1.
Conservation status
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The conservation status of a group of organisms indicates whether the group still exists and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future. Various systems of conservation status exist and are in use at international, multi-country, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is the best known worldwide conservation status listing and ranking system. Also included are species that have gone extinct since 500 AD, when discussing the IUCN Red List, the official term threatened is a grouping of three categories, critically endangered, endangered, and vulnerable. Widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category, Data deficient – Not enough data to make an assessment of its risk of extinction Not evaluated – Has not yet been evaluated against the criteria. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora aims to ensure that trade in specimens of wild animals. Many countries require CITES permits when importing plants and animals listed on CITES, in the European Union, the Birds and Habitats Directives are the legal instruments that evaluate the conservation status within the EU of species and habitats. NatureServe conservation status focuses on Latin America, United States, Canada, and it has been developed by scientists from NatureServe, The Nature Conservancy, and the network of natural heritage programs and data centers. It is increasingly integrated with the IUCN Red List system and its categories for species include, presumed extinct, possibly extinct, critically imperiled, imperiled, vulnerable, apparently secure, and secure. The system also allows ambiguous or uncertain ranks including inexact numeric ranks, NatureServe adds a qualifier for captive or cultivated only, which has a similar meaning to the IUCN Red List extinct in the wild status. The Red Data Book of the Russian Federation is used within the Russian Federation, in Australia, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 describes lists of threatened species, ecological communities and threatening processes. The categories resemble those of the 1994 IUCN Red List Categories & Criteria, prior to the EPBC Act, a simpler classification system was used by the Endangered Species Protection Act 1992. Some state and territory governments also have their own systems for conservation status, in Belgium, the Flemish Research Institute for Nature and Forest publishes an online set of more than 150 nature indicators in Dutch. In Canada, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada is a group of experts that assesses and designates which wild species are in danger of disappearing from Canada. Under the Species at Risk Act, it is up to the federal government, in China, the State, provinces and some counties have determined their key protected wildlife species. There is the China red data book, in Finland, a large number of species are protected under the Nature Conservation Act, and through the EU Habitats Directive and EU Birds Directive. In Germany, the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation publishes red lists of endangered species, india has the Wild Life Protection Act,1972, Amended 2003 and the Biological Diversity Act,2002. In Japan, the Ministry of Environment publishes a Threatened Wildlife of Japan Red Data Book, in the Netherlands, the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality publishes a list of threatened species, and conservation is enforced by the Nature Conservation Act 1998. Species are also protected through the Wild Birds and Habitats Directives, in New Zealand, the Department of Conservation publishes the New Zealand Threat Classification System lists
2.
Least Concern
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A least concern species is one which has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as evaluated but not qualified for any other category. As such they do not qualify as threatened, near threatened, species cannot be assigned the Least Concern category unless they have had their population status evaluated. That is, adequate information is needed to make a direct, or indirect, since 2001 the category has had the abbreviation LC, following the IUCN2001 Categories & Criteria. However, around 20% of least concern taxa in the IUCN database use the code LR/lc, prior to 2001 least concern was a subcategory of the Lower Risk category and assigned the code LR/lc or. While least concern is not considered a red listed category by the IUCN, the number of animal species listed in this category totals 14033. There are also 101 animal subspecies listed and 1500 plant taxa, there are also two animal subpopulations listed, the Australasian and Southern African subpopulations of spiny dogfish. No fungi or protista have the classification, though only four species in those kingdoms have been evaluated by the IUCN, humans qualify for this category, and in 2008 were formally assessed as such by the IUCN
3.
IUCN Red List
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The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, founded in 1964, is the worlds most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the main authority on the conservation status of species. A series of Regional Red Lists are produced by countries or organizations, the IUCN Red List is set upon precise criteria to evaluate the extinction risk of thousands of species and subspecies. These criteria are relevant to all species and all regions of the world, the aim is to convey the urgency of conservation issues to the public and policy makers, as well as help the international community to try to reduce species extinction. Major species assessors include BirdLife International, the Institute of Zoology, the World Conservation Monitoring Centre, collectively, assessments by these organizations and groups account for nearly half the species on the Red List. The IUCN aims to have the category of every species re-evaluated every five years if possible, the 1964 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants used the older pre-criteria Red List assessment system. Plants listed may not, therefore, appear in the current Red List, IUCN advise that is best to check both the online Red List and the 1997 plants Red List publication. The 2006 Red List, released on 4 May 2006 evaluated 40,168 species as a whole, plus an additional 2,160 subspecies, varieties, aquatic stocks, on 12 September 2007, the World Conservation Union released the 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Russ Mittermeier, chief of Swiss-based IUCNs Primate Specialist Group, stated that 16,306 species are endangered with extinction,188 more than in 2006, the Red List includes the Sumatran orangutan in the Critically Endangered category and the Bornean orangutan in the Endangered category. The study shows at least 1,141 of the 5,487 mammals on Earth are known to be threatened with extinction, and 836 are listed as Data Deficient. The Red List of 2012 was released 19 July 2012 at Rio+20 Earth Summit, nearly 2,000 species were added, the IUCN assessed a total of 63,837 species which revealed 19,817 are threatened with extinction. With 3,947 described as endangered and 5,766 as endangered. At threat are 41% of amphibian species, 33% of reef-building corals, 30% of conifers, 25% of mammals, the IUCN Red List has listed 132 species of plants and animals from India as Critically Endangered. Extinct – No known individuals remaining, extinct in the wild – Known only to survive in captivity, or as a naturalized population outside its historic range. Critically endangered – Extremely high risk of extinction in the wild, Endangered – High risk of extinction in the wild. Vulnerable – High risk of endangerment in the wild, near threatened – Likely to become endangered in the near future. Does not qualify for a more at-risk category, widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category. Data deficient – Not enough data to make an assessment of its risk of extinction, Not evaluated – Has not yet been evaluated against the criteria
4.
