1.
International Union for Conservation of Nature
–
The International Union for Conservation of Nature is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. It is involved in gathering and analysis, research, field projects, advocacy, lobbying. IUCNs mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve nature and to ensure that any use of resources is equitable. Over the past decades, IUCN has widened its focus beyond conservation ecology and now incorporates issues related to equality, poverty alleviation. Unlike other international NGOs, IUCN does not itself aim to mobilize the public in support of nature conservation and it tries to influence the actions of governments, business and other stakeholders by providing information and advice, and through lobbying and partnerships. The organization is best known to the public for compiling and publishing the IUCN Red List. IUCN has a membership of over 1200 governmental and non-governmental organizations, some 11,000 scientists and experts participate in the work of IUCN commissions on a voluntary basis. It employs approximately 1000 full-time staff in more than 60 countries and its headquarters are in Gland, Switzerland. IUCN has observer and consultative status at the United Nations, and plays a role in the implementation of several conventions on nature conservation. It was involved in establishing the World Wide Fund for Nature, in the past, IUCN has been criticized for placing the interests of nature over those of indigenous peoples. In recent years, its relations with the business sector have caused controversy. It was previously called the International Union for Protection of Nature, establishment In 1947, the Swiss League for the Protection of Nature organised an international conference on the protection of nature in Brunnen. It is considered to be the first government-organized non-governmental organization, the initiative to set up the new organisation came from UNESCO and especially from its first Director General, the British biologist Julian Huxley. At the time of its founding IUPN was the international organisation focusing on the entire spectrum of nature conservation Early years. Its secretariat was located in Brussels and its first work program focused on saving species and habitats, increasing and applying knowledge, advancing education, promoting international agreements and promoting conservation. Providing a solid base for conservation action was the heart of all activities. IUPN and UNESCO were closely associated and they jointly organized the 1949 Conference on Protection of Nature. In preparation for this conference a list of endangered species was drawn up for the first time
2.
National park
–
A national park is a park in use for conservation purposes. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns, although individual nations designate their own national parks differently, there is a common idea, the conservation of wild nature for posterity and as a symbol of national pride. An international organization, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, although Yellowstone was not officially termed a national park in its establishing law, it was always termed such in practice and is widely held to be the first and oldest national park in the world. The first area to use national park in its legislation was the USs Mackinac Island. Australias Royal National Park, established in 1879, was the third official national park. In 1895 ownership of Mackinac Island was transferred to the State of Michigan as a state park, as a result, Australias Royal National Park is by some considerations the second oldest national park now in existence. The largest national park in the meeting the IUCN definition is the Northeast Greenland National Park. According to the IUCN,6,555 national parks worldwide met its criteria in 2006, IUCN is still discussing the parameters of defining a national park. National parks are almost always open to visitors, in 1971, these criteria were further expanded upon leading to more clear and defined benchmarks to evaluate a national park. In 1810, the English poet William Wordsworth described the Lake District as a sort of property, in which every man has a right and interest who has an eye to perceive. It was known as Hot Springs Reservation, but no authority was established. Federal control of the area was not clearly established until 1877, John Muir is today referred to as the Father of the National Parks due to his work in Yosemite. He published two articles in The Century Magazine, which formed the base for the subsequent legislation. President Abraham Lincoln signed an Act of Congress on July 1,1864, ceding the Yosemite Valley, according to this bill, private ownership of the land in this area was no longer possible. The state of California was designated to manage the park for use, resort. Leases were permitted for up to ten years and the proceeds were to be used for conservation, a public discussion followed this first legislation of its kind and there was a heated debate over whether the government had the right to create parks. The perceived mismanagement of Yosemite by the Californian state was the reason why Yellowstone at its establishment six years later was put under national control, in 1872, Yellowstone National Park was established as the United States first national park, being also the worlds first national park. In some European countries, however, national protection and nature reserves already existed, such as Drachenfels, Yellowstone was part of a federally governed territory
3.
Huelva
–
Huelva is a city in southwestern Spain, the capital of the province of Huelva in the autonomous region of Andalusia. It is located along the Gulf of Cádiz coast, at the confluence of the Odiel, the city has been inhabited since 3000 BC. According to the 2010 census, the city had a population of 149,410, Huelva is home to Recreativo de Huelva, the oldest football club in Spain. A maritime town between the rivers Anas and Baetis, it was situated on the estuary of the River Luxia, the city may be the site of Tartessus, it was called Onoba by the Phoenicians. The Greeks kept the name and rendered it Ὄνοβα and it was in the hands of the Turdetani at the time of conquest by Rome, and before the conquest it issued silver coins with Iberian legends. It was called both Onoba Aestuaria or Onuba during Roman times, or, simply, Onoba, the city was incorporated into the Roman province of Hispania Baetica. The Arabs then called it Walbah and ruled between 714-1250 and it suffered substantial damage in the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. There are still some Roman remains, the city had a mint, and many coins have been found there bearing the name of the town as Onuba. Modern inhabitants are called Onubenses in Spanish, part of a large wooden wheel that was originally used to drain a copper mine in Huelva was discovered in the late nineteenth century. Dating to the Roman times, it was donated by the British mining company Rio Tinto to the British Museum in 1889, mines in the countryside send copper and pyrite to the port for export. From about 1873, the most important company in the area was Rio Tinto, on 4 February 1888, the Pavi Regiment of the Spanish Army opened fire on demonstrators at the village plaza of Rio Tinto. Historians estimate the number of deaths between 100 and 200, during World War II, the city was a hub of espionage activities led by members of the large British and German communities. German activity centered on reporting British shipping moving in and out of the Atlantic, most famously, the city was the location where Operation Mincemeat allowed a body carrying false information to wash ashore. The local football club, Recreativo de Huelva, is the oldest in Spain and it was founded in 1889 by workers of Rio Tinto Group, a British mining company. The Port of Huelva is divided in two sectors, the port and the outer port, The Inner Port. Constructed in 1972, the East Wharf, replaced constructed harbour facilities of inferior quality between 1900 and 1910, at the moment it is the wharf used for smaller traffic including tourist boats. The Outer Port was built in 1965, and is located to the south of the River Tinto, Port Huelva is home to Grupo Damas, a provincial bus company. Huelva´s train station is now a shadow of its former self, there are no trains to Portugal
4.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
5.
World Heritage Site
–
A World Heritage Site is a landmark which has been officially recognized by the United Nations, specifically by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Sites are selected on the basis of having cultural, historical, scientific or some form of significance. UNESCO regards these sites as being important to the interests of humanity. The programme catalogues, names, and conserves sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common culture, under certain conditions, listed sites can obtain funds from the World Heritage Fund. The program was founded with the Convention Concerning the Protection of the Worlds Cultural and Natural Heritage, since then,192 state parties have ratified the convention, making it one of the most adhered to international instruments. As of July 2016,1052 sites are listed,814 cultural,203 natural, in 1959, the governments of Egypt and Sudan requested UNESCO to assist their countries to protect and rescue the endangered monuments and sites. In 1960, the Director-General of UNESCO launched an appeal to the Member States for an International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia, the campaign, which ended in 1980, was considered a success. The project cost $80 million, about $40 million of which was collected from 50 countries, the projects success led to other safeguarding campaigns, saving Venice and its lagoon in Italy, the ruins of Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan, and the Borobodur Temple Compounds in Indonesia. UNESCO then initiated, with the International Council on Monuments and Sites, the United States initiated the idea of cultural conservation with nature conservation. The International Union for Conservation of Nature developed similar proposals in 1968, the Convention came into force on 17 December 1975. As of June 2016, it has been ratified by 192 states, including 188 UN member states plus the Cook Islands, the Holy See, Niue, a country must first list its significant cultural and natural sites, the result is called the Tentative List. A country may not nominate sites that have not been first included on the Tentative List, next, it can place sites selected from that list into a Nomination File. The Nomination File is evaluated by the International Council on Monuments and Sites and these bodies then make their recommendations to the World Heritage Committee. There are ten selection criteria – a site must meet at least one of them to be included on the list, up to 2004, there were six criteria for cultural heritage and four criteria for natural heritage. In 2005, this was modified so there is now only one set of ten criteria. Nominated sites must be of outstanding value and meet at least one of the ten criteria. Thus, the Geneva Convention treaty promulgates, Article 53, PROTECTION OF CULTURAL OBJECTS AND OF PLACES OF WORSHIP. There are 1,052 World Heritage Sites located in 165 States Party, of these,814 are cultural,203 are natural and 35 are mixed properties
6.
Ramsar Convention
–
The Ramsar Convention is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands. It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands and it is named after the city of Ramsar in Iran, where the Convention was signed in 1971. The most recent COP12 was held in Punta del Este, Uruguay, cOP13 will take place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in 2018. The List of Wetlands of International Importance included 2,231 Ramsar Sites in March 2016 covering over 2.1 million square kilometres. The country with the highest number of Sites is the United Kingdom with 170, the Ramsar Sites Information Service is a searchable database which provides information on each Ramsar Site. As of 2016 there are 18 Transboundary Ramsar Sites, as of 2016 there are 15 Ramsar Regional Initiatives covering regions of the Mediterranean, Asia, Africa and South America. The Ramsar Convention works closely with six other known as International Organization Partners. The IOPs also participate regularly as observers in all meetings of the Conference of the Parties and as members of the Scientific. Conference of the Parties Conference of the Parties is the Conventions governing body consisting of all governments that have ratified the treaty and this ultimate authority reviews progress under the Convention, identifies new priorities, and sets work plans for members. The COP can also make amendments to the Convention, create expert advisory bodies, review progress reports by member nations, and collaborate with other international organizations and agreements. The Standing Committee The Standing Committee is the executive body which represents the COP between its triennial meetings, within the framework of the decisions made by the COP. The Contracting Parties that are members of the Standing Committee are elected by each meeting of the COP to serve for the three years until the next one, the Secretariat The Secretariat carries out the day-to-day coordination of the Convention’s activities. It is based at the headquarters of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature in Gland, Switzerland, the 2nd of February each year is World Wetlands Day, marking the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971. Established to raise awareness about the value of wetlands for humanity, in 2015 World Wetlands Day was celebrated in 59 countries
7.
