1.
Indonesia
–
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a unitary sovereign state and transcontinental country located mainly in Southeast Asia with some territories in Oceania. Situated between the Indian and Pacific oceans, it is the worlds largest island country, with more than seventeen thousand islands. At 1,904,569 square kilometres, Indonesia is the worlds 14th-largest country in terms of area and worlds 7th-largest country in terms of combined sea. It has an population of over 260 million people and is the worlds fourth most populous country. The worlds most populous island, Java, contains more than half of the countrys population, Indonesias republican form of government includes an elected legislature and president. Indonesia has 34 provinces, of which five have Special Administrative status and its capital and countrys most populous city is Jakarta, which is also the most populous city in Southeast Asia and the second in Asia. The country shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor, other neighbouring countries include Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, Australia, Palau, and the Indian territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Despite its large population and densely populated regions, Indonesia has vast areas of wilderness that support the second highest level of biodiversity. The country has abundant natural resources like oil and natural gas, tin, copper, agriculture mainly produces rice, palm oil, tea, coffee, cacao, medicinal plants, spices and rubber. Indonesias major trading partners are Japan, United States, China, the Indonesian archipelago has been an important region for trade since at least the 7th century, when Srivijaya and then later Majapahit traded with China and India. Local rulers gradually absorbed foreign cultural, religious and political models from the early centuries CE, Indonesian history has been influenced by foreign powers drawn to its natural resources. Indonesia consists of hundreds of native ethnic and linguistic groups. The largest – and politically dominant – ethnic group are the Javanese, a shared identity has developed, defined by a national language, ethnic diversity, religious pluralism within a Muslim-majority population, and a history of colonialism and rebellion against it. Indonesias national motto, Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, articulates the diversity that shapes the country, Indonesias economy is the worlds 16th largest by nominal GDP and the 8th largest by GDP at PPP, the largest in Southeast Asia, and is considered an emerging market and newly industrialised country. Indonesia has been a member of the United Nations since 1950, Indonesia is a member of the G20 major economies and World Trade Organization. The name Indonesia derives from the Greek name of the Indós, the name dates to the 18th century, far predating the formation of independent Indonesia. In 1850, George Windsor Earl, an English ethnologist, proposed the terms Indunesians—and, his preference, in the same publication, one of his students, James Richardson Logan, used Indonesia as a synonym for Indian Archipelago. However, Dutch academics writing in East Indies publications were reluctant to use Indonesia, they preferred Malay Archipelago, the Netherlands East Indies, popularly Indië, the East, and Insulinde
2.
Malaysia
–
Malaysia is a federal constitutional monarchy located in Southeast Asia. Peninsular Malaysia shares a land and maritime border with Thailand and maritime borders with Singapore, Vietnam, East Malaysia shares land and maritime borders with Brunei and Indonesia and a maritime border with the Philippines and Vietnam. The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government, with a population of over 30 million, Malaysia is the 44th most populous country. The southernmost point of continental Eurasia, Tanjung Piai, is in Malaysia, located in the tropics, Malaysia is one of 17 megadiverse countries on earth, with large numbers of endemic species. Malaysia has its origins in the Malay kingdoms present in the area which, from the 18th century, the first British territories were known as the Straits Settlements, whose establishment was followed by the Malay kingdoms becoming British protectorates. The territories on Peninsular Malaysia were first unified as the Malayan Union in 1946, Malaya was restructured as the Federation of Malaya in 1948, and achieved independence on 31 August 1957. Malaya united with North Borneo, Sarawak, and Singapore on 16 September 1963 to become Malaysia, less than two years later in 1965, Singapore was expelled from the federation. The country is multi-ethnic and multi-cultural, which plays a role in politics. About half the population is ethnically Malay, with minorities of Malaysian Chinese, Malaysian Indians. The constitution declares Islam the state religion while allowing freedom of religion for non-Muslims, the government system is closely modelled on the Westminster parliamentary system and the legal system is based on common law. The head of state is the king, known as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and he is an elected monarch chosen from the hereditary rulers of the nine Malay states every five years. The head of government is the prime minister, since its independence, Malaysia has had one of the best economic records in Asia, with its GDP growing at an average of 6. 5% per annum for almost 50 years. The economy has traditionally been fuelled by its resources, but is expanding in the sectors of science, tourism, commerce. Today, Malaysia has a newly industrialised market economy, ranked third largest in Southeast Asia, the name Malaysia is a combination of the word Malay and the Latin-Greek suffix -sia/-σία. The word melayu in Malay may derive from the Tamil words malai and ur meaning mountain and city, land, malayadvipa was the word used by ancient Indian traders when referring to the Malay Peninsula. Whether or not it originated from these roots, the word melayu or mlayu may have used in early Malay/Javanese to mean to steadily accelerate or run. This term was applied to describe the current of the river Melayu in Sumatra. The name was adopted by the Melayu Kingdom that existed in the seventh century on Sumatra
3.
Papua New Guinea
–
Its capital, located along its southeastern coast, is Port Moresby. The western half of New Guinea forms the Indonesian provinces of Papua, Papua New Guinea is one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world. There are 852 known languages in the country, of which 12 have no known living speakers, most of the population of more than 7 million people live in customary communities, which are as diverse as the languages. It is also one of the most rural, as only 18 percent of its live in urban centres. The country is one of the worlds least explored, culturally and geographically and it is known to have numerous groups of uncontacted peoples, and researchers believe there are many undiscovered species of plants and animals in the interior. Papua New Guinea is classified as an economy by the International Monetary Fund. Strong growth in Papua New Guineas mining and resource sector led to the becoming the sixth fastest-growing economy in the world in 2011. Growth was expected to slow once major resource projects came on line in 2015, mining remains a major economic factor, however. Local and national governments are discussing the potential of resuming mining operations in Panguna mine in Bougainville Province, nearly 40 percent of the population lives a self-sustainable natural lifestyle with no access to global capital. Most of the still live in strong traditional social groups based on farming. Their social lives combine traditional religion with modern practices, including primary education, at the national level, after being ruled by three external powers since 1884, Papua New Guinea established its sovereignty in 1975. This followed nearly 60 years of Australian administration, which started during the Great War and it became an independent Commonwealth realm with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state and became a member of the Commonwealth of Nations in its own right. Archaeological evidence indicates that humans first arrived in Papua New Guinea around 42,000 to 45,000 years ago and they were descendants of migrants out of Africa, in one of the early waves of human migration. Agriculture was independently developed in the New Guinea highlands around 7000 BC, a major migration of Austronesian-speaking peoples to coastal regions of New Guinea took place around 500 BC. This has been correlated with the introduction of pottery, pigs, in the 18th century, traders brought the sweet potato to New Guinea, where it was adopted and became part of the staples. Portuguese traders had obtained it from South America and introduced it to the Moluccas, the far higher crop yields from sweet potato gardens radically transformed traditional agriculture and societies. Sweet potato largely supplanted the previous staple, taro, and resulted in a significant increase in population in the highlands. In 1901, on Goaribari Island in the Gulf of Papua, missionary Harry Dauncey found 10,000 skulls in the islands Long Houses, traders from Southeast Asia had visited New Guinea beginning 5,000 years ago to collect bird of paradise plumes
4.
Philippines
–
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is a sovereign island country in Southeast Asia situated in the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of about 7,641 islands that are categorized broadly under three main geographical divisions from north to south, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, the capital city of the Philippines is Manila and the most populous city is Quezon City, both part of Metro Manila. The Philippines has an area of 300,000 square kilometers, and it is the eighth-most populated country in Asia and the 12th most populated country in the world. As of 2013, approximately 10 million additional Filipinos lived overseas, multiple ethnicities and cultures are found throughout the islands. In prehistoric times, Negritos were some of the archipelagos earliest inhabitants and they were followed by successive waves of Austronesian peoples. Exchanges with Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Islamic nations occurred, then, various competing maritime states were established under the rule of Datus, Rajahs, Sultans or Lakans. The arrival of Ferdinand Magellan in Homonhon, Eastern Samar in 1521 marked the beginning of Hispanic colonization, in 1543, Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos named the archipelago Las Islas Filipinas in honor of Philip II of Spain. With the arrival of Miguel López de Legazpi from Mexico City, in 1565, the Philippines became part of the Spanish Empire for more than 300 years. This resulted in Roman Catholicism becoming the dominant religion, during this time, Manila became the western hub of the trans-Pacific trade connecting Asia with Acapulco in the Americas using Manila galleons. Aside from the period of Japanese occupation, the United States retained sovereignty over the islands until after World War II, since then, the Philippines has often had a tumultuous experience with democracy, which included the overthrow of a dictatorship by a non-violent revolution. It is a member of the United Nations, World Trade Organization, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. It also hosts the headquarters of the Asian Development Bank, the Philippines was named in honor of King Philip II of Spain. Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos, during his expedition in 1542, named the islands of Leyte, eventually the name Las Islas Filipinas would be used to cover all the islands of the archipelago. Before that became commonplace, other such as Islas del Poniente. The official name of the Philippines has changed several times in the course of its history, during the Philippine Revolution, the Malolos Congress proclaimed the establishment of the República Filipina or the Philippine Republic. From the 1898 Treaty of Paris, the name Philippines began to appear, since the end of World War II, the official name of the country has been the Republic of the Philippines. The metatarsal of the Callao Man, reliably dated by uranium-series dating to 67,000 years ago is the oldest human remnant found in the archipelago to date and this distinction previously belonged to the Tabon Man of Palawan, carbon-dated to around 26,500 years ago. Negritos were also among the archipelagos earliest inhabitants, but their first settlement in the Philippines has not been reliably dated, there are several opposing theories regarding the origins of ancient Filipinos
5.
Solomon Islands
–
The countrys capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal. The islands have been inhabited for thousands of years, in 1568, the Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña was the first European to visit them, naming them the Islas Salomón. Britain defined its area of interest in the Solomon Islands archipelago in June 1893, during World War II, the Solomon Islands campaign saw fierce fighting between the United States and the Empire of Japan, such as in the Battle of Guadalcanal. The official name of the then British overseas territory was changed from the British Solomon Islands Protectorate to Solomon Islands in 1975, self-government was achieved in 1976, independence was obtained two years later. Today, Solomon Islands is a monarchy with the Queen of Solomon Islands, currently Queen Elizabeth II. Manasseh Sogavare is the current prime minister, in 1568, the Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña was the first European to visit the Solomon Islands archipelago, naming it Islas Salomón after the wealthy biblical King Solomon. It is said that they were given name in the mistaken assumption that they contained great riches. During most of the period of British rule the territory was named the British Solomon Islands Protectorate. On 22 June 1975 the territory was renamed Solomon Islands, when Solomon Islands became independent in 1978 they retained the name. The definite article, the, is not part of the official name but is sometimes used. It is believed that Papuan-speaking settlers began to arrive around 30,000 BC, austronesian speakers arrived c.4000 BC also bringing cultural elements such as the outrigger canoe. Between 1200 and 800 BC the ancestors of the Polynesians, the Lapita people, the first European to visit the islands was the Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira, coming from Peru in 1568. The people of Solomon Islands were notorious for headhunting and cannibalism before the arrival of the Europeans, missionaries began visiting the Solomons in the mid-19th century. They made little progress at first, because blackbirding led to a series of reprisals, the evils of the labour trade prompted the United Kingdom to declare a protectorate over the southern Solomons in June 1893. Traditional trade and social intercourse between the western Solomon Islands of Mono and Alu and the societies in the south of Bougainville, however. Missionaries settled in the Solomons under the protectorate, converting most of the population to Christianity, in the early 20th century several British and Australian firms began large-scale coconut planting. Economic growth was slow, however, and the islanders benefited little, journalist Joe Melvin visited in 1892, as part of his undercover investigation into blackbirding. In 1908 the islands were visited by Jack London, who was cruising the Pacific on his boat, with the outbreak of the Second World War most planters and traders were evacuated to Australia and most cultivation ceased
6.