Taxonomy (biology)
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Taxonomy is the science of defining groups of biological organisms on the basis of shared characteristics and giving names to those groups. The exact definition of taxonomy varies from source to source, but the core of the remains, the conception, naming. There is some disagreement as to whether biological nomenclature is considered a part of taxonomy, the broadest meaning of taxonomy is used here. The word taxonomy was introduced in 1813 by Candolle, in his Théorie élémentaire de la botanique, the term alpha taxonomy is primarily used today to refer to the discipline of finding, describing, and naming taxa, particularly species. In earlier literature, the term had a different meaning, referring to morphological taxonomy, ideals can, it may be said, never be completely realized. They have, however, a value of acting as permanent stimulants. Some of us please ourselves by thinking we are now groping in a beta taxonomy, turrill thus explicitly excludes from alpha taxonomy various areas of study that he includes within taxonomy as a whole, such as ecology, physiology, genetics, and cytology. He further excludes phylogenetic reconstruction from alpha taxonomy, thus, Ernst Mayr in 1968 defined beta taxonomy as the classification of ranks higher than species. This activity is what the term denotes, it is also referred to as beta taxonomy. How species should be defined in a group of organisms gives rise to practical and theoretical problems that are referred to as the species problem. The scientific work of deciding how to define species has been called microtaxonomy, by extension, macrotaxonomy is the study of groups at higher taxonomic ranks, from subgenus and above only, than species. While some descriptions of taxonomic history attempt to date taxonomy to ancient civilizations, earlier works were primarily descriptive, and focused on plants that were useful in agriculture or medicine. There are a number of stages in scientific thinking. Early taxonomy was based on criteria, the so-called artificial systems. Later came systems based on a complete consideration of the characteristics of taxa, referred to as natural systems, such as those of de Jussieu, de Candolle and Bentham. The publication of Charles Darwins Origin of Species led to new ways of thinking about classification based on evolutionary relationships and this was the concept of phyletic systems, from 1883 onwards. This approach was typified by those of Eichler and Engler, the advent of molecular genetics and statistical methodology allowed the creation of the modern era of phylogenetic systems based on cladistics, rather than morphology alone. Taxonomy has been called the worlds oldest profession, and naming and classifying our surroundings has likely been taking place as long as mankind has been able to communicate
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Animal
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Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia. The animal kingdom emerged as a clade within Apoikozoa as the group to the choanoflagellates. Animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and independently at some point in their lives and their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later in their lives. All animals are heterotrophs, they must ingest other organisms or their products for sustenance, most known animal phyla appeared in the fossil record as marine species during the Cambrian explosion, about 542 million years ago. Animals can be divided broadly into vertebrates and invertebrates, vertebrates have a backbone or spine, and amount to less than five percent of all described animal species. They include fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, the remaining animals are the invertebrates, which lack a backbone. These include molluscs, arthropods, annelids, nematodes, flatworms, cnidarians, ctenophores, the study of animals is called zoology. The word animal comes from the Latin animalis, meaning having breath, the biological definition of the word refers to all members of the kingdom Animalia, encompassing creatures as diverse as sponges, jellyfish, insects, and humans. Aristotle divided the world between animals and plants, and this was followed by Carl Linnaeus, in the first hierarchical classification. In Linnaeuss original scheme, the animals were one of three kingdoms, divided into the classes of Vermes, Insecta, Pisces, Amphibia, Aves, and Mammalia. Since then the last four have all been subsumed into a single phylum, in 1874, Ernst Haeckel divided the animal kingdom into two subkingdoms, Metazoa and Protozoa. The protozoa were later moved to the kingdom Protista, leaving only the metazoa, thus Metazoa is now considered a synonym of Animalia. Animals have several characteristics that set apart from other living things. Animals are eukaryotic and multicellular, which separates them from bacteria and they are heterotrophic, generally digesting food in an internal chamber, which separates them from plants and algae. They are also distinguished from plants, algae, and fungi by lacking cell walls. All animals are motile, if only at life stages. In most animals, embryos pass through a stage, which is a characteristic exclusive to animals. With a few exceptions, most notably the sponges and Placozoa and these include muscles, which are able to contract and control locomotion, and nerve tissues, which send and process signals
6.
Chordate
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Chordates are deuterostomes, as during the embryo development stage the anus forms before the mouth. They are also bilaterally symmetric coelomates, in the case of vertebrate chordates, the notochord is usually replaced by a vertebral column during development, and they may have body plans organized via segmentation. There are also additional extinct taxa, the Vertebrata are sometimes considered as a subgroup of the clade Craniata, consisting of chordates with a skull, the Craniata and Tunicata compose the clade Olfactores. Of the more than 65,000 living species of chordates, the worlds largest and fastest animals, the blue whale and peregrine falcon respectively, are chordates, as are humans. Fossil chordates are known from at least as early as the Cambrian explosion, Hemichordata, which includes the acorn worms, has been presented as a fourth chordate subphylum, but it now is usually treated as a separate phylum. The Hemichordata, along with the Echinodermata, form the Ambulacraria, the Chordata and Ambulacraria form the superphylum Deuterostomia, composed of the deuterostomes. Attempts to work out the relationships of the chordates have produced several hypotheses. All of the earliest chordate fossils have found in the Early Cambrian Chengjiang fauna. Because the fossil record of early chordates is poor, only molecular phylogenetics offers a prospect of dating their emergence. However, the use of molecular phylogenetics for dating evolutionary transitions is controversial and it has also proved difficult to produce a detailed classification within the living chordates. Attempts to produce family trees shows that many of the traditional classes are paraphyletic. While this has been known since the 19th century, an insistence on only monophyletic taxa has resulted in vertebrate classification being in a state of flux. Although the name Chordata is attributed to William Bateson, it was already in prevalent use by 1880, ernst Haeckel described a taxon comprising tunicates, cephalochordates, and vertebrates in 1866. Though he used the German vernacular form, it is allowed under the ICZN code because of its subsequent latinization, among the vertebrate sub-group of chordates the notochord develops into the spine, and in wholly aquatic species this helps the animal to swim by flexing its tail. In fish and other vertebrates, this develops into the spinal cord, the pharynx is the part of the throat immediately behind the mouth. In fish, the slits are modified to form gills, a muscular tail that extends backwards behind the anus. This is a groove in the wall of the pharynx. In filter-feeding species it produces mucus to gather food particles, which helps in transporting food to the esophagus and it also stores iodine, and may be a precursor of the vertebrate thyroid gland
7.
Actinopterygii
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Actinopterygii /ˌæktᵻnˌɒptəˈrɪdʒi. aɪ/, or the ray-finned fishes, constitute a class or subclass of the bony fishes. These actinopterygian fin rays attach directly to the proximal or basal skeletal elements, the radials, numerically, actinopterygians are the dominant class of vertebrates, comprising nearly 99% of the over 30,000 species of fish. They are ubiquitous throughout freshwater and marine environments from the sea to the highest mountain streams. Extant species can range in size from Paedocypris, at 8 mm, to the ocean sunfish, at 2,300 kg. Ray-finned fishes occur in variant forms. The main features of a typical ray-finned fish are shown in the diagram at the left. In nearly all ray-finned fish, the sexes are separate, development then proceeds with a free-swimming larval stage. However other patterns of ontogeny exist, with one of the commonest being sequential hermaphroditism, in most cases this involves protogyny, fish starting life as females and converting to males at some stage, triggered by some internal or external factor. This may be advantageous as females become less prolific as they age while male fecundity increases with age, protandry, where a fish converts from male to female, is much less common than protogyny. Most families use external rather than internal fertilization, of the oviparous teleosts, most do not provide parental care. Viviparity is relatively rare and is found in about 6% of teleost species, male territoriality preadapts a species for evolving male parental care. There are a few examples of fish that self-fertilise, the mangrove rivulus is an amphibious, simultaneous hermaphrodite, producing both eggs and spawn and having internal fertilisation. This mode of reproduction may be related to the habit of spending long periods out of water in the mangrove forests it inhabits. Males are occasionally produced at temperatures below 19 °C and can fertilise eggs that are spawned by the female. This maintains genetic variability in a species that is otherwise highly inbred, the earliest known fossil actinopterygiian is Andreolepis hedei, dating back 420 million years. Remains have been found in Russia, Sweden, and Estonia, actinopterygians are divided into the subclasses Chondrostei and Neopterygii. The Neopterygii, in turn, are divided into the infraclasses Holostei and Teleostei, during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic the teleosts in particular diversified widely, and as a result, 96% of all known fish species are teleosts. The cladogram shows the groups of actinopterygians and their relationship to the terrestrial vertebrates that evolved from a related group of fish
8.