Andalusia
–
Andalusia is an autonomous community in southern Spain. It is the most populated and the second largest in area of the communities in the country. The Andalusian autonomous community is recognised as historical nationality. The territory is divided into eight provinces, Almería, Cádiz, Córdoba, Granada, Huelva, Jaén, Málaga and its capital is the city of Seville. Andalusia is the only European region with both Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines, the small British overseas territory of Gibraltar shares a three-quarter-mile land border with the Andalusian province of Cádiz at the eastern end of the Strait of Gibraltar. The main mountain ranges of Andalusia are the Sierra Morena and the Baetic System, consisting of the Subbaetic and Penibaetic Mountains, in the north, the Sierra Morena separates Andalusia from the plains of Extremadura and Castile–La Mancha on Spains Meseta Central. To the south the geographic subregion of Upper Andalusia lies mostly within the Baetic System, the name Andalusia is derived from the Arabic word Al-Andalus. Including an intense relationship with Naples, Italy, Andalusia has been a traditionally agricultural region, compared to the rest of Spain and the rest of Europe. However, the growth of the community especially in the sectors of industry and services was above average in Spain, the region has, however, a rich culture and a strong cultural identity. Many cultural phenomena that are seen internationally as distinctively Spanish are largely or entirely Andalusian in origin and these include flamenco and, to a lesser extent, bullfighting and Hispano-Moorish architectural styles. Andalusias hinterland is the hottest area of Europe, with cities like Córdoba, Late evening temperatures can sometimes stay around 35 °C until close to midnight, with daytime highs of over 40 °C common. Seville also has the highest average temperature in mainland Spain and mainland Europe. Its present form is derived from the Arabic name for Muslim Iberia. However, the etymology of the name Al-Andalus is disputed, the Spanish place name Andalucía was introduced into the Spanish languages in the 13th century under the form el Andalucía. This was a Castilianization of Al-Andalusiya, the form of the Arabic language al-Andalus. The etymology of al-Andalus is itself somewhat debated, but in fact it entered the Arabic language before this came under Muslim rule. Like the Arabic term al-Andalus, in historical contexts the Spanish term Andalucía or the English term Andalusia do not necessarily refer to the territory designated by these terms today. To designate the territories the Christians had regained by that time in the Guadalquivir valley and in the Kingdoms of Granada, in a document from 1253, Alfonso X styled himself Rey de Castilla, León y de toda Andalucía
8.
Spain
–
By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
9.
Province of Huelva
–
Huelva is a province of southern Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is bordered by Portugal, the provinces of Badajoz, Seville, and Cádiz, and its population is 483,792, of whom about 30% live in the capital, and its population density is 47. 67/km². The economy is based on agriculture and mining, the famous Rio Tinto mines have been worked since before 1000 BC, and were the major source of copper for the Roman Empire. As an indication of the scope of ancient mining, sixteen million tons of Roman slag have been identified at the Roman mines, british companies resumed large-scale mining in 1873, the district is the namesake of the Rio Tinto Group. The province contains Palos de la Frontera, and Moguer, where Christopher Columbus sailed out of on his first voyage in 1492, the delayed tourist development of the province has allowed better city planning than in other regions on the Spanish coast. The nuclei of Islantilla and Isla Canela are an example of this attempt to plan in a coherent form. Although in a scale in comparison to other regions, urban pressure continues. Previous developments that had little planning until recent time are El Rompido, El Portil, Mazagón, present development would not endure without tourist activity and its vacation housing. Other tourist areas are Nuevo Umbría, Nuevo Portil, Punta del Moral, La Antilla, the marismas de Isla Cristina, next to the towns of Ayamonte and Isla Cristina, are a protected nature reserve. Of note is Huelva‘s recent classification of “rural tourism” for its mountain range. Huelva has 388 MegaWatts of wind power,68 MW biomass power, a 220 kiloVolt transmission line has been constructed to send power to the main grid as well as improving connections between Spain and Portugal. List of municipalities in Huelva Official website Natural Park Doñana Natural Park Sierra de Aracena and Picos de Aroche
10.
Province of Seville
–
The Province of Seville is a province of southern Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is bordered by the provinces of Málaga, Cádiz in the south, Huelva in the west, Badajoz in the north, Seville is the provinces as well as the Andalusian autonomous communitys capital. Located on the bank of the Guadalquivir river, the city of Seville is the largest one in Andalusia. The former province of Andalusia was divided by the Moors into four separate kingdoms—Seville, Cordova, Jaen, Seville has the highest GDP among the provinces of Andalusia. The Provinces of Málaga and Cadiz are 2nd and 3rd respectively, the Port of Seville is of great economic importance to the province. The area of the province is 14,042 km² and its population is 1,914,958, of whom 40% live in the capital, Seville, and its population density is 125. 25/km². The province shares the Parque Nacional de Doñana with Huelva province and it also has the Sierra Norte de Sevilla Natural Park. The 177,484 hectares park is Andalusias largest protected area, the Guadalquivir crosses the province from east to west. Guadiana, Pinta and Xenil are other important rivers, the northern part of the province is mostly mountainous. Seville has a warm Mediterranean climate with an average temperature of 18.5 °C. Winters are generally mild while summers are hot, the maximum temperatures in summer often surpass 40°C. The locality of Écija is popularly known as the “Frying Pan of Andalusia” for its torrid summers, Écija is known for its high value of corn production. The province of Seville generates 1. 92% of the Spanish hotel movement, in terms of tourism the city of Seville is one of the leading cities in Andalusia, situated behind Barcelona and Madrid on a national level. In 208 B. C. the whole population of an outpost in the present town of Estepa burnt their houses, the capital city Seville is the worlds most dense one in terms of Baroque churches. The Socialist Workers Party won the elections in the province from 1982–2000, in comparison to other Spanish provinces, Seville is underdeveloped. List of municipalities in Seville Media related to Province of Seville at Wikimedia Commons
11.
Guadalquivir Marshes
–
The Guadalquivir Marshes are a natural region of marshy lowlands on the lower Guadalquivir River. The Las Marismas zone forms a part of the province of Seville in Andalucia. The area includes parts of the municipalities of Isla Mayor, Los Palacios y Villafranca, La Puebla del Río, Utrera, Las Cabezas de San Juan and Lebrija. Approximately two millennia ago the wetlands comprised a large lagoon and estuary, known as Lacus Ligustinus in Latin, over time the lake silted up, gradually transforming into marshland. Nowadays the Guadalquivir wetland regions main economic activity is agriculture, specialising in the cultivation of rice, an area of about 400 km² is devoted to rice farming with an annual output of about 310,000 metric tonnes, equating to approximately 40% of Spains rice production. The wetland zone acts as a zone between the human settlements of the Guadalquivir region and Doñana National Park, a protected area of marshland, streams. Gulf of Cádiz Sanlúcar de Barrameda Coto de Doñana Sanlúcar Central Bureau for Tourism
12.
Guadalquivir River
–
The Guadalquivir is the fifth longest river in the Iberian Peninsula and the second longest river with its entire length in Spain. The Guadalquivir river is the only navigable river in Spain. Currently it is navigable to Seville, but in Roman times it was navigable to Córdoba, the Guadalquivir is 657 km long and drains an area of about 58,000 km2. The marshy lowlands at the end are known as Las Marismas. The river borders Doñana National Park reserve, the modern name of Guadalquivir comes from the Arabic al-wādi al-kabīr, great valley. Classical Arabic Wadi is pronounced in present-day Maghrebi Arabic as Oued, there were a variety of names for the Guadalquivir in Classical and pre-Classical times. Baetis was its name to the Romans, and Greek geographers sometimes called it the river of Tartessus, before Phoenician, Greek, and Roman colonists arrived, two indigenous names for the river may have been Kertis/Certis and Rérkēs. The Phoenicians established the first anchorage grounds and dealt in precious metals, the ancient city of Tartessos was said to have been located at the mouth of the Guadalquivir, although its site has not yet been found. The Romans, whose name for the river was Betis Baetis, settled in Hispalis, in the 2nd century BC, by the 1st century BC Hispalis was a walled city with shipyards building longboats to carry wheat. In the 1st century AD the Hispalis was home to entire naval squadrons, ships sailed to Rome with various products, minerals, salt, fish, etc. During Arab rule between 712 and 1248, the Moors left a stone dock and the Torre del Oro, a reconstructed waterwheel is located at Córdoba on the Guadalquivir River. The Molino de la Albolafia waterwheel originally built by the Romans provided water for the nearby Alcázar gardens as well as being used to mill flour. After the discovery of the Americas, Seville became the centre of the Spanish Empire as its port monopolised the trans-oceanic trade. As navigation of the Guadalquivir River became increasingly difficult Sevilles trade monopoly was transferred to Cádiz, the construction of the artificial canal known as the Corta de Merlina in 1794 marked the beginning of the modernisation of the port of Seville. In late November 2010 the new Seville lock began to function as a regulator of the tides after five years of work, the Guadalquivir River Basin occupies an area of 63,085 km2 and has a long history of severe flooding. During the winter of 2010 heavy rainfall caused flooding in rural and agricultural areas in the provinces of Seville, Córdoba. The accumulated rainfall in the month of February was above 250 mm and this was below that recorded in Seville in the flood of 1963 when a volume of 6,000 m3/s. was reached. During August 2010 when flooding occurred in Jaén, Córdoba and Seville, the Doñana disaster, also known as the Aznalcóllar Disaster or Guadiamar Disaster was an industrial accident in Andalusia
13.
