, the dorsal margin of the hindwing is channelled to receive the abdomen in many of the forms. The antennae always have two grooves on the underside, the club is variable in shape. g, in many of the forms of these subfamilies, the forelegs are kept pressed against the underside of the thorax, and are in the male often very inconspicuous. The phylogeny of the Nymphalidae is complex, several taxa are of unclear position, reflecting the fact that some subfamilies were formerly well-recognized as distinct families due to insufficient study. The five main clades within the family are, The libytheine clade Libytheinae The danaine clade Danainae Host plant families include Apocynaceae, Asclepiadoideae, ithomiini Most species have long wings, and some have transparent wings. Host plants are in the families Apocynaceae, Gesneriaceae, and Solanaceae, tellervini Caterpillars resemble those of the Danainae and feed on Apocynaceae. The satyrine clade Calinaginae Mimics of the Danainae, they are restricted to host plants in the family Moraceae, charaxinae Tropical canopy butterflies, the caterpillars often have head spines or projections. Mostly edible species, have some Batesian mimics, morphinae Include the spectacular neotropical Morpho, its food plants include the Arecaceae, Bignoniaceae, Fabaceae, Menispermaceae, Poaceae, and Sapindaceae. Brassolini Host plants in the families Arecaceae, Bromeliaceae, Heliconiaceae, Musaceae, satyrinae Host plants are in the families Arecaceae, Araceae, Cyperaceae, Heliconiaceae, Poaceae, and Selaginellaceae. The heliconiine clade Heliconiinae Colourful tropical butterflies, they are noted for Müllerian mimicry, all species use host plants in the family Passifloraceae. Acraeini Host plants are in the families Asteraceae, Passifloraceae, Sterculiaceae, Tiliaceae, limenitidinae The nymphaline clade Apaturinae Host plants are in the family Ulmaceae
5.
Mimicry
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Mimicry may evolve between different species, or between individuals of the same species. Often, mimicry evolves to protect a species from predators, making it an antipredator adaptation, the resemblances that evolve in mimicry can be in appearance, behaviour, sound or scent. Mimicry may be to the advantage of organisms that share a resemblance, in which case it is a mutualism, or mimicry can be to the detriment of one. Mimicry occurs when a group of organisms, the mimics, evolve to share perceived characteristics with another group, the evolutionary convergence between groups is driven by the selective action of a signal-receiver or dupe. Birds, for example, use sight to identify palatable insects, over time, palatable insects may evolve to resemble noxious ones, making them mimics and the noxious ones models. In the case of mutualism, sometimes both groups are referred to as co-mimics, in its broadest definition, mimicry can include non-living models. The specific terms masquerade and mimesis are sometimes used when the models are inanimate, for example, animals such as flower mantises, planthoppers and geometer moth caterpillars that resemble twigs, bark, leaves or flowers practice masquerade. Some authors would consider this mimicry, others would not, many animals bear eyespots, which are hypothesized to resemble the eyes of larger animals. They may not resemble any specific organisms eyes, and whether or not animals respond to them as eyes is also unclear, nonetheless, eyespots are the subject of a rich contemporary literature. It is often thought that models must be more abundant than mimics, though visual mimicry through animal coloration is most obvious to humans, other senses such as olfaction or hearing may be involved, and more than one type of signal may be employed. Mimicry may involve morphology, behaviour, and other properties, in any case, the mimetic signal always functions because it resembles that of another organism. In evolutionary terms, this phenomenon is a form of co-evolution and it can involve an evolutionary arms race if mimicry negatively affects the model, and the model can evolve a different appearance from the mimic. Mimics may have different models for different life stages, or they may be polymorphic. Models themselves may have more than one mimic, though frequency dependent selection favours mimicry where models outnumber mimics, models tend to be relatively closely related organisms, but mimicry of vastly different species is also known. Most known mimics are insects, though many other animal mimics are known, Plants and fungi may also be mimics, though less research has been carried out in this area. Use of the word dates to 1637. It derives from the Greek term mimetikos, imitative, in turn from mimetos, originally used to describe people, mimetic was used in zoology from 1851, mimicry from 1861. Many types of mimicry have been described, an overview of each follows, highlighting the similarities and differences between the various forms
6.
Predation
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In an ecosystem, predation is a biological interaction where a predator feeds on its prey. Predators may or may not kill their prey prior to feeding on it, but the act of predation often results in the death of the prey, thus predation is often, though not always, carnivory. Other categories of consumption are herbivory, fungivory, and detritivory, all of these are consumer-resource systems. It can often be difficult to separate various types of feeding behaviors. For example, some parasites prey on their host and then lay their eggs on it, for their offspring to feed on it while it continues to live, the key characteristic of predation is the predators direct impact on the prey population. Selective pressures imposed on one another leads to an evolutionary arms race between prey and predator, resulting in various antipredator adaptations. Ways of classifying predation include grouping by trophic level or diet, by specialization, Predators can be classified by their interactions with their prey. Two factors are considered here, how close the predator and prey are, and whether the prey is killed by the predator. A true predator is one that kills and eats another living thing, Predators may hunt actively for prey in pursuit predation, or sit and wait for prey to approach within striking distance, as in ambush predators. Some predation entails venom that subdues a prey before the predator ingests it, as in the box jellyfish, or disables it, in some cases, the venom contributes to the digestion of the prey, as in rattlesnakes and some spiders. In contrast, baleen whales eat millions of microscopic plankton at once, seed and egg predation are true predation, as seeds and eggs are potential organisms. Predators need not eat prey entirely, for example, some predators cannot digest bones, some may eat only part of an organism, but still consistently cause its death. Grazing organisms do not often kill their prey, while some herbivores like zooplankton live on unicellular phytoplankton and therefore, by the individualized nature of the organism, kill their prey, many others only eat a small part of the plant. Grazing livestock may pull some grass out at the roots, but most is simply grazed upon, kelp is frequently grazed in subtidal kelp forests, but regrows at the base of the blade continuously to cope with browsing pressure. Animals may also be grazed upon, female mosquitos land on hosts briefly to gain sufficient proteins for the development of their offspring, starfish may be grazed on, being capable of regenerating lost arms. Parasites can at times be difficult to distinguish from grazers and their feeding behavior is similar in many ways, however they are noted for their close association with their host species. This close living arrangement may be described by the symbiosis, living together. Parasitic organisms range from the mistletoe, a parasitic plant
7.
Henry Walter Bates
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Henry Walter Bates FRS FLS FGS was an English naturalist and explorer who gave the first scientific account of mimicry in animals. He was most famous for his expedition to the rainforests of the Amazon with Alfred Russel Wallace, Wallace returned in 1852, but lost his collection on the return voyage when his ship caught fire. When Bates arrived home in 1859 after an eleven years. Bates wrote up his findings in his work, The Naturalist on the River Amazons. Bates was born in Leicester to a literate middle-class family, however, like Wallace, T. H. Huxley and Herbert Spencer, he had a normal education to the age of about 13 when he became apprenticed to a hosiery manufacturer. He joined the Mechanics Institute, studied in his spare time, in 1843 he had a short paper on beetles published in the journal Zoologist. Bates became friends with Wallace when the took a teaching post in the Leicester Collegiate School. Wallace also became a keen entomologist, and he read the same kind of books as Bates and as Darwin, Huxley and no doubt many others had. They also read William H. Edwardss Voyage up the River Amazons on his Amazon expedition, and this started them thinking that a visit to the region would be exciting, and might launch their careers. In 1847 Wallace and Bates discussed the idea of an expedition to the Amazon Rainforest, there an agent would sell them for a commission. The main purpose was for the travellers to gather facts towards solving the problem of the origin of species, the two friends, who were both by now experienced amateur entomologists, met in London to prepare themselves. This they did by viewing South American plants and animals in the main collections, also they collected wants lists of the desires of museums and collectors. All known letters exchanged between Wallace and Bates are available in Wallace Letters Online, Bates and Wallace sailed from Liverpool in April 1848, arriving in Pará at the end of May. For the first year they settled in a villa near the city, collecting birds, after that they agreed to collect independently, Bates travelling to Cametá on the Tocantins River. He then moved up the Amazon, to Óbidos, Manaus, tefé was his base-camp for four and a half years. His health eventually deteriorated and he returned to Britain, sending his collection by three different ships to avoid the fate as Wallace. He spent the three years writing his account of the trip, The Naturalist on the River Amazons, widely regarded as one of the finest reports of natural history travels. In 1863 he married Sarah Ann Mason, from 1864 onwards, he worked as Assistant Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society
8.
Butterfly
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Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, the group comprises the large superfamily Papilionoidea, which contains at least one former group, the skippers and the most recent analyses suggest it also contains the moth-butterflies. Butterfly fossils date to the Paleocene, which was about 56 million years ago, Butterflies have the typical four-stage insect life cycle. Winged adults lay eggs on the plant on which their larvae, known as caterpillars. The caterpillars grow, sometimes rapidly, and when fully developed. When metamorphosis is complete, the skin splits, the adult insect climbs out. Butterflies are often polymorphic, and many species use of camouflage, mimicry. Some, like the monarch and the lady, migrate over long distances. Many butterflies are attacked by parasites or parasitoids, including wasps, protozoans, flies, some species are pests because in their larval stages they can damage domestic crops or trees, other species are agents of pollination of some plants. Larvae of a few butterflies eat harmful insects, and a few are predators of ants, culturally, butterflies are a popular motif in the visual and literary arts. The Oxford English Dictionary derives the word straightforwardly from Old English butorflēoge, butter-fly, similar names in Old Dutch, the earliest Lepidoptera fossils are of a small moth, Archaeolepis mane, of Jurassic age, around 190 million years ago. Butterflies evolved from moths, so while the butterflies are monophyletic, the oldest butterflies are from the Palaeocene MoClay or Fur Formation of Denmark. The oldest American butterfly is the Late Eocene Prodryas persephone from the Florissant Fossil Beds, traditionally, the butterflies have been divided into the superfamily Papilionoidea excluding the smaller groups of the Hesperiidae and the more moth-like Hedylidae of America. Butterfly adults are characterized by their four scale-covered wings, which give the Lepidoptera their name, as in all insects, the body is divided into three sections, the head, thorax, and abdomen. The thorax is composed of three segments, each with a pair of legs, in most families of butterfly the antennae are clubbed, unlike those of moths which may be threadlike or feathery. The long proboscis can be coiled when not in use for sipping nectar from flowers, some day-flying moths, such as the hummingbird hawk-moth, are exceptions to these rules. Butterfly larvae, caterpillars, have a head with strong mandibles used for cutting their food. They have cylindrical bodies, with ten segments to the abdomen, generally with short prolegs on segments 3–6 and 10, many are well camouflaged, others are aposematic with bright colours and bristly projections containing toxic chemicals obtained from their food plants
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Rainforest
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The monsoon trough, alternatively known as the intertropical convergence zone, plays a significant role in creating the climatic conditions necessary for the Earths tropical rainforests. Around 40% to 75% of all species are indigenous to the rainforests. It has been estimated there may be many millions of species of plants, insects. Tropical rainforests have been called the jewels of the Earth and the worlds largest pharmacy, the undergrowth in some areas of a rainforest can be restricted by poor penetration of sunlight to ground level. If the leaf canopy is destroyed or thinned, the ground beneath is soon colonized by a dense, tangled growth of vines, shrubs and small trees, the term jungle is also sometimes applied to tropical rainforests generally. Tropical rainforests are characterized by a warm and wet climate with no dry season. Mean monthly temperatures exceed 18 °C during all months of the year, average annual rainfall is no less than 168 cm and can exceed 1,000 cm although it typically lies between 175 cm and 200 cm. Many of the tropical forests are associated with the location of the monsoon trough. The broader category of tropical moist forests are located in the zone between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn. Tropical forests have been called the Earths lungs, although it is now known that rainforests contribute little net oxygen addition to the atmosphere through photosynthesis, Tropical forests cover a large part of the globe, but temperate rainforests only occur in few regions around the world. Temperate rainforests are rainforests in temperate regions and they occur in North America, in Europe, in East Asia, in South America and also in Australia and New Zealand. A tropical rainforest typically has a number of layers, each with different plants, examples include the emergent, canopy, understorey and forest floor layers. They need to be able to withstand the hot temperatures and strong winds that occur above the canopy in some areas, eagles, butterflies, bats and certain monkeys inhabit this layer. The canopy layer contains the majority of the largest trees, typically 30 metres to 45 metres tall, the densest areas of biodiversity are found in the forest canopy, a more or less continuous cover of foliage formed by adjacent treetops. The canopy, by some estimates, is home to 50 percent of all plant species, epiphytic plants attach to trunks and branches, and obtain water and minerals from rain and debris that collects on the supporting plants. The fauna is similar to found in the emergent layer. A quarter of all species are believed to exist in the rainforest canopy. Scientists have long suspected the richness of the canopy as a habitat, true exploration of this habitat only began in the 1980s, when scientists developed methods to reach the canopy, such as firing ropes into the trees using crossbows
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Brazil
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Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. As the worlds fifth-largest country by area and population, it is the largest country to have Portuguese as an official language. Its Amazon River basin includes a vast tropical forest, home to wildlife, a variety of ecological systems. This unique environmental heritage makes Brazil one of 17 megadiverse countries, Brazil was inhabited by numerous tribal nations prior to the landing in 1500 of explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral, who claimed the area for the Portuguese Empire. Brazil remained a Portuguese colony until 1808, when the capital of the empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, in 1815, the colony was elevated to the rank of kingdom upon the formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. Independence was achieved in 1822 with the creation of the Empire of Brazil, a state governed under a constitutional monarchy. The ratification of the first constitution in 1824 led to the formation of a bicameral legislature, the country became a presidential republic in 1889 following a military coup détat. An authoritarian military junta came to power in 1964 and ruled until 1985, Brazils current constitution, formulated in 1988, defines it as a democratic federal republic. The federation is composed of the union of the Federal District, the 26 states, Brazils economy is the worlds ninth-largest by nominal GDP and seventh-largest by GDP as of 2015. A member of the BRICS group, Brazil until 2010 had one of the worlds fastest growing economies, with its economic reforms giving the country new international recognition. Brazils national development bank plays an important role for the economic growth. Brazil is a member of the United Nations, the G20, BRICS, Unasul, Mercosul, Organization of American States, Organization of Ibero-American States, CPLP. Brazil is a power in Latin America and a middle power in international affairs. One of the worlds major breadbaskets, Brazil has been the largest producer of coffee for the last 150 years and it is likely that the word Brazil comes from the Portuguese word for brazilwood, a tree that once grew plentifully along the Brazilian coast. In Portuguese, brazilwood is called pau-brasil, with the word brasil commonly given the etymology red like an ember, formed from Latin brasa and the suffix -il. As brazilwood produces a red dye, it was highly valued by the European cloth industry and was the earliest commercially exploited product from Brazil. The popular appellation eclipsed and eventually supplanted the official Portuguese name, early sailors sometimes also called it the Land of Parrots. In the Guarani language, a language of Paraguay, Brazil is called Pindorama
11.