Cypriniformes
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Cypriniformes is an order of ray-finned fish, including the carps, minnows, loaches and relatives. This order contains 11-12 families, over 400 genera, and more than 4,250 species, with new species being described every few months or so and they are most diverse in southeastern Asia, and are entirely absent from Australia and South America. Their closest living relatives are the Characiformes, the Gymnotiformes and the Siluriformes, like other orders of the Ostariophysi, fishes of cypriniformes possess a Weberian apparatus. They differ from most of their relatives in having only a dorsal fin on their back, further differences are the Cypriniformes unique kinethmoid, a small median bone in the snout, and the lack of teeth in the mouth. Instead, they have convergent structures called pharyngeal teeth in the throat, while other groups of fish, such as cichlids, also possess pharyngeal teeth, the cypriniformes teeth grind against a chewing pad on the base of the skull, instead of an upper pharyngeal jaw. The most notable family placed here is Cyprinidae which make up two-thirds of the orders diversity and this is one of the largest families of fish, and is widely distributed across Africa, Eurasia, and North America. Most species are freshwater inhabitants, but a considerable number are found in brackish water, such as roach. At least one species is found in saltwater, the Pacific redfin, brackish water and marine cyprinids are invariably anadromous, swimming upstream into rivers to spawn. Sometimes separated as family Psilorhynchidae, they seem to be specially-adapted fishes of Cyprinidae, Balitoridae and Gyrinocheilidae are families of mountain stream fishes feeding on algae and small invertebrates. They are found only in tropical and subtropical Asia, while the former are a speciose group, the latter contain only a handful of species. The suckers are found in temperate North America and eastern Asia and these large fishes are similar to carps in appearance and ecology. Members of Cobitidae common across Eurasia and parts of North Africa, historically these included all the forms now placed in the superorder Ostariophysi except the catfish, which were placed in the order Siluriformes. By this definition, the Cypriniformes were paraphyletic, so recently the orders Gonorhynchiformes, Characiformes, the families of Cypriniformes are traditionally divided into two superfamilies. Superfamily Cyprinioidea contains the carps and minnows and, according to some, Catostomoidea is usually treated as a junior synonym of Cobitioidea. But it seems that it could be split off the Catostomidae and Gyrinocheilidae in a distinct superfamily, while the Cyprinioidea seem more primitive than the loach-like forms, they were apparently successful enough never to shift from the original ecological niche of the basal Ostariophysi. Yet, from the ecomorphologically conservative main lineage apparently at least two major radiations branched off and these diversified from the lowlands into torrential river habitats, acquiring similar habitus and adaptations in the process. The mountain carps are highly apomorphic Cyprinidae, perhaps close to true carps, a systematic list, from the most ancient to the most modern lineages, can thus be given as, Superfamily Cyprinoidei Family Cyprinidae Bonaparte,1840 and minnows incl. This is evidenced not only by physiological details, but their great distribution, the earliest that Cypriniformes might have diverged from Characiphysi is thought to be about the Early Triassic, about 250 million years ago
9.
Cyprinidae
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The Cyprinidae are the family of freshwater fishes, collectively called cyprinids, that includes the carps, the true minnows, and their relatives. The family belongs to the ostariophysian order Cypriniformes, of whose genera, the family name is derived from the Ancient Greek kyprînos. Cyprinids are stomachless fish with toothless jaws, even so, food can be effectively chewed by the gill rakers of the specialized last gill bow. These pharyngeal teeth allow the fish to make chewing motions against a chewing plate formed by a process of the skull. The pharyngeal teeth are species-specific and are used by specialists to determine species, strong pharyngeal teeth allow fish such as the common carp and ide to eat hard baits such as snails and bivalves. Hearing is a sense in the cyprinids since they have the Weberian organ. The vertebral processes of the Weberian organ also permit a cyprinid to detect changes in motion of the gas due to atmospheric conditions or depth changes. The cyprinids are considered physostomes because the pneumatic duct is retained in adult stages, Cyprinids are native to North America, Africa, and Eurasia. The largest known cyprinid is the giant barb, which may grow up to 3 m in length and 300 kg in weight, other very large species that can surpass 2 m are the golden mahseer and mangar. The largest North American species is the Colorado pikeminnow, which can reach up to 1.8 m in length, conversely, many species are smaller than 5 cm. The smallest known fish is Paedocypris progenetica, reaching 10.3 mm at the longest, all fish in this family are egg-layers and most do not guard their eggs, however, a few species build nests and/or guard the eggs. The bitterlings of subfamily Acheilognathinae are notable for depositing their eggs in bivalve molluscs, most cyprinids feed mainly on invertebrates and vegetation, probably due to the lack of teeth and stomach, but some species, like the asp, are predators that specialize in fish. Many species, such as the ide, and the common rudd, even small species, such as the moderlieschen, are opportunistic predators that will eat larvae of the common frog in artificial circumstances. For this reason, cyprinids are often introduced as a management tool to control various factors in the environment, such as aquatic vegetation. Cyprinids are highly important food fish, they are fished and farmed across Eurasia, in land-locked countries in particular, cyprinids are often the major species of fish eaten because they make the largest part of biomass in most water types except for fast-flowing rivers. In Eastern Europe, they are prepared with traditional methods. The prevalence of inexpensive frozen fish products made this less important now than it was in earlier times, nonetheless, in certain places, they remain popular for food, as well as recreational fishing, and have been deliberately stocked in ponds and lakes for centuries for this reason. Cyprinids are popular for angling especially for fishing and fishing for common carp because of its size
10.
Pimephales
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Pimephales, commonly known as the bluntnose minnows, is a genus of cyprinid fish found in North America. All of the four species are small fish, with P. notatus being the largest at 11 cm and these minnows can be found all over North America and are commonly used as fish bait. Pimephales notatus Pimephales promelas Rafinesque,1820 Pimephales tenellus Pimephales vigilax Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds
11.