Atlantic Ocean
–
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the worlds oceans with a total area of about 106,460,000 square kilometres. It covers approximately 20 percent of the Earths surface and about 29 percent of its surface area. It separates the Old World from the New World, the Atlantic Ocean occupies an elongated, S-shaped basin extending longitudinally between Eurasia and Africa to the east, and the Americas to the west. The Equatorial Counter Current subdivides it into the North Atlantic Ocean, in contrast, the term Atlantic originally referred specifically to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and the sea off the Strait of Gibraltar and the North African coast. The Greek word thalassa has been reused by scientists for the huge Panthalassa ocean that surrounded the supercontinent Pangaea hundreds of years ago. The term Aethiopian Ocean, derived from Ancient Ethiopia, was applied to the Southern Atlantic as late as the mid-19th century, many Irish or British people refer to the United States and Canada as across the pond, and vice versa. The Black Atlantic refers to the role of ocean in shaping black peoples history. Irish migration to the US is meant when the term The Green Atlantic is used, the term Red Atlantic has been used in reference to the Marxian concept of an Atlantic working class, as well as to the Atlantic experience of indigenous Americans. Correspondingly, the extent and number of oceans and seas varies, the Atlantic Ocean is bounded on the west by North and South America. It connects to the Arctic Ocean through the Denmark Strait, Greenland Sea, Norwegian Sea, to the east, the boundaries of the ocean proper are Europe, the Strait of Gibraltar and Africa. In the southeast, the Atlantic merges into the Indian Ocean, the 20° East meridian, running south from Cape Agulhas to Antarctica defines its border. In the 1953 definition it extends south to Antarctica, while in later maps it is bounded at the 60° parallel by the Southern Ocean, the Atlantic has irregular coasts indented by numerous bays, gulfs, and seas. Including these marginal seas the coast line of the Atlantic measures 111,866 km compared to 135,663 km for the Pacific. Including its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers an area of 106,460,000 km2 or 23. 5% of the ocean and has a volume of 310,410,900 km3 or 23. 3%. Excluding its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers 81,760,000 km2 and has a volume of 305,811,900 km3, the North Atlantic covers 41,490,000 km2 and the South Atlantic 40,270,000 km2. The average depth is 3,646 m and the maximum depth, the bathymetry of the Atlantic is dominated by a submarine mountain range called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It runs from 87°N or 300 km south of the North Pole to the subantarctic Bouvet Island at 42°S, the MAR divides the Atlantic longitudinally into two halves, in each of which a series of basins are delimited by secondary, transverse ridges. The MAR reaches above 2000 m along most of its length, the MAR is a barrier for bottom water, but at these two transform faults deep water currents can pass from one side to the other
14.
Nature reserve
–
Nature reserves may be designated by government institutions in some countries, or by private landowners, such as charities and research institutions, regardless of nationality. Nature reserves fall into different IUCN categories depending on the level of protection afforded by local laws, early reservations often had a religious underpinning, such as the evil forest areas of West Africa which were forbidden to humans, who were threatened with spiritual attack if they went there. Sacred areas taboo from human entry to fishing and hunting are known by ancient cultures worldwide. The worlds first modern nature reserve was established in 1821 by the naturalist and explorer Charles Waterton around his estate in Walton Hall and he spent £9000 on the construction of a 3 mile long,9 ft tall wall to enclose his park from poachers. He tried to encourage birdlife by planting trees and hollowing out trunks for owls to nest in and he also invented artificial nest boxes to house starlings, jackdaws and sand martins and unsuccessfully attempted to introduce little owls from Italy. Drachenfels was protected as the first state-designated nature reserve in modern-day Germany, in Australia, a nature reserve is the title of a type of protected area used in the jurisdictions of the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Tasmania and Western Australia. The term “nature reserve” is defined in the relevant statutes used in those states and territories rather than by a national statute. As of 2014,1767 out of a total of 10339 protected areas listed within the Australian National Reserve System used the term “nature reserve in their names, in Brazil, nature reserves are classified as ecological stations or biological reserves by the National System of Conservation Units. Their main objectives are preserving fauna and flora and other natural attributes, visits are allowed only with permission, and only for educational or scientific purposes. Changes to the ecosystems in both types of reserve are allowed to restore and preserve the balance, biological diversity. Ecological stations are allowed to change the environment within strictly defined limits for the purpose of scientific research. A wildlife reserve in Brazil is also protected, and hunting is not allowed, there are 30 nature reserves in Egypt which cover 12% of Egyptian land. Those nature reserves were built according to the laws no, 102/1983 and 4/1994 for protection of the Egyptian nature reserve. Egypt announced a plan from to build 40 nature reserves from 1997 to 2017, to protect the natural resources. The largest nature reserve in Egypt is Gebel Elba in the southeast, denmark has three national parks and several nature reserves, some of them inside the national park areas. The largest single reserve is Hanstholm Nature Reserve, which covers 40 km2 and is part of Thy National Park, in Sweden there are 29 national parks. The first of them were established in 1909, in fact, Sweden was the first European country that established 9 national parks. There are almost 4,000 nature reserves in Sweden and they comprise about 85% of the surface that is protected by the Swedish Enironmental Code
15.
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
16.
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
17.
Europe
–
Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa
18.
Camargue
–
The Camargue is a natural region located south of Arles, France, between the Mediterranean Sea and the two arms of the Rhône River delta. The eastern arm is called the Grand Rhône, the one is the Petit Rhône. A further expanse of plain, the Petite Camargue, just to the west of the Petit Rhône, is in the département of Gard. Camargue was designated a Ramsar site as a Wetland of International Importance on 1 December 1986, with an area of over 930 km2, the Camargue is western Europes largest river delta. It is a vast plain comprising large brine lagoons or étangs, cut off from the sea by sandbars and these are in turn surrounded by a large cultivated area. Approximately a third of the Camargue is either lakes or marshland, the central area around the shoreline of the Étang de Vaccarès has been protected as a regional park since 1927, in recognition of its great importance as a haven for wild birds. In 2008, it was incorporated into the larger Parc naturel régional de Camargue, the Camargue is home to more than 400 species of birds and has been identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International. Its brine ponds provide one of the few European habitats for the greater flamingo, the marshes are also a prime habitat for many species of insects, notably some of the most ferocious mosquitos to be found anywhere in France. Camargue horses roam the extensive marshlands, along with Camargue cattle, the native flora of the Camargue have adapted to the saline conditions. Sea lavender and glasswort flourish, along with tamarisks and reeds, officially established as a regional park and nature reserve in 1970, the Parc Naturel Régional de Camargue covers 820 km². This territory is some of the most natural and most protected in all of Europe, a roadside museum provides background on flora, fauna, and the history of the area. Humans have lived in the Camargue for millennia, greatly affecting it with drainage schemes, dykes, rice paddies, much of the outer Camargue has been drained for agricultural purposes. The Camargue has a horse breed, the famous white Camarguais. Camargue horses are ridden by the gardians, who rear the cattle for fighting bulls for export to Spain. Many of these animals are raised in semi-feral conditions, allowed to roam through the Camargue within a manade and they are periodically rounded up for culling, medical treatment, or other events. Few towns of any size have developed in the Camargue and its capital is Arles, located at the extreme north of the delta where the Rhône forks into its two principal branches. Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer is the destination of the annual Romani pilgrimage for the veneration of Saint Sarah, the Camargue was exploited in the Middle-Ages by Cistercian and Benedictine monks. In the 16th-17th centuries, big estates, known locally as mas, were founded by rich landlords from Arles, at the end of the 18th century, they had the Rhône diked to protect the town and their properties from flooding
19.
Ecosystem
–
An ecosystem is a community of living organisms in conjunction with the nonliving components of their environment, interacting as a system. These biotic and abiotic components are regarded as linked together through nutrient cycles, as ecosystems are defined by the network of interactions among organisms, and between organisms and their environment, they can be of any size but usually encompass specific, limited spaces. Energy, water, nitrogen and soil minerals are other essential components of an ecosystem. The energy that flows through ecosystems is obtained primarily from the sun and it generally enters the system through photosynthesis, a process that also captures carbon from the atmosphere. By feeding on plants and on one another, animals play an important role in the movement of matter and they also influence the quantity of plant and microbial biomass present. Ecosystems are controlled both by external and internal factors, other external factors include time and potential biota. Ecosystems are dynamic entities—invariably, they are subject to disturbances and are in the process of recovering from some past disturbance. Ecosystems in similar environments that are located in different parts of the world can have different characteristics simply because they contain different species. The introduction of species can cause substantial shifts in ecosystem function. Internal factors not only control ecosystem processes but are controlled by them and are often subject to feedback loops. Other internal factors include disturbance, succession and the types of species present, although humans exist and operate within ecosystems, their cumulative effects are large enough to influence external factors like climate. Biodiversity affects ecosystem function, as do the processes of disturbance, classifying ecosystems into ecologically homogeneous units is an important step towards effective ecosystem management, but there is no single, agreed-upon way to do this. The term ecosystem was first used in 1935 in a publication by British ecologist Arthur Tansley, Tansley devised the concept to draw attention to the importance of transfers of materials between organisms and their environment. He later refined the term, describing it as The whole system, including not only the organism-complex, but also the whole complex of physical factors forming what we call the environment. Tansley regarded ecosystems not simply as natural units, but as mental isolates, Tansley later defined the spatial extent of ecosystems using the term ecotope. G. Raymond Lindeman took these ideas one step further to suggest that the flow of energy through a lake was the driver of the ecosystem. Most mineral nutrients, on the hand, are recycled within ecosystems. Ecosystems are controlled both by external and internal factors, external factors, also called state factors, control the overall structure of an ecosystem and the way things work within it, but are not themselves influenced by the ecosystem
20.
Bird
–
Birds, a subgroup of Reptiles, are the last living examples of Dinosaurs. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the 5 cm bee hummingbird to the 2.75 m ostrich. They rank as the class of tetrapods with the most living species, at ten thousand. Birds are the closest living relatives of crocodilians, the fossil record indicates that birds evolved from feathered ancestors within the theropod group of saurischian dinosaurs. True birds first appeared during the Cretaceous period, around 100 million years ago, Birds, especially those in the southern continents, survived this event and then migrated to other parts of the world while diversifying during periods of global cooling. Primitive bird-like dinosaurs that lie outside class Aves proper, in the broader group Avialae, have been found dating back to the mid-Jurassic period, around 170 million years ago. Birds have wings which are more or less developed depending on the species, the digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely adapted for flight. Some bird species of aquatic environments, particularly seabirds and some waterbirds, have evolved for swimming. Many species annually migrate great distances, Birds are social, communicating with visual signals, calls, and bird songs, and participating in such social behaviours as cooperative breeding and hunting, flocking, and mobbing of predators. The vast majority of species are socially monogamous, usually for one breeding season at a time, sometimes for years. Other species have breeding systems that are polygynous or, rarely, Birds produce offspring by laying eggs which are fertilised through sexual reproduction. They are usually laid in a nest and incubated by the parents, most birds have an extended period of parental care after hatching. Some birds, such as hens, lay eggs even when not fertilised, songbirds, parrots, and other species are popular as pets. Guano is harvested for use as a fertiliser, Birds prominently figure throughout human culture. About 120–130 species have become extinct due to human activity since the 17th century, human activity threatens about 1,200 bird species with extinction, though efforts are underway to protect them. Recreational birdwatching is an important part of the ecotourism industry, the first classification of birds was developed by Francis Willughby and John Ray in their 1676 volume Ornithologiae. Carl Linnaeus modified that work in 1758 to devise the taxonomic classification system currently in use, Birds are categorised as the biological class Aves in Linnaean taxonomy. Phylogenetic taxonomy places Aves in the dinosaur clade Theropoda, Aves and a sister group, the clade Crocodilia, contain the only living representatives of the reptile clade Archosauria
21.