Aggressive mimicry
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An alternative term Peckhamian mimicry has also been suggested, but it is seldom used. The metaphor of a wolf in sheeps clothing can be used as an analogy, for example, indigenous Australians who dress up as and imitate kangaroos when hunting would not be considered aggressive mimics, nor would a human angler. Treated separately is molecular mimicry, which shares some similarity, for instance a virus may mimic the molecular properties of its host. Aggressive mimicry is opposite in principle to defensive mimicry, where the mimic benefits from being treated as harmful. The mimic may resemble its own prey, or some other organism which is beneficial or at least not harmful to the prey. The model, i. e. the organism being imitated, may experience increased or reduced fitness, on the other hand, the signal receiver inevitably suffers from being tricked, as is the case in most mimicry complexes. Aggressive mimicry often involves the predator employing signals which draw its potential prey towards it, the promise of food or sex are most commonly used as lures. However, this not be the case, as long as the predators true identity is concealed. In terms of species involved, systems may be composed of two or three species, in systems the signal receiver, or dupe, is the model. In terms of the dimension, distinction between aggressive mimicry and camouflage is not always clear. Authors such as Wickler have emphasized the significance of the signal to its receiver as delineating mimicry from camouflage, however, it is not easy to assess how significant a signal may be for the dupe, and the distinction between the two can thus be rather fuzzy. Mixed signals may also be employed, Aggressive mimics often have a specific part of the body sending a deceptive signal, with the rest being hidden or camouflaged. Aggressive mimicry stands in semantic contrast with defensive mimicry, where it is the prey that acts as a mimic, defensive mimicry includes the well-known Batesian and Müllerian forms of mimicry, where the mimic shares outward characteristics with an aposematic or harmful model. In defensive mimicry, the benefits by avoiding a harmful interaction with another organism that would be more likely to take place without the deceptive signals employed. Harmful interactions might involve being eaten, or pulled out of the ground as a weed, in contrast, the aggressive mimic benefits from an interaction that would be less likely to take place without the deception, at the expense of its target. In some cases the receiver is lured toward the mimic. This involves mimicry of a resource that is vital to the preys survival such as nutrition or a mate. If the bait offered is of value to prey they would not be expected to take such a risk
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Foraging
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Foraging is searching for wild food resources. It affects an animals fitness because it plays an important role in an ability to survive. Foraging theory is a branch of ecology that studies the foraging behavior of animals in response to the environment where the animal lives. Behavioral ecologists use economic models to understand foraging, many of these models are a type of optimality model, thus foraging theory is discussed in terms of optimizing a payoff from a foraging decision. The payoff for many of these models is the amount of energy an animal receives per unit time, more specifically, foraging theory predicts that the decisions that maximize energy per unit time and thus deliver the highest payoff will be selected for and persist. Behavioral ecologists first tackled this topic in the 1960s and 1970s and their goal was to quantify and formalize a set of models to test their null hypothesis that animals forage randomly. Learning is defined as a change or modification of a behavior based on a previous experience. Since an animals environment is changing, the ability to adjust foraging behavior is essential for maximization of fitness. Studies in social insects have shown there is a significant correlation between learning and foraging performance. In nonhuman primates, young individuals learn foraging behavior from their peers and elders by watching other group members forage, observing and learning from other members of the group ensure that the younger members of the group learn what is safe to eat and become proficient foragers. One measure of learning is foraging innovation—an animal consuming new food, foraging innovation is considered learning because it involves behavioral plasticity on the animals part. The animal recognizes the need to come up with a new foraging strategy, forebrain size has been associated with learning behavior. Animals with larger sizes are expected to learn better. A higher ability to innovate has been linked to larger sizes in North American. In this study, bird orders that contained individuals with larger forebrain sizes displayed a higher amount of foraging innovation, examples of innovations recorded in birds include following tractors and eating frogs or other insects killed by it and using swaying trees to catch their prey. Another measure of learning is learning, which refers to an individuals ability to associate the time of an event with the place of that event. This type of learning has been documented in the behaviors of individuals of the stingless bee species Trigona fulviventris. Foraging behavior can also be influenced by genetics, honey bee foraging activity occurs both inside and outside the hive for either pollen or nectar
13.
Signalling theory
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Within evolutionary biology, signalling theory is a body of theoretical work examining communication between individuals, both within species and across species. The central question is when organisms with conflicting interests, such as in sexual selection, mathematical models describe how signalling can contribute to an evolutionarily stable strategy. Signals are given in such as mate selection by females. Signals thus evolve because they modify the behaviour of the receiver to benefit the signaller, signals may be honest, conveying information which usefully increases the fitness of the receiver, or dishonest. An individual can cheat by giving a dishonest signal, which might briefly benefit that signaller, amotz Zahavi suggested that cheating could be controlled by the handicap principle, where the best horse in a handicap race is the one carrying the largest handicap weight. According to Zahavis theory, signallers such as male peacocks have tails that are genuinely handicaps, the system is evolutionarily stable as the large showy tails are honest signals. Biologists have attempted to verify the handicap principle, but with inconsistent results, the evolutionary equilibrium depends sensitively on the balance of costs and benefits. When animals choose mates, traits such as signalling are subject to evolutionary pressure, for example, the male gray tree frog, Hyla versicolor, produces a call to attract females. Once a female chooses a mate, this selects for a style of male calling. The signal can be the call itself, the intensity of a call, its style, its repetition rate. Various hypotheses seek to explain why females would select for one call over the other, signallers have sometimes evolved multiple sexual ornaments, and receivers have sometimes evolved multiple trait preferences. In biology, signals are traits, including structures and behaviours, traits or actions that benefit the receiver exclusively are called cues. When an alert bird deliberately gives a call to a stalking predator and the predator gives up the hunt. When a foraging bird inadvertently makes a sound in the leaves that attracts predators and increases the risk of predation. Signalling systems are shaped by mutual interests between signallers and receivers, when the predator gives up, the signaller can get back to other tasks such as feeding. Once the stalking predator is detected, the prey and receiving predator thus have a mutual interest in terminating the hunt. Within species, mutual interests increase with kinship, kinship is central to models of signalling between relatives, for instance when broods of nestling birds beg and compete for food from their parents. The term honesty in communication is controversial because in non-technical usage it implies intent
14.
Frequency-dependent selection
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Frequency-dependent selection is the term given to an evolutionary process by which the fitness of a phenotype depends on its frequency relative to other phenotypes in a given population. In positive frequency-dependent selection, the fitness of a phenotype increases as it more common. In negative frequency-dependent selection, the fitness of a phenotype decreases as it more common. This is an example of balancing selection, the first explicit statement of frequency-dependent selection appears to have been by Edward Bagnall Poulton in 1884, on the way that predators could maintain color polymorphisms in their prey. Perhaps the best known early modern statement of the principle is Bryan Clarkes 1962 paper on apostatic selection, clarke later argued that frequency-dependent balancing selection could explain molecular polymorphisms in opposition to the neutral theory of molecular evolution. Another example is plant self-incompatibility alleles, when two plants share the same incompatibility allele, they are unable to mate. Thus, a plant with a new allele has more success at mating, in human pathogens, such as the flu virus, once a particular strain has become common, most individuals have developed an immune response to that strain. But a rare, novel strain of the flu virus is able to quickly to almost any individual. The major histocompatibility complex is involved in the recognition of foreign antigens, Frequency-dependent selection may explain the high degree of polymorphism in the MHC. In behavioral ecology, negative frequency-dependent selection often maintains multiple behavioral strategies within a species, a classic example is the Hawk-Dove model of interactions among individuals in a population. In a population with two traits A and B, being one form is better when most members are the other form and these three morphs participate in a rock paper scissors sort of interaction such that no one morph completely outcompetes the other two. Another example occurs in the scaly-breasted munia, where individuals become scroungers and others become producers. Where negative frequency-dependent selection gives an advantage to rare phenotypes, positive frequency-dependent selection gives an advantage to common phenotypes, in the between-species analogue, this is equivalent to an Allee effect, in which if a species is too rare, it may decline to extinction. This means that new alleles can have a difficult time invading a population, the effect can be seen in the evolution of warning coloration in toxic or distasteful organisms. The signalling theory advantage of such coloration is that predators can learn to avoid potential prey with that color pattern, but where the pattern was rare, the predator population was not educated, so the pattern brought no benefit. Therefore, the color is only once it has become common. Apostatic selection Evolutionary game theory Evolutionarily stable strategy Frequency-dependent foraging by pollinators Mimicry Tit for tat Robert H. Tamarin Principles of Genetics
15.