East Timor
–
East Timor or Timor-Leste, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a sovereign state in Maritime Southeast Asia. It comprises the half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse. The countrys size is about 15,410 km2, nine days later, it was invaded and occupied by Indonesia and was declared Indonesias 27th province the following year. The Indonesian occupation of East Timor was characterised by a highly violent decades-long conflict between separatist groups and the Indonesian military, in 1999, following the United Nations-sponsored act of self-determination, Indonesia relinquished control of the territory. East Timor became the first new state of the 21st century on 20 May 2002 and joined the United Nations. In 2011, East Timor announced its intention to gain status in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations by applying to become its eleventh member. It is one of two predominantly Christian nations in Southeast Asia, the other being the Philippines. In Indonesian, the country is called Timor Timur, thus using the Portuguese name for the island followed by the word for east, the official names under the Constitution are Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste in English, República Democrática de Timor-Leste in Portuguese and Repúblika Demokrátika Timór-Leste in Tetum. Humans first settled in East Timor 42,000 years ago, descendants of at least three waves of migration are believed still to live in East Timor. The first is described by anthropologists as people of the Veddo-Australoid type, around 3000 BC, a second migration brought Melanesians. The earlier Veddo-Australoid peoples withdrew at this time to the mountainous interior, finally, proto-Malays arrived from south China and north Indochina. Hakka traders are among those descended from this final group, Timorese origin myths tell of ancestors that sailed around the eastern end of Timor arriving on land in the south. Some stories recount Timorese ancestors journeying from the Malay Peninsula or the Minangkabau highlands of Sumatra, austronesians migrated to Timor, and are thought to be associated with the development of agriculture on the island. Thirdly, Proto-Malays arrived from south China and north Indochina, before European colonialism, Timor was included in Chinese and Indian trading networks, and in the 14th century was an exporter of aromatic sandalwood, slaves, honey, and wax. It was the abundance of sandalwood in Timor that attracted European explorers to the island in the early 16th century. During that time, European explorers reported that the island had a number of small chiefdoms or princedoms, the Portuguese established outposts in Timor and Maluku. Effective European occupation of a part of the territory began in 1769, when the city of Dili was founded. For the Portuguese, East Timor remained little more than a trading post until the late nineteenth century, with minimal investment in infrastructure, health
7.
Coral
–
Corals are marine invertebrates in the class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria. They typically live in colonies of many identical individual polyps. The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans, a coral group is a colony of myriad genetically identical polyps. Each polyp is an animal typically only a few millimeters in diameter. A set of tentacles surround a central mouth opening, an exoskeleton is excreted near the base. Over many generations, the colony creates a large skeleton that is characteristic of the species. Individual heads grow by reproduction of polyps. Corals also breed sexually by spawning, polyps of the same species release gametes simultaneously over a period of one to several nights around a full moon and these are commonly known as zooxanthellae and the corals that contain them are zooxanthellate corals. Such corals require sunlight and grow in clear, shallow water, other corals do not rely on zooxanthellae and can live in much deeper water, with the cold-water genus Lophelia surviving as deep as 3,000 metres. Some have been found on the Darwin Mounds, north-west of Cape Wrath, Corals have also been found as far north as off the coast of Washington State and the Aleutian Islands. In his Scala Naturae, Aristotle classified corals as zoophyta, animals that had characteristics of plants and were therefore hypothetically in between animals and plants, the Persian polymath Al-Biruni classified sponges and corals as animals, arguing that they respond to touch. The phylogeny of Anthozoans is not clearly understood and a number of different models have been proposed, within the Hexacorallia, the sea anemones, coral anemones and stony corals may constitute a monophyletic grouping united by their eight-fold symmetry and cnidocyte trait. The Octocorallia appears to be monophyletic, and primitive members of this group may have been stolonate, the cladogram presented here comes from a 2014 study by Stampar et al. which was based on the divergence of mitochondrial DNA within the group and on nuclear markers. Corals are classified in the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria and they are divided into three subclasses, Hexacorallia, Octocorallia, and Ceriantharia. The Hexacorallia include the stony corals, the sea anemones and the zoanthids and these groups have polyps that generally have 6-fold symmetry. The Octocorallia include blue coral, soft corals, sea pens and these groups have polyps with 8-fold symmetry, each polyp having eight tentacles and eight mesenteries. Fire corals are not true corals, being in the order Anthomedusa of the class Hydrozoa, Corals are sessile animals in the class Anthozoa and differ from most other cnidarians in not having a medusa stage in their life cycle. The body unit of the animal is a polyp, most corals are colonial, the initial polyp budding to produce another and the colony gradually developing from this small start
8.
Ecoregion
–
An ecoregion is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than an ecozone. All three of these are less or greater than an ecosystem. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, the biodiversity of flora, fauna and ecosystems that characterise an ecoregion tends to be distinct from that of other ecoregions. Three caveats are appropriate for all bio-geographic mapping approaches, firstly, no single bio-geographic framework is optimal for all taxa. Ecoregions reflect the best compromise for as many taxa as possible, secondly, ecoregion boundaries rarely form abrupt edges, rather, ecotones and mosaic habitats bound them. Thirdly, most ecoregions contain habitats that differ from their assigned biome, biogeographic provinces may originate due to various barriers. Some physical, some climatic and some ocean chemical related, the history of the term is somewhat vague as it was used in many contexts, forest classifications, biome classifications, biogeographic classifications, etc. The concept of ecoregion of Bailey gives more importance to ecological criteria, while the WWF concept gives more importance to biogeography, there is significant, but not absolute, spatial correlation among these characteristics, making the delineation of ecoregions an imperfect science. Such transition zones are called ecotones, Ecoregions can be categorized using an algorithmic approach or a holistic, “weight-of-evidence” approach where the importance of various factors may vary. An example of the approach is Robert Bailey’s work for the U. S. The intended purpose of ecoregion delineation may affect the method used, according to WWF, the boundaries of an ecoregion approximate the original extent of the natural communities prior to any major recent disruptions or changes. WWF has identified 867 terrestrial ecoregions, and approximately 450 freshwater ecoregions across the Earth, the use of the term ecoregion is an outgrowth of a surge of interest in ecosystems and their functioning. In particular, there is awareness of issues relating to spatial scale in the study and it is widely recognized that interlinked ecosystems combine to form a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. The Global 200 is the list of ecoregions identified by WWF as priorities for conservation, Terrestrial ecoregions are land ecoregions, as distinct from freshwater and marine ecoregions. In this context, terrestrial is used to mean of land, WWF ecologists currently divide the land surface of the Earth into 8 major ecozones containing 867 smaller terrestrial ecoregions. The WWF effort is a synthesis of previous efforts to define. Many consider this classification to be decisive, and some propose these as stable borders for bioregional democracy initiatives. The eight terrestrial ecozones follow the major floral and faunal boundaries, identified by botanists and zoologists, ecozone boundaries generally follow continental boundaries, or major barriers to plant and animal distribution, like the Himalayas and the Sahara
9.
Biogeography
–
Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through time. Organisms and biological communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, isolation, phytogeography is the branch of biogeography that studies the distribution of plants. Zoogeography is the branch that studies distribution of animals, Biogeography is an integrative field of inquiry that unites concepts and information from ecology, evolutionary biology, geology, and physical geography. The short-term interactions within a habitat and species of organisms describe the application of biogeography. Historical biogeography describes the long-term, evolutionary periods of time for broader classifications of organisms, early scientists, beginning with Carl Linnaeus, contributed theories to the contributions of the development of biogeography as a science. Beginning in the century, Europeans explored the world and discovered the biodiversity of life. Linnaeus initiated the ways to classify organisms through his exploration of undiscovered territories, the patterns of species distribution across geographical areas can usually be explained through a combination of historical factors such as, speciation, extinction, continental drift, and glaciation. Through observing the distribution of species, we can see associated variations in sea level, river routes, habitat. Additionally, this science considers the constraints of landmass areas and isolation. As writer David Quammen put it. biogeography does more than ask Which species, and, what is sometimes more crucial, Why not. Modern biogeography often employs the use of Geographic Information Systems, to understand the factors affecting organism distribution, often mathematical models and GIS are employed to solve ecological problems that have a spatial aspect to them. Biogeography is most keenly observed on the worlds islands and these habitats are often much more manageable areas of study because they are more condensed than larger ecosystems on the mainland. They can then apply their understanding to similar but more complex mainland habitats, Islands are very diverse in their biomes, ranging from the tropical to arctic climates. This diversity in habitat allows for a range of species study in different parts of the world. One scientist who recognized the importance of geographic locations was Charles Darwin. Two chapters in On the Origin of Species were devoted to geographical distribution, the first discoveries that contributed to the development of biogeography as a science began in the mid-18th century, as Europeans explored the world and discovered the biodiversity of life. During the 18th century most views on the world were shaped around religion and for many natural theologists, Carl Linnaeus, in the mid-18th century, initiated the ways to classify organisms through his exploration of undiscovered territories. When he noticed that species were not as perpetual as he believed, when Noah’s ark landed on Mount Ararat and the waters receded, the animals dispersed throughout different elevations on the mountain
10.
Biodiversity
–
Biodiversity, a contraction of biological diversity, generally refers to the variety and variability of life on Earth. One of the most widely used definitions defines it in terms of the variability within species and it is a measure of the variety of organisms present in different ecosystems. This can refer to genetic variation, ecosystem variation, or species variation within an area, biome, terrestrial biodiversity tends to be greater near the equator, which seems to be the result of the warm climate and high primary productivity. Biodiversity is not distributed evenly on Earth, and is richest in the tropics and these tropical forest ecosystems cover less than 10 per cent of earths surface, and contain about 90 percent of the worlds species. Marine biodiversity tends to be highest along coasts in the Western Pacific, there are latitudinal gradients in species diversity. Biodiversity generally tends to cluster in hotspots, and has been increasing through time, the number and variety of plants, animals and other organisms that exist is known as biodiversity. It is a component of nature and it ensures the survival of human species by providing food, fuel, shelter, medicines. The richness of biodiversity depends on the conditions and area of the region. All species of plants taken together are known as flora and about 300,000 species of plants are known to date, all species of animals taken together are known as fauna which includes birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, insects, crustaceans, molluscs, etc. Rapid environmental changes typically cause mass extinctions, more than 99 percent of all species, amounting to over five billion species, that ever lived on Earth are estimated to be extinct. Estimates on the number of Earths current species range from 10 million to 14 million, of which about 1.2 million have been documented and over 86 percent have not yet been described. 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, the total amount of related DNA base pairs on Earth is estimated at 5.0 x 1037 and weighs 50 billion tonnes. In comparison, the mass of the biosphere has been estimated to be as much as 4 TtC. In July 2016, scientists reported identifying a set of 355 genes from the Last Universal Common Ancestor of all living on Earth. The age of the Earth is about 4.54 billion years old, there are microbial mat fossils found in 3.48 billion-year-old sandstone discovered in Western Australia. Other early physical evidence of a substance is graphite in 3.7 billion-year-old meta-sedimentary rocks discovered in Western Greenland. More recently, in 2015, remains of life were found in 4.1 billion-year-old rocks in Western Australia. According to one of the researchers, If life arose relatively quickly on Earth, then it could be common in the universe
11.