Fallow deer
–
The fallow deer is a ruminant mammal belonging to the family Cervidae. Some taxonomers include the rarer Persian fallow deer as a subspecies, the male fallow deer is known as a buck, the female is a doe, and the young a fawn. Adult bucks are 140–160 cm long, 85–95 cm in height, and typically 60–100 kg in weight, does are 130–150 cm long, 75–85 cm in shoulder height. The largest bucks may measure 190 cm long and weigh 150 kg, Fawns are born in spring around 30 cm and weigh around 4.5 kg. Their lifespan is around 12–16 years, much variation occurs in the coat colour of the species, with four main variants, common, menil, melanistic, and leucistic – a genuine colour variety, not albinistic. The white is the lightest coloured, almost white, common and menil are darker, common, Chestnut coat with white mottles, it is most pronounced in summer with a much darker, unspotted coat in the winter. The light-coloured area around the tail is edged with black, the tail is light with a black stripe. Menil, Spots are more distinct than common in summer and no black is seen around the patch or on the tail. In winter, spots are still clear on a brown coat. Melanistic, All-year the coat is black shading to greyish brown, no light-coloured tail patch or spots are seen. Leucistic, Fawns are cream-coloured, adults become pure white, especially in winter, dark eyes and nose are seen, with no spots. Most herds consist of the common coat variation, yet animals of the menil coat variation are not rare, the melanistic variation is generally rarer, and white is very much rarer still, although wild New Zealand herds often have a high melanistic percentage. Only bucks have antlers, which are broad and shovel-shaped from three years, in the first two years, the antler is a single spike. They are grazing animals, their habitat is mixed woodland. Agile and fast in case of danger, fallow deer can run at a speed of 30 mph over short distances. Fallow deer can also make jumps up to 1.75 m high, the fallow deer is a Eurasian deer that was a native to most of Europe during the last interglacial. The fallow deer was introduced to the Victoria Island in the Province of Neuquén by billionaire Aaron Anchorena and he freed wildlife of European and Asian origin, making them common inhabitants of the island and competing for land and food with the native huemul and pudu deer. The fallow deer was spread across central Europe by the Romans, until recently, the Normans were thought to have introduced them to Great Britain for hunting in the royal forests
22.
Red deer
–
The red deer is one of the largest deer species. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Asia Minor, Iran, parts of western Asia and it also inhabits the Atlas Mountains region between Morocco and Tunisia in northwestern Africa, being the only species of deer to inhabit Africa. Red deer have been introduced to areas, including Australia, New Zealand, United States, Canada, Peru, Uruguay, Chile. In many parts of the world, the meat from red deer is used as a food source, Red deer are ruminants, characterized by a four-chambered stomach. Genetic evidence indicates the red deer as traditionally defined is a group, rather than a single species. It is probable that the ancestor of all red deer, including wapiti, originated in central Asia, although at one time red deer were rare in parts of Europe, they were never close to extinction. The red deer is the fourth-largest deer species behind moose, elk and it is a ruminant, eating its food in two stages and having an even number of toes on each hoof, like camels, goats and cattle. European red deer have a long tail compared to their Asian. The deer of Central and Western Europe vary greatly in size, large red deer stags, like the Caspian red deer or those of the Carpathian Mountains, may rival the wapiti in size. Female red deer are smaller than their male counterparts. The male red deer is typically 175 to 250 cm long and weighs 160 to 240 kg, the tail adds another 12 to 19 cm and shoulder height is about 95 to 130 cm. In Scotland, stags average 201 cm in length and 122 cm high at the shoulder. Size varies in different subspecies with the largest, the huge but small-antlered deer of the Carpathian Mountains, weighing up to 500 kg. At the other end of the scale, the Corsican red deer weighs about 80 to 100 kg, European red deer tend to be reddish-brown in their summer coats. The males of many subspecies also grow a short neck mane during the autumn, the male deer of the British Isles and Norway tend to have the thickest and most noticeable manes. Male Caspian red deer and Spanish red deer do not carry neck manes, male deer of all subspecies, however, tend to have stronger and thicker neck muscles than female deer, which may give them an appearance of having neck manes. Red deer hinds do not have neck manes, the European red deer is adapted to a woodland environment. Only the stags have antlers, which growing in the spring and are shed each year
23.
Wild boar
–
The wild boar, also known as the wild swine or Eurasian wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia, North Africa, and the Greater Sunda Islands. Human intervention has spread its range further, making the one of the widest-ranging mammals in the world. Its wide range, high numbers, and adaptability mean that it is classed as least concern by the IUCN, the animal probably originated in Southeast Asia during the Early Pleistocene, and outcompeted other suid species as it spread throughout the Old World. As of 1990, up to 16 subspecies are recognised, which are divided into four regional groupings based on skull height, the species lives in matriarchal societies consisting of interrelated females and their young. Fully grown males are solitary outside the breeding season. The grey wolf is the boars main predator throughout most of its range except in the Far East and the Lesser Sunda Islands. It has a history of association with humans, having been the ancestor of most domestic pig breeds. As true wild boars became extinct in Britain before the development of modern English, the English boar stems from the Old English bar, which is thought to be derived from the West Germanic *bairaz, of unknown origin. Boar is sometimes used specifically to refer to males, and may also be used to refer to male domesticated pigs, the young may be called piglets. The animals specific name scrofa is Latin for sow, the earliest fossil finds of the species come from both Europe and Asia, and date back to the Early Pleistocene. Its closest wild relative is the pig of Malacca and surrounding islands. These subspecies are typically high-skulled, with thick underwool and poorly developed manes, Indian, Includes S. s. davidi and S. s. cristatus. These subspecies have sparse or absent underwool, with long manes and prominent bands on the snout, while S. s. cristatus is high-skulled, S. s. davidi is low-skulled. Eastern, Includes S. s. sibiricus, S. s. ussuricus, S. s. leucomystax, S. s. riukiuanus, S. s. taivanus, and S. s. moupinensis. These subspecies are characterised by a streak extending from the corners of the mouth to the lower jaw. With the exception of S. s. ussuricus, most are high-skulled, the underwool is thick, except in S. s. moupinensis, and the mane is largely absent. It is the most basal of the four groups, having the smallest relative brain size, more primitive dentition, with the exception of domestic pigs in Timor and Papua New Guinea, the wild boar is the ancestor of most pig breeds. Remains of pigs have been dated to earlier than 11,400 BC in Cyprus and those animals must have been introduced from the mainland, which suggests domestication in the adjacent mainland by then
24.
European badger
–
The European badger also known as the Eurasian badger, is a species of badger in the family Mustelidae and is native to almost all of Europe and some parts of West Asia. Several subspecies are recognised, the nominate subspecies predominates over most of Europe, the European badger is classified as being of least concern by the IUCN as it has a wide range and a large population size which is stable, and even increasing in some areas. The European badger is a powerfully built black, white, brown and grey animal with a small head and its weight varies, being 7–13 kg in spring but building up to 15–17 kg in autumn before the winter sleep period. It is nocturnal and is a social, burrowing animal that sleeps during the day in one of several setts in its territorial range and these burrows, which may house several badger families, have extensive systems of underground passages and chambers and have multiple entrances. Some setts have been in use for decades, badgers are very fussy over the cleanliness of their burrow, carrying in fresh bedding and removing soiled material, and they defecate in latrines strategically situated around their territory. Though classified as a carnivore, the European badger feeds on a variety of plant. The diet consists mainly of earthworms, large insects, small mammals, carrion, cereals, litters of up to five cubs are produced in spring. The young are weaned a few months later but usually remain within the family group, the spread of bovine tuberculosis has been attributed to badgers, however, studies in 2016 conclude that the issue is more to do with cattle and farm management. The source of the badger is uncertain. The Oxford English Dictionary states it probably derives from badge + -ard, referring to the white mark borne like a badge on its forehead, the French word bêcheur has also been suggested as a source. A male badger is a boar, a female is a sow, a badgers home is called a sett. Badger colonies are called clans. The far older name brock, is a Celtic loanword meaning grey, until the mid-18th century, European badgers were variously known in English as brock, pate, grey and bawson. The name bawson is derived from bawsened, which refers to something striped with white, pate is a local name which was once popular in northern England. The name badget was once common, but restricted to Norfolk, the badger is commonly referred to in Welsh as a mochyn daear. The species likely evolved from the Chinese Meles thorali of the early Pleistocene, the modern species originated during the early Middle Pleistocene, with fossil sites occurring in Episcopia, Grombasek, Süssenborn, Hundsheim, Erpfingen, Koneprusy, Mosbach 2, and Stránská Skála. A comparison between fossil and living specimens shows a marked progressive adaptation to omnivory, namely in the increase in the surface areas. Occasionally, badger bones may be discovered in strata from much earlier dates, as of 2005, eight subspecies are recognised
25.