Polymorphism (biology)
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Polymorphism in biology and zoology is the occurrence of two or more clearly different morphs or forms, also referred to as alternative phenotypes, in the population of a species. In order to be classified as such, morphs must occupy the same habitat at the same time, three mechanisms may cause polymorphism, Genetic polymorphism - where the phenotype of each individual is genetically determined. A conditional development strategy, where the phenotype of each individual is set by environmental cues, a mixed development strategy, where the phenotype is randomly assigned during development. Polymorphism as used in zoology and biology involves morphs of the phenotype, polymorphism is common in nature, it is related to biodiversity, genetic variation and adaptation, it usually functions to retain variety of form in a population living in a varied environment. The most common example is sexual dimorphism, which occurs in many organisms, other examples are mimetic forms of butterflies, and human hemoglobin and blood types. According to the theory of evolution, polymorphism results from evolutionary processes and it is heritable and is modified by natural selection. In polyphenism, an individuals genetic make-up allows for different morphs, in genetic polymorphism, the genetic make-up determines the morph. Ants exhibit both types in a single population, polymorphism also refers to the occurrence of structurally and functionally more than two different types of individuals, called zooids within the same organism. It is a feature of Cnidarians. Although in general use polymorphism is quite a broad term, in biology it has given a specific meaning, being distinguishable from monomorphism. A more specific term, when there are two forms, is dimorphism. The term omits characters showing continuous variation, even though this has a heritable component, polymorphism deals with forms in which the variation is discrete or strongly bimodal or polymodal. Morphs must occupy the same habitat at the time, this excludes geographical races. The use of the words morph or polymorphism for what is a different geographical race or variant is common. The significance of geographical variation is in that it may lead to allopatric speciation, the term was first used to describe visible forms, but nowadays it has been extended to include cryptic morphs, for instance blood types, which can be revealed by a test. Rare variations are not classified as polymorphisms, and mutations by themselves do not constitute polymorphisms, to qualify as a polymorphism there has to be some kind of balance between morphs underpinned by inheritance. The criterion is that the frequency of the least common morph is too high simply to be the result of new mutations or, as a rough guide, polymorphism crosses several discipline boundaries, including ecology and genetics, evolution theory, taxonomy, cytology and biochemistry. Different disciplines may give the same concept different names, and different concepts may be given the same name, for example, there are the terms established in ecological genetics by E. B
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Animal cognition
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Animal cognition describes the mental capacities of animals and the study of those capacities. The field developed from comparative psychology, including the study of animal conditioning and learning and it has also been strongly influenced by research in ethology, behavioral ecology, and evolutionary psychology, and hence the alternative name cognitive ethology is sometimes used. Many behaviors associated with the term animal intelligence are also subsumed within animal cognition, researchers have examined animal cognition in mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and invertebrates. Coined by 19th-century British psychologist C. Lloyd Morgan, Morgans Canon remains a fundamental precept of comparative psychology, the behavior of non-human animals has captivated human imagination from antiquity, and over the centuries many writers have speculated about the animal mind, or its absence. Unsatisfied with the method of Darwin and his protégé J. G. Romanes. According to Thorndike, using Morgans Canon, the inference of animal reason, insight, or consciousness is unnecessary, at about the same time, I. P. Pavlov began his seminal studies of conditioned reflexes in dogs. Pavlov quickly abandoned attempts to infer canine mental processes, such attempts, he said, led only to disagreement and he was, however, willing to propose unseen physiological processes that might explain his observations. The work of Thorndike, Pavlov and a little later of the outspoken behaviorist John B, watson set the direction of much research on animal behavior for more than half a century. Many experiments on conditioning followed, they generated some complex theories, probably the most explicit dismissal of the idea that mental processes control behavior was the radical behaviorism of Skinner. This view seeks to explain behavior, including events like mental images. Despite the predominantly behaviorist orientation of research before 1960, the rejection of mental processes in animals was not universal during those years, beginning around 1960, a cognitive revolution in research on humans gradually spurred a similar transformation of research with animals. Inference to processes not directly observable became acceptable and then commonplace, Animals came to be seen as goal seeking agents that acquire, store, retrieve, and internally process information at many levels of cognitive complexity. The acceleration of research on cognition in the last 50 years or so has led to a rapid expansion in the variety of species studied. In the laboratory, animals push levers, pull strings, dig for food, swim in water mazes, or respond to images on screens in discrimination, attention, memory. Careful field studies explore memory for food caches, navigation by stars, communication, tool use, identification of conspecifics, studies often focus on the behavior of animals in their natural environments and discuss the putative function of the behavior for the propagation and survival of the species. These developments reflect an increased cross-fertilization from related fields such as ethology, also, contributions from behavioral neuroscience are beginning to clarify the physiological substrate of some inferred mental process. Human and animal cognition have much in common, and this is reflected in the research summarized below, of course, research in the two also differs in important respects. Notably, much research with humans either studies or involves language, following are summaries of some of the major areas of research in animal cognition
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Deception in animals
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Deception in animals is the transmission of misinformation by one animal to another, of the same or different species, in a way that propagates beliefs that are not true. Deception in animals does not automatically imply an act. Mimicry and camouflage enable animals to appear to be other than they are, prey animals may appear as predators, or vice versa, both predators and prey may be hard to see, or may be mistaken for other objects. In Batesian mimicry, harmless animals may appear to be distasteful or poisonous, in automimicry, animals may have eyespots in less important parts of the body than the head, helping to distract attack and increase the chance of survival. In deimatic behaviour, a harmless animal adopts a threatening pose or displays startling, some animals may use tactical deception, with behaviour that is deployed in a way that other animals misinterpret what is happening to the advantage of the agent. Some of the evidence for this is anecdotal, but in the apes in particular. Some types of deception in animals are completely involuntary, but others are under voluntary control, most instances of voluntary deception in animals involve a simple behaviour, such as a cat arching its back and raising its hackles, to make itself appear larger than normal when attacked. There are relatively few examples of behaviour which might be attributed to the manipulative type of deception which we know occurs in humans. True deception requires the deceiver to have the capacity to assess different representations of reality. Animal behaviour scientists are therefore wary of interpreting a single instance of behaviour to true deception, in contrast, human activities such as military deception are certainly intentional, even when they involve methods such as camouflage which physically parallel camouflage methods used by animals. This similarity can be in appearance, behaviour, sound, scent, there are many forms of mimicry, and an individual example may fall into more than one of the recognised categories. Defensive or protective mimicry takes place when organisms are able to avoid encounters that would be harmful to them by deceiving enemies by appearing to be something that they are not. For example, mantis shrimp typically spread their front limbs to threaten rivals in a called the meral spread. Batesian mimicry is a form of mimicry typified by a situation where a species has evolved to imitate the warning signals of a harmful species directed at a common predator. The harmful species might have spines, stingers, or toxic chemistry, protection of the mimic from predators is afforded by its resemblance to the unpalatable species, which the predator associates with a certain appearance and a bad experience. Examples of Batesian mimicry are the species of butterflies that mimic the toxic Heliconid butterflies. Another butterfly mimic is the non-toxic great Mormon of Indonesia, each female butterfly can produce one or more different female forms which mimic any of five other species of foul-tasting butterflies. Batesian mimicry is found in the harmless milk snake, which mimics venomous coral snakes
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Sense
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A sense is a physiological capacity of organisms that provides data for perception. The senses and their operation, classification, and theory are overlapping topics studied by a variety of fields, most notably neuroscience, cognitive psychology, the nervous system has a specific sensory system or organ, dedicated to each sense. Humans have a multitude of senses, sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch are the five traditionally recognized senses. However, what constitutes a sense is a matter of debate, leading to difficulties in defining what exactly a distinct sense is. Other animals also have receptors to sense the world around them, humans have a comparatively weak sense of smell and a stronger sense of sight relative to many other mammals while some animals may lack one or more of the traditional five senses. Some animals may also intake and interpret sensory stimuli in different ways. Some species of animals are able to sense the world in a way humans cannot, with some species able to sense electrical and magnetic fields. There is no agreement as to the number of senses because of differing definitions of what constitutes a sense. The senses are frequently divided into exteroceptive and interoceptive, Exteroceptive senses are senses that perceive the bodys own position, motion, external senses include the traditional five, sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste, as well as thermoception and possibly an additional weak magnetoception. Proprioceptive senses include nociception, equilibrioception, proprioception, interoceptive senses are senses that perceive sensations in internal organs. Non-human animals may possess senses that are absent in humans, such as electroreception and detection of polarized light, in Buddhist philosophy, Ayatana or sense-base includes the mind as a sense organ, in addition to the traditional five. This addition to the commonly acknowledged senses may arise from the psychological orientation involved in Buddhist thought, the mind considered by itself is seen as the principal gateway to a different spectrum of phenomena that differ from the physical sense data. This way of viewing the human sense system indicates the importance of internal sources of sensation and perception that complements our experience of the external world, there are two types of photoreceptors, rods and cones. Rods are very sensitive to light, but do not distinguish colors, cones distinguish colors, but are less sensitive to dim light. There is some disagreement as to whether this one, two or three senses. Neuroanatomists generally regard it as two senses, given that different receptors are responsible for the perception of color and brightness, the inability to see is called blindness. Blindness may result from damage to the eyeball, especially to the retina, damage to the nerve that connects each eye to the brain. Temporary or permanent blindness can be caused by poisons or medications, people with blindsight are usually not aware that they are reacting to visual sources, and instead just unconsciously adapt their behaviour to the stimulus
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Ultrasound
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Ultrasound is sound waves with frequencies higher than the upper audible limit of human hearing. Ultrasound is no different from normal sound in its physical properties and this limit varies from person to person and is approximately 20 kilohertz in healthy, young adults. Ultrasound devices operate with frequencies from 20 kHz up to several gigahertz, Ultrasound is used in many different fields. Ultrasonic devices are used to detect objects and measure distances, Ultrasound imaging or sonography is often used in medicine. In the nondestructive testing of products and structures, ultrasound is used to detect invisible flaws, industrially, ultrasound is used for cleaning, mixing, and to accelerate chemical processes. Animals such as bats and porpoises use ultrasound for locating prey, scientist are also studying ultrasound using graphene diaphragms as a method of communication. Acoustics, the science of sound, starts as far back as Pythagoras in the 6th century BC, echolocation in bats was discovered by Lazzaro Spallanzani in 1794, when he demonstrated that bats hunted and navigated by inaudible sound and not vision. The first technological application of ultrasound was an attempt to detect submarines by Paul Langevin in 1917, the piezoelectric effect, discovered by Jacques and Pierre Curie in 1880, was useful in transducers to generate and detect ultrasonic waves in air and water. Ultrasound is defined by the American National Standards Institute as sound at frequencies greater than 20 kHz, in air at atmospheric pressure ultrasonic waves have wavelengths of 1.9 cm or less. The upper frequency limit in humans is due to limitations of the middle ear, auditory sensation can occur if high‐intensity ultrasound is fed directly into the human skull and reaches the cochlea through bone conduction, without passing through the middle ear. Children can hear some high-pitched sounds that older adults cannot hear, the Mosquito is an electronic device that uses a high pitched frequency to deter loitering by young people. Bats use a variety of ultrasonic ranging techniques to detect their prey and they can detect frequencies beyond 100 kHz, possibly up to 200 kHz. Many insects have good hearing and most of these are nocturnal insects listening for echolocating bats. This includes many groups of moths, beetles, praying mantids, upon hearing a bat, some insects will make evasive manoeuvres to escape being caught. Ultrasonic frequencies trigger an action in the noctuid moth that cause it to drop slightly in its flight to evade attack. Tiger moths also emit clicks which may disturb bats echolocation, dogs and cats hearing range extends into the ultrasound, the top end of a dogs hearing range is about 45 kHz, while a cats is 64 kHz. The wild ancestors of cats and dogs evolved this higher hearing range to hear sounds made by their preferred prey. A dog whistle is a whistle that emits ultrasound, used for training and calling dogs, porpoises have the highest known upper hearing limit, at around 160 kHz