Binomial nomenclature
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Such a name is called a binomial name, a binomen, binominal name or a scientific name, more informally it is also called a Latin name. The first part of the name identifies the genus to which the species belongs, for example, humans belong to the genus Homo and within this genus to the species Homo sapiens. The formal introduction of system of naming species is credited to Carl Linnaeus. But Gaspard Bauhin, in as early as 1623, had introduced in his book Pinax theatri botanici many names of genera that were adopted by Linnaeus. Although the general principles underlying binomial nomenclature are common to these two codes, there are differences, both in the terminology they use and in their precise rules. Similarly, both parts are italicized when a binomial name occurs in normal text, thus the binomial name of the annual phlox is now written as Phlox drummondii. In scientific works, the authority for a name is usually given, at least when it is first mentioned. In zoology Patella vulgata Linnaeus,1758, the original name given by Linnaeus was Fringilla domestica, the parentheses indicate that the species is now considered to belong in a different genus. The ICZN does not require that the name of the person who changed the genus be given, nor the date on which the change was made, in botany Amaranthus retroflexus L. – L. is the standard abbreviation used in botany for Linnaeus. – Linnaeus first named this bluebell species Scilla italica, Rothmaler transferred it to the genus Hyacinthoides, the ICN does not require that the dates of either publication be specified. Prior to the adoption of the binomial system of naming species. Together they formed a system of polynomial nomenclature and these names had two separate functions. First, to designate or label the species, and second, to be a diagnosis or description, such polynomial names may sometimes look like binomials, but are significantly different. For example, Gerards herbal describes various kinds of spiderwort, The first is called Phalangium ramosum, Branched Spiderwort, is aptly termed Phalangium Ephemerum Virginianum, Soon-Fading Spiderwort of Virginia. The Latin phrases are short descriptions, rather than identifying labels, the Bauhins, in particular Caspar Bauhin, took some important steps towards the binomial system, by pruning the Latin descriptions, in many cases to two words. The adoption by biologists of a system of binomial nomenclature is due to Swedish botanist and physician Carl von Linné. It was in his 1753 Species Plantarum that he first began using a one-word trivial name together with a generic name in a system of binomial nomenclature. This trivial name is what is now known as an epithet or specific name
12.
Constantine Samuel Rafinesque
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Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz, as he is known in Europe, was a nineteenth-century polymath born near Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire and self-educated in France. He traveled as a man in the United States, ultimately settling in Ohio in 1815, where he made notable contributions to botany, zoology. He also contributed to the study of ancient Mesoamerican linguistics, in addition to work he had completed in Europe. Rafinesque was eccentric, and is portrayed as an erratic genius. He was an autodidact who excelled in fields of knowledge, as a zoologist, botanist, writer. He wrote prolifically on such topics as anthropology, biology, geology, and linguistics. Today, scholars agree that he was far ahead of his time in many areas, among his theories was that ancestors of Native Americans had migrated by the Bering Sea from Asia to North America. Rafinesque was born on October 22,1783 in Galata, a suburb of Constantinople and his father F. G. Rafinesque was a French merchant from Marseilles, his mother M. Schmaltz was of German descent and born in Constantinople. His father died in Philadelphia about 1793, Rafinesque spent his youth in Marseilles, and was mostly self-educated, he never attended university. By the age of twelve, he had begun collecting plants for a herbarium, by fourteen, he taught himself perfect Greek and Latin because he needed to follow footnotes in the books he was reading in his paternal grandmothers libraries. In 1802, at the age of nineteen, Rafinesque sailed to Philadelphia in the United States with his younger brother and they traveled through Pennsylvania and Delaware, where he made the acquaintance of most of the young nations few botanists. In 1805 Rafinesque returned to Europe with his collection of specimens, and settled in Palermo, Sicily. He became so successful in trade that he retired by age twenty-five, for a time Rafinesque also worked as secretary to the American consul. During his stay in Sicily, he studied plants and fishes and he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1808. After their son died in 1815, he left her and returned to the United States, when his ship Union foundered near the coast of Connecticut, he lost all his books and all his specimens. Settling in New York, Rafinesque became a member of the newly established Lyceum of Natural History. In 1817 his book Florula Ludoviciana or A Flora of the State of Louisiana was strongly criticized by fellow botanists, by 1818, he had collected and named more than 250 new species of plants and animals. Slowly he was rebuilding his collection of objects from nature, in 1819 Rafinesque became professor of botany at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, where he also gave private lessons in French, Italian and Spanish
13.
Synonym (taxonomy)
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For example, Linnaeus was the first to give a scientific name to the Norway spruce, which he called Pinus abies. This name is no longer in use, it is now a synonym of the current scientific name which is Picea abies, unlike synonyms in other contexts, in taxonomy a synonym is not interchangeable with the name of which it is a synonym. In taxonomy, synonyms are not equals, but have a different status, for any taxon with a particular circumscription, position, and rank, only one scientific name is considered to be the correct one at any given time. A synonym cannot exist in isolation, it is always an alternative to a different scientific name, given that the correct name of a taxon depends on the taxonomic viewpoint used a name that is one taxonomists synonym may be another taxonomists correct name. Synonyms may arise whenever the same taxon is described and named more than once, independently. They may also arise when existing taxa are changed, as when two taxa are joined to one, a species is moved to a different genus. To the general user of scientific names, in such as agriculture, horticulture, ecology, general science. A synonym is a name that was used as the correct scientific name but which has been displaced by another scientific name. Thus Oxford Dictionaries Online defines the term as a name which has the same application as another. In handbooks and general texts, it is useful to have mentioned as such after the current scientific name. Synonyms used in this way may not always meet the strict definitions of the synonym in the formal rules of nomenclature which govern scientific names. Changes of scientific name have two causes, they may be taxonomic or nomenclatural, a name change may be caused by changes in the circumscription, position or rank of a taxon, representing a change in taxonomic, scientific insight. A name change may be due to purely nomenclatural reasons, that is, based on the rules of nomenclature, the earliest such name is called the senior synonym, while the later name is the junior synonym. One basic principle of zoological nomenclature is that the earliest correctly published name, synonyms are important because if the earliest name cannot be used, then the next available junior synonym must be used for the taxon. Objective synonyms refer to taxa with the type and same rank. For example, John Edward Gray published the name Antilocapra anteflexa in 1855 for a species of pronghorn, however, it is now commonly accepted that his specimen was an unusual individual of the species Antilocapra americana published by George Ord in 1815. Ords name thus takes precedence, with Antilocapra anteflexa being a subjective synonym. Objective synonyms are common at the level of genera, because for various reasons two genera may contain the type species, these are objective synonyms
14.