Amazon basin
–
The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about 7,500,000 km2 and it is located in the countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela. Most of the basin is covered by the Amazon Rainforest, also known as Amazonia, with a 5,500,000 km2 area of dense tropical forest, this is the largest rainforest in the world. The Amazon River rises in the Andes Mountains at the west of the basin with its tributary the Marañón River in Peru. It is usually considered to be the second longest river in the world, however, a team of Brazilian scientists has claimed that the Amazon is the longest river in the world. It covers about 6,400 km before draining into the Atlantic Ocean, the Amazon and its tributaries form the largest volume of water. The Amazon accounts for about 20% of the water carried to the oceans by rivers. Some of the Amazon rainforests are deforested because of the increasing of cattle ranches, the highest point in the watershed of the Amazon is the peak of Yerupajá at 6,635 m. The Amazon basin formerly flowed west to Pacific Ocean until the Andes formed, politically the basin is divided into the Brazilian Amazônia Legal, the Peruvian Amazon, the Amazon region of Colombia and parts of Bolivia, Ecuador and the Venezuelan state of Amazonas. Plant growth is dense and its variety of inhabitants is comparatively high due to the heavy rainfall. Little sunlight reaches the ground due to the roof canopy by plants. The ground remains dark and damp and only shade tolerant vegetation will grow here, orchids and bromeliads exploit trees and other plants to get closer to the sunlight. They grow hanging onto the branches or tree trunks with aerial roots, not as parasites, species of tropical trees native to the Amazon include Brazil nut, rubber tree and Assai palm. More than 1,400 species of mammals are found in the Amazon and its larger mammals include the jaguar, ocelot, capybara and South American tapir. About 1500 bird species inhabit the Amazon Basin, the biodiversity of the Amazon and the sheer number of diverse bird species is given by the number of different bird families that reside in these humid forests. An example of such would be the family, to which the Guianan cock-of-the-rock belong. Birds such as toucans, and hummingbirds are found here. Macaws are famous for gathering by the hundreds along the cliffs of the Amazon River
12.
World Wide Fund for Nature
–
It was formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States. It is the worlds largest conservation organization with five million supporters worldwide, working in more than 100 countries, supporting around 1,300 conservation. WWF is a foundation, with 55% of funding from individuals and bequests, 19% from government sources, the groups mission is to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature. Currently, much of its work concentrates on the conservation of three biomes that contain most of the biodiversity, oceans and coasts, forests. Among other issues, it is concerned with endangered species, sustainable production of commodities. The Conservation Foundation, a precursor to WWF, was founded in 1947 by Fairfield Osborn in New York City in support of capitalism-friendly ecological practices. The advisory council included leading scientists such as Charles Sutherland Elton, G Evelyn Hutchinson, Aldo Leopold, Carl Sauer, and Paul Sears. It supported much of the work cited by Rachel Carsons Silent Spring, including that of John L. George, Roger Hale, Robert Rudd. In 1990, the Conservation Foundation was merged into WWF, after becoming an affiliate of WWF in 1985, the organization now known as the Conservation Foundation in the United States is the former Forest Foundation of DuPage County. The idea for a fund on behalf of endangered animals was initially proposed by Victor Stolan to Sir Julian Huxley in response to articles he published in the British newspaper The Observer, nicholson thought up the name of the organization. WWF was conceived on 29 April 1961, under the name of World Wildlife Fund, godfrey A. Rockefeller also played an important role in its creation, assembling the first staff. For sending experts to danger spots and training, making it all possible that their needs are met before it is too late. WWF has set up offices and operations around the world, the organization also began to run its own conservation projects and campaigns, and by the 1980s started to take a more strategic approach to its conservation activities. In 1986, the changed its name to World Wide Fund for Nature. However, it continued at that time to operate under the name in the United States. We shant save all we should like to, but we shall save a great deal more than if we had never tried, – Sir Peter Scott In 1996, the organization obtained general consultative status from UNESCO. WWFs giant panda logo originated from a panda named Chi Chi that had transferred from Beijing Zoo to London Zoo in 1958. The logo was founded by Young in 1966, the organization also needed an animal that would have an impact in black and white printing
13.
Indo-Pacific
–
It does not include the temperate and polar regions of the Indian and Pacific oceans, and the Tropical Eastern Pacific, along the Pacific coast of the Americas, is also a distinct marine realm. The WWF and Nature Conservancy divide the Indo-Pacific into three realms, and each of these into a number of marine provinces, the Central Indo-Pacific, due in part to its central location at the meeting of two oceans, has the greatest diversity of corals and mangroves. Since 2011, the term ‘Indo-Pacific’ is being used increasingly in the global strategic/ geo-political discourse, from 2010 onwards, the term Indo-Pacific acquired salience within the Indian government and has since been used often by Indias apex political leadership. From about 2011 onwards, the term has been used frequently by strategic analysts and high-level government/ military leadership in Australia, Japan, however, a formal/ official documented articulation of the term first appeared in Australia’s Defence White Paper,2013. It has been argued that the concept of the Indo-Pacific may lead to a change in popular mental maps of how the world is understood in strategic terms, lately, the US officials have begun using the term Indo-Asia Pacific. This would enable America to maintain its geographic inclusiveness in the new coinage of Indo-Pacific, helen E. Fox, Gerald R. Allen, Nick Davidson et al. Marine Ecoregions of the World, A Bioregionalization of Coastal and Shelf Areas
14.
Coral reef fish
–
Coral reef fish are fish which live amongst or in close relation to coral reefs. Coral reefs form complex ecosystems with tremendous biodiversity, among the myriad inhabitants, the fish stand out as colourful and interesting to watch. Hundreds of species can exist in a area of a healthy reef. Reef fish have developed many ingenious specialisations adapted to survival on the reefs, Coral reefs occupy less than one percent of the surface area of the world oceans, but still they provide a home for 25 percent of all marine fish species. Reef habitats are a sharp contrast to the open habitats that make up the other 99% of the world oceans. Coral reefs are the result of millions of years of coevolution among algae, invertebrates and they have become crowded and complex environments, and the fish have evolved many ingenious ways of surviving. Most fishes found on coral reefs are ray-finned fishes, known for the sharp, bony rays. These spines provide formidable defences, and when erected they can usually be locked in place or are venomous, many reef fish have also evolved cryptic coloration to confuse predators. Reef fish have evolved complex adaptive behaviours. Small reef fish get protection from predators by hiding in crevices or by shoaling and schooling. Many reef fish confine themselves to one small neighbourhood where every hiding place is known, others cruise the reefs for food in shoals, but return to a known area to hide when they are inactive. Resting small fish are vulnerable to attack by crevice predators, so many fish, such as triggerfish, squeeze into a small hiding place. As an example of the adaptations made by fish, the yellow tang is a herbivore which feeds on benthic turf algae. They also provide services to marine turtles, by removing algal growth from their shells. They do not tolerate other fish with the colour or shape. When alarmed, the usually placid yellow tang can erect spines in its tail, the mechanisms that first led to, and continue to maintain, such concentrations of fish species on coral reefs has been widely debated over the last 50 years. While many reasons have been proposed, there is no scientific consensus on which of these is the most influential. There are two regions of coral reef development recognized, the Indo-Pacific, and the tropical western Atlantic
15.
Whale shark
–
The whale shark is a slow-moving filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest known extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of 12.65 m, unconfirmed claims of considerably larger individuals, over 14 m long and weighing at least 30 t, are not uncommon. The whale shark holds many records for size in the animal kingdom. It is the member of the genus Rhincodon and the only extant member of the family Rhincodontidae. The species originated about 60 million years ago, the whale shark is found in open waters of the tropical oceans and is rarely found in water below 22 °C. Modeling suggests a lifespan of about 70 years, but measurements have proven difficult, Whale sharks have very large mouths and are filter feeders, which is a feeding mode that occurs in only two other sharks, the megamouth shark and the basking shark. They feed almost exclusively on plankton and are not known to pose a threat to humans, the species was distinguished in April 1828 after the harpooning of a 4.6 m specimen in Table Bay, South Africa. Andrew Smith, a military doctor associated with British troops stationed in Cape Town, the name whale shark directly refers to the fishs size, being as large as some species of whales and also that it is a filter feeder like baleen whales. The whale shark inhabits all tropical and warm-temperate seas, the fish is primarily pelagic, living in the open sea but not in the greater depths of the ocean, although it is known to occasionally dive to depths of as much as 1,800 metres. Although typically seen offshore, it has been closer to land, entering lagoons or coral atolls. Its range is restricted to about 30° latitude. It is capable of diving to depths of at least 1,286 m, on 7 February 2012, a large whale shark was found floating 150 kilometres off the coast of Karachi, Pakistan. The length of the specimen was said to be between 11 and 12 m, with a weight of around 15,000 kg, in 2011, more than 400 whale sharks gathered off the Yucatan Coast. It was one of the largest gatherings of whale sharks recorded, aggregations in that area are among the most reliable seasonal gatherings known for whale sharks, with large numbers occurring in most years between May and September. Associated ecotourism has grown rapidly to unsustainable levels, Whale sharks have a mouth that can be 1.5 m wide, containing 300 to 350 rows of tiny teeth and 10 filter pads which it uses to filter feed. Whale sharks have five pairs of gills. The head is wide and flat with two eyes at the front. Whale sharks are grey with a white belly and their skin is marked with pale yellow spots and stripes which are unique to each individual
16.
Coelacanth
–
They follow the oldest known living lineage of Sarcopterygii, which means they are more closely related to lungfish, reptiles and mammals than to the common ray-finned fishes. They are found along the coastlines of the Indian Ocean and Indonesia, since there are only two species of coelacanth and both are threatened, it is the most endangered order of animals in the world. The West Indian Ocean coelacanth is a endangered species. Coelacanths belong to the subclass Actinistia, a group of lobed-finned fish related to lungfish and certain extinct Devonian fish such as osteolepiforms, porolepiforms, rhizodonts, and Panderichthys. Coelacanths were thought to have become extinct in the Late Cretaceous, around 66 million years ago, however, several recent studies have shown that coelacanth body shapes are much more diverse than previously thought. The word Coelacanth is an adaptation of the Modern Latin Cœlacanthus and it is a common name for the oldest living line of Sarcopterygii, referring to the hollow caudal fin rays of the first fossil specimen described and named by Louis Agassiz in 1839. The genus name Latimeria commemorates Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer who discovered the first specimen in a fish market, the coelacanth, which is related to lungfishes and tetrapods, was believed to have been extinct since the end of the Cretaceous period. More closely related to tetrapods than to the fish, coelacanths were considered transitional species between fish and tetrapods. On 23 December 1938, the first Latimeria specimen was found off the east coast of South Africa, Museum curator Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer discovered the fish among the catch of a local angler, Captain Hendrick Goosen. A Rhodes University ichthyologist, J. L. B, smith, confirmed the fishs importance with a famous cable, MOST IMPORTANT PRESERVE SKELETON AND GILLS = FISH DESCRIBED. Since 1938, Latimeria chalumnae have been found in the Comoros, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Madagascar, only a photograph of the first specimen of this species was made at a local market by Erdmann and his wife Arnaz Mehta before it was bought by a shopper. The coelacanth has no commercial value apart from being coveted by museums. As a food fish it is almost worthless, as its tissues exude oils that give the flesh a foul flavor, the coelacanths continued survival may be threatened by commercial deep-sea trawling, in which coelacanths are caught as bycatch. Coelacanths are a part of the clade Sarcopterygii, or the lobe-finned fishes, externally, several characteristics distinguish the coelacanth from other lobe-finned fish. They possess a three-lobed caudal fin, also called a fin or a diphycercal tail. A secondary tail extending past the tail separates the upper and lower halves of the coelacanth. Cosmoid scales act as armor to protect the coelacanths exterior. Several internal traits also aid in differentiating coelacanths from other lobe-finned fish, at the back of the skull, the coelacanth possesses a hinge, the intracranial joint, which allows it to open its mouth extremely wide
17.