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Bat
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Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, Bats do not flap their entire forelimbs, as birds do, but instead flap their spread-out digits, which are very long and covered with a thin membrane or patagium. About 70% of bat species are insectivores, most of the rest are frugivores, or fruit eaters. A few species, such as the bat, feed from animals other than insects, with the vampire bats being hematophagous. Bats are present throughout most of the world, with the exception of cold regions. They perform the vital roles of pollinating flowers and dispersing fruit seeds. Bats are economically important, as they consume insect pests, reducing the need for pesticides, the smallest bat is the Kittis hog-nosed bat, measuring 29–34 mm in length,15 cm across the wings and 2–2.6 g in mass. It is also arguably the smallest extant species of mammal, with the Etruscan shrew being the other contender. The largest species of bat are a few species of Pteropus, the Mexican free-tailed bat is the fastest flying animal in horizontal flight. An older English name for bats is flittermouse, which matches their name in other Germanic languages, middle English had bakke, most likely cognate with Old Swedish natbakka, which may have undergone a shift from -k- to -t- influenced by Latin blatta, moth, nocturnal insect. They were formerly grouped in the superorder Archonta, along with the treeshrews, colugos, genetic studies have now placed bats in the superorder Laurasiatheria, along with carnivorans, pangolins, odd-toed ungulates, even-toed ungulates, and cetaceans. A recent study by Zhang et al. places Chiroptera as a taxon to the clade Perissodactyla. The phylogenetic relationships of the different groups of bats have been the subject of much debate and this hypothesis recognized differences between microbats and megabats and acknowledged that flight has only evolved once in mammals. Most molecular biological evidence supports the view that bats form a single or monophyletic group, in the 1980s, a hypothesis based on morphological evidence was offered that stated the Megachiroptera evolved flight separately from the Microchiroptera. The so-called flying primate hypothesis proposes that, when adaptations to flight are removed, one example is that the brains of megabats show a number of advanced characteristics that link them to primates. Although recent genetic studies support the monophyly of bats, debate continues as to the meaning of available genetic. Genetic evidence indicates that megabats originated during the early Eocene and should be placed within the four lines of microbats. Consequently, two new suborders based on molecular data have been proposed and these two new suborders are strongly supported by statistical tests
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England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
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Explorer
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Exploration is the act of searching for the purpose of discovery of information or resources. Exploration occurs in all animal species, including humans. In human history, its most dramatic rise was during the Age of Discovery when European explorers sailed and charted much of the rest of the world for a variety of reasons. Since then, major explorations after the Age of Discovery have occurred for reasons mostly aimed at information discovery, in scientific research, exploration is one of three purposes of empirical research. The term is used metaphorically. For example, an individual may speak of exploring the Internet, sexuality, the Phoenicians traded throughout the Mediterranean Sea and Asia Minor though many of their routes are still unknown today. The presence of tin in some Phoenician artifacts suggests that they may have traveled to Britain, according to Virgils Aeneid and other ancient sources, the legendary Queen Dido was a Phoenician from Tyre who sailed to North Africa and founded the city of Carthage. Hanno the Navigator, a Carthaginean navigator explored the Western Coast of Africa, the Greek explorer from Marseille, Pytheas was the first to circumnavigate Great Britain, explore Germany, and reach Thule. Africa Exploration The Romans organized expeditions to cross the Sahara desert with five different routes, through the western Sahara, toward the Niger river, through the Tibesti mountains, toward Lake Chad and actual Nigeria through the Nile river, toward actual Uganda. Though the western coast of Africa, toward the Canary Islands, through the Red Sea, toward actual Somalia and perhaps Tanzania. All these expeditions were supported by legionaries and had mainly a commercial purpose, only the one done by emperor Nero seemed to be a preparative for the conquest of Ethiopia or Nubia, in 62 AD two legionaries explored the sources of the Nile river. One of the reasons of the explorations was to get gold using the camel to transport it. The explorations near the African western and eastern coasts were supported by Roman ships, Romans organized several explorations also in Northern Europe, and as far as Asia up to China. 30 BC-640 AD With the acquisition of Ptolemaic Egypt, The Romans begin trading with India, the Empire now has a direct connection to the Spice trade Egypt had established beginning in 118 BC.100 AD-166 AD Romano-Chinese relations begin. Ptolemy writes of the Golden Chersonese and the port of Kattigara, now identified as Óc Eo in northern Vietnam, then part of Jiaozhou. The Chinese historical texts describe Roman embassies, from a land they called Daqin, 2nd century Roman traders reach Siam, Cambodia, Sumatra, and Java. 161 An embassy from Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius or his successor Marcus Aurelius reaches Chinese Emperor Huan of Han at Luoyang, when Zhang returned to China in 125 BC, he reported on his visits to Dayuan, Kangju, and Daxia. Zhang described Dayuan and Daxia as agricultural and urban countries like China, from about 800 Ad to 1040 AD, the Vikings explored Europe and much of the Western Northern Hemisphere via rivers and oceans
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Natural history
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Natural history is the research and study of organisms including animals, fungi and plants in their environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. It encompasses scientific research but is not limited to it, with articles nowadays more often published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the sciences, natural history is the systematic study of any category of natural objects or organisms. That is a broad designation in a world filled with many narrowly focused disciplines. For example, geobiology has a strong multi-disciplinary nature combining scientists, a person who studies natural history is known as a naturalist or natural historian. The English term natural history is a translation of the Latin historia naturalis and its meaning has narrowed progressively with time, while the meaning of the related term nature has widened. In antiquity, it covered essentially anything connected with nature or which used materials drawn from nature. For example, Pliny the Elders encyclopedia of this title, published circa 77 to 79 AD, covers astronomy, geography, man and his technology, medicine and superstition as well as animals and plants. Medieval European academics considered knowledge to have two divisions, the humanities and divinity, with science studied largely through texts rather than observation or experiment. In modern terms, natural philosophy roughly corresponded to modern physics and chemistry, natural history had been encouraged by practical motives, such as Linnaeus aspiration to improve the economic condition of Sweden. Similarly, the Industrial Revolution prompted the development of geology to help find useful mineral deposits, the astronomer, William Herschel was also a natural historian. Instead of working with plants or minerals he worked with the stars and he spent his time building telescopes to see the stars and the rest of the time watching the stars. In the beginning, he believed there to be a known as a nebulae. Herschel can be considered a natural historian because he observed the natural world, in the process he made charts of all the stars and kept records of all that he saw. S. Wilcove and T. Eisner, The close observation of organisms—their origins, their evolution, their behavior and it encompasses changes in internal states insofar as they pertain to what organisms do. Some definitions go further, focusing on observation of organisms in their environment. Bartholomew, A student of history, or a naturalist, studies the world by observing plants. A common thread in many definitions of natural history is the inclusion of a component, as seen in a recent definition by H. W. Greene
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Amazon rainforest
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The Amazon rainforest, also known in English as Amazonia or the Amazon Jungle, is a moist broadleaf forest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin encompasses 7,000,000 square kilometres, of which 5,500,000 square kilometres are covered by the rainforest and this region includes territory belonging to nine nations. States or departments in four nations contain Amazonas in their names, the name Amazon is said to arise from a war Francisco de Orellana fought with the Tapuyas and other tribes. The women of the tribe alongside the men, as was their custom. Orellana derived the name Amazonas from the Amazons of Greek mythology, the rainforest likely formed during the Eocene era. It appeared following a reduction of tropical temperatures when the Atlantic Ocean had widened sufficiently to provide a warm. Following the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, the extinction of the dinosaurs, from 66–34 Mya, the rainforest extended as far south as 45°. Climate fluctuations during the last 34 million years have allowed savanna regions to expand into the tropics, during the Oligocene, for example, the rainforest spanned a relatively narrow band. It expanded again during the Middle Miocene, then retracted to a mostly inland formation at the last glacial maximum, however, the rainforest still managed to thrive during these glacial periods, allowing for the survival and evolution of a broad diversity of species. During the mid-Eocene, it is believed that the basin of the Amazon was split along the middle of the continent by the Purus Arch. Water on the eastern side flowed toward the Atlantic, while to the west water flowed toward the Pacific across the Amazonas Basin, as the Andes Mountains rose, however, a large basin was created that enclosed a lake, now known as the Solimões Basin. Within the last 5–10 million years, this accumulating water broke through the Purus Arch, there is evidence that there have been significant changes in Amazon rainforest vegetation over the last 21,000 years through the Last Glacial Maximum and subsequent deglaciation. There is debate, however, over how extensive this reduction was, more than 56% of the dust fertilizing the Amazon rainforest comes from the Bodélé depression in Northern Chad in the Sahara desert. The dust contains phosphorus, important for plant growth, the yearly Sahara dust replaces the equivalent amount of phosphorus washed away yearly in Amazon soil from rains and floods. Up to 50 million tonnes of Sahara dust per year are blown across the Atlantic Ocean, CALIPSO uses a laser range finder to scan the Earths atmosphere for the vertical distribution of dust and other aerosols. CALIPSO regularly tracks the Sahara-Amazon dust plume, CALIPSO has measured variations in the dust amounts transported— an 86 percent drop between the highest amount of dust transported in 2007 and the lowest in 2011. A possibility causing the variation is the Sahel, a strip of land on the southern border of the Sahara. When rain amounts in the Sahel are higher, the volume of dust is lower, the higher rainfall could make more vegetation grow in the Sahel, leaving less sand exposed to winds to blow away
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Alfred Russel Wallace
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Alfred Russel Wallace OM FRS was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, and biologist. He is best known for conceiving the theory of evolution through natural selection. This prompted Darwin to publish his own ideas in On the Origin of Species and he was considered the 19th centurys leading expert on the geographical distribution of animal species and is sometimes called the father of biogeography. Wallace was one of the leading thinkers of the 19th century. Wallace was strongly attracted to unconventional ideas and his advocacy of spiritualism and his belief in a non-material origin for the higher mental faculties of humans strained his relationship with some members of the scientific establishment. Aside from scientific work, he was a social activist who was critical of what he considered to be an unjust social and his interest in natural history resulted in his being one of the first prominent scientists to raise concerns over the environmental impact of human activity. Since its publication in 1869 it has never been out of print, Wallace had financial difficulties throughout much of his life. Alfred Wallace was born in the Welsh village of Llanbadoc, near Usk and he was the seventh of nine children of Thomas Vere Wallace and Mary Anne Greenell. Mary Anne was English, Thomas Wallace was probably of Scottish ancestry and his family, like many Wallaces, claimed a connection to William Wallace, a leader of Scottish forces during the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 13th century. Thomas Wallace graduated in law, but never practised law and he owned some income-generating property, but bad investments and failed business ventures resulted in a steady deterioration of the familys financial position. His mother was from a middle-class English family from Hertford, north of London, when Wallace was five years old, his family moved to Hertford. There he attended Hertford Grammar School until financial difficulties forced his family to him in 1836. Wallace then moved to London to board with his older brother John and this was a stopgap measure until William, his oldest brother, was ready to take him on as an apprentice surveyor. While in London, Alfred attended lectures and read books at the London Mechanics Institute, here he was exposed to the radical political ideas of the Welsh social reformer Robert Owen and of Thomas Paine. He left London in 1837 to live with William and work as his apprentice for six years, at the end of 1839, they moved to Kington, Hereford, near the Welsh border, before eventually settling at Neath in Glamorgan in Wales. Between 1840 and 1843, Wallace did land surveying work in the countryside of the west of England, by the end of 1843, Williams business had declined due to difficult economic conditions, and Wallace, at the age of 20, left in January. One result of Wallaces early travels is a controversy about his nationality. Since Wallace was born in Monmouthshire, some sources have considered him to be Welsh, one Wallace scholar has stated that the most reasonable interpretation is therefore that he was an Englishman born in Wales