Edward Drinker Cope
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Edward Drinker Cope was an American paleontologist and comparative anatomist, as well as a noted herpetologist and ichthyologist. He was a founder of the Neo-Lamarckism school of thought, born to a wealthy Quaker family, Cope distinguished himself as a child prodigy interested in science, he published his first scientific paper at the age of 19. Though his father tried to raise Cope as a gentleman farmer, Cope married his cousin and had one child, the family moved from Philadelphia to Haddonfield, New Jersey, although Cope would maintain a residence and museum in Philadelphia in his later years. Cope had little formal training, and he eschewed a teaching position for field work. He made regular trips to the American West, prospecting in the 1870s and 1880s, a personal feud between Cope and paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh led to a period of intense fossil-finding competition now known as the Bone Wars. Copes financial fortunes soured after failed mining ventures in the 1880s and he experienced a resurgence in his career toward the end of his life before dying on April 12,1897. Though Copes scientific pursuits nearly bankrupted him, his contributions helped to define the field of American paleontology and he was a prodigious writer, with 1,400 papers published over his lifetime, although his rivals debated the accuracy of his rapidly published works. He discovered, described, and named more than 1,000 vertebrate species, including hundreds of fishes and his proposal for the origin of mammalian molars is notable among his theoretical contributions. Copes rule, however, the hypothesis that mammalian lineages gradually grow larger over geologic time, Edward Drinker Cope was born on July 28,1840, the eldest son of Alfred and Hanna Cope. The death of his mother when he was three years old seemed to have had effect on young Edward, as he mentioned in his letters that he had no recollection of her. His stepmother, Rebecca Biddle, filled the role, Cope referred to her warmly, as well as his younger stepbrother. Alfred, a member of the Religious Society of Friends or Quakers, operated a lucrative shipping business started by his father, Thomas P. Cope. He was a philanthropist who gave money to the Society of Friends, the Philadelphia Zoological Gardens, Edward was born and raised in a large stone house called Fairfield, whose location is now within the boundaries of Philadelphia. The 8 acres of pristine and exotic gardens of the house offered a landscape that Edward was able to explore. The Copes began teaching their children to read and write at a young age, and took Edward on trips across New England and to museums, zoos. Copes interest in animals became apparent at an age, as did his natural artistic ability. Alfred intended to give his son the same education he himself had received. At age nine, Edward was sent to a day school in Philadelphia and in 1853 at the age of 12, Edward was sent to the Friends Boarding School at Westtown, near West Chester, Pennsylvania
15.
Barton Warren Evermann
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Barton Warren Evermann was an American ichthyologist. He was born in Monroe County, Iowa, and graduated from Indiana University in 1886, for 10 years, he served as teacher and superintendent of schools in Indiana and California. He was professor of biology at the Indiana State University in Terre Haute from 1886 to 1891 and he lectured at Stanford University in 1893-94, at Cornell in 1900-03, and at Yale in 1903-06. He died in Berkeley, California, aged 78, in the early 20th century, as director of the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, he promoted research on the Revillagigedo Islands off the Pacific coast of Mexico. Mount Evermann on Socorro Island, the highest peak of the archipelago, was named in his honor, Evermann was United States fur seal commissioner in 1892 and became chairman of the fur seal board in 1908. In collaboration with D. S. Jordan, Evermann contributed to American Food and his publications include bulletins and reports of the United States Fish Commission and contributions to the proceedings of various societies. Sabertooth fish This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Gilman. Thurston, H. T. Colby, F. M. eds. article name needed
16.
Temperate climate
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In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of Earth lie between the tropics and the polar regions. The temperatures in these regions are relatively moderate, rather than extremely hot or cold. The north temperate zone extends from the Tropic of Cancer to the Arctic Circle, the south temperate zone extends from the Tropic of Capricorn to the Antarctic Circle. In some climate classifications, the zone is often divided into several smaller climate zones. These include Humid subtropical climate, Mediterranean climate, oceanic, subtropical climates are located between 23. 5° and 35. 0° north or south latitude on the eastern or leeward sides of landmasses. This climate has long, generally hot, summers and short, mild winters and these climates may occur in southern Asia, the southeastern United States, parts of eastern Australia, and in eastern coastal South America. Mediterranean climates, occur between 30° and 42° north and south latitude, on the sides of landmasses. This climate has hot summers and short mild winters, however, seasonal rainfall is the opposite of that of the subtropical humid type. These climates occur near the rimlands of the Mediterranean Sea, in western Australia, in California, the oceanic climates occur in the higher middle latitudes, between 45° and 60° north and south latitude. They are created by the flow from the cool high latitude oceans to their west. This causes the climate to have cool summers and cool winters, annual rainfall is spread throughout the entire year. Regions with this climate include Western Europe, northwestern North America, the Continental climates occur in middle latitudes, between 35° or 40° to 55°. These climates are normally inland or on sides of landmasses. They feature warm to hot summers and cold winters, with a large temperature variation. Regions with this climate include northern temperate Asia, the northern United States, southern Canada, the vast majority of the worlds human population resides in temperate zones, especially in the northern hemisphere, due to its greater mass of land. The richest temperate flora in the world is found in southern Africa, geographical zone Habitat Köppen climate classification Middle latitudes Polar circle Subtropics
17.
Fish
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A fish is any member of a group of animals that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic craniate animals that lack limbs with digits. They form a group to the tunicates, together forming the olfactores. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous, tetrapods emerged within lobe-finned fishes, so cladistically they are fish as well. However, traditionally fish are rendered obsolete or paraphyletic by excluding the tetrapods, because in this manner the term fish is defined negatively as a paraphyletic group, it is not considered a formal taxonomic grouping in systematic biology. The traditional term pisces is considered a typological, but not a phylogenetic classification, the earliest organisms that can be classified as fish were soft-bodied chordates that first appeared during the Cambrian period. Although they lacked a true spine, they possessed notochords which allowed them to be more agile than their invertebrate counterparts, fish would continue to evolve through the Paleozoic era, diversifying into a wide variety of forms. Many fish of the Paleozoic developed external armor that protected them from predators, the first fish with jaws appeared in the Silurian period, after which many became formidable marine predators rather than just the prey of arthropods. Fish are abundant in most bodies of water and they can be found in nearly all aquatic environments, from high mountain streams to the abyssal and even hadal depths of the deepest oceans. With 33,100 described species, fish exhibit greater species diversity than any group of vertebrates. Fish are an important resource for humans worldwide, especially as food, commercial and subsistence fishers hunt fish in wild fisheries or farm them in ponds or in cages in the ocean. They are also caught by fishers, kept as pets, raised by fishkeepers. Fish have had a role in culture through the ages, serving as deities, religious symbols, fish do not represent a monophyletic group, and therefore the evolution of fish is not studied as a single event. Early fish from the record are represented by a group of small, jawless. Jawless fish lineages are mostly extinct, an extant clade, the lampreys may approximate ancient pre-jawed fish. The first jaws are found in Placodermi fossils, the diversity of jawed vertebrates may indicate the evolutionary advantage of a jawed mouth. It is unclear if the advantage of a hinged jaw is greater biting force, improved respiration, fish may have evolved from a creature similar to a coral-like sea squirt, whose larvae resemble primitive fish in important ways. The first ancestors of fish may have kept the form into adulthood. Fish are a group, that is, any clade containing all fish also contains the tetrapods
18.