Habitat
–
A habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant, or other type of organism. The term typically refers to the zone in which the organism lives and it is the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the physical environment that surrounds a species population. Every organism has certain habitat needs for the conditions in which it will thrive, habitat types include polar, temperate, subtropical and tropical. The terrestrial vegetation type may be forest, steppe, grassland, the word habitat has been in use since about 1755 and derives from the Latin third-person singular present indicative of habitāre, to inhabit, from habēre, to have or to hold. Habitat can be defined as the environment of an organism. It is similar in meaning to a biotope, an area of environmental conditions associated with a particular community of plants. Generally speaking, animal communities are reliant on specific types of plant communities, some plants and animals are generalists, and their habitat requirements are met in a wide range of locations. The small white butterfly for example is found on all the continents of the world apart from Antarctica and its larvae feed on a wide range of Brassicas and various other plant species, and it thrives in any open location with diverse plant associations. Disturbance is important in the creation of biodiverse habitats, in the absence of disturbance, a climax vegetation cover develops that prevents the establishment of other species. Lightning strikes and toppled trees in tropical forests allow species richness to be maintained as pioneering species move in to fill the gaps created. Similarly coastal habitats can become dominated by kelp until the seabed is disturbed by a storm, another cause of disturbance is when an area may be overwhelmed by an invasive introduced species which is not kept under control by natural enemies in its new habitat. Terrestrial habitat types include forests, grasslands, wetlands and deserts, within these broad biomes are more specific habitats with varying climate types, temperature regimes, soils, altitudes and vegetation types. Many of these habitats grade into each other and each one has its own communities of plants. A habitat may suit a particular species well, but its presence or absence at any particular location depends to some extent on chance, on its dispersal abilities, freshwater habitats include rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, marshes and bogs. Although some organisms are found across most of these habitats, the majority have more specific requirements, similarly, aquatic plants can be floating, semi-submerged, submerged or grow in permanently or temporarily saturated soils besides bodies of water. Marine habitats include brackish water, estuaries, bays, the sea, the intertidal zone. Further variations include rock pools, sand banks, mudflats, brackish lagoons, sandy and pebbly beaches, the benthic zone or seabed provides a home for both static organisms, anchored to the substrate, and for a large range of organisms crawling on or burrowing into the surface. A desert is not the kind of habitat that favours the presence of amphibians, with their requirement for water to keep their skins moist, nevertheless, some frogs live in deserts, creating moist habitats underground and hibernating while conditions are adverse
18.
Sea turtle
–
Sea turtles, sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines. The seven extant species of sea turtles are, the green, loggerhead, Kemps ridley, olive ridley, hawksbill, flatback, the majority of a sea turtles body is protected by its shell. The turtles shell is divided two sections, carapace and plastron. The shell is made up of plates called scutes. The leatherback is the sea turtle that does not have a hard shell. Instead, it bears a mosaic of bony plates beneath its leathery skin, in general, sea turtles have a more fusiform body plan than their terrestrial or freshwater counterparts. The reduced volume of a body means sea turtles can not retract their head, legs. However this more stream-line body plan reduces drag in the water, the leatherback is the largest species of sea turtle. Measuring 2-3 meters in length, and 1-1.5 m in width, other species are smaller, being mostly 60-120 cm and proportionally narrower. Sea turtles, along with turtles and tortoises, are part of the order Testudines. All species except the leatherback are in the family Cheloniidae, the leatherback is the only extant member of the family Dermochelyidae. The origin of sea turtles back to the Late Jurassic with genera such as Plesiochelys. In Africa, the first marine turtle is Angolachelys, from the Turonian of Angola, however, neither of these are related to extant sea turtles, the oldest representative of the lineage leading to these was Desmatochelys padillai, from the Early Cretaceous. A lineage of unrelated marine testudines, the pleurodire bothremydids, also survived well into the Cenozoic, Sea turtles constitute a single radiation that became distinct from all other turtles at least 110 million years ago. The flatback sea turtle is found solely on the northern coast of Australia, the Kemps ridley sea turtle is found solely in the Gulf of Mexico and along the East Coast of the United States. Sea turtles are found in the waters over continental shelves. During the first three to five years of life, sea turtles spend most of their time in the pelagic zone floating in seaweed mats, Green sea turtles in particular are often found in Sargassum mats, in which they find shelter and food. Once the sea turtle has reached adulthood it moves closer to the shore, females will come ashore to lay their eggs on sandy beaches during the nesting season
19.
Mangrove
–
A mangrove is a shrub or small tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are salt tolerant trees, also called halophytes, and are adapted to life in coastal conditions. They contain a complex filtration system and complex root system to cope with salt water immersion. They are adapted to the low oxygen conditions of waterlogged mud, the saline conditions tolerated by various mangrove species range from brackish water, through pure seawater, to water concentrated by evaporation to over twice the salinity of ocean seawater. The term mangrove comes to English from Spanish, and is likely to originate from Guarani and it was earlier mangrow, but this word was corrupted via folk etymology influence of the word grove. Mangrove swamps are found in tropical and subtropical tidal areas, areas where mangal occurs include estuaries and marine shorelines. The intertidal existence to which trees are adapted represents the major limitation to the number of species able to thrive in their habitat. High tide brings in water, and when the tide recedes. The return of tide can flush out these soils, bringing back to salinity levels comparable to that of seawater. At low tide, organisms are exposed to increases in temperature and desiccation. About 110 species are considered mangroves, in the sense of being a tree grows in such a saline swamp, though only a few are from the mangrove plant genus. However, a mangrove swamp typically features only a small number of tree species. It is not uncommon for a mangrove forest in the Caribbean to feature three or four tree species. For comparison, the tropical rainforest biome contains thousands of tree species, though the trees themselves are few in species, the ecosystem that these trees create provides a home for a great variety of other organisms. Mangrove plants require a number of adaptations to overcome the problems of anoxia, high salinity. Each species has its own solutions to problems, this may be the primary reason why, on some shorelines. Small environmental variations within a mangal may lead to greatly differing methods for coping with the environment, once established, mangrove roots provide an oyster habitat and slow water flow, thereby enhancing sediment deposition in areas where it is already occurring
20.
Acropora
–
Acropora is a genus of small polyp stony coral in the phylum Cnidaria. Some of its species are known as coral, elkhorn coral. Acropora species are some of the major reef corals responsible for building the immense calcium carbonate substructure that supports the living skin of a reef. Depending on the species and location, Acropora species may grow as plates or slender or broad branches, like other corals, Acropora corals are colonies of individual polyps, which are about 2 mm across and share tissue and a nerve net. The polyps can withdraw back into the coral in response to movement or disturbance by potential predators, the polyps typically extend further at night to help capture plankton and organic matter from the water. Acropora is most common in reef environments with bright light. Many small reef fishes live near their colonies and retreat into the thicket of branches if threatened, Symbiodinium, symbiotic algae, live in the corals cells and produce energy for the animals through photosynthesis. Environmental destruction has led to a dwindling of populations of Acropora, Acropora is especially susceptible to bleaching when stressed. Bleaching is due to the loss of the zooxanthellae, which are a golden-brown color. Bleached corals are stark white and may die if new Symbiodinium cells cannot be assimilated, common causes of bleaching and coral death include pollution, abnormally warm water temperatures, increased ocean acidification, sedimentation, and eutrophication. In 2014 the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service has listed 10 Acropora species as Threatened, the species are distributed in the Indo-Pacific and Caribbean. Most Acropora species are brown or green, but a few are brightly colored, captive propagation of Acropora is widespread in the reef-keeping community. Given the right conditions, many Acropora species grow quickly, in a well-maintained reef aquarium, finger-sized fragments can grow into medicine ball-sized colonies in one to two years. Captive specimens are steadily undergoing changes due to selection which enable them to thrive in the home aquarium, in some cases, fragments of captive specimens are used to repopulate barren reefs in the wild. Acropora species are challenging to keep in a home aquarium and they require bright light, stable temperatures, regular addition of calcium and alkalinity supplements, and clean, turbulent water. Common parasites of colonies in reef aquariums are the Acropora-eating flatworm, differential expression of three galaxin-related genes during settlement and metamorphosis in the scleractinian coral Acropora millepora. Shoguchi, E. Kawashima, T. Hamada, M. Hisata, K. Tanaka, M. Fujie, using the Acropora digitifera genome to understand coral responses to environmental change
21.
Nembrotha kubaryana
–
Nembrotha kubaryana, also known as the variable neon slug or the dusky nembrotha, is a species of colorful sea slug, a dorid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Polyceridae. The two names Nembrotha nigerrima and N. kubaryana were published simultaneously by Bergh, the first one on page 451, Yonow & Hayward treated the two names as synonyms and, acting as First Revisers, gave precedence to kubaryana over nigerrima. Pola et al. agreed with the synonymy, but rejected Yonow & Haywards nomenclatural act, however, the ICZN Code does not contain such a thing as page precedence, and Yonow & Hayward action was valid - and this position has been repeated by Yonow. This species occurs in the tropical Indo-West Pacific and this animal can reach a total length of more than 120 mm. It is a large dark-bodied nudibranch which may have green stripes running down the length of the body or have green raised spots, the margin of the foot and head is a vivid red-orange. The rhinophores and gills may be red or green, Nembrotha kubaryana is easily confused with a similar species, Nembrotha cristata although the latter has no red orange border on its foot. The variable neon slug feeds on ascidians and has been observed feeding on the green-ringed ascidian, N. kubaryana uses the toxins in its prey ascidians to defend itself against predators. It stores the ascidians toxins in its tissues and then them in a slimy defensive mucus when alarmed. Asia Pacific Reef Guide ISBN 3-925919-56-2 Yonow N, results of the Rumphius Biohistorical Expedition to Ambon. Zoologische Mededelingen 85, 905-956 Nembrotha kubaryana page at nudipixel
22.
Spirobranchus giganteus
–
Spirobranchus giganteus, commonly known as Christmas tree worms, are tube-building polychaete worms belonging to the family Serpulidae. The worm is aptly named, both its common and Latin names refer to the two chromatically hued spiral structures, the most common feature seen by divers, the multicolored spirals are highly derived structures for feeding and respiration. Spirobranchus Gianteius Peniez is similar to most tube-building polychaetes and it has a tubular, segmented body lined with chaeta, small appendages that aid the worms mobility. Because it does not move outside its tube, this worm does not have any specialized appendages for movement or swimming, the worms most distinct features are two crowns shaped like Christmas trees. These are highly modified prostomial palps, which are specialized mouth appendages, each spiral is composed of feather-like tentacles called radioles, which are heavily ciliated and cause any prey trapped in them to be transported to the worms mouth. While they are primarily feeding structures, S. giganteus also uses its radioles for respiration, hence, the structures commonly are called gills. S. giganteus, like members of its family, possess a modified radiole, usually called the operculum. As an annelid, S. giganteus possesses a complete system and has a well-developed closed circulatory system. Like other annelids, these worms possess well-developed nervous systems with a brain and many supporting ganglia, including pedal ganglia. Like other polychaetes, S. giganteus excrete with fully developed nephridia, when they reproduce, they simply shed their gametes straight into the water where the eggs become part of the zooplankton to be carried by the currents. Christmas tree worms are widely distributed throughout the tropical oceans. They have been known to occur from the Caribbean to the Indo-Pacific, Spirobranchus giganteus is commonly found embedded in entire heads of massive corals, such as stony corals like Porites and brain corals. Like members of its family, it can secrete a tube around its body. This tube serves as the home and protection. S. giganteus usually bores a hole into a head of living coral before secreting its tube. As sedentary inhabitants of coral reefs, Christmas tree worms feed primarily by filter feeding and they use their brightly colored radioles to filter microorganisms from the water, which are then deposited straight into the worms digestive tract. Few organisms are known to feed on polychaetes and S. giganteus is no exception. While the worm itself has no commercial importance, it is of interest to marine aquarists
23.