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Heliconiinae
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The Heliconiinae, commonly called heliconians or longwings, are a subfamily of the brush-footed butterflies. They can be divided into 45–50 genera and were treated as a separate family Heliconiidae within the Papilionoidea. The colouration is predominantly reddish and black, and though of varying wing shape, most longwings are found in the Tropics, particularly in South America, only the Argynnini are quite diverse in the Holarctic. Especially tropical species feed on plants, characteristically Passifloraceae vines, as larvae. The adult butterflies announce their acquired toxicity with strong aposematic colours, there are several famous cases of Batesian and Müllerian mimicry both within this group and with other butterflies. Other commonly seen plants are Fabaceae, and particularly among northerly species of Violaceae. Four or five tribes are recognized in the Heliconiinae. There have been attempts to sort out the phylogenetic sequence and delimitation of these, but while the former has made good progress. Several phylogenies have been proposed, but though looking reasonable each, even cladistic analyses of the same type of data often yield contradicting results depending on the exact method of evaluation. Ultimately, the reason is that just a fraction of the diversity of Heliconiinae has been sampled. What appears fairly certain is that the Argynnini and Vagrantini are closer relatives than any other two tribes of Heliconiinae, the Acraeini and Heliconiini are probably more basal lineages, but the exact placement of each respective to the other tribes cannot be considered well resolved at all. Some tribes are distributed among several continents, resulting in a confusing phylogeography pattern, but as it seems, the apparent contradictions between systematics and biogeography are due the premature classifications based on insufficient taxon sampling. With studies becoming more and more comprehensive, the apparent anomalies seem to sort themselves out at least for the most part, in addition, the genus Pardopsis, often placed in the Acraeini, does almost certainly not belong there, it might better be placed in the Argynnini. The relationships of the genus Cethosia are even more mysterious, genera are presented in the presumed phylogenetic sequence. Notable species are given if no genus article exists. The biology of Heliconius and related genera, markku Savelas Lepidoptera and some other life forms – Heliconiinae. Silva-Brandão, Karina Lucas, Wahlberg, Niklas, Francini, Ronaldo Bastos, Azeredo-Espin, Ana Maria L. Brown, Keith S. Jr. Paluch, Márlon, Lees, phylogenetic relationships of butterflies of the tribe Acraeini and the evolution of host plant use. Nymphalidae. net – The higher classification of Nymphalidae, van Zandt Brower, A. Phylogeny of Heliconius butterflies inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequences
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Morphology (biology)
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Morphology is a branch of biology dealing with the study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features. This includes aspects of the appearance, i. e. external morphology, as well as the form and structure of the internal parts like bones and organs. This is in contrast to physiology, which deals primarily with function, Morphology is a branch of life science dealing with the study of gross structure of an organism or taxon and its component parts. The word morphology is from the Ancient Greek don, morphé, meaning form, among other important theorists of morphology are Lorenz Oken, Georges Cuvier, Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Richard Owen, Karl Gegenbaur and Ernst Haeckel. In English-speaking countries, the term molecular morphology has been used for time for describing the structure of compound molecules, such as polymers. Comparative Morphology is analysis of the patterns of the locus of structures within the plan of an organism. Functional Morphology is the study of the relationship between the structure and function of morphological features, experimental Morphology is the study of the effects of external factors upon the morphology of organisms under experimental conditions, such as the effect of genetic mutation. Anatomy is a branch of morphology that deals with the structure of organisms, most taxa differ morphologically from other taxa. Typically, closely related taxa differ much less than more distantly related ones, cryptic species are species which look very similar, or perhaps even outwardly identical, but are reproductively isolated. Conversely, sometimes unrelated taxa acquire a similar appearance as a result of convergent evolution or even mimicry, in addition, there can be morphological differences within a species, such as in Apoica flavissima where queens are significantly smaller than workers. A further problem with relying on morphological data is that what may appear, morphologically speaking, the significance of these differences can be examined through the use of allometric engineering in which one or both species are manipulated to phenocopy the other species. Invention and development of microscopy enable the observation of 3-D cell morphology with both spatial and temporal resolution. The dynamic processes of cell morphology which are controlled by a complex system play an important role in varied important biological process, such as immune. Comparative anatomy Insect morphology Morphometrics Neuromorphology Phenetics Phenotype Phenotypic plasticity Plant morphology
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Linnean Society of London
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The Linnean Society of London is a society dedicated to the study of, and the dissemination of information concerning, natural history and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature collections and publishes academic journals and books on plant, the society also awards a number of prestigious medals and prizes for achievement. A product of the 18th century enlightenment, the society is important as the venue for the first public presentation of the Theory of Evolution. The patron of the society is Queen Elizabeth II, the Linnean Society was founded in 1788 by botanist Sir James Edward Smith. The society derives its name from the Swedish naturalist Carolus Linnaeus, the father of taxonomy and he was known as Carl von Linné after his ennoblement, hence the spelling Linnean, rather than Linnaean. The society had a number of minor name variations before it gained its Royal Charter on 26 March 1802, in 1802, as a newly incorporated society, it comprised 228 fellows. It is the oldest extant natural history society in the world, throughout its history the society has been a non-political and non-sectarian institution, existing solely for the furtherance of natural history. The society has numbered many prominent scientists amongst its fellows, one such was the botanist Robert Brown, who was president, he named the cell nucleus and discovered Brownian motion. In 1854 Charles Darwin was elected a fellow, he is undoubtedly the most illustrious scientist ever to appear on the rolls of the society. Another famous fellow was biologist Thomas Huxley, who gained the nickname Darwins bulldog for his defence of evolution. At this meeting a joint presentation of papers by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace was made, sponsored by Joseph Hooker, in 1904 the society experienced the novelty of electing women fellows, this followed a number of years of campaigning by the botanist Marian Farquharson. Whilst the societys council was reluctant to admit women, the fellows were much less so, among the first to benefit from this were, Lilian J. Veley, a microbiologist and Annie Lorrain Smith, a lichenologist and mycologist, both formally admitted on 19 January 1905. Also amongst the first women to be elected in 1904 was the paleobotanist, the societys connection with evolution remained strong into the 20th century. Sir Edward Poulton, who was president 1912-1916, was a defender of natural selection and was the first biologist to recognise the importance of frequency-dependent selection. The first female president of the society was Irene Manton, who pioneered the use of electron microscopy. Her work revealed the structure of the flagellum and cilia, which are central to systems of cellular motility. Recent years have seen an increased interest within the society in issues of biodiversity conservation and this was highlighted by the inception in 2015 of an annual award, the John Spedan Lewis Medal, specifically honouring persons making significant and innovative contributions to conservation. Fellowship requires nomination by at least one fellow, and election by a minimum of two thirds of those electors voting, fellows may employ the post-nominal letters FLS
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The Naturalist on the River Amazons
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Bates and his friend Alfred Russel Wallace set out to obtain new species and new evidence for evolution by natural selection, as well as exotic specimens to sell. He explored thousands of miles of the Amazon and its tributaries and his observations of the coloration of butterflies led him to discover Batesian mimicry. The book contains an evenly distributed mixture of history, travel. Only the most remarkable discoveries of animals and plants are described, Bates remarks that finding a new species is only the start, he also describes animal behaviour, sometimes in detail, as for the army ants. He constantly relates the wildlife to the people, explaining how the people hunt, the book is illustrated with drawings by leading artists including E. W. Robinson, Josiah Wood Whymper, Joseph Wolf and Johann Baptist Zwecker. On Batess return to England, he was encouraged by Charles Darwin to write up his eleven-year stay in the Amazon as a book, the book has been reprinted many times, mostly in Batess own effective abridgement for the second edition, which omitted the more technical descriptions. The first edition, in 1863, was long and full of technical description, the second edition, in 1864, was abridged, with most of the technical description removed, making for a shorter and more readable book which has been reprinted many times. An unabridged edition was reissued only after 30 years, in 1892, the naturalist on the river Amazons. The naturalist on the river Amazons, 2nd edition as one volume, Murray, London. The naturalist on the river Amazons, with a memoir of the author by Edward Clodd and they had been inspired by reading the American entomologist William Henry Edwardss pioneering 1847 book A Voyage Up the River Amazon, with a residency at Pará. Neither had much money, so determined to fund themselves by collecting and selling fine specimens of birds. Both made extensive travels — in different parts of the Amazon basin — creating large natural history collections, by the time he came home in November 1859, Bates had collected over 14,000 species, of which 8,000 were new to science. His observations of the coloration of butterflies led him to describe what is now called Batesian mimicry, Batess account of his stay, including observations of nature and the people around him, occupies his book. In the abridged version, there is a balance between descriptions of places and adventures, and the wildlife seen there and they are of speckled grey or ashy colours. By means of this apparatus they can walk or run across a ceiling with their backs downwards. The Geckos are very repulsive in appearance, the book begins and ends suddenly. The journey out, as reviewer Joseph James observes, is dismissed in a few words, the last few lines of the book run, On the 6th of June, when in 7°55 N. lat. and 52°30 W. long. And therefore about 400 miles from the mouth of the main Amazons, we passed numerous patches of floating grass mingled with tree-trunks, amongst these masses I espied many fruits of that peculiarly Amazonian tree the Ubussu palm, this was the last I saw of the Great River
30.
Anti-predator adaptation
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Anti-predator adaptations are mechanisms developed through evolution that assist prey organisms in their constant struggle against predators. Throughout the animal kingdom, adaptations have evolved for every stage of this struggle, the first line of defence consists in avoiding detection, through mechanisms such as camouflage, living underground, or nocturnality. Some prey species are capable of fighting back against predators, whether with chemicals, through communal defence, Animals may avoid becoming prey by living out of sight of predators, whether in caves, underground, or by being nocturnal. Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by activity during the night and this is a behavioral form of crypsis that can be used by animals to either avoid predation or to enhance prey hunting. Predation risk has long recognized as critical in shaping behavioral decisions. For example, this risk is of prime importance in determining the time of evening emergence in echolocating bats. Although early access during brighter times permits easier foraging, it leads to a higher predation risk from bat hawks. This results in an optimum evening emergence time that is a compromise between the conflicting demands, another nocturnal adaptation can be seen in kangaroo rats, which exhibit moonlight avoidance. These rodents forage in open habitats and reduce their activity outside their nest burrows in response to moonlight. During a full moon, they shift their activity towards areas of dense cover to compensate for the extra brightness. In controlled experiments, artificial moon-like illumination stimulates similar responses in their foraging behavior, camouflage uses any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment to make the organism hard to detect by sight. It is common in terrestrial and marine animals. Animals such as the horned lizard of North America have evolved to eliminate their shadow. The bodies of these lizards are flattened, and their sides thin towards the edge and this body form, along with the white scales fringed along their sides, allows the lizards to effectively hide their shadows. Additionally, these lizards hide any remaining shadows by pressing their bodies to the ground, many species make use of behavioral strategies to deter predators. Pursuit-deterrent signals are signals used by prey that convince predators not to pursue them. For example, gazelles stot, jumping high with stiff legs and this is thought to signal to predators that they have a high level of fitness and can outrun the predator. As a result, predators may choose to pursue a different prey that is likely to outrun them
31.