North America
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North America is a continent entirely within the Northern Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere. It can also be considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, and to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea. North America covers an area of about 24,709,000 square kilometers, about 16. 5% of the land area. North America is the third largest continent by area, following Asia and Africa, and the fourth by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. In 2013, its population was estimated at nearly 565 million people in 23 independent states, or about 7. 5% of the worlds population, North America was reached by its first human populations during the last glacial period, via crossing the Bering land bridge. The so-called Paleo-Indian period is taken to have lasted until about 10,000 years ago, the Classic stage spans roughly the 6th to 13th centuries. The Pre-Columbian era ended with the migrations and the arrival of European settlers during the Age of Discovery. Present-day cultural and ethnic patterns reflect different kind of interactions between European colonists, indigenous peoples, African slaves and their descendants, European influences are strongest in the northern parts of the continent while indigenous and African influences are relatively stronger in the south. Because of the history of colonialism, most North Americans speak English, Spanish or French, the Americas are usually accepted as having been named after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci by the German cartographers Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann. Vespucci, who explored South America between 1497 and 1502, was the first European to suggest that the Americas were not the East Indies, but a different landmass previously unknown by Europeans. In 1507, Waldseemüller produced a map, in which he placed the word America on the continent of South America. He explained the rationale for the name in the accompanying book Cosmographiae Introductio, for Waldseemüller, no one should object to the naming of the land after its discoverer. He used the Latinized version of Vespuccis name, but in its feminine form America, following the examples of Europa, Asia and Africa. Later, other mapmakers extended the name America to the continent, In 1538. Some argue that the convention is to use the surname for naming discoveries except in the case of royalty, a minutely explored belief that has been advanced is that America was named for a Spanish sailor bearing the ancient Visigothic name of Amairick. Another is that the name is rooted in a Native American language, the term North America maintains various definitions in accordance with location and context. In Canadian English, North America may be used to refer to the United States, alternatively, usage sometimes includes Greenland and Mexico, as well as offshore islands
19.
Canada
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Canada is a country in the northern half of North America. Canadas border with the United States is the worlds longest binational land border, the majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its territory being dominated by forest and tundra. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, One third of the population lives in the three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg. Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1,1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick and this began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over authority, removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level and it is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources, Canadas long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. Canada is a country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, Canada is an influential nation in the world, primarily due to its inclusive values, years of prosperity and stability, stable economy, and efficient military. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the origins of Canada. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona, from the 16th to the early 18th century Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas, until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the name for the new country at the London Conference. The transition away from the use of Dominion was formally reflected in 1982 with the passage of the Canada Act, later that year, the name of national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day
20.
Rocky Mountains
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The Rocky Mountains, commonly known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than 3,000 miles from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the Southwestern United States. Within the North American Cordillera, the Rockies are somewhat distinct from the Pacific Coast Ranges, the Rocky Mountains were initially formed from 80 million to 55 million years ago during the Laramide orogeny, in which a number of plates began to slide underneath the North American plate. The angle of subduction was shallow, resulting in a belt of mountains running down western North America. Since then, further tectonic activity and erosion by glaciers have sculpted the Rockies into dramatic peaks, at the end of the last ice age, humans started to inhabit the mountain range. The first mention of their present name by a European was in the journal of Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre in 1752, the Rocky Mountains are commonly defined as stretching from the Liard River in British Columbia south to the Rio Grande in New Mexico. The United States definition of the Rockies includes the Cabinet and Salish Mountains of Idaho and their counterparts north of the Kootenai River, the Columbia Mountains, are considered a separate system in Canada, lying to the west of the huge Rocky Mountain Trench. This runs the length of British Columbia from its beginnings in the middle Flathead River valley in western Montana to the bank of the Liard River. The Rockies vary in width from 70 to 300 miles, also west of the Rocky Mountain Trench, farther north and facing the Muskwa Range across the trench, are the Stikine Ranges and Omineca Mountains of the Interior Mountains system of British Columbia. A small area east of Prince George, British Columbia on the side of the Trench. In Canada geographers define three main groups of ranges, the Continental Ranges, Hart Ranges and Muskwa Ranges, the Muskwa and Hart Ranges together comprise what is known as the Northern Rockies. The western edge of the Rockies includes ranges such as the Wasatch near Salt Lake City, the Great Basin and Columbia River Plateau separate these sub-ranges from distinct ranges further to the west, most prominent among which are the Sierra Nevada, Cascade Range and Coast Mountains. The Rocky Mountain System within the United States is a United States physiographic region, the Rocky Mountains are notable for containing the highest peaks in central North America. The ranges highest peak is Mount Elbert located in Colorado at 14,440 feet above sea level, Mount Robson in British Columbia, at 12,972 feet, is the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies. The Continental Divide of the Americas is located in the Rocky Mountains, triple Divide Peak in Glacier National Park is so named because water that falls on the mountain reaches not only the Atlantic and Pacific, but Hudson Bay as well. Farther north in Alberta, the Athabasca and other rivers feed the basin of the Mackenzie River, see Rivers of the Rocky Mountains for a list of rivers. Human population is not very dense in the Rocky Mountains, with an average of four people per square kilometer, however, the human population grew rapidly in the Rocky Mountain states between 1950 and 1990. The 40-year statewide increases in range from 35% in Montana to about 150% in Utah
21.
Texas
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Texas is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Other major cities include Austin, the second most populous state capital in the U. S. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify its former status as an independent republic, and as a reminder of the states struggle for independence from Mexico. The Lone Star can be found on the Texan state flag, the origin of Texass name is from the word Tejas, which means friends in the Caddo language. Due to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault, although Texas is popularly associated with the U. S. southwestern deserts, less than 10 percent of Texas land area is desert. Most of the centers are located in areas of former prairies, grasslands, forests. Traveling from east to west, one can observe terrain that ranges from coastal swamps and piney woods, to rolling plains and rugged hills, the term six flags over Texas refers to several nations that have ruled over the territory. Spain was the first European country to claim the area of Texas, Mexico controlled the territory until 1836 when Texas won its independence, becoming an independent Republic. In 1845, Texas joined the United States as the 28th state, the states annexation set off a chain of events that caused the Mexican–American War in 1846. A slave state before the American Civil War, Texas declared its secession from the U. S. in early 1861, after the Civil War and the restoration of its representation in the federal government, Texas entered a long period of economic stagnation. One Texan industry that thrived after the Civil War was cattle, due to its long history as a center of the industry, Texas is associated with the image of the cowboy. The states economic fortunes changed in the early 20th century, when oil discoveries initiated a boom in the state. With strong investments in universities, Texas developed a diversified economy, as of 2010 it shares the top of the list of the most Fortune 500 companies with California at 57. With a growing base of industry, the leads in many industries, including agriculture, petrochemicals, energy, computers and electronics, aerospace. Texas has led the nation in export revenue since 2002 and has the second-highest gross state product. The name Texas, based on the Caddo word tejas meaning friends or allies, was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves, during Spanish colonial rule, the area was officially known as the Nuevo Reino de Filipinas, La Provincia de Texas. Texas is the second largest U. S. state, behind Alaska, though 10 percent larger than France and almost twice as large as Germany or Japan, it ranks only 27th worldwide amongst country subdivisions by size. If it were an independent country, Texas would be the 40th largest behind Chile, Texas is in the south central part of the United States of America. Three of its borders are defined by rivers, the Rio Grande forms a natural border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south
22.