Parrotfish
–
Parrotfishes are a group of about 95 species traditionally regarded as a family, but now often considered a subfamily of the wrasses. They are found in shallow tropical and subtropical oceans throughout the world. They are found in reefs, rocky coasts, and seagrass beds. Traditionally, the parrotfishes have been considered to be a family level taxon, although phylogenetic and evolutionary analysis of parrotfishes is ongoing, they are now accepted to be a clade in the tribe Cheilini, and are now commonly referred to as scarine labrids. Some authorities have preferred to maintain the parrotfishes as a family-level taxon, Parrotfish are named for their dentition, which is distinct from other fishes, including other labrids. Their numerous teeth are arranged in a tightly packed mosaic on the surface of their jaw bones, forming a parrot-like beak with which they rasp algae from coral. Maximum sizes vary within the family, with the majority of species reaching 30–50 cm in length, however, a few species reach lengths in excess of 1 m, and the green humphead parrotfish can reach up to 1.3 m. The smallest species is the bluelip parrotfish, which only reaches 13 cm, some parrotfish species, including the queen parrotfish, secrete a mucus cocoon, particularly at night. Prior to going to sleep, some species extrude mucus from their mouths, forming a cocoon that envelops the fish. This mucus envelope may also act as a warning system. Most parrotfish are herbivores, but some species eat a variety of microscopic reef organisms. Some species such as the green humphead parrotfish include coral in their diets and their feeding activity is important for the production and distribution of coral sands in the reef biome, and can prevent algal overgrowth of the reef structure. The teeth grow continuously, replacing material worn away by feeding and their pharyngeal teeth grind up the coral and coralline algae the fish ingest during feeding. After they digest the edible portions from the rock, they excrete it as sand, helping to create small islands, the green humphead parrotfish can produce 90 kg of sand each year. Or, very averagely, about 275 g per parrotfish per day, while feeding, parrotfish must be cognizant of predation by one of their main predators, the lemon shark. On Caribbean coral reefs, parrotfish are important consumers of sponges, an indirect effect of parrotfish grazing on sponges is the protection of reef-building corals that would otherwise be overgrown by fast-growing sponge species. The development of parrotfishes is complex and accompanied by a series of changes in color, most species are sequential hermaphrodites, starting as females and then changing to males. In many species, for example the stoplight parrotfish, a number of individuals directly to males
24.
Solenostomus paradoxus
–
The ornate ghost pipefish or harlequin ghost pipefish, Solenostomus paradoxus, is a false pipefish of the family Solenostomidae. The species name comes from the Greek paradoxos, referring to this fishs unusual external features, ornate ghost pipefish are found in the Western Pacific and the Indian Ocean along reef edges prone to strong currents. They reach a length of 12 cm. They vary in color from red or yellow to black and are almost transparent and they feed mostly on mysids and benthic shrimp. Females carry the eggs in their fins that are modified to form a brood pouch. Although relatively common, ornate ghost pipefish are very well-camouflaged and difficult to find, the IUCN conservation status of Solenostomus paradoxus has not been evaluated. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds, orr, JW and Fritzsche, RA.1993. Revision of the Ghost Pipefishes, Family Solenostomidae
25.
Amphiprioninae
–
Clownfish or anemonefish are fishes from the subfamily Amphiprioninae in the family Pomacentridae. Thirty species are recognized, one in the genus Premnas, while the remaining are in the genus Amphiprion, in the wild, they all form symbiotic mutualisms with sea anemones. Depending on species, anemonefish are overall yellow, orange, or a reddish or blackish color, the largest can reach a length of 18 centimetres, while the smallest barely achieve 10 centimetres. Anemonefish are native to waters of the Indian and Pacific oceans, including the Great Barrier Reef. While most species have restricted distributions, others are widespread, anemonefish live at the bottom of shallow seas in sheltered reefs or in shallow lagoons. There are no anemonefish in the Atlantic, anemonefish are omnivorous and can feed on undigested food from their host anemones, and the fecal matter from the anemonefish provides nutrients to the sea anemone. They may also consume the tentacles of their host anemone, anemonefish and sea anemones have a symbiotic, mutualistic relationship, each providing a number of benefits to the other. The individual species are generally highly host specific, and especially the genera Heteractis and Stichodactyla, the sea anemone protects the anemonefish from predators, as well as providing food through the scraps left from the anemones meals and occasional dead anemone tentacles. In return, the anemonefish defends the anemone from its predators, the anemone also picks up nutrients from the anemonefishs excrement, and functions as a safe nest site. The nitrogen excreted from anemonefish increases the amount of algae incorporated into the tissue of their hosts, studies on anemonefish have found that anemonefish alter the flow of water around sea anemone tentacles by certain behaviours and movements such as wedging and switching. Aeration of the host anemone tentacles allows for benefits to the metabolism of both partners, mainly by increasing anemone body size and both anemonefish and anemone respiration. There are several theories about how they can survive the sea anemone poison and this would mean that anemones fail to recognize the fish as a potential food source and do not fire their nematocysts, or sting organelles. The coevolution of species of anemonefish with specific anemone host species and may have acquired an immunity to the nematocysts. In a group of anemonefish, there is a dominance hierarchy. The largest and most aggressive female is found at the top, only two anemonefish, a male and a female, in a group reproduce through external fertilization. Anemonefish are sequential hermaphrodites, meaning that they develop into males first, if the female anemonefish is removed from the group, such as by death, one of the largest and most dominant males will become a female. The remaining males will move up a rank in the hierarchy, anemonefish lay eggs on any flat surface close to their host anemones. In the wild, anemonefish spawn around the time of the full moon, depending on the species, anemonefish can lay hundreds or thousands of eggs
26.
Poverty
–
Poverty is general scarcity or the state of one who lacks a certain amount of material possessions or money. It is a concept, which includes social, economic. Absolute poverty or destitution refers to the lack of necessary to meet basic needs such as food, clothing. Absolute poverty is meant to be about the independent of location. After the industrial revolution, mass production in factories made producing goods increasingly less expensive, of more importance is the modernization of agriculture, such as fertilizers, to provide enough yield to feed the population. Strategies of increasing income to make basic needs more affordable typically include welfare, economic freedoms, Poverty reduction is a major goal and issue for many international organizations such as the United Nations and the World Bank. The World Bank forecasts that 702.1 million people, down from 1.75 billion in 1990, of these, about 347.1 million people lived in Sub-Saharan Africa and 231.3 million lived in South Asia. According to the World Bank, between 1990 and 2015, the percentage of the population living in extreme poverty fell from 37. 1% to 9. 6%. Nevertheless, given the current economic model, built on GDP, extreme poverty is a global challenge, it is observed in all parts of the world, including developed economies. UNICEF estimates half the children live in poverty. It has been argued by some academics that the policies promoted by global financial institutions such as the IMF. Another estimate places the true scale of poverty much higher than the World Bank, with an estimated 4.3 billion people living with less than $5 a day and unable to meet basic needs adequately. In 2012 it is estimated that, given a poverty line of $1.25 a day 1.2 billion people lived in poverty, the word poverty comes from old French poverté, from Latin paupertās from pauper. The English word poverty via Anglo-Norman povert, there are several definitions of poverty depending on the context of the situation it is placed in, and the views of the person giving the definition. Income Poverty, a familys income fails to meet a federally established threshold that differs across countries, United Nations, Fundamentally, poverty is the inability of having choices and opportunities, a violation of human dignity. It means lack of capacity to participate effectively in society. It means insecurity, powerlessness and exclusion of individuals, households and it means susceptibility to violence, and it often implies living in marginal or fragile environments, without access to clean water or sanitation. World Bank, Poverty is pronounced deprivation in well-being, and comprises many dimensions and it includes low incomes and the inability to acquire the basic goods and services necessary for survival with dignity
27.
Climate change
–
Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns when that change lasts for an extended period of time. Climate change may refer to a change in weather conditions. Climate change is caused by such as biotic processes, variations in solar radiation received by Earth, plate tectonics. Certain human activities have also identified as significant causes of recent climate change. Scientists actively work to understand past and future climate by using observations, more recent data are provided by the instrumental record. The most general definition of change is a change in the statistical properties of the climate system when considered over long periods of time. Accordingly, fluctuations over periods shorter than a few decades, such as El Niño, the term climate change is often used to refer specifically to anthropogenic climate change. Anthropogenic climate change is caused by activity, as opposed to changes in climate that may have resulted as part of Earths natural processes. In this sense, especially in the context of environmental policy, within scientific journals, global warming refers to surface temperature increases while climate change includes global warming and everything else that increasing greenhouse gas levels affect. A related term is climatic change, in 1966, the World Meteorological Organization proposed the term climatic change to encompass all forms of climatic variability on time-scales longer than 10 years, regardless of cause. Change was a given and climatic was used as an adjective to describe this kind of change, when it was realized that human activities had a potential to drastically alter the climate, the term climate change replaced climatic change as the dominant term to reflect an anthropogenic cause. Climate change was incorporated in the title of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate change, used as a noun, became an issue rather than the technical description of changing weather. On the broadest scale, the rate at which energy is received from the Sun and this energy is distributed around the globe by winds, ocean currents, and other mechanisms to affect the climates of different regions. Factors that can shape climate are called climate forcings or forcing mechanisms, there are a variety of climate change feedbacks that can either amplify or diminish the initial forcing. Some parts of the system, such as the oceans and ice caps, respond more slowly in reaction to climate forcings. There are also key factors which when exceeded can produce rapid change. Forcing mechanisms can be internal or external. Internal forcing mechanisms are natural processes within the system itself
28.
Coral bleaching
–
Coral bleaching is the loss of endosymbiotic algae from the coral, either through expulsion or loss of algal pigmentation. Above-average sea water caused by global warming have been identified as a leading cause for coral bleaching worldwide. But as the algae provide the coral with 90% of its energy, between 2014 and 2016, the longest global bleaching events ever were recorded. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, these events killed coral on an unprecedented scale. In 2016, bleaching hit 90 percent of coral on the Great Barrier Reef, in 2017, the bleaching further expanded to areas of the park that were previously spared, such as the central one. Bleaching occurs when the necessary to sustain the corals zooxanthellae cannot be maintained. Zooxanthellae give coral its coloration, with the specific color depending on the particular clade, any environmental trigger that affects the corals ability to supply the zooxanthellae with nutrients for photosynthesis will lead to expulsion. This makes the balance required for the coral to continue sustaining its algae more fragile. Bleaching has been attributed to a mechanism in corals, this is called the adaptive bleaching hypothesis, from a 1993 paper by Robert Buddemeier. This stress causes corals to expel their zooxanthellae, which leads to a lighter or completely white appearance, hence the term bleached. As a result of accumulated oxidative stress and the damage to the thylakoid of chloroplasts, there is an increase in degradation of the symbiosis, the coral reefs that are more subject to continued bleaching threats are the ones located in warm and shallow water with low water flow. The colour of a coral depends largely on the species of symbiont, a reduction in concentration of zooxanthellae causes paling, and an increase results in deepening of color. Stony corals have calcium carbonate skeletons and most have transparent tissues, so expulsion of the zooxanthellae causes them to lose their color, the coral protects the algae from the surrounding environment, in return, the algae provides the coral with oxygen and gets rid of waste. Although the coral polyps feed on zooplankton and other food particles and this means that without them, they are liable to starve. Coral growth and reproduction are reduced and the coral becomes increasingly susceptible to disease, If stress factors reduce and the zooxanthellae return, the coral can recover, but prolonged bleaching causes death of the coral. Ejection increases the chance of surviving short-term stress. It can regain symbionts, possibly of a different species, at a later time, If the stressful conditions persist, the polyp eventually dies. Most evidence indicates that elevated temperature is the cause of mass bleaching events, sixty major episodes of coral bleaching have occurred between 1979 and 1990, with the associated coral mortality affecting reefs in every part of the world
29.