Animal coloration
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Animal coloration is the general appearance of an animal resulting from the reflection or emission of light from its surfaces. Some animals are coloured, while others are hard to see. In some species, such as the peacock, the male has strong patterns, conspicuous colours and is iridescent, there are several separate reasons why animals have evolved colours. Camouflage enables an animal to remain hidden from view, some animals use flashes of colour to divert attacks by startling predators. Zebras may possibly use motion dazzle, confusing a predators attack by moving a bold pattern rapidly, some animals are coloured for physical protection, with pigments in the skin to protect against sunburn, while some frogs can lighten or darken their skin for temperature regulation. Finally, animals can be coloured incidentally, for example, blood is red because the haem pigment needed to carry oxygen is red. Animals coloured in these ways can have striking natural patterns, Animals produce colour in different ways. Pigments are particles of coloured material, chromatophores are cells containing pigment, which can change their size to make their colour more or less visible. Some animals, including butterflies and birds, have microscopic structures in scales, bristles or feathers which give them brilliant iridescent colours. Other animals including squid and some fish can produce light. Animals often use two or more of these together to produce the colours and effects they need. Animal coloration has been a topic of interest and research in biology for centuries, so each of those threads in the Microscope appears a large long body, consisting of a multitude of bright reflecting parts. According to Charles Darwins 1859 theory of selection, features such as coloration evolved by providing individual animals with a reproductive advantage. For example, individuals with slightly better camouflage than others of the species would, on average. Henry Walter Batess 1863 book The Naturalist on the River Amazons describes his extensive studies of the insects in the Amazon basin, the book introduced the concept of frequency-dependent selection, as when edible mimics are less frequent than the distasteful models whose colours and patterns they copy. In the book, Poulton also coined the term aposematism for warning coloration, which he identified in widely differing animal groups including mammals, bees and wasps, beetles, and butterflies. Frank Evers Beddards 1892 book, Animal Coloration, acknowledged that natural selection existed but examined its application to camouflage, mimicry, the book was in turn roundly criticised by Poulton. Hugh Bamford Cotts 500-page book Adaptive Coloration in Animals, published in wartime 1940, systematically described the principles of camouflage, the book contains hundreds of examples, over a hundred photographs and Cotts own accurate and artistic drawings, and 27 pages of references
32.
Insectivore
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An insectivore is a carnivorous plant or animal that eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which refers to the human practice of eating insects. The first insectivorous vertebrates were amphibians, when they evolved 400 million years ago, the first amphibians were piscivores, with numerous sharp conical teeth, much like a modern crocodile. The same tooth arrangement is also suited for eating animals with exoskeletons. At one time, insectivorous mammals were classified in an order called Insectivora. This order is now abandoned, as not all mammals are closely related. Most of the Insectivora taxa have been reclassified, those that have not yet been reclassified remain in the order Eulipotyphla, although individually small, insects exist in enormous numbers - they number over a million described species and some of those species occur in enormous numbers. Accordingly, insects make up a large part of the animal biomass in almost all non-marine. It has been estimated that the insect biomass is in the region of 1012 kg with an estimated population of 1018 organisms. Many creatures depend on insects as their diet, and many that do not nevertheless use insects as a protein supplement. Even large mammals are recorded as eating insects, the bear is perhaps the largest insectivore. Insects also can be insectivores, examples are dragonflies, hornets, ladybugs, insectivory also features to various degrees amongst primates, such as marmosets, tamarins, tarsiers, galagos and aye-aye. There is some suggestion that the earliest primates were nocturnal, arboreal insectivores, insectivorous plants are plants that derive some of their nutrients from trapping and consuming animals or protozoan. The benefit they derive from their catch varies considerably, in some species it might include a part of their nutrient intake. Their prey animals typically, but not exclusively, comprise insects, also known as carnivorous plants, they appear adapted to grow in places where the soil is thin or poor in nutrients, especially nitrogen, such as acidic bogs and rock outcroppings. Insectivorous plants include the Venus flytrap, several types of plants, butterworts, sundews, bladderworts. Most of those that do have such a diet, such as certain parasitoids and hunting wasps, are specialised to exploit particular species. Indeed, much as large mantids and spiders will do, the varieties of pitcher plant have been known to consume vertebrates such as small rodents
33.
Evolution
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Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. Evolutionary processes give rise to biodiversity at every level of organisation, including the levels of species, individual organisms. In July 2016, scientists reported identifying a set of 355 genes from the LUCA of all living on Earth. The fossil record includes a progression from early biogenic graphite, to microbial mat fossils, existing patterns of biodiversity have been shaped both by speciation and by extinction. More than 99 percent of all species that lived on Earth are estimated to be extinct. Estimates of Earths current species range from 10 to 14 million, more recently, in May 2016, scientists reported that 1 trillion species are estimated to be on Earth currently with only one-thousandth of one percent described. In the mid-19th century, Charles Darwin formulated the theory of evolution by natural selection. This teleonomy is the quality whereby the process of natural selection creates and preserves traits that are fitted for the functional roles they perform. The processes by which the changes occur, from one generation to another, are called evolutionary processes or mechanisms, the four most widely recognized evolutionary processes are natural selection, genetic drift, mutation and gene migration. Natural selection and genetic drift sort variation, mutation and gene migration create variation, consequences of selection can include meiotic drive, nonrandom mating and genetic hitchhiking. In the early 20th century the modern evolutionary synthesis integrated classical genetics with Darwins theory of evolution by natural selection through the discipline of population genetics, the importance of natural selection as a cause of evolution was accepted into other branches of biology. Moreover, previously held notions about evolution, such as orthogenesis, evolutionism, evolutionary computation, a sub-field of artificial intelligence, involves the application of Darwinian principles to problems in computer science. The proposal that one type of organism could descend from another type goes back to some of the first pre-Socratic Greek philosophers, such as Anaximander, such proposals survived into Roman times. The poet and philosopher Lucretius followed Empedocles in his masterwork De rerum natura, in contrast to these materialistic views, Aristotelianism considered all natural things as actualisations of fixed natural possibilities, known as forms. This was part of a teleological understanding of nature in which all things have an intended role to play in a divine cosmic order. In the 17th century, the new method of modern science rejected the Aristotelian approach, however, this new approach was slow to take root in the biological sciences, the last bastion of the concept of fixed natural types. The biological classification introduced by Carl Linnaeus in 1735 explicitly recognized the nature of species relationships. Other naturalists of this time speculated on the change of species over time according to natural laws
34.
Charles Darwin
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Charles Robert Darwin, FRS FRGS FLS FZS was an English naturalist, geologist and biologist, best known for his contributions to the science of evolution. Darwin published his theory of evolution with compelling evidence in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species, by the 1870s, the scientific community and much of the general public had accepted evolution as a fact. In modified form, Darwins scientific discovery is the theory of the life sciences. Darwins early interest in nature led him to neglect his education at the University of Edinburgh, instead. Studies at the University of Cambridge encouraged his passion for natural science, puzzled by the geographical distribution of wildlife and fossils he collected on the voyage, Darwin began detailed investigations and in 1838 conceived his theory of natural selection. Although he discussed his ideas with several naturalists, he needed time for extensive research and he was writing up his theory in 1858 when Alfred Russel Wallace sent him an essay that described the same idea, prompting immediate joint publication of both of their theories. Darwins work established evolutionary descent with modification as the dominant scientific explanation of diversification in nature, in 1871 he examined human evolution and sexual selection in The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, followed by The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. His research on plants was published in a series of books, Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history, and he was honoured by burial in Westminster Abbey. Charles Robert Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, on 12 February 1809, at his familys home and he was the fifth of six children of wealthy society doctor and financier Robert Darwin and Susannah Darwin. He was the grandson of two prominent abolitionists, Erasmus Darwin on his fathers side, and Josiah Wedgwood on his mothers side, both families were largely Unitarian, though the Wedgwoods were adopting Anglicanism. The eight-year-old Charles already had a taste for history and collecting when he joined the day school run by its preacher in 1817. From September 1818, he joined his older brother Erasmus attending the nearby Anglican Shrewsbury School as a boarder and he found lectures dull and surgery distressing, so neglected his studies. He learned taxidermy in around 40 daily hour-long sessions from John Edmonstone, one day, Grant praised Lamarcks evolutionary ideas. Darwin was astonished by Grants audacity, but had recently read similar ideas in his grandfather Erasmus journals, Darwin was rather bored by Robert Jamesons natural-history course, which covered geology - including the debate between Neptunism and Plutonism. He learned the classification of plants, and assisted with work on the collections of the University Museum, as Darwin was unqualified for the Tripos, he joined the ordinary degree course in January 1828. He preferred riding and shooting to studying, when his own exams drew near, Darwin focused on his studies and was delighted by the language and logic of William Paleys Evidences of Christianity. In his final examination in January 1831 Darwin did well, coming out of 178 candidates for the ordinary degree. Darwin had to stay at Cambridge until June 1831, inspired with a burning zeal to contribute, Darwin planned to visit Tenerife with some classmates after graduation to study natural history in the tropics
35.
On the Origin of Species
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On the Origin of Species, published on 24 November 1859, is a work of scientific literature by Charles Darwin which is considered to be the foundation of evolutionary biology. Darwins book introduced the theory that populations evolve over the course of generations through a process of natural selection. It presented a body of evidence that the diversity of life arose by common descent through a pattern of evolution. Darwin included evidence that he had gathered on the Beagle expedition in the 1830s and his subsequent findings from research, correspondence, various evolutionary ideas had already been proposed to explain new findings in biology. The political and theological implications were intensely debated, but transmutation was not accepted by the scientific mainstream, the book was written for non-specialist readers and attracted widespread interest upon its publication. As Darwin was an eminent scientist, his findings were taken seriously and the evidence he presented generated scientific, philosophical, and religious discussion. The debate over the book contributed to the campaign by T. H. Huxley, during the eclipse of Darwinism from the 1880s to the 1930s, various other mechanisms of evolution were given more credit. Despite periodic fluctuations, populations remain roughly the same size, resources such as food are limited and are relatively stable over time. Individuals in a population significantly from one another. Much of this variation is heritable and this slowly effected process results in populations changing to adapt to their environments, and ultimately, these variations accumulate over time to form new species. In later editions of the book, Darwin traced evolutionary ideas as far back as Aristotle, Nature was widely believed to be unstable and capricious, with monstrous births from union between species, and spontaneous generation of life. After the turmoil of the English Civil War, the Royal Society wanted to show that science did not threaten religious, in Gods benevolent design, carnivores caused mercifully swift death, but the suffering caused by parasitism was a puzzling problem. The biological classification introduced by Carl Linnaeus in 1735 also viewed species as fixed according to the divine plan. In 1766, Georges Buffon suggested that some species, such as horses and asses, or lions, tigers. The Ussher chronology of the 1650s had calculated creation at 4004 BC, wernerians thought strata were deposits from shrinking seas, but James Hutton proposed a self-maintaining infinite cycle, anticipating uniformitarianism. Charles Darwins grandfather Erasmus Darwin outlined a hypothesis of transmutation of species in the 1790s and this process was later called Lamarckism. Lamarck thought there was an inherent progressive tendency driving organisms continuously towards greater complexity, in parallel, Georges Cuvier strongly disputed such ideas, holding that unrelated, fixed species showed similarities that reflected a design for functional needs. His palæontological work in the 1790s had established the reality of extinction, in Britain, William Paleys Natural Theology saw adaptation as evidence of beneficial design by the Creator acting through natural laws
36.
Darwinism
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It is therefore considered the belief and acceptance of Darwins and of his predecessors work—in place of other theories, including divine design and extraterrestrial origins. English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley coined the term Darwinism in April 1860 and it was used to describe evolutionary concepts in general, including earlier concepts published by English philosopher Herbert Spencer. Many of the proponents of Darwinism at that time, including Huxley, had reservations about the significance of natural selection, the strict neo-Darwinism of German evolutionary biologist August Weismann gained few supporters in the late 19th century. During the approximate period of the 1880s to about 1920, sometimes called the eclipse of Darwinism, there is also a conjoined, related concept known as Darwinisticism which is a misunderstood or politicized view of Darwin, signaling a justification that to the victor goes the spoils. For example, Darwin was unfamiliar with the work of the Moravian scientist and Augustinian friar Gregor Mendel and he naturally had no inkling of later theoretical developments and, like Mendel himself, knew nothing of genetic drift, for example. More individuals are produced each generation that can survive, phenotypic variation exists among individuals and the variation is heritable. Those individuals with heritable traits better suited to the environment will survive, when reproductive isolation occurs new species will form. These are the tenets of evolution by natural selection as defined by Darwin. His conception was centred around what he saw as the use of co-operation as a survival mechanism in human societies. He used biological and sociological arguments in an attempt to show that the factor in facilitating evolution is cooperation between individuals in free-associated societies and groups. Kropotkins conception of Darwinism could be summed up by the following quote, in his book Darwinism, Wallace had used the term pure-Darwinism which proposed a greater efficacy for natural selection. George Romanes dubbed this view as Wallaceism, noting that in contrast to Darwin, taking influence from Darwin, Romanes was a proponent of both natural selection and the inheritance of acquired characteristics. The latter was denied by Wallace who was a strict selectionist, Romanes definition of Darwinism conformed directly with Darwins views and was contrasted with Wallaces definition of the term. For example, UC Berkeley law professor and author Phillip E. Johnson makes this accusation of atheism with reference to Charles Hodges book What Is Darwinism. In the 2008 documentary film Expelled, No Intelligence Allowed, which promotes intelligent design, American writer, reviewing the film for Scientific American, John Rennie says The term is a curious throwback, because in modern biology almost no one relies solely on Darwins original ideas. However, Darwinism is also used neutrally within the community to distinguish the modern evolutionary synthesis, sometimes called neo-Darwinism. Darwinism also is used neutrally by historians to differentiate his theory from other evolutionary theories current around the same period, for example, Darwinism may be used to refer to Darwins proposed mechanism of natural selection, in comparison to more recent mechanisms such as genetic drift and gene flow. In political discussions in the United States, the term is used by its enemies
37.