Mongoose
–
Mongoose is the popular English name for 29 of the 34 species in the 14 genera of the family Herpestidae, which are small feliform carnivorans native to southern Eurasia and mainland Africa. The other five species in the family are the four kusimanses in the genus Crossarchus, Herpestidae is placed within the suborder Feliformia, together with the cat, hyena, and civet families. The word mongoose is likely derived from the Marathi name mungūs or probably ultimately from Telugu name mangisu, the form of the English name was altered to its -goose ending by folk-etymology. It has no connection with the word goose. Historically, it has also been spelled mungoose, the plural form is mongooses, or, rarely, mongeese. Mongooses live in southern Asia, Africa, and southern Europe, as well in Fiji, Puerto Rico, and some Caribbean and Hawaiian islands, the 34 species range from 24 to 58 cm in length, excluding the tail. Mongooses range in weight from the dwarf mongoose, at 320 g, to the cat-sized white-tailed mongoose. Some species lead predominantly solitary lives, seeking out food only for themselves, while others travel in groups, sharing food among group members and offspring. Mongooses bear a resemblance to mustelids, having long faces and bodies, small, rounded ears, short legs. Most are brindled or grizzly, a few have strongly marked coats and their nonretractile claws are used primarily for digging. Mongooses, much like goats, have narrow, ovular pupils, most species have a large anal scent gland, used for territorial marking and signaling reproductive status. The dental formula of mongooses is similar to that of viverrids,3.1. 3-4. 1-23.1. 3-4. 1-2. Mongooses also have receptors for acetylcholine that, like the receptors in snakes, are shaped so that it is impossible for snake venom to attach to them. Mongooses are one of four known species with mutations in the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor that protect against snake venom. Pigs, honey badgers, hedgehogs, and mongooses all have modifications to the pocket that prevents the snake venom α-neurotoxin from binding. These represent four separate, independent mutations, in the mongoose, this change is effected uniquely, by glycosylation. Researchers are investigating whether similar mechanisms protect the mongoose from hemotoxic snake venoms, in contrast to the arboreal, nocturnal viverrids, mongooses are more commonly terrestrial and many are active during the day. The Egyptian mongoose is sometimes held as an example of a solitary mongoose, Mongooses mostly feed on insects, crabs, earthworms, lizards, birds, and rodents
26.
Spanish imperial eagle
–
The Spanish imperial eagle, also known as the Iberian imperial eagle, Spanish eagle, or Adalberts eagle, is a threatened species of eagle native to the Iberian Peninsula. The binomial commemorates Prince Adalbert of Bavaria, the Spanish imperial eagle averages 2. 5–3.5 kilograms, 78–82 centimetres in length and 180–210 centimetres in wingspan, and darker than its eastern cousin, and is a resident species. The species occurs in central and south-west Spain and adjacent areas of Portugal and its stronghold is in the dehesa woodlands of central and south-west Spain, such as in Extremadura, Ciudad Real and areas in the north of Huelva and Sevilles Sierra Norte. Stable occurrence in Morocco is disputed but immature birds during the dispersion period regularly visit Morocco, vagrant birds have even reached Mauritania and Senegal. North of its range, vagrants have reached as far as The Netherlands in one rare occasion. The species is classified as Vulnerable by IUCN, threats include loss of habitat, human encroachment, collisions with pylons and illegal poisoning. By the 1960s it had become an endangered species, with only 30 pairs remaining. Following conservation efforts, recovery began in the 1980s at a rate of five new breeding pairs per year up to 1994, in 2011, the speciess global population had increased to 324 pairs, with 318 pairs in Spain. The population in Spain showed an annual increase of c. 7% between 1990 and 2011. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists Club, cramp, S. & Simmons, K. E. L. Birds of the Western Palearctic, Vol.2, ferguson-Lees, James & Christie, David A. Raptors of the World. Ferrer, Miguel, The Spanish Imperial Eagle, in, del Hoyo, Josep, Elliott, Andrew & Sargatal, Jordi, Handbook of Birds of the World, Volume 2, New World Vultures to Guineafowl, 194–195, plate 20. Padilla, J. A. Martinez-Trancón, M. Rabasco, A. Fernández-García, the karyotype of the Iberian imperial eagle analyzed by classical and DNA replication banding. Sangster, George, Knox, Alan G. Helbig, Andreas J. Parkin, schuhmacher, Eugen, Europes Paradises Seibold, I. Negro, J. J. & Wink, M. Genetic differentiation, berlin, World Working Group on Birds of Prey
27.
Iberian lynx
–
The Iberian lynx is a wild cat species native to the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe that is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. It preys almost exclusively on the European rabbit, by the turn of the 21st century, the Iberian lynx was on the verge of extinction, as only about 100 individuals survived in two isolated subpopulations in Andalusia. As an attempt to save species from extinction, an EU LIFE project is underway that includes habitat preservation, lynx population monitoring. Formerly considered a subspecies of the Eurasian lynx, the Iberian lynx is now classified as a separate species, both species occurred together in Central Europe in the Pleistocene and evolved as distinct species in the Late Pleistocene. The Iberian lynx is thought to have evolved from Lynx issiodorensis, the Iberian lynx has a bright yellowish to tawny colored spotted and short fur, a short body, long legs, a short tail, a small head with tufted ears and facial whiskers, called a ruff. Head and body length of males is 74.7 to 82 cm with a 12.5 to 16 cm long tail, males are larger than females who have a head-to-body-length of 68.2 to 77.5 cm and weigh 9.2 to 10 kg. The spot pattern of the fur varies from uniformly and densely distributed small spots to more elongate spots arranged in lines that decrease in size from the back towards the sides, the Iberian lynx was once present throughout the Iberian Peninsula and southern France. In the 1950s, the population extended from the Mediterranean to Galicia and parts of northern Portugal. Populations declined from 15 subpopulations in the 1940s to only 2 subpopulations in the early 1990s, most noticeably in Montes de Toledo, before 1973, it was present in Sierra de Gata, Montes de Toledo, eastern Sierra Morena, Sierra de Relumbrar and Doñana coastal plains. Between the early 1960s and 2000, it has lost about 80% of its former range and it is now restricted to very limited areas in southern Spain, with breeding only confirmed in Sierra Morena and Doñana coastal plains. The Iberian lynx prefers heterogeneous environments of open grassland mixed with dense shrubs such as tree, mastic, and juniper. It is now restricted to mountainous areas. The Iberian lynx preys foremost on the European rabbit for the bulk of its diet, supplemented by red-legged partridge, rodents and it sometimes preys on young fallow deer, roe deer, mouflon, and ducks. A male requires one rabbit per day while a female raising kittens will eat three per day, there were two major outbreaks of the latter in 2011 and 2012. Recovery has occurred in some areas — in 2013, rabbit overpopulation was reported south of Córdoba, causing damage to transport infrastructure and farms. In December 2013, however, it was reported that officials were concerned about the spread of a new strain of the hemorraghic disease. Sierra Morenas rabbit population was worst affected, falling from an average of three per hectare to less than one — below the required level of 1.5 to two per hectare. Forced to travel distances for food, the lynx became more susceptible to death in road accidents
28.
Natural landscape
–
A natural landscape is the original landscape that exists before it is acted upon by human culture. The natural landscape and the landscape are separate parts of the landscape. However, in the twenty-first century landscapes that are untouched by human activity no longer exist. The phrase natural landscape was first used in connection with landscape painting, alexander von Humboldt was to further conceptualize this into the idea of a natural landscape separate from the cultural landscape. An early use of the phrase natural landscape by a geographer can be found in Carl O. Sauers paper The Morphology of Landscape. The concept of a landscape was first developed in connection with landscape painting. In both cases it was used to contrast a formal style with a natural one, that is closer to nature. Writing in 1844 the prominent American landscape gardener Andrew Jackson Downing comments, straight canals, round or oblong pieces of water, would evidently be in violent opposition to the whole character and expression of natural landscape. Andrew Jackson Downing was aware of, and sympathetic to, Humboldts ideas, subsequently the geographer Otto Schlüter, in 1908, argued that by defining geography as a Landschaftskunde would give geography a logical subject matter shared by no other discipline. He defined two forms of landscape, the Urlandschaft or landscape that existed before major human induced changes, Schlüter argued that the major task of geography was to trace the changes in these two landscapes. Matters are complicated by the fact that the nature and natural have more than one meaning. On the other hand, there is the awareness, especially since Charles Darwin. The dualism of the first definition has its roots is an ancient concept, because early people viewed nature, or the world as a divine Other. In the West, Christianitys myth of the fall, that is the expulsion of humankind from the Garden of Eden, cartesian dualism, from the seventeenth century on, further reinforced this dualistic thinking about nature. With this dualism goes value judgement as to the superiority of the natural over the artificial, modern science, however, is moving towards a holistic view of nature. What is meant by natural, within the American conservation movement, has been changing over the last century, in the mid-nineteenth century American began to realize that the land was becoming more and more domesticated and wildlife was disappearing. This led to the creation of American National Parks and other conservation sites, initially it was believed that all that was needed to do was to separate what was seen as natural landscape and avoid disturbances such as logging, grazing, fire and insect outbreaks. This, and subsequent environmental policy, until recently, was influenced by ideas of the wilderness, in 1963 the Leopold Report argued that A national park should represent a vignette of primitive America
29.
Strait of Gibraltar
–
The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Gibraltar and Peninsular Spain in Europe from Morocco and Ceuta in Africa. The name comes from the Rock of Gibraltar, which in turn originates from the Arabic Jebel Tariq named after Tariq ibn Ziyad. It is also known as the Straits of Gibraltar, the Gut of Gibraltar, the STROG in naval use, and Bab Al Maghrib, Gate of the West. In the Middle Ages, Muslims called it Al-Zuqaq, The Passage, the Romans called it Fretum Gatitanum, Europe and Africa are separated by 7.7 nautical miles of ocean at the straits narrowest point. Ferries cross between the two every day in as little as 35 minutes. The Spanish side of the Strait is protected under El Estrecho Natural Park, on the northern side of the Strait are Spain and Gibraltar, while on the southern side are Morocco and Ceuta. Its boundaries were known in antiquity as the Pillars of Hercules, there are several islets, such as the disputed Isla Perejil, that are claimed by both Morocco and Spain. Due to its location, the Strait is commonly used for illegal immigration from Africa to Europe, the International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Strait of Gibraltar as follows, On the West. A line joining Cape Trafalgar to Cape Spartel, a line joining Europa Point to P. Almina. The seabed of the Strait is composed of synorogenic Betic-Rif clayey flysch covered by Pliocene and/or Quaternary calcareous sediments, exposed bedrock surfaces, coarse sediments and local sand dunes attest to the strong bottom current conditions at the present time. The resultant accumulation of huge salt and mineral deposits about the Mediterranean basin are directly linked to this era. It is believed that this took a short time, by geological standards. The erosion produced by the incoming waters seems to be the cause for the present depth of the strait. The strait is expected to close again as the African Plate moves northward relative to the Eurasian Plate, for full articles on the history of the north Gibraltar shore, see History of Gibraltar or History of Spain. For the full article on the history of the south Gibraltar shore, evidence of the first human habitation of the area by Neanderthals dates back to 125,000 years ago. Archaeological evidence of Homo sapiens habitation of the dates back c.40,000 years. In that year, the last Muslim government north of the straits was overthrown by a Spanish force, the small British enclave of the city of Gibraltar presents a third cultural group found in the straits. This enclave was first established in 1704 and has since used by Britain to act as a surety for control of the sea lanes into
30.