Tuna
–
A tuna is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a sub-grouping of the mackerel family – which together with the tunas, also includes the bonitos, mackerels, and Spanish mackerels. Thunnini comprises fifteen species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, the bluefin averages 2 m, and is believed to live for up to 50 years. Tuna and mackerel sharks are the species of fish that can maintain a body temperature higher than that of the surrounding water. An active and agile predator, the tuna has a sleek, streamlined body, found in warm seas, it is extensively fished commercially, and is popular as a game fish. As a result of over-fishing, stocks of tuna species such as the southern bluefin tuna have been reduced dangerously close to the point of extinction. The term tuna ultimately derives from Thunnus, the Middle Latin form of the Ancient Greek, θύννος tunny-fish – which is in turn derived from θύνω, rush, the following cladogram illustrates the relationship between the tunas and other tribes of the family Scombridae. The true tunas are those that belong to the genus Thunnus, until recently, it was thought that there were seven Thunnus species, and that Atlantic bluefin tuna and Pacific bluefin tuna were subspecies of a single species. In 1999, Collette established that based on molecular and morphological considerations, they are in fact distinct species. The genus Thunnus is further classified into two subgenera, Thunnus, and Thunnus, the Thunnini tribe also includes seven additional species of tuna across four genera. They are, The tuna is a sleek and streamlined fish and it has two closely spaced dorsal fins on its back, The first is depressible – it can be laid down, flush, in a groove that runs along its back. Seven to ten yellow finlets run from the fins to the tail. The caudal peduncle, to which the tail is attached, is quite thin, the tunas dorsal side is generally a metallic dark blue, while the ventral side, or underside, is silvery or whitish, for camouflage. Thunnus are widely but sparsely distributed throughout the oceans of the world, generally in tropical, all tunas are able to maintain the temperature of certain parts of their body above the temperature of ambient seawater. For example, bluefin can maintain a body temperature of 25–33 °C. However, unlike typical endothermic creatures such as mammals and birds, tunas achieve endothermy by conserving the heat generated through normal metabolism. In all tunas, the heart operates at ambient temperature, as it receives cooled blood, also unlike most fish, which have white flesh, the muscle tissue of tuna ranges from pink to dark red. The red myotomal muscles derive their color from myoglobin, an oxygen-binding molecule, the oxygen-rich blood further enables energy delivery to their muscles. For powerful swimming animals like dolphins and tuna, cavitation may be detrimental, even if they have the power to swim faster, dolphins may have to restrict their speed, because collapsing cavitation bubbles on their tail are too painful
30.
The Nature Conservancy
–
The Nature Conservancy is a charitable environmental organization, headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, United States. Its mission is to conserve the lands and waters on all life depends. The Conservancys work focuses on the priorities of Lands, Water, Climate, Oceans. Founded in Arlington, Virginia, in 1951, The Nature Conservancy now impacts conservation in 69 countries, the Conservancy has over one million members, and has protected more than 119,000,000 acres of land and thousands of miles of rivers worldwide. The Nature Conservancy also operates more than 100 marine conservation projects globally, the organizations assets total $6.71 billion as of 2015. The Nature Conservancy is the largest environmental nonprofit by assets and by revenue in the Americas, the Nature Conservancy rates as one of the most trusted national organizations in Harris Interactive polls every year since 2005. Forbes magazine rated The Nature Conservancys fundraising efficiency at 88 percent in its 2005 survey of the largest U. S. charities, the Nature Conservancy is led by President and CEO Mark Tercek, a former managing director at Goldman Sachs. He is the author of the Washington Post and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling book Nature’s Fortune, How Business, the Nature Conservancys Chief Scientist is Australian Hugh Possingham, who was named to this position in 2016. The current board chairman is Craig McCaw, the Chairman & CEO of Eagle River Inc, other current members include former U. S. Senator Bill Frist, chairman of the Alibaba Group Jack Ma, the Nature Conservancy developed out of an older organization known as the Ecological Society of America. The latter society was founded in 1915 and two later formed a Committee on Preservation of Natural Areas for Ecological Study, headed by Victor Shelford. The divide in viewpoints led the society to dissolve the committee, the latter group eventually took the name The Nature Conservancy, in emulation of the British agency of that name, which pursued a mission of conserving open space and wildlife preserves. The Nature Conservancy was incorporated in the United States as an organization on October 22,1951. The Nature Conservancy takes an approach to conservation, setting goals that describe the results it wants to achieve for biodiversity. The Nature Conservancy sets both long-term and near-term goals for conserving the abundance and geographic distribution of species and ecological systems. The organizations overall goal is to ensure the survival of all biodiversity on Earth. The Nature Conservancy works with all sectors of society including businesses, individuals, communities, partner organizations, the Nature Conservancy has pioneered new land preservation techniques such as the conservation easement and debt for nature swaps. A conservation easement is a way for owners to ensure that their land remains in its natural state while capitalizing on some of the lands potential development value
31.
Conservation International
–
Conservation International is an American nonprofit environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. Its goal is to nature as a source of food, fresh water, livelihoods. CIs work focuses on science, policy, and partnership with businesses and communities, the organization employs more than 1,000 people and works with 2, 000+ partners in more than 30 countries. CI has helped establish 1,200 protected areas across 78 countries and protected more than 730 million hectares of land, marine, in CIs first year, the organization purchased a portion of Bolivias foreign debt. The money was redirected to support conservation in the Beni Biosphere Reserve. Since this first-ever debt-for-nature swap, more than $1 billion of similar deals have made around the world. In 1989, CI formally committed to the protection of biodiversity hotspots, ultimately identifying 34 such hotspots around the world, the model of protecting hotspots became a key way for organizations to do conservation work. The organizations leadership grew to believe that CIs focus on biodiversity conservation was inadequate to protect nature, CI updated its mission in 2008 to focus explicitly on the connections between human well-being and natural ecosystems. As of FY2014, CIs expenses totaled more than US $135.3 million, CI receives high ratings from philanthropic watchdog organizations, with an A rating from Charity Watch. Charity Navigator awarded CI a score of 92.28 out of 100 for accountability, the foundation of CIs work is science, partnership and field demonstration. The organization has scientists, policy workers and other conservationists on the ground in more than 30 countries and it also relies heavily on thousands of local partners. CI works with governments, universities, NGOs and the sector with the aim of replicating these successes on a larger scale. By showing how conservation can work at all scales, CI aims to make the protection of nature a key consideration in economic development decisions around the world. In addition to the management of ocean resources, the agreement includes the worlds largest marine protected areas and sanctuaries for whales, dolphins, turtles. The organization has active in United Nations discussions on issues such as climate change and biodiversity. Its United States policy work currently highlights a connection between international conservation and Americas economic and national security interests. A few years after its founding, CI began working with McDonalds to implement sustainable agriculture, the organization expanded its commitment to working with the business sector in 2000, when it created the Center for Environmental Leadership in Business with support from the Ford Motor Company. CI has been criticized for links to companies with an environmental record such as BP, Cargill, Chevron, Monsanto and Shell
32.
Asian Development Bank
–
The Asian Development Bank is a regional development bank established on 19 December 1966, which is headquartered in the Ortigas Center located in Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines. The company also maintains 31 field offices around the world to promote social, the bank admits the members of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and non-regional developed countries. From 31 members at its establishment, ADB now has 67 members, of which 48 are from within Asia, the ADB was modeled closely on the World Bank, and has a similar weighted voting system where votes are distributed in proportion with members capital subscriptions. ADB releases a report that summarizes its operations, budget. At the end of 2014, Japan holds the largest proportion of shares at 15. 7%, the United States holds 15. 6%, China holds 6. 5%, India holds 6. 4%, and Australia holds 5. 8%. The highest policy-making body of the bank is the Board of Governors, the Board of Governors, in turn, elect among themselves the twelve members of the Board of Directors and their deputies. Eight of the members come from regional members while the others come from non-regional members. The Board of Governors also elect the president, who is the chairperson of the Board of Directors. The president has a term of office lasting five years, traditionally, and because Japan is one of the largest shareholders of the bank, the president has always been Japanese. The current president was Takehiko Nakao, who succeeded Haruhiko Kuroda in 2013, the bank employs about 3,000 people, representing 60 of its 67 members. The United States was initially opposed to the creation of regional development bank following the establishment of the Inter-American Development Bank in 1959. President Johnson pressed retired World Bank President Eugene R. Black, in the process, U. S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk urged that Japan play an important role in the ADB. He argued that the biggest danger to American foreign policy in Asia was Japans inability to integrate into the Asian society of nations following the animosities of World War II, indeed, there was sharp Asian opposition to Japans participation in the institution. After considerable diplomatic effort, Japan was eventually accepted into the organization by the majority of the participating nations, the Presidency was to rotate between the various countries of Asia. He threatened to travel to every Asian capital and scuttle the project. Eugene Black, with the assistance of President Johnson, was able to mollify President Marcos with the promise to locate the ADB in Manila. As a concession to the Japanese, they were given the inaugural Presidency of the institution - a position they have held onto ever since. By the end of 1972, Japan had contributed $173.7 million to the capital resources
33.
Global Environment Facility
–
Today the GEF is the largest public funder of projects to improve the global environment. Through its Small Grants Programme, the GEF has also more than 20,000 small grants directly to civil society and community-based organizations. The Instrument for the Establishment of the Restructured GEF is the document that established the GEF after a pilot phase. It was accepted by the countries and adopted by the Implementing Agencies in 1994. The Instrument may be considered the statutes and by-laws of the GEF, and contains provisions for the governance, participation, replenishment and it also lays out the roles and responsibilities of different actors in the GEF. The GEF Assembly is the body of the GEF in which representatives of all member countries participate. It meets every three to four years, and is responsible for reviewing and evaluating the GEFs general policies, the operation of the GEF, and its membership. The Assembly is also responsible for considering and approving proposed amendments to the GEF Instrument, ministers and high-level government delegations of all GEF member countries take part in the meetings. The Assembly combines plenary meetings and high-level panels, exhibits, side events, the GEF Council is the main governing body of the GEF. It functions as an independent board of directors, with responsibility for developing, adopting. Council members representing 32 constituencies meet twice each year for three days and also conduct business by mail, Council meetings are attended regularly by civil society organizations. The secretariat coordinates the formulation of projects included in the programs, oversees its implementation. The GEF CEO and Chairperson, Dr. Naoko Ishii heads the Secretariat, the GEF Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel provides technical and scientific advice on the GEF’s policies and projects. An independent GEF Evaluation Office is also in Washington, D. C. and its goal is to improve accountability of GEF projects and programs and to promote learning, feedback, and knowledge sharing. GEF Agencies are responsible for creating project proposals and for managing GEF projects, GEF Agencies play key roles in managing GEF projects on the ground. More specifically GEF Agencies assist eligible governments and NGOs in the development, implementation, GEF Agencies are requested to focus their involvement in GEF project activities within their respective comparative advantages. The United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Environment Program, in 1992, at the Rio Earth Summit, the GEF was restructured and moved out of the World Bank system to become a permanent, separate institution. The decision to make the GEF an independent organization enhanced the involvement of developing countries in the decision-making process, since 1994, however, the World Bank has served as the Trustee of the GEF Trust Fund and provided administrative services
34.