Objections to evolution
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Objections to evolution have been raised since evolutionary ideas came to prominence in the 19th century. The observation of evolutionary processes occurring has been uncontroversial among mainstream biologists since the 1940s, since then, most criticisms and denials of evolution have come from religious groups, rather than from the scientific community. The U. S. -centered creation–evolution controversy has become a point of perceived conflict between religion and science. Such arguments against evolution have become widespread and include objections to evolutions evidence, methodology, plausibility, morality, the scientific community does not recognize such objections as valid, pointing to detractors misinterpretations of such things as the scientific method, evidence, and basic physical laws. Evolutionary ideas came to prominence in the early 19th century with the theory of the transmutation of species put forward by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, Evolution was at first opposed on both scientific, notably by Georges Cuvier, and religious grounds. The idea that laws control nature and society gained vast popular audiences with George Combes The Constitution of Man of 1828 and the anonymous Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation of 1844. Darwins contemporaries eventually came to accept the transmutation of species based upon evidence. At that time the specific evolutionary mechanism which Darwin provided of natural selection was actively disputed by scientists in favour of alternative theories such as Lamarckism, Darwins gradualistic account was also opposed by saltationism and catastrophism. This age of the earth was disputed by geological estimates, which gained strength in 1907 when radioactive dating of rocks showed that the Earth was billions of years old. The specific hereditary mechanism Darwin hypothesized of pangenesis that supported gradualism also lacked any supporting evidence and was disputed by the tests of Francis Galton. The modern synthesis rose to universal acceptance among biologists with the help of new evidence, such as genetics, as a result, evolutionary theory was both permissible and respectable by 1876. Frederick Temples lectures on The Relations between Religion and Science on how evolution was not antagonistic to religion highlighted this trend, Temples appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1896 demonstrated the broad acceptance of evolution within the church hierarchy. For decades the Roman Catholic Church avoided official refutation of evolution, in 1950, the encyclical Humani generis of Pope Pius XII first mentioned evolution directly and officially. It allowed one to enquire into the concept of humans coming from pre-existing living matter and this occurred relatively early, as medieval madrasahs taught the ideas of Al-Jahiz, a Muslim scholar from the 9th century, who proposed concepts similar to natural selection. However, acceptance of evolution remains low in the Muslim world, as prominent figures reject evolutions underpinning philosophy of materialism as unsound to human origins, further objections by Muslim authors and writers largely reflect those put forward in the Western world. Regardless of acceptance from major religious hierarchies, early religious objections to Darwins theory are used in opposition to evolution. The ideas that change over time through natural processes and that different species share common ancestors seemed to contradict the Genesis account of Creation. Believers in Biblical infallibility attacked Darwinism as heretical, the natural theology of the early 19th century was typified by William Paleys watchmaker analogy, an argument from design still used by the creationist movement
38.
Social effect of evolutionary theory
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The social effects of evolutionary thought have been considerable. As the scientific explanation of lifes diversity has developed, it has often displaced alternative, sometimes very widely held, because the theory of evolution includes an explanation of humanitys origins, it has had a profound impact on human societies. Some have vigorously denied acceptance of the scientific explanation due to its religious implications. This has led to a conflict between creation and evolution in public education, primarily in the United States. Later advocates of this theory suggested radical and often coercive social measures in an attempt to correct this imbalance, in his book The End of Faith, Sam Harris argues that Nazism was largely a continuation of Christian anti-Semitism. Jim Walker compiled a list of 129 quotes from Mein Kampf in which Hitler described himself as a Christian, or mentioned God, Hitler often used Christian beliefs like, Jews killed Jesus, to justify his anti-Semitism. The notion that humans share ancestors with other animals has also affected how people view the relationship between humans and other species. Many proponents of animal rights hold that if animals and humans are of the same nature, then rights cannot be distinct to humans. Charles Darwin, in fact, considered sympathy to be one of the most important moral virtues — and that it was, indeed, a product of natural selection, Darwin further argued that the most sympathetic societies would consequently be the most successful. This point being reached, there is only an artificial barrier to prevent his sympathies extending to the men of all nations. If, indeed, such men are separated from him by great differences in appearance or habits, experience shows us how long it is. As soon as this virtue is honored and practiced by few men, it spreads through instruction and example to the young. - Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man,1871 Thomas Huxley, Darwins Bulldog, spent much of his book Evolution and Ethics debunking Social Darwinism, piece by piece. The following is a summary of his arguments in the Prolegomena and it should be noted that Huxley is here attempting to disprove the science behind Social Darwinism, as such, the moral arguments only come in later in the essay. This state of art is not permanent, It is instead the replacement of natural selection by artificial selection through the energy expended in maintaining it. It is thus no less natural than, for example, a predator expending energy through evolved instinct on preferentially hunting a certain prey species, the presence of humans may change the dynamic, but in a perfectly natural way. The characteristic feature of the latter is the intense and unceasing competition of the struggle for existence, the characteristic of the former is the elimination of that struggle, by the removal of the conditions which give rise to it. However, though the actions may have circumvented natural selection, he can still improve the species, should he find them wanting
39.
Aposematism
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Aposematism was a new term coined by Edward Bagnall Poulton for Alfred Russel Wallaces concept of warning coloration. It describes a family of antipredator adaptations in which a signal is associated with the unprofitability of a prey item to potential predators. Aposematism always involves an advertising signal, the warning signal may take the form of conspicuous animal coloration, sounds, odours or other perceivable characteristics. Aposematic signals are beneficial for both the predator and prey, since both avoid potential harm, aposematism is exploited in Müllerian mimicry, where species with strong defences evolve to resemble one another. By mimicking similarly coloured species, the signal to predators is shared. Warning signals do not necessarily require that a species actually possesses chemical or physical defences to deter predators, the evolution of a warning signal by a mimicking species that resembles a species that possesses strong defences is known as Batesian mimicry. The term aposematism was coined by the English zoologist Edward Bagnall Poulton in his 1890 book The Colours of Animals and he based the term on the Ancient Greek words ἀπό apo away, ση̑μα sēma sign, referring to signs that warn other animals away. The function of aposematism is to prevent attack, by warning potential predators that the animal has defences such as being unpalatable or poisonous. The easily detected warning is a defence mechanism, and the non-visible defences are secondary. Aposematic signals are primarily visual, using bright colours and high-contrast patterns such as stripes, Warning signals are honest indications of noxious prey, because conspicuousness evolves in tandem with noxiousness. Thus, the brighter and more conspicuous the organism, the more toxic it usually is, the most common and effective colours are red, yellow, black and white. These colours provide strong contrast with green foliage, resist changes in shadow and lighting, have strong contrast, are highly chromatic, Warning colouration evolves in response to background, light conditions, and predator vision. Visible signals may be accompanied by odours, sounds or behaviour to provide a signal which is more effectively detected by predators. Unpalatability, broadly understood, can be created in a variety of ways, tiger moths advertise their unpalatability by either producing ultrasonic noises which warn bats to avoid them, or by warning postures which expose brightly coloured body parts, or exposing eyespots. Velvet ants such as Dasymutilla occidentalis both have bright colours and produce audible noises when grabbed, which serve to reinforce the warning, among mammals, predators can be dissuaded when a smaller animal is aggressive and able to defend itself, as for example in honey badgers. Aposematism is widespread in insects, but less so in vertebrates, being confined to a smaller number of reptile, amphibian. Perhaps the most numerous aposematic vertebrates are the dart frogs. Some plants are thought to employ aposematism to warn herbivores of unpalatable chemicals or physical defences such as prickled leaves or thorns, many insects, such as cinnabar moth caterpillars, acquire toxic chemicals from their host plants
40.
Yellow-banded poison dart frog
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The yellow-banded poison dart frog, also known as yellow-headed poison dart frog or bumblebee poison frog, is a poisonous frog from the Dendrobates genus of the Dendrobatidae family. D. leucomelas is found in the part of continent of South America. It is also found in parts of Guyana, Brazil, and this amphibian is normally found in very humid conditions in tropical rain forests, close to fresh water. It is often found on rocks, trees, plants. During the dry season, specimens are known to congregate in damper places, the D. leucomelas natural habitat is tropical, and not subject to great seasonal temperature variations. Typically, temperature variances are related to elevation and time of day, in captivity, care must be taken not to overheat the frogs, as they can be sensitive to higher temperatures. Although preferring high humidity levels, this species can handle lower humidity levels much better than other species in the genus, specimens can also be found in the seasonally drier forest islands in its natural range, and at elevations ranging from sea level to 800 metres AMSL. D. leucomelas is one of the largest species in the genus Dendrobates, average adult size, however, rarely exceeds 4 cm. Their average weight is reported as being around 3 g, females tend to be slightly larger than the males, but otherwise, little in their appearance can be used to determine the sex of the species. Like most poison dart frogs, the poison dart frog has evolved aposematic colouration as a warning to potential predators that it will make an unpalatable or toxic meal. Predominantly, these frogs have a yellow colouration with varying numbers of broad black stripes and/or spots that extend over the whole body. Some morphs are orange in colour, and variations exist within the species that dictate the extent of these markings ranging from fine spots to thick, unbroken banding. They have glandular, adhesive pads on their toes and, in common with species in their order, they have a short, protrudable, unnotched, sticky tongue. D. leucomelas frogs are diurnal by nature, and are known to be fiercely territorial and they live in small groups in the wild, and will attack neighbouring groups with surprising ferocity for creatures of their size. D. leucomelas, as with all frogs, can call to attract members of the opposite sex. Uniquely, it is also the poison dart frog to estivate during dry spells. Yellow-banded poison dart frogs reproduce sexually, the mother lays her fertilized eggs in a body of water. When they hatch, they are called tadpoles, like all Dendrobatidae, D. leucomelas frogs secrete toxins from their skin, which they gain from eating certain unspecified arthropod prey
41.