Salt marsh
–
It is dominated by dense stands of salt-tolerant plants such as herbs, grasses, or low shrubs. These plants are terrestrial in origin and are essential to the stability of the marsh in trapping and binding sediments. Salt marshes play a role in the aquatic food web. They also support terrestrial animals and provide coastal protection, salt marshes occur on low-energy shorelines in temperate and high-latitudes which can be stable or emerging, or submerging if the sedimentation rate exceeds the subsidence rate. Commonly these shorelines consist of mud or sand flats which are nourished with sediment from inflowing rivers and these typically include sheltered environments such as embankments, estuaries and the leeward side of barrier islands and spits. In the tropics and sub-tropics they are replaced by mangroves, an area that differs from a marsh in that instead of herbaceous plants. Most salt marshes have a low topography with low elevations but a vast wide area, salt marshes are located among different landforms based on their physical and geomorphological settings. Such marsh landforms include deltaic marshes, estuarine, back-barrier, open coast, embayments, deltaic marshes are associated with large rivers where many occur in Southern Europe such as the Camargue, France in the Rhone delta or the Ebro delta in Spain. They are also extensive within the rivers of the Mississippi Delta in the United States, in New Zealand, most salt marshes occur at the head of estuaries in areas where there is little wave action and high sedimentation. Such marshes are located in Awhitu Regional Park in Auckland, the Manawatu Estuary, back-barrier marshes are sensitive to the reshaping of barriers in the landward side of which they have been formed. They are common along much of the eastern coast of the United States, large, shallow coastal embayments can hold salt marshes with examples including Morecambe Bay and Portsmouth in Britain and the Bay of Fundy in North America. They have a big impact on the biodiversity of the area, salt marsh ecology involves complex food webs which include primary producers, primary consumers, and secondary consumers. The low physical energy and high grasses provide a refuge for animals, many marine fish use salt marshes as nursery grounds for their young before they move to open waters. Saltmarshes across 99 countries were mapped by Mcowen et al, a total of 5,495,089 hectares of mapped saltmarsh across 43 countries and territories are represented in a Geographic Information Systems polygon shapefile. This estimate is at the low end of previous estimates. Mats of filamentous blue-green algae can fix silt and clay sized sediment particles to their sticky sheaths on contact which can increase the erosion resistance of the sediments. This assists the process of sediment accretion to allow colonising species to grow, as a result, competitive species that prefer higher elevations relative to sea level can inhabit the area and often a succession of plant communities develops. Coastal salt marshes can be distinguished from terrestrial habitats by the tidal flow that occurs
31.
Dromedary
–
The dromedary, also called the Arabian camel, is a large, even-toed ungulate with one hump on its back. The dromedary is the smallest of the three species of camel, adult males stand 1. 8–2 m at the shoulder, while females are 1. 7–1.9 m tall, males typically weigh between 400 and 600 kg, and females weigh between 300 and 540 kg. The species distinctive features include its long, curved neck, narrow chest, a single hump, the coat is generally a shade of brown. The hump,20 cm tall or more, is made of fat bound together by fibrous tissue, dromedaries are mainly active during daylight hours. They form herds of about 20 individuals, which are led by a dominant male. This camel feeds on foliage and desert vegetation, several adaptations, such as the ability to tolerate losing more than 30% of its water content. Mating occurs annually and peaks in the season, females bear a single calf after a gestation of 15 months. The dromedary has not occurred naturally in the wild for nearly 2,000 years and it was probably first domesticated in Somalia or the Arabian Peninsula about 4,000 years ago. In the wild, the dromedary inhabited arid regions, including the Sahara Desert, the domesticated dromedary is generally found in the semi-arid to arid regions of the Old World, mainly in Africa, and a significant feral population occurs in Australia. Products of the dromedary, including its meat and milk, support several north Arabian tribes, it is commonly used for riding. The common name comes from the Old French dromedaire or the Late Latin dromedarius. These originated from the Greek word dromas, δρομάς, meaning running or runner, used in Greek in the combination δρομάς κάμηλος, literally running camel, the first recorded use in English of the name dromedary occurred in the 14th century. The dromedary possibly originated in Arabia and is sometimes referred to as the Arabian camel. The dromedary shares the genus Camelus with the Bactrian camel and the wild Bactrian camel, the dromedary belongs to the family Camelidae. The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle was the first to describe the species of Camelus and he named two species in his History of Animals, the one-humped Arabian camel and the two-humped Bactrian camel. The dromedary was given its current binomial name Camelus dromedarius by Swedish zoologist Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 publication Systema Naturae, the study showed the two tribes had diverged 25 million years ago, earlier than previously estimated from North American fossils. The dromedary and the Bactrian camel often interbreed to produce fertile offspring, where the ranges of the species overlap, such as in northern Punjab, Persia and Afghanistan, the phenotypic differences between them tend to decrease as a result of extensive crossbreeding. The fertility of their hybrid has given rise to speculation that the dromedary, however, a 1994 analysis of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene showed the species display 10. 3% divergence in their sequences
32.
Umayyad conquest of Hispania
–
The Umayyad conquest of Hispania was the initial expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate over Hispania, largely extending from 711 to 788. The conquest marks the westernmost expansion of both the Umayyad Caliphate and Muslim rule into Europe, forces commanded by Tariq ibn Ziyad disembarked in early 711 at Gibraltar at the head of an army consisting of Berbers. He campaigned his way northward after the decisive Battle of Guadalete against the usurper Roderic, by 717, the combined force had crossed the Pyrenees into Septimania and Provence. Precisely what happened in Iberia in the early 8th century is uncertain, there is one contemporary Christian source, the Chronicle of 754, regarded as reliable but often vague. There are no contemporary Muslim accounts, what Muslim information there is comes from later compilations subject to contemporary ideological influence. The most prominent such compilation is that of Al-Maqqari, which dates from the 17th century and this paucity of sources means that any specific or detailed claims need to be regarded with caution. Numismatic evidence suggests a division of authority, with several coinages being struck. There is also a story of one Julian, count of Ceuta, whose wife or daughter was raped by Roderic, however, these stories are not included in the earliest accounts of the conquest. According to the later chronicler Ibn Abd-el-Hakem, in 711, Tariq Ibn Ziyad led an approximately 1, however,12,000 seems a more accurate figure. They defeated the Visigothic army, led by King Roderic, in a battle at Guadalete in 712. Tariqs forces were reinforced by those of his superior, the wali Musa ibn Nusair. According to the Muslim historian Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari, Iberia was first invaded some sixty years earlier during the caliphate of Uthman, however, this putative invasion is not accepted by modern historians. The conquering army was made up mainly of Berbers who had only recently come under Muslim influence. Both the Chronicle of 754 and later Muslim sources speak of raiding activity in previous years, the Chronicle of 754 stated that the entire army of the Goths, which had come with him fraudulently and in rivalry out of hopes of the Kingship, fled. This is the contemporary account of the battle and the paucity of detail led many later historians to invent their own. The location of the battle is not totally clear but was probably the Guadalete River, Roderic was believed to have been killed and a crushing defeat would have left the Visigoths largely leaderless and disorganized. The resulting power vacuum, which may have indeed caught Tariq completely by surprise, in 714, Musa ibn Nusayr headed north-west up the Ebro river to overrun the western Basque regions and the Cantabrian mountains all the way to Gallaecia, with no relevant or attested opposition. During the period of the second Arab governor Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa, the northern areas of Iberia drew little attention to the conquerors and were hard to defend when taken
33.
Aquifer
–
An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock, rock fractures or unconsolidated materials from which groundwater can be extracted using a water well. The study of flow in aquifers and the characterization of aquifers is called hydrogeology. Related terms include aquitard, which is a bed of low permeability along an aquifer, and aquiclude, if the impermeable area overlies the aquifer, pressure could cause it to become a confined aquifer. Aquifers may occur at various depths and those closer to the surface are not only more likely to be used for water supply and irrigation, but are also more likely to be topped up by the local rainfall. Many desert areas have limestone hills or mountains within them or close to them that can be exploited as groundwater resources, overexploitation can lead to the exceeding of the practical sustained yield, i. e. more water is taken out than can be replenished. The beach provides a model to help visualize an aquifer, if a hole is dug into the sand, very wet or saturated sand will be located at a shallow depth. This hole is a well, the wet sand represents an aquifer. In 2013 large freshwater aquifers were discovered under continental shelves off Australia, China, North America and they contain an estimated half a million cubic kilometers of “low salinity” water that could be economically processed into potable water. The reserves formed when ocean levels were lower and rainwater made its way into the ground in areas that were not submerged until the ice age ended 20,000 years ago. The volume is estimated to be 100x the amount of extracted from other aquifers since 1900. The above diagram indicates typical flow directions in a view of a simple confined or unconfined aquifer system. The system shows two aquifers with one aquitard between them, surrounded by the bedrock aquiclude, which is in contact with a gaining stream, the water table and unsaturated zone are also illustrated. An aquitard is a zone within the earth that restricts the flow of groundwater from one aquifer to another, an aquitard can sometimes, if completely impermeable, be called an aquiclude or aquifuge. Aquitards are composed of layers of clay or non-porous rock with low hydraulic conductivity. Groundwater can be found at every point in the Earths shallow subsurface to some degree. Saturated means the head of the water is greater than atmospheric pressure. The definition of the table is the surface where the pressure head is equal to atmospheric pressure. Unsaturated conditions occur above the table where the pressure head is negative
34.