Virginia
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Virginia is a state located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, as well as in the historic Southeast. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, the capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond, Virginia Beach is the most populous city, and Fairfax County is the most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealths estimated population as of 2014 is over 8.3 million, the areas history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607 the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony, slave labor and the land acquired from displaced Native American tribes each played a significant role in the colonys early politics and plantation economy. Although the Commonwealth was under one-party rule for nearly a century following Reconstruction, the Virginia General Assembly is the oldest continuous law-making body in the New World. The state government was ranked most effective by the Pew Center on the States in both 2005 and 2008 and it is unique in how it treats cities and counties equally, manages local roads, and prohibits its governors from serving consecutive terms. Virginias economy changed from agricultural to industrial during the 1960s and 1970s. Virginia has an area of 42,774.2 square miles, including 3,180.13 square miles of water. Virginias boundary with Maryland and Washington, D. C. extends to the mark of the south shore of the Potomac River. The southern border is defined as the 36° 30′ parallel north, the border with Tennessee was not settled until 1893, when their dispute was brought to the U. S. Supreme Court. The Chesapeake Bay separates the portion of the Commonwealth from the two-county peninsula of Virginias Eastern Shore. The bay was formed from the river valleys of the Susquehanna River. Many of Virginias rivers flow into the Chesapeake Bay, including the Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James, the Tidewater is a coastal plain between the Atlantic coast and the fall line. It includes the Eastern Shore and major estuaries of Chesapeake Bay, the Piedmont is a series of sedimentary and igneous rock-based foothills east of the mountains which were formed in the Mesozoic era. The region, known for its clay soil, includes the Southwest Mountains around Charlottesville. The Blue Ridge Mountains are a province of the Appalachian Mountains with the highest points in the state. The Ridge and Valley region is west of the mountains and includes the Great Appalachian Valley, the region is carbonate rock based and includes Massanutten Mountain. The Cumberland Plateau and the Cumberland Mountains are in the southwest corner of Virginia, in this region, rivers flow northwest, with a dendritic drainage system, into the Ohio River basin
23.
Northeastern United States
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The Northeast is one of the four regions defined by the Census Bureau for the collection and analysis of statistics. The Census Bureau-defined region has an area of 181,324 sq mi with 162,257 square miles of that being land mass. Though lacking a unified identity, the Northeastern region is the nations most economically developed, densely populated. Of the nations four census regions, the Northeast is the second most urban, with 85 percent of its residing in urban areas. The region is subdivided into New England and the Mid-Atlantic States and this definition has been essentially unchanged since 1880 and is widely used as a standard for data tabulation. C. Similarly, the Geological Society of America defines the Northeast as these same states but with the addition of Maryland, the narrowest definitions include only the states of New England. Other more restrictive definitions include New England and New York as part of the Northeast United States, States beyond the Census Bureau definition that other entities include in the Northeast United States are, Delaware, Maryland, and Washington, D. C. Delaware, Maryland, Washington, D. C. and West Virginia Delaware, Maryland, Washington, most did not settle in North America until the 17th century. Among the many tribes that inhabited this area were those made up the Iroquois nations. In the United States of the 21st century,18 federally recognized tribes reside in the Northeast, the two cultural and geographic regions that form parts of the Northeastern region have distinct histories. The first Europeans to settle New England were Pilgrims from England, the Pilgrims arrived by the Mayflower ship and founded Plymouth Colony so they could practice religion freely. Ten years later, a group of Puritans settled north of Plymouth Colony in Boston to form Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1636, colonists established Connecticut Colony and Providence Plantations, Providence was founded by Roger Williams, who was banished by Massachusetts for his beliefs in freedom of religion, and it was the first colony to guarantee all citizens freedom of worship. Anne Hutchinson, who was banished by Massachusetts, formed the town of Portsmouth. Providence, Portsmouth, and two towns consolidated to form the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Although the first settlers of New England were motivated by religion, in recent history. In a 2009 Gallup survey, less than half of residents in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts reported religion as an important part of their daily life. In a 2010 Gallup survey, less than 30% of residents in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, New England played a prominent role in early American education
24.
Feeder fish
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Feeder fish is the generic name for certain types of inexpensive fish commonly fed as live prey to captive animals such as sharks, turtles and some other fish such as oscars. The species of fish sold as feeder fish are invariably some of the easiest fish for fishkeepers to rear and breed, such as common goldfish. Typically, these species are tolerant of overcrowding and have a high fecundity, other animal keepers believe that feeder fish are particularly nutritious, being what their pets would eat in the wild. Still others view feeder fish as a treat that encourages predatory animals to exhibit their natural hunting behaviours. Some animal keepers enjoy watching the hunting and eating techniques involved when one animal eats another, most predatory species that eat live fish can also be weaned onto dead alternatives. Some of the used as feeder fish contain high quantities of thiaminase, an enzyme that destroys vitamin B1. When bred and held in an overcrowded or otherwise sub-optimal environment, they may also carry bacterial infections and parasites, a major disadvantage of using feeder fish, particularly goldfish, is that they do not actually simulate what tropical fish eat in the wild. Several fast-growing and hardy species are sold and used as feeder fish
25.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
26.