Evolutionary arms race
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These are often described as examples of positive feedback. The co-evolving gene sets may be in different species, as in an arms race between a predator species and its prey, or a parasite and its host. Alternatively, the race may be between members of the same species, as in the manipulation/sales resistance model of communication or as in runaway evolution or Red Queen effects. One example of an arms race is in sexual conflict between the sexes, often described with the term Fisherian runaway. Thierry Lodé emphasized the role of such interactions in evolution leading to character displacements. The escalation hypothesis put forward by Geerat Vermeij speaks of more general conflicts and was based on his work with marine gastropod fossils. Co-evolution itself is not necessarily an arms race, for example, mutualism may drive co-operative adaptations in a pair of species. This is the case with certain flowers ultra-violet color patterns, whose function is to guide bees to the center of the flower, co-evolution is also interspecific by definition, it excludes intraspecific arms races such as sexual conflict. Evolutionary arms races can even be displayed between humans and micro-organisms, where medical researchers make antibiotics, and micro-organisms evolve into new strains that are more resistant, Evolutionary arms races often evolve when a trait is only beneficial compared to the population. For instance, if a tree has a mutation making it taller, but as soon as other trees reach the same height, it loses that advantage. As soon as a tree appears, it has the advantage. In this example, the nearest peak of the evolutionary landscape moves as the approaches it. Another example of evolution in sexual selection is an elks antlers. Having big antlers makes a male elk more likely to win a mate, in fact, having big antlers is a requirement to mate. As a result, elk evolve antlers that are costly to build, maintain. By the end of the season, the average male loses 25% of his body weight due to fighting. Arms races may be classified as symmetrical or asymmetrical. In a symmetrical arms race, selection acts on participants in the same direction
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Adaptation
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In biology, an adaptation, also called an adaptive trait, is a trait with a current functional role in the life of an organism that is maintained and evolved by means of natural selection. Adaptation refers to both the current state of being adapted and to the evolutionary process that leads to the adaptation. Adaptations enhance the fitness and survival of individuals, organisms face a succession of environmental challenges as they grow and develop and are equipped with an adaptive plasticity as the phenotype of traits develop in response to the imposed conditions. The developmental norm of reaction for any given trait is essential to the correction of adaptation as it affords a kind of insurance or resilience to varying environments. Adaptation is, first of all, a process, to rather be with the animal, an internal parasite can illustrate the distinction, such a parasite may have a very simple bodily structure, but nevertheless the organism is highly adapted to its specific environment. From this we see that adaptation is not just a matter of visible traits, in such parasites critical adaptations take place in the life cycle, however, as a practical term, adaptation often refers to a product, those features of a species which result from the process. Many aspects of an animal or plant can be correctly called adaptations, by using the term adaptation for the evolutionary process, and adaptive trait for the bodily part or function, one may distinguish the two different senses of the word. Adaptation is one of the two processes that explain the diverse species found in biology, such as the different species of Darwins finches. The other process is speciation, caused by geographical isolation or some other mechanism, a favorite example used today to study the interplay of adaptation and speciation is the evolution of cichlid fish in African lakes, where the question of reproductive isolation is much more complex. Adaptation is not always a simple matter where the ideal phenotype evolves for an external environment. An organism must be viable at all stages of its development and this places constraints on the evolution of development, behavior and structure of organisms. However, it is not clear what relatively small should mean, the origin of eukaryotic symbiosis exemplifies a more dramatic example. All adaptations help organisms survive in their ecological niches, the adaptive traits may be structural, behavioral or physiological. Structural adaptations are features of an organism. Behavioral adaptations are composed of inherited behavior chains and/or the ability to learn, behaviors may be inherited in detail, examples, searching for food, mating, vocalizations. Adaptation, then, affects all aspects of the life of an organism, the following definitions are mainly due to Theodosius Dobzhansky. Adaptation is the process whereby an organism becomes better able to live in its habitat or habitats. Adaptedness is the state of being adapted, the degree to which an organism is able to live, an adaptive trait is an aspect of the developmental pattern of the organism which enables or enhances the probability of that organism surviving and reproducing
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Prey detection
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Prey detection is the process by which predators are able to detect and locate their prey via sensory signals. This article treats predation in its broadest sense, i. e. where one organism eats another, predators are in an evolutionary arms race with their prey, for which advantageous mutations are constantly preserved by natural selection. In turn, predators too are subject to selective pressure. Adaptations of prey that allow them to avoid predators are widespread, crypsis may involve temporal evasion such as nocturnality, behavioral methods such as hiding, and non-behavioral adaptations such as camouflage. Antipredator adaptations include methods other than crypsis, such as aposematism, often behavioral and passive characteristics are combined, for example a prey animal may look similar to and behave like its hunters own predator. There are a variety of used to detect prey. Sensory systems used include the system, olfactory system, auditory system. Some predators may use all of these senses in pinpointing their prey, detection methods may also be divided into direct detection of the prey organism itself, and indirect clues, such as the smell of its urine. Visual predators may form what is termed a search image of certain prey and this adaptation is essential in prey detection, as voles are quick to hide from such predators. For many animals the chemical senses are far more important than vision or hearing, some specialist predatory beetle can locate their bark beetle prey using the pheromones their targets secrete. Pheromones that are exploited by an enemy like this are called kairomones, some predators rely mainly on sound cues to detect prey. In nocturnal predators non-visual clues are especially important, the barn owl relies on noises made by prey, and has can locate prey animals with great precision. Bats have the capability of echolocation to locate prey like flying insects. Once a predator has found its prey it will not always attempt to chase or eat it, prey have other ways of deterring predators from eating them besides avoiding detection. Aposematic plants and animals may have conspicuous coloration such that potential consumer such as a herbivore will avoid eating them based on unpleasant past experiences, even if a predator may wish to eat its prey, locomotive animals may be extremely difficult to catch. Animals living in groups have increased vigilance, and even solitary animals are capable of escape when needed. Even if it does make a capture, its prey may attract competing predators and it may also strike a non-vital organ, some species have deceptive appearances such that one part of their body resembles another, such as insects with false heads. This makes consumption s less probable, giving the prey a chance at escaping
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Nocturnality
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Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by activity during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is nocturnal, versus diurnal meaning the opposite, nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed senses of hearing, smell, and specially adapted eyesight. Such traits can help such as the Helicoverpa zea moths avoid predators. Some animals, such as cats and ferrets, have eyes that can adapt to both lowlevel and bright day levels of illumination, others, such as bushbabies and bats, can function only at night. Many nocturnal creatures including tarsiers and some owls have large eyes in comparison to their size to compensate for the lower light levels at night. More specifically, they have found to have a larger cornea relative to their eye size than diurnal creatures to increase their visual sensitivity in the low-light conditions. Nocturnality helps wasps, such as Apoica flavissima, avoid hunting in intense sunlight, diurnal animals, including squirrels and songbirds, are active during the daytime. Crepuscular species, such as rabbits, skunks, cats, tigers, cathemeral species, such as fossas and lions, are active both in the day and at night. While most humans are diurnal, for personal and social/cultural reasons some people are temporarily or habitually nocturnal. The most known creatures to be nocturnal include cats, rodents, and owls, while it is difficult to say which came first, nocturnality or diurnality, there is a leading hypothesis out in the evolutionary biology community. A recent study attempts to answer the question as to why so many modern day mammals retain these nocturnal characteristics even though they are not active at night, the anomaly to this theory were anthropoids, who appeared to have the most divergence from nocturnality than all organisms examined. While most mammals didnt exhibit the characteristics expected of a nocturnal creature, reptiles. A larger cornea and pupil correlated well with whether these two classes of organisms were nocturnal or not, being active at night is a form of niche differentiation, where a species niche is partitioned not by the amount of resources but by the amount of time. Hawks and owls can hunt the same field or meadow for the same rodents without conflict because hawks are diurnal and this means they are not in competition for each others prey. Nocturnality is a form of crypsis, an adaptation to avoid or enhance predation, one of the reasons that lions prefer to hunt at night is that many of their prey species have poor night vision. Many species of rodents, such as the Large Japanese Field Mouse, are active at night because most of the dozen or so birds of prey that hunt them are diurnal. There are many species that exhibit some nocturnal behaviors. For example, many seabirds and sea turtles only gather at breeding sites or colonies at night to reduce the risk of predation to themselves and/or their offspring, another reason for nocturnality is avoiding the heat of the day
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Camouflage
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Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the spotted coat, the battledress of a modern soldier. A third approach, motion dazzle, confuses the observer with a pattern, making the object visible. The majority of camouflage methods aim for crypsis, often through a general resemblance to the background, high contrast disruptive coloration, eliminating shadow, and countershading. Some animals, such as chameleons and octopuses, are capable of changing their skin pattern and colours. Military camouflage was spurred by the range and accuracy of firearms in the 19th century. In particular the replacement of the inaccurate musket with the rifle made personal concealment in battle a survival skill, in the 20th century, military camouflage developed rapidly, especially during the First World War. On land, artists such as André Mare designed camouflage schemes, at sea, merchant ships and troop carriers were painted in dazzle patterns that were highly visible, but designed to confuse enemy submarines as to the targets speed, range, and heading. During and after the Second World War, a variety of schemes were used for aircraft. The use of radar since the century has largely made camouflage for fixed-wing military aircraft obsolete. Non-military use of camouflage includes making cell telephone towers less obtrusive, patterns derived from military camouflage are frequently used in fashion clothing, exploiting their strong designs and sometimes their symbolism. Camouflage themes recur in modern art, and both figuratively and literally in science fiction and works of literature, in ancient Greece, Aristotle commented on the colour-changing abilities, both for camouflage and for signalling, of cephalopods including the octopus, in his Historia animalium, The octopus. Seeks its prey by so changing its colour as to render it like the colour of the adjacent to it, it does so also when alarmed. Camouflage has been a topic of interest and research in zoology for well over a century, the English zoologist Edward Bagnall Poulton studied animal coloration, especially camouflage. In his 1890 book The Colours of Animals, he classified different types such as special protective resemblance and his experiments showed that swallowtailed moth pupae were camouflaged to match the backgrounds on which they were reared as larvae. Among vertebrates numerous species of parrots, iguanas, tree-frogs, beddard did however briefly mention other methods, including the alluring coloration of the flower mantis and the possibility of a different mechanism in the orange tip butterfly. He wrote that the scattered green spots upon the surface of the wings might have been intended for a rough sketch of the small flowerets of the plant. The artist Abbott Handerson Thayer formulated what is sometimes called Thayers Law, Thayer was roundly mocked for these views by critics including Teddy Roosevelt
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Skunk
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Skunks are mammals known for their ability to spray a liquid with a strong odor. Different species of skunk vary in appearance from black-and-white to brown or cream colored, 1630s, squunck, from a southern New England Algonquian language seganku, from Proto-Algonquian */šeka, kwa/, from */šek-/ to urinate + */-a, kw/ fox. Skunk has historic use as an insult, attested from 1841, skunk cabbage is attested from 1751, earlier skunkweed. In 1634, a skunk was described in the Jesuit Relations, The other is a low animal, I mention it here, not on account of its excellence, but to make of it a symbol of sin. I have seen three or four of them and it has black fur, quite beautiful and shining, and has upon its back two perfectly white stripes, which join near the neck and tail, making an oval which adds greatly to their grace. The tail is bushy and well furnished with hair, like the tail of a Fox and it is more white than black, and, at the first glance, you would say, especially when it walks, that it ought to be called Jupiters little dog. But it is so stinking, and casts so foul an odor, no sewer ever smelled so bad. I would not have believed it if I had not smelled it myself, I believe the sin smelled by Saint Catherine de Sienne must have had the same vile odor. Skunk species vary in size from about 15.6 to 37 in long and they have moderately elongated bodies with relatively short, well-muscled legs and long front claws for digging. Although the most common fur color is black and white, some skunks are brown or grey, all skunks are striped, even from birth. They may have a thick stripe across back and tail. Some also have stripes on their legs, skunks are omnivorous, eating both plant and animal material and changing their diets as the seasons change. They eat insects and larvae, earthworms, grubs, rodents, lizards, salamanders, frogs, snakes, birds, moles and they also commonly eat berries, roots, leaves, grasses, fungi and nuts. In settled areas, skunks also seek garbage left by humans, less often, skunks may be found acting as scavengers, eating bird and rodent carcasses left by cats or other animals. Pet owners, particularly those of cats, may experience a skunk finding its way into a garage or basement where pet food is kept, skunks commonly dig holes in lawns in search of grubs and worms. Skunks are one of the predators of the honeybee, relying on their thick fur to protect them from stings. The skunk scratches at the front of the beehive and eats the guard bees that come out to investigate, mother skunks are known to teach this behavior to their young. Skunks are crepuscular and solitary animals when not breeding, though in the parts of their range
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