Geomorphology
–
Geomorphology is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features created by physical, chemical or biological processes operating at or near the Earths surface. Geomorphologists work within disciplines such as geography, geology, geodesy, engineering geology, archaeology. This broad base of interests contributes to many styles and interests within the field. Earths surface is modified by a combination of processes that sculpt landscapes, and geologic processes that cause tectonic uplift and subsidence. Many of these factors are strongly mediated by climate, the broad-scale topographies of the Earth illustrate this intersection of surface and subsurface action. Mountain belts are uplifted due to geologic processes, denudation of these high uplifted regions produces sediment that is transported and deposited elsewhere within the landscape or off the coast. On progressively smaller scales, similar ideas apply, where individual landforms evolve in response to the balance of additive processes, often, these processes directly affect each other, ice sheets, water, and sediment are all loads that change topography through flexural isostasy. Topography can modify the climate, for example through orographic precipitation. Many geomorphologists are particularly interested in the potential for feedbacks between climate and tectonics, mediated by geomorphic processes, in addition to these broad-scale questions, geomorphologists address issues that are more specific and/or more local. Fluvial geomorphologists focus on rivers, how they transport sediment, migrate across the landscape, cut into bedrock, respond to environmental and tectonic changes, and interact with humans. Soils geomorphologists investigate soil profiles and chemistry to learn about the history of a landscape and understand how climate, biota. Other geomorphologists study how hillslopes form and change, still others investigate the relationships between ecology and geomorphology. Because geomorphology is defined to comprise everything related to the surface of the Earth and its modification, geomorphologists use a wide range of techniques in their work. These may include fieldwork and field data collection, the interpretation of remotely sensed data, geochemical analyses, geomorphologists may rely on geochronology, using dating methods to measure the rate of changes to the surface. Practical applications of geomorphology include hazard assessment, river control and stream restoration, planetary geomorphology studies landforms on other terrestrial planets such as Mars. Indications of effects of wind, fluvial, glacial, mass wasting, meteor impact, tectonics and this effort not only helps better understand the geologic and atmospheric history of those planets but also extends geomorphological study of the Earth. Planetary geomorphologists often use Earth analogues to aid in their study of surfaces of other planets, other than some notable exceptions in antiquity, geomorphology is a relatively young science, growing along with interest in other aspects of the earth sciences in the mid-19th century. This section provides a brief outline of some of the major figures
35.
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
36.
Last glacial period
–
The last glacial period, popularly known as the Ice Age, was the most recent glacial period, which occurred from c. 110,000 – c. 11,700 years ago. This most recent glacial period is part of a pattern of glacial and interglacial periods known as the Quaternary glaciation. From this point of view, scientists consider this ice age to be merely the latest glaciation event in a larger ice age. During this last glacial period, there were changes between glacier advance and retreat. The Last Glacial Maximum, the extent of glaciation within the last glacial period, was approximately 22,000 years ago. Approximately 13,000 years ago, the Late Glacial Maximum began, around 11,700 years ago marked the beginning of the Holocene geological epoch, which includes the Holocene glacial retreat. From the point of view of archaeology, it falls in the Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods. When the glaciation event started, Homo sapiens were confined to Africa and used tools comparable to those used by Neanderthals in western and central Eurasia, near the end of the event, Homo sapiens spread into Eurasia and Australia. The retreat of the glaciers allowed groups of Asians to migrate to the Americas, glacials, on the other hand, refer to colder phases within an ice age that separate interglacials. Thus, the end of the last glacial period is not the end of the last ice age, the end of the last glacial period was about 11,700 years ago, while the end of the last ice age has not yet come. Over the past few years the glacial-interglacial cycle has been paced by periodic variations in the Earths orbit via Milankovitch cycles which are thus the cause of ice ages. The glaciations that occurred during this period covered many areas, mainly in the Northern Hemisphere. The geochronological Late Pleistocene comprises the late glacial and the immediately preceding penultimate interglacial preiond, the last glaciation centered on the huge ice sheets of North America and Eurasia. Considerable areas in the Alps, the Himalaya and the Andes were ice-covered, Canada was nearly completely covered by ice, as well as the northern part of the United States, both blanketed by the huge Laurentide ice sheet. Alaska remained mostly ice free due to climate conditions. Local glaciations existed in the Rocky Mountains and the Cordilleran ice sheet and as ice fields, the maximum extent of western Siberian glaciation was reached by approximately 16, 000–15,000 BCE and thus later than in Europe. Northeastern Siberia was not covered by an ice sheet. Instead, large, but restricted, icefield complexes covered mountain ranges within northeast Siberia, according to the sediment composition retrieved from deep-sea cores there must even have been times of seasonally open waters
37.
Spit (landform)
–
A spit or sandspit is a deposition bar or beach landform found off coasts or lake shores. It develops in places where re-entrance occurs, such as at a coves headlands, the drift occurs due to waves meeting the beach at an oblique angle, moving sediment down the beach in a zigzag pattern. This is complemented by longshore currents, which further transport sediment through the water alongside the beach and these currents are caused by the same waves that cause the drift. Where the direction of the shore inland re-enters, or changes direction, for example at a headland, no longer able to carry the full load, much of the sediment is dropped. This submerged bar of sediment allows longshore drift or littoral drift to continue to transport sediment in the direction the waves are breaking, forming an above-water spit. Without the complementary process of littoral drift, the bar would not build above the surface of the becoming an spit. Spits occur when longshore drift reaches a section of headland where the turn is greater than 30 degrees, the spit will continue out into the sea until water pressure becomes too great to allow the sand to deposit. Vegetation may then start to grow on the spit, and the spit may become stable, a spit may be considered a special form of a shoal. As spits grow, the water behind them is sheltered from wind and waves, wave refraction can occur at the end of a spit, carrying sediment around the end to form a hook or recurved spit. Refraction in multiple directions may create a complex spit, waves that arrive in a direction other than obliquely along the spit will halt the growth of the spit, shorten it, or eventually destroy it entirely. The sediments that make up spits come from a variety of sources including rivers and eroding bluffs, activities such as logging and farming upstream can increase the sediment load of rivers, which may hurt the intertidal environments around spits by smothering delicate habitats. Roads or bulkheads built along bluffs can drastically reduce the volume of sediment eroded, if the supply of sediment is interrupted the sand at the neck of the spit may be moved towards the head, eventually creating an island. If the supply is not interrupted, and the spit is not breached by the sea, if an island lies offshore near where the coast changes direction, and the spit continues to grow until it connects the island to the mainland, it is called a tombolo. The end of an attached to land is called the proximal end. The longest spit in the world is the Arabat Spit in the Sea of Azov and it is approximately 110 kilometres long. The longest spit in a body of water is Long Point, Ontario. A well-known spit in the UK is Spurn Point at the mouth of the Humber River, the Curonian Spit, off the coast of Lithuania and Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, separates the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea, it is 98 km long. In a similar fashion, the Vistula Spit separates the Vistula Lagoon from the Gdańsk Bay off the coast of Poland, the spit bends slightly west or east, changing its direction gradually, depending on the conditions of the tides and weather
38.
Geologic time scale
–
The table of geologic time spans, presented here, agrees with the nomenclature, dates and standard color codes set forth by the International Commission on Stratigraphy. Evidence from radiometric dating indicates that Earth is about 4.54 billion years old, the geology or deep time of Earth’s past has been organized into various units according to events which took place in each period. Older time spans, which predate the reliable record, are defined by their absolute age. Some other planets and moons within the Solar System have sufficiently rigid structures to have preserved records of their own histories, for example, Venus, Mars, dominantly fluid planets, such as the gas giants, do not preserve their history in a comparable manner. Apart from the Late Heavy Bombardment, events on other planets probably had little influence on the Earth. Construction of a scale that links the planets is, therefore, of only limited relevance to the Earths time scale. The existence, timing, and terrestrial effects of the Late Heavy Bombardment is still debated, the largest defined unit of time is the supereon, composed of eons. Eons are divided into eras, which are in turn divided into periods, epochs, the terms eonothem, erathem, system, series, and stage are used to refer to the layers of rock that correspond to these periods of geologic time in Earths history. Geologists qualify these units as early, mid, and late when referring to time, and lower, middle, for example, the lower Jurassic Series in chronostratigraphy corresponds to the early Jurassic Epoch in geochronology. The adjectives are capitalized when the subdivision is formally recognized, and lower case when not, thus early Miocene but Early Jurassic. Geologic units from the time but different parts of the world often look different and contain different fossils. For example, in North America the Lower Cambrian is called the Waucoban series that is subdivided into zones based on succession of trilobites. In East Asia and Siberia, the unit is split into Alexian, Atdabanian. A key aspect of the work of the International Commission on Stratigraphy is to reconcile this conflicting terminology, the term Anthropocene is used informally by popular culture and a growing number of scientists to describe the current epoch in which we are living. The term was coined by Paul Crutzen and Eugene Stoermer in 2000 to describe the current time, others say that humans have not even started to leave their biggest impact on Earth, and therefore the Anthropocene hasnt even started yet. Whatever the case, the ICS has not officially approved the term, leonardo da Vinci concurred with Aristotles interpretation that fossils represented the remains of ancient life. The 11th-century Persian geologist Avicenna and the 13th-century Dominican bishop Albertus Magnus extended Aristotles explanation into a theory of a petrifying fluid. Avicenna also first proposed one of the principles underlying geologic time scales, the Chinese naturalist Shen Kuo also recognized the concept of deep time
39.