United States Agency for International Development
–
The United States Agency for International Development is the United States Government agency which is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid. President John F. Kennedy created USAID from its predecessor agencies in 1961 by executive order, USAIDs programs are authorized by the Congress in the Foreign Assistance Act, which the Congress supplements through directions in annual funding appropriation acts and other legislation. Although it is technically an independent agency, USAID operates subject to the policy guidance of the President, Secretary of State. USAID operates in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, USAIDs decentralized network of resident field missions is drawn on to manage U. S. Government programs in low-income countries for a range of purposes. Disaster relief Poverty relief Technical cooperation on issues, including the environment U. S. bilateral interests Socioeconomic development Some of the U. S. Governments earliest foreign aid programs provided relief in crises created by war, in 1915, USG assistance through the Commission for Relief of Belgium headed by Herbert Hoover prevented starvation in Belgium after the German invasion. After 1945, the European Recovery Program championed by Secretary of State George Marshall helped rebuild war-torn Western Europe, USAID manages relief efforts after wars and natural disasters through its Office of U. S Foreign Disaster Assistance in Washington D. C. Privately funded U. S. NGOs and the U. S. military also play roles in disaster relief overseas. After 1945, many newly independent countries needed assistance to relieve the chronic deprivation afflicting their low-income populations, USAID and its predecessor agencies have continuously provided poverty relief in many forms, including assistance to public health and education services targeted at the poorest. USAID has also helped manage food aid provided by the U. S. Department of Agriculture, in addition, USAID provides funding to NGOs to supplement private donations in relieving chronic poverty. The USG has specialized agencies dealing with such areas, such as the Centers for Disease Control, USAIDs special ability to administer programs in low-income countries supports these and other USG agencies international work on global concerns. Among these global interests, environmental issues attract high attention, USAID assists projects that conserve and protect threatened land, water, forests, and wildlife. USAID also assists projects to reduce emissions and to build resilience to the risks associated with global climate change. U. S. environmental regulation laws require that programs sponsored by USAID should be economically and environmentally sustainable. To support U. S. geopolitical interests, USAID is often called upon to administer exceptional financial grants to allies. Also, when U. S. troops are in the field, in these circumstances, USAID may be directed by specially appointed diplomatic officials of the State Department, as has been done in Afghanistan and Pakistan during operations against al-Qaeda. U. S. commercial interests are served by U. S. laws requirement that most goods, USAID is also sometimes called upon to support projects of U. S. constituents that have exceptional interest. To help low-income nations achieve self-sustaining socioeconomic development, USAID assists them in improving management of their own resources, USAIDs assistance for socioeconomic development mainly provides technical advice, training, scholarships, commodities, and financial assistance
35.
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
–
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono GCB AC DUT is an Indonesian politician and retired Army general officer who was the President of Indonesia from 2004 to 2014. He is currently the chairman of the Democratic Party of Indonesia and President of the Assembly, Yudhoyono won the 2004 presidential election, defeating incumbent President Megawati Sukarnoputri. Widely known in Indonesia by his initials SBY, he was sworn into office on 20 October 2004 and he was born in Tremas, a village in Arjosari, Pacitan Regency, East Java, to a lower-middle-class family and is the son of Raden Soekotjo and Siti Habibah. His name is Javanese, with Sanskrit roots, Susilo comes from the words su-, meaning good and -sila, meaning behaviour, conduct or moral. Bambang is a male name in Javanese, meaning knight. Yudhoyono comes from the words yuddha -meaning battle, fight, and yana, thus his name roughly translates to well behaved knight. Yudhoyono had wanted to join the army since he was a child, in school, he developed a reputation as an academic achiever, excelling in writing poems, short stories, and play-acting. Yudhoyono was also talented in music and sport, reflected when he and his friends established a club called Klub Rajawali. When he was in grade, Yudhoyono visited the Indonesian Armed Forces Academy. After seeing the training there and perhaps inspired by his own fathers career, Yudhoyono became determined to join Indonesian Armed Forces. Yudhoyono planned to enlist after graduating high school in 1968, however. There, he was able to prepare everything for the phase of his education at Akabri. Yudhoyono officially entered AKABRI in 1970 after passing the test in Bandung, Yudhoyono spent three years at Indonesian Armed Forces Academy and became the Commander of the Cadet Corps Division there. He graduated from AKABRI as second lieutenant in 1973, and as the best graduate of the year, after graduating, Yudhoyono joined the Army Strategic Reserve and became a platoon commander in the 330th Airborne Battalion. Aside from leading his troops, Yudhoyono was also tasked with giving the battalion soldiers lessons on general knowledge, Yudhoyonos proficiency in English was one of the reasons why he was sent to the United States to undertake the Airborne and Ranger Courses at Fort Benning in 1975. Yudhoyono returned to Indonesia in 1976 where he became a commander in the 305th Battalion. Yudhoyono had several tours of duty there and, like many other Indonesian officers involved in the occupation of East Timor, was accused of committing war crimes, however, Yudhoyono has never been charged with any specific act. From East Timor, Yudhoyono became a platoon commander in 1977, an operations officer for an airborne brigade from 1977 to 1978
36.
Foraminifera
–
All but perhaps a very few are aquatic and most are marine, the majority of which live on or within the seafloor sediment while a smaller variety are floaters in the water column at various depths. A few are known from freshwater or brackish conditions and some species have been identified through molecular analysis of small subunit ribosomal DNA. Foraminifera typically produce a test, or shell, which can have one or multiple chambers. These shells are made of calcium carbonate or agglutinated sediment particles. Over 50,000 species are recognized, both living and fossil and they are usually less than 1 mm in size, but some are much larger, the largest species reaching up to 20 cm. The word foraminifera is the present day plural and singular form of the derived from Latin. Foraminifera was initially informalized ca.1836 by not capitalizing the first letter, the taxonomic position of the Foraminifera has varied since their recognition as protozoa by Schultze in 1854, there referred to as an order, Foraminiferida. Loeblich and Tappan reranked Foraminifera as a class as it is now commonly regarded, the Foraminifera have typically been included in the Protozoa, or in the similar Protoctista or Protist kingdom. Compelling evidence, based primarily on molecular phylogenetics, exists for their belonging to a group within the Protozoa known as the Rhizaria. The Rhizaria are problematic, as they are called a supergroup. Cavalier-Smith defines the Rhizaria as an infrakingdom within the kingdom Protozoa, some taxonomies put the Foraminifera in a phylum of their own, putting them on par with the amoeboid Sarcodina in which they had been placed. However, the relationships of the forams to the other groups. Foraminifera are closely related to testate amoebae, modern Foraminifera are primarily marine organisms, but living individuals have been found in brackish, freshwater and even terrestrial habitats. The majority of the species are benthic, and a further 40 morphospecies are planktonic and this count may, however, represent only a fraction of actual diversity, since many genetically discrepant species may be morphologically indistinguishable. A number of forams have unicellular algae as endosymbionts, from diverse lineages such as the algae, red algae, golden algae, diatoms. Some forams are kleptoplastic, retaining chloroplasts from ingested algae to conduct photosynthesis, the foraminiferal cell is divided into granular endoplasm and transparent ectoplasm from which a pseudopodial net may emerge through a single opening or through many perforations in the test. Individual pseudopods characteristically have small granules streaming in both directions, the pseudopods are used for locomotion, anchoring, and in capturing food, which consists of small organisms such as diatoms or bacteria. The foraminiferal life-cycle involves an alternation between haploid and diploid generations, although they are similar in form
37.
Stomatopod
–
Mantis shrimps, or stomatopods, are marine crustaceans of the order Stomatopoda. They branched from other members of the class Malacostraca around 400 Mya, Mantis shrimps typically grow to around 10 centimetres in length. A few can reach up to 38 cm, the largest mantis shrimp ever caught had a length of 46 cm and was caught in the Indian River near Fort Pierce, Florida, in the United States. A mantis shrimps carapace covers only the part of the head. Varieties range from shades of brown to vivid colours, as there are more than 450 species of mantis shrimp and they are among the most important predators in many shallow, tropical, and sub-tropical marine habitats. However, despite being common, they are understood as many species spend most of their life tucked away in burrows. In captivity, some species can break aquarium glass with a single strike. Around 400 species of mantis shrimp have currently been discovered worldwide and these aggressive and typically solitary sea creatures spend most of their time hiding in rock formations or burrowing intricate passageways in the sea bed. They rarely exit their homes except to feed and relocate, and can be active during the day, nocturnal, or active primarily at twilight, unlike most crustaceans, they sometimes hunt, chase, and kill prey. Although some live in temperate seas, most species live in tropical and subtropical waters in the Indian, the mantis shrimps second pair of thoracic appendages has been adapted for powerful close-range combat with high modifications. A considerable amount of damage can be inflicted after impact with these robust and this club is further divided into three sub-regions, the impact region, the periodic region, and the striated region. The inner aspect of the portion of the appendage can also possess a sharp edge. Spearers, on the hand, are armed with spiny appendages topped with barbed tips, used to stab. Both types strike by rapidly unfolding and swinging their raptorial claws at the prey, in smashers, these two weapons are employed with blinding quickness, with an acceleration of 10,400 g and speeds of 23 m/s from a standing start. Because they strike so rapidly, they generate vapor-filled bubbles in the water between the appendage and the striking surface—known as cavitation bubbles, even if the initial strike misses the prey, the resulting shock wave can be enough to stun or kill. The impact can also produce sonoluminescence from the collapsing bubble and this will produce a very small amount of light within the collapsing bubble, although the light is too weak and short-lived to be detected without advanced scientific equipment. The light emission probably has no biological significance but is rather a side-effect of the rapid snapping motion, pistol shrimp produce this effect in a very similar manner. Smashers use this ability to attack snails, crabs, molluscs, spearers, on the other hand, prefer the meat of softer animals, like fish, which their barbed claws can more easily slice and snag
38.