Schreckstoff
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In 1938, the Austrian ethologist Karl von Frisch made his first report on the existence of the chemical alarm signal known as Schreckstoff in minnows. An alarm signal is a produced by an individual, the “sender”, reacting to a hazard that warns other animals. This chemical alarm signal is released when the sender incurs mechanical damage, such as when it has been caught by a predator. When this signal reaches the receivers, they perceive a greater predation risk, since populations of fish exhibiting this trait survive more successfully, the trait is maintained via natural selection. Chemical alarm systems have been identified in a number of different taxa, including gastropods, echinoderms, amphibians, one of the most well-studied chemical alarm signals is schreckstoff, the use of which is widespread in the superorder Ostariophysi. One putative active ingredient in schreckstoff is hypoxanthine-3N-oxide, which may be produced in what will henceforth be referred to as alarm substance cells, the nitrogen oxide functional group was found to be the main chemical trigger of antipredator behavior in receivers. Schreckstoff is a mixture, and fragments of a glycosaminoglycan, chondroitin sulfate, are able to trigger fear responses, the precursor polysaccharide is a component of mucus, and fragments are proposed to be produced during injury. Like schreckstoff obtained from skin extract, chondroitin sulfate activates a subset of sensory neurons. Production of and responses to change over the course of ontogeny. For example, young brook sticklebacks are more likely to be caught in minnow traps that have been baited with conspecific skin extracts than adults and this result indicates young brook sticklebacks do not make the association between schreckstoff and the potential presence of a predator as readily as adults. Whether this association strengthens over time as a result of learning or physiological development remains unclear, in addition to changes across ontogeny, the degree to which schreckstoff is produced varies within the breeding season. Male fathead minnows cease production of schreckstoff during the breeding season, Schreckstoff production may be halted at this time because male fathead minnows often incur mechanical damage while building their nests. It would be detrimental to a male to produce schreckstoff while building a nest, as it would inadvertently repel females, by ceasing schreckstoff production during the breeding season, males circumvent this problem. The cessation of alarm substance cell production appears to be controlled by androgens, a number of different hypotheses have been proposed for the evolution of schreckstoff. The first hypothesis is that the evolution of schreckstoff has been driven by kin selection and this hypothesis assumes predators will be attracted to schreckstoff and will interfere with one another either through competition for the captured prey or through predation of one another. It additionally assumes, despite the fact that the prey has already incurred mechanical damage, it is possible for the prey to escape, testing and validating these assumptions would provide support for the predator attraction hypothesis. The third hypothesis proposes that schreckstoff has a function, providing protection against pathogens. For this hypothesis to be supported, a correlation between alarm substance cell production and the presence of pathogens and parasites would need to be observed, direct evidence that schreckstoff inhibits the growth of aquatic pathogens and parasites would provide additional support for the immunity hypothesis
27.
Omnivore
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Omnivore /ˈɒmnivɔər/ is a consumption classification for animals that have the capability to obtain chemical energy and nutrients from materials originating from plant and animal origin. Often, omnivores also have the ability to incorporate food sources such as algae, fungi, omnivores come from diverse backgrounds that often independently evolved sophisticated consumption capabilities. For instance, dogs evolved from primarily carnivorous organisms while pigs evolved from primarily herbivorous organisms, what this means is that physical characteristics are often not reliable indicators of whether an animal has the ability to obtain energy and nutrients from both plant and animal matter. The variety of different animals that are classified as omnivores can be placed into categories depending on their feeding behaviors. Frugivores include maned wolves and orangutans, insectivores include swallows and pink fairy armadillos, granivores include large ground finches, all of these animals are omnivores, yet still fall into special niches in terms of feeding behaviors and preferred foods. Being omnivores gives these animals more food security in times or makes possible living in less consistent environments. The word omnivore derives from the Latin omnis, and vora, from vorare, having been coined by the French, traditionally the definition for omnivory was entirely behavioral by means of simply including both animal and vegetable tissue in the diet. This has subsequently conditioned two context specific definitions, behavioral, This definition is used to specify if a species or individual is actively consuming both plant and animal materials. Physiological, This definition is used in academia to specify species that have the capability to obtain energy. Though Carnivora is a taxon for species classification, no equivalent exists for omnivores. The Carnivora order does not include all species, and not all species within the Carnivora taxon are carnivorous. It is common to find physiological carnivores consuming materials from plants or physiological herbivores consuming material from animals, e. g. felines eating grass, from a behavioral aspect, this would make them omnivores, but from the physiological standpoint, this may be due to zoopharmacognosy. Physiologically, animals must be able to both energy and nutrients from plant and animal materials to be considered omnivorous. For instance, it is documented that animals such as giraffes, camels. Felines, which are regarded as obligate carnivores, occasionally eat grass to regurgitate indigestibles, aid with hemoglobin production. Occasionally, it is found that animals historically classified as carnivorous may deliberately eat plant material, for example, in 2013 it was considered that American alligators may be physiologically omnivorous once investigations had been conducted on why they occasionally eat fruits. It was suggested that alligators probably ate fruits both accidentally but also deliberately, life-history omnivores is a specialized classification given to organisms that change their eating habits during their life cycle. Some species, such as grazing waterfowl like geese, are known to eat animal tissue at one stage of their lives
28.
Filter feeder
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Some animals that use this method of feeding are clams, krill, sponges, baleen whales, and many fish. Some birds, such as flamingos and certain species of duck, are filter feeders. Filter feeders can play an important role in clarifying water, and are therefore considered ecosystem engineers, most forage fish are filter feeders. For example, the Atlantic menhaden, a type of herring, adult menhaden can filter up to four gallons of water a minute and play an important role in clarifying ocean water. They are also a check to the deadly red tide. In addition to bony fish, four types of cartilaginous fishes are also filter feeders. The whale shark sucks in a mouthful of water, closes its mouth, during the slight delay between closing the mouth and opening the gill flaps, plankton is trapped against the dermal denticles which line its gill plates and pharynx. This fine sieve-like apparatus, which is a modification of the gill rakers, prevents the passage of anything. Any material caught in the filter between the bars is swallowed. Whale sharks have been observed coughing and it is presumed that this is a method of clearing a build up of particles in the gill rakers. The megamouth shark has luminous organs called photophores around its mouth and it is believed they may exist to lure plankton or small fish into its mouth. The basking shark is a filter feeder, filtering zooplankton, small fish. Unlike the megamouth and whale sharks, the shark does not appear to actively seek its quarry. Unlike the other filter feeders, it relies only on the water that is pushed through the gills by swimming. Manta rays can time their arrival at the spawning of large shoals of fish and feed on the free-floating eggs and this stratagem is also employed by whale sharks. Mysidacea are small crustaceans that live close to shore and hover above the sea floor and they are an important food source for herring, cod, flounder, and striped bass. Mysids have a resistance to toxins in polluted areas. Antarctic krill manages to directly utilize the minute phytoplankton cells, which no other animal of krill size can do
29.
Carnivore
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Animals that depend solely on animal flesh for their nutrient requirements are called obligate carnivores while those that also consume non-animal food are called facultative carnivores. A carnivore that sits at the top of the chain is termed an apex predator. Plants that capture and digest insects are called carnivorous plants, similarly, fungi that capture microscopic animals are often called carnivorous fungi. The word carnivore sometimes refers to the mammalian order Carnivora, while many Carnivora meet the definition of being meat eaters, not all do, and even fewer