Neolithic
–
It ended when metal tools became widespread. The Neolithic is a progression of behavioral and cultural characteristics and changes, including the use of wild and domestic crops, the beginning of the Neolithic culture is considered to be in the Levant about 10, 200–8800 BC. It developed directly from the Epipaleolithic Natufian culture in the region, whose people pioneered the use of wild cereals, which then evolved into true farming. The Natufian period was between 12,000 and 10,200 BC, and the so-called proto-Neolithic is now included in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic between 10,200 and 8800 BC. By 10, 200–8800 BC, farming communities arose in the Levant and spread to Asia Minor, North Africa, Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. Early Neolithic farming was limited to a range of plants, both wild and domesticated, which included einkorn wheat, millet and spelt, and the keeping of dogs, sheep. By about 6900–6400 BC, it included domesticated cattle and pigs, the establishment of permanently or seasonally inhabited settlements, not all of these cultural elements characteristic of the Neolithic appeared everywhere in the same order, the earliest farming societies in the Near East did not use pottery. Early Japanese societies and other East Asian cultures used pottery before developing agriculture, unlike the Paleolithic, when more than one human species existed, only one human species reached the Neolithic. The term Neolithic derives from the Greek νέος néos, new and λίθος líthos, stone, the term was invented by Sir John Lubbock in 1865 as a refinement of the three-age system. In the Middle East, cultures identified as Neolithic began appearing in the 10th millennium BC, early development occurred in the Levant and from there spread eastwards and westwards. Neolithic cultures are attested in southeastern Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia by around 8000 BC. The total excavated area is more than 1,200 square yards, the Neolithic 1 period began roughly 10,000 years ago in the Levant. A temple area in southeastern Turkey at Göbekli Tepe dated around 9500 BC may be regarded as the beginning of the period. This site was developed by nomadic tribes, evidenced by the lack of permanent housing in the vicinity. At least seven stone circles, covering 25 acres, contain limestone pillars carved with animals, insects, Stone tools were used by perhaps as many as hundreds of people to create the pillars, which might have supported roofs. Other early PPNA sites dating to around 9500–9000 BC have been found in Jericho, Israel, Gilgal in the Jordan Valley, the start of Neolithic 1 overlaps the Tahunian and Heavy Neolithic periods to some degree. The major advance of Neolithic 1 was true farming, in the proto-Neolithic Natufian cultures, wild cereals were harvested, and perhaps early seed selection and re-seeding occurred. The grain was ground into flour, emmer wheat was domesticated, and animals were herded and domesticated
40.
Phoenicia
–
The enterprising, sea-based Phoenician civilization spread across the Mediterranean between 1500 BC and 300 BC. Their civilization was organized in city-states, similar to those of Ancient Greece, perhaps the most notable of which were Tyre, Sidon, Arvad, Berytus and Carthage. Each city-state was an independent unit, and it is uncertain to what extent the Phoenicians viewed themselves as a single nationality. In terms of archaeology, language, lifestyle, and religion there was little to set the Phoenicians apart as markedly different from other Semitic Canaanites. The Phoenicians were the first state-level society to make use of alphabets. By their maritime trade, the Phoenicians spread the use of the alphabet to Anatolia, North Africa, and Europe, where it was adopted by the Greeks, the name Phoenicians, like Latin Poenī, comes from Greek Φοίνικες. The word φοῖνιξ phoînix meant variably Phoenician person, Tyrian purple, the word may be derived from φοινός phoinós blood red, itself possibly related to φόνος phónos murder. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek origin of the ethnonym, the oldest attested form of the word in Greek may be the Mycenaean po-ni-ki-jo, po-ni-ki, possibly borrowed from Ancient Egyptian fnḫw Asiatics, Semites, although this derivation is disputed. The folk-etymological association of Φοινίκη with φοῖνιξ mirrors that in Akkadian which tied kinaḫni, the land was natively known as knʿn and its people as the knʿny. In the Amarna tablets of the 14th century BC, people from the region called themselves Kenaani or Kinaani, the ethnonym survived in North Africa until the 4th century AD. Herodotus account refers to the myths of Io and Europa, according to the Persians best informed in history, the Phoenicians began the quarrel. The Greek historian Strabo believed that the Phoenicians originated from Bahrain, Herodotus also believed that the homeland of the Phoenicians was Bahrain. The people of Tyre in South Lebanon in particular have long maintained Persian Gulf origins, however, there is little evidence of occupation at all in Bahrain during the time when such migration had supposedly taken place. Canaanite culture apparently developed in situ from the earlier Ghassulian chalcolithic culture, Byblos is attested as an archaeological site from the Early Bronze Age. The Late Bronze Age state of Ugarit is considered quintessentially Canaanite archaeologically, fernand Braudel remarked in The Perspective of the World that Phoenicia was an early example of a world-economy surrounded by empires. The high point of Phoenician culture and sea power is usually placed c, archaeological evidence consistent with this understanding has been difficult to identify. A unique concentration in Phoenicia of silver hoards dated between 1200 and 800 BC, however, contains hacksilver with lead isotope ratios matching ores in Sardinia and Spain. This metallic evidence agrees with the memory of a western Mediterranean Tarshish that supplied Solomon with silver via Phoenicia
41.
Phocaea
–
Phocaea, or Phokaia was an ancient Ionian Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia. Greek colonists from Phocaea founded the colony of Massalia in 600 BC, Emporion in 575 BC, Phocaea was the northernmost of the Ionian cities, on the boundary with Aeolis. Phocaea had two natural harbours within close range of the settlement, both containing a number of small islands, Phocaeas harbours allowed it to develop a thriving seafaring economy, and to become a great naval power, which greatly influenced its culture. Recent archaeological surveys have shown that the city of Phocaea was large for the archaic period, Herodotus gives an idea of the size of Phocaea by describing the walls of Phocaea as having a length of several stadia. A 4th century BC Persian Tomb, known as Tas Kule and this funerary monument was carved out of solid rock with a lower 2.7 meter high rectangular story surmounted by a second 1.9 meter high story. Four steps between the two levels suggest strong Persian influence and most archaeologists believe this tomb was built for a Persian aristocrat or local leader serving the Persians, compare the style of the tomb of Cyrus the Great. Pottery remains indicate Aeolian presence as late as the 9th century BC, from this an approximate date of settlement for Phocaea can be inferred. According to Herodotus the Phocaeans were the first Greeks to make long sea-voyages, having discovered the coasts of the Adriatic, Tyrrhenia, to the south they probably conducted trade with the Greek colony of Naucratis in Egypt, which was the colony of their fellow Ionian city Miletus. To the north, they helped settle Amisos on the Black Sea. However Phocaeas major colonies were to the west and these included Alalia in Corsica, Emporiae and Rhoda in Spain, and especially Massalia in France. Rather than submit to Persian rule, the Phocaeans abandoned their city, some may have fled to Chios, others to their colonies on Corsica and elsewhere in the Mediterranean, with some eventually returning to Phocaea. Many however became the founders of Elea, around 540 BC, in 500 BC, Phocaea joined the Ionian Revolt against Persia. Indicative of its prowess, Dionysius, a Phocaean was chosen to command the Ionian fleet at the decisive Battle of Lade. However, indicative of its fortunes, Phocaea was only able to contribute three ships, out of a total of three hundred and fifty three. The Ionian fleet was defeated and the revolt ended shortly thereafter, after the defeat of Xerxes I by the Greeks in 480 BC and the subsequent rise of Athenian power, Phocaea joined the Delian League, paying tribute to Athens of two talents. In 412 BC, during the Peloponnesian War, with the help of Sparta, the Peace of Antalcidas, which ended the Corinthian War, returned nominal control to Persia in 387 BC. In 343 BC, the Phocaeans unsuccessfully laid siege to Kydonia on the island of Crete, during the Hellenistic period it fell under Seleucid, then Attalid rule. In the Roman period, the town was a center for ceramic vessels
42.
Tartessos
–
Tartessos or Tartessus was a semi-mythical harbor city and the surrounding culture on the south coast of the Iberian Peninsula, at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River. It appears in sources from Greece and the Near East starting during the first millennium BC, herodotus, for example, describes it as beyond the Pillars of Heracles. Archaeological discoveries in the region have built up a picture of a widespread culture, identified as Tartessian. The Tartessians were rich in metal, in the 4th century BC the historian Ephorus describes a very prosperous market called Tartessos, with much tin carried by river, as well as gold and copper from Celtic lands. Trade in tin was very lucrative in the Bronze Age, since it is a component of true bronze and is comparatively rare. Herodotus refers to a king of Tartessos, Arganthonios, presumably named for his wealth in silver, the people from Tartessos became important trading partners of the Phoenicians, whose presence in Iberia dates from the 8th century BC and who nearby built a harbor of their own, Gadir. Several early sources, such as Aristotle, refer to Tartessos as a river, Aristotle claims that it rises from the Pyrene Mountain and flows out to sea outside the Pillars of Hercules, the modern Strait of Gibraltar. No such river traverses the Iberian peninsula, according to Pytheas, in the 4th century BC, as reported by Strabo in the 1st century AD, the Turduli occupied the area that was Tartessos which was the Baetis River. The river, which is the largest in Iberia and tidal, those of a day called Baetis and there are some who think that Tartessus was the ancient name of Carpia. The river known in his day as the Baetis is now the Guadalquivir, thus, Tartessos may be buried, Schulten thought, under the shifting wetlands. The river delta has gradually been blocked by a sandbar that stretches from the mouth of the Rio Tinto, near Palos de la Frontera, the area is now protected as the Parque Nacional de Doñana. In the 2nd century AD Appian thought that Karpessos was previously known as Tartessos, subsequent discoveries were widely reported, in September 1923 archaeologists discovered a Phoenician necropolis in which human remains were unearthed and stones found with illegible characters. It may have been colonized by the Phoenicians for trade because of its richness in metals, J. M. Luzón was the first to identify Tartessos with modern Huelva, based on discoveries made in the preceding decades. Alluvial tin was panned in Tartessian streams from an early date, the spread of a silver standard in Assyria increased its attractiveness. The invention of coinage in the 7th century BC spurred the search for bronze, henceforth trade connections, formerly largely in elite goods, assumed an increasingly broad economic role. By the Late Bronze Age, silver extraction in Huelva Province reached industrial proportions, pre-Roman silver slag is found in the Tartessian cities of Huelva Province. Cypriot and Phoenician metalworkers produced 15 million tons of pyrometallurgical residues at the vast dumps of Riotinto, tartessic artifacts linked with the Tartessos culture have been found, and many archaeologists now associate the lost city with Huelva. In excavations on spatially restricted sites in the center of modern Huelva, Huelva contains the largest accumulation of imported elite goods and must have been an important Tartessian center