Oceanography
–
Oceanography, also known as oceanology, is the study of the physical and the biological aspects of the ocean. Paleoceanography studies the history of the oceans in the geologic past, humans first acquired knowledge of the waves and currents of the seas and oceans in pre-historic times. Observations on tides were recorded by Aristotle and Strabo, early exploration of the oceans was primarily for cartography and mainly limited to its surfaces and of the animals that fishermen brought up in nets, though depth soundings by lead line were taken. Although Juan Ponce de León in 1513 first identified the Gulf Stream, Franklin measured water temperatures during several Atlantic crossings and correctly explained the Gulf Streams cause. Franklin and Timothy Folger printed the first map of the Gulf Stream in 1769-1770, information on the currents of the Pacific Ocean was gathered by explorers of the late 18th century, including James Cook and Louis Antoine de Bougainville. James Rennell wrote the first scientific textbooks on oceanography, detailing the current flows of the Atlantic, during a voyage around the Cape of Good Hope in 1777, he mapped the banks and currents at the Lagullas. He was also the first to understand the nature of the intermittent current near the Isles of Scilly, Robert FitzRoy published a four-volume report of the Beagles three voyages. In 1841–1842 Edward Forbes undertook dredging in the Aegean Sea that founded marine ecology, the first superintendent of the United States Naval Observatory, Matthew Fontaine Maury devoted his time to the study of marine meteorology, navigation, and charting prevailing winds and currents. His 1855 textbook Physical Geography of the Sea was one of the first comprehensive oceanography studies, many nations sent oceanographic observations to Maury at the Naval Observatory, where he and his colleagues evaluated the information and distributed the results worldwide. Despite all this, human knowledge of the oceans remained confined to the topmost few fathoms of the water, almost nothing was known of the ocean depths. The Royal Navys efforts to all of the worlds coastlines in the mid-19th century reinforced the vague idea that most of the ocean was very deep. As exploration ignited both popular and scientific interest in the regions and Africa, so too did the mysteries of the unexplored oceans. The seminal event in the founding of the science of oceanography was the 1872-76 Challenger expedition. As the first true oceanographic cruise, this laid the groundwork for an entire academic. In response to a recommendation from the Royal Society, The British Government announced in 1871 an expedition to explore worlds oceans, charles Wyville Thompson and Sir John Murray launched the Challenger expedition. The Challenger, leased from the Royal Navy, was modified for scientific work, under the scientific supervision of Thomson, Challenger travelled nearly 70,000 nautical miles surveying and exploring. On her journey circumnavigating the globe,492 deep sea soundings,133 bottom dredges,151 open water trawls and 263 serial water temperature observations were taken, around 4,700 new species of marine life were discovered. The result was the Report Of The Scientific Results of the Exploring Voyage of H. M. S, Murray, who supervised the publication, described the report as the greatest advance in the knowledge of our planet since the celebrated discoveries of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries
39.
International Standard Book Number
–
The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
40.
Coral reef
–
Coral reefs are diverse underwater ecosystems held together by calcium carbonate structures secreted by corals. Coral reefs are built by colonies of tiny animals found in waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups, the polyps belong to a group of animals known as Cnidaria, which also includes sea anemones and jellyfish. Unlike sea anemones, corals secrete hard carbonate exoskeletons which support, most reefs grow best in warm, shallow, clear, sunny and agitated waters. Often called rainforests of the sea, shallow coral reefs form some of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth, paradoxically, coral reefs flourish even though they are surrounded by ocean waters that provide few nutrients. They are most commonly found at depths in tropical waters. Coral reefs deliver ecosystem services to tourism, fisheries and shoreline protection, the annual global economic value of coral reefs is estimated between US$29. 8-375 billion. However, coral reefs are fragile ecosystems, partly because they are sensitive to water temperature. Most of the coral reefs we can see today were formed after the last glacial period when melting ice caused the sea level to rise and this means that most modern coral reefs are less than 10,000 years old. As communities established themselves on the shelves, the reefs grew upwards, Reefs that rose too slowly could become drowned reefs. They are covered by so much water there was insufficient light. Coral reefs are found in the sea away from continental shelves, around oceanic islands. The vast majority of islands are volcanic in origin. The few exceptions have tectonic origins where plate movements have lifted the deep ocean floor on the surface. In 1842 in his first monograph, The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs, Charles Darwin set out his theory of the formation of atoll reefs and he theorized uplift and subsidence of the Earths crust under the oceans formed the atolls. Darwin’s theory sets out a sequence of three stages in atoll formation and it starts with a fringing reef forming around an extinct volcanic island as the island and ocean floor subsides. As the subsidence continues, the reef becomes a barrier reef. Darwin predicted that underneath each lagoon would be a bed rock base, where the level of the underlying earth allows, the corals grow around the coast to form what he called fringing reefs, and can eventually grow out from the shore to become a barrier reef
41.
Scleractinia
–
Scleractinia, also called stony corals or hard corals, are marine animals in the phylum Cnidaria that live on the seabed and build themselves a hard skeleton. The individual animals are known as polyps and have a cylindrical body crowned by a disc with a mouth. Although some species are solitary, most are colonial, the founding polyp settles on the seabed and starts to secrete calcium carbonate to protect its soft body. Solitary corals can be as much as 25 cm across but in colonial species the polyps are only a few millimetres in diameter. These polyps reproduce by budding but remain attached to other, forming a multi-polyp colony with a common skeleton. The shape and appearance of each coral colony depends not only on the species, but also on its location, depth, many shallow-water corals contain symbiont unicellular organisms known as zooxanthellae within their tissues. These give their colour to the coral which thus may vary in hue depending on species of symbiont it contains. Stony corals are related to sea anemones, and like them are armed with stinging cells known as cnidocytes. Corals reproduce both sexually and asexually, most species release gametes into the sea where fertilisation takes place, and the planula larvae drift as part of the plankton, but a few species brood their eggs. Asexual reproduction is mostly by fragmentation, when part of a colony becomes detached, stony corals occur in all the worlds oceans. Hermatypic corals are colonial and form part of reef structures. Other corals may be solitary or colonial and do not form reefs, stony corals first appeared in the Middle Triassic, but their relationship to the tabulate and rugose corals of the Paleozoic is currently unresolved. Much of the framework of coral reefs is formed by scleractinians. Stony corals numbers are expected to decline due to the effects of global warming, scleractinian corals may be solitary or colonial. Colonies can reach considerable size, consisting of a number of individual polyps. Stony corals are members of the class Anthozoa and like other members of the group, the individual animals are known as polyps and have a cylindrical body crowned by an oral disc surrounded by a ring of tentacles. The base of the polyp secretes the stony material from which the skeleton is formed. The body wall of the consists of mesoglea sandwiched between two layers of epidermis
42.
Blue coral
–
Blue coral is a species of colonial coral and the only species in the family Helioporidae and the only Octocoral known to produce a massive skeleton. This skeleton is formed of aragonite, similar to that of scleractinia, individual polyps live in tubes within the skeleton and are connected by a thin layer of tissue over the outside of the skeleton. It was described by Pallas in 1766, the blue coral is the only extant Octocoral with a massive skeleton, which is composed of fibrocrystalline aragonite. It is a hermatypic zooxanthellaete species with blue or grey-grey polyps located within its skeleton. Its colonies are either columnar, plates or branched and it is a tolerant species and is used in marine aquariums. Iron salts give the skeleton of Heliopora coerulea its unique color, as such, it is fairly abundant within paleontology, with fossils indicating the species has remained unchanged since the Cretaceous. Despite being common in areas and having a large range. Its largest colony is believed to be located off Ishigaki Island in the Yaeyama Islands and it is found in reefs with depths below 2 metres, or reefs exposed to waves, flats, intertidal regions, and sometimes in marginal habitats. The blue coral is listed under CITES Appendixes I and II, Heliopora coerulea was described by Pallas in 1766
43.
Brain coral
–
Brain coral is a common name given to corals in the family Mussidae, so called due to their generally spheroid shape and grooved surface which resembles a brain. Brain corals are found in shallow coral reefs in all the worlds oceans. They are part of the phylum Cnidaria, in a class called Anthozoa or flower animals, the lifespan of the largest brain corals is 900 years. Colonies can grow as large as 1.8 m or more in height, brain corals extend their tentacles to catch food at night. During the day, they use their tentacles for protection by wrapping them over the grooves on their surface, the surface is hard and offers good protection against fish or hurricanes. Branching corals, such as corals, grow more rapidly. Like other genera of corals, brain corals feed on small drifting animals, the behavior of one of the most common genera, Favia, is semiaggressive, it will sting other corals with its extended sweeper tentacles during the night. The genus and species have not been defined through the scientific classification segment
44.
Catalaphyllia
–
Catalaphyllia jardinei, commonly known as elegance coral, is a large polyp stony coral from the western Pacific Ocean. It is the member of the monotypic genus Catalaphyllia. It was first described by William Saville-Kent in 1893 as Pectinia jardinei, because of its unique and beautiful look, this coral is popular in reef tanks. It is a species collected in large quantities from the wild for the aquarium trade. This coral has very large, visible polyps and they develop on a large, branching coralite skeleton, each polyp sporting unusually large, long tendrils, and a large, fleshy oral disc. It can come in colours, fluorescent green, lime green. Catalaphyllia can reproduce sexually, but also asexually by budding new branches that drop off to form satellite colonies, like most photosynthetic coral, this species hosts zooxanthellae, dinoflagellates that convert sunlight into sugar for energy. Like a subset of other corals, it also has a mouth that it uses to ingest bits of food gathered by its large tendrils. The behavior and adaptation are similar to those of sea anemones and this coral commonly lives on reefs in the western and central Pacific Ocean, as well as occasionally in the eastern Indian Ocean. Its range extends as far north as Japan, and south to northern Australia and it can be present on both the shallow and midwater parts of a reef, and prefers water that is strongly agitated or exposed to significant currents. It is commonly seated in sandy areas, rather than directly on rocks
45.
Elkhorn coral
–
Elkhorn coral is considered to be one of the most important reef-building corals in the Caribbean, although current populations have been decimated by white band disease and have yet to fully recover. This species is complex with many large branches. The coral structure resembles that of elk antlers and these branches create habitats for many other reef species, such as lobsters, parrot-fish, snapper shrimps and other reef fish. Elkhorn coral colonies are incredibly fast-growing, with a growth rate of 5 to 10 cm per year. The color of coral species ranges from brown to a yellowish-brown as a result of the symbiotic zooxanthellae living inside the tissue of this coral species. Zooxanthellae are a type of algae which photosynthesize to provide the coral with nutrients, the zooxanthellae are also capable of removing waste products from the coral. The degree to which local stands reproduce by fragmentation varies across the Caribbean, sexual reproduction occurs once a year in August or September when coral colonies release millions of gametes by broadcast spawning. Elkhorn coral provides many homes for sealife and great scuba trips, Elkhorn coral exist in the Caribbean, the Bahamas, and Florida Keys. Its range reaches as far north as Biscayne National Park, Florida, however, at least in part as a result of climate change, the range of elkhorn coral has expanded northward along the Florida peninsula and into the northern parts of the Gulf of Mexico. Elkhorn corals are found primarily in shallow waters with temperatures between 26 and 30 °C, and with significant water movement. They are one of the most abundant species in waters ranging from 1 to 5 m deep, Elkhorn coral was once one of the most abundant species of coral in the Caribbean and the Florida Keys. Since 1980, an estimated 90-95% of elkhorn coral has been lost, threats include disease, coral bleaching, predation, climate change, storm damage, and human activity. All of these factors have created an effect that greatly diminishes the survival. Natural recovery of coral is a process, and may never occur with this species because so many factors inhibit its survival. Diseases that affect elkhorn coral include white pox disease, white band disease, white pox disease, which only affects elkhorn coral, is caused by a fecal enterobacterium, Serratia marcescens. The disease is contagious and commonly moves from one colony to its nearest neighbor. White pox creates white lesions on the skeleton and results in an average tissue loss of 2.5 cm2 per day. White band disease and black band disease have also reduced the abundance of elkhorn coral
46.
Hermatypic coral
–
Hermatypic corals are those corals in the order Scleractinia which build reefs by depositing hard calcareous material for their skeletons, forming the stony framework of the reef. Corals that do not contribute to reef development are referred to as ahermatypic species. Many reef-forming corals contain symbiotic zooxanthellae which contribute to their nutritional needs, the term hermatypic is sometimes misused, being assumed to apply to all zooxanthellate corals. However, there are zooxanthellae in many non reef-forming corals, further, some hermatypic corals live at depths to which light cannot penetrate, they form deep-water reefs but do not harbour the symbionts
.jpg)
.jpg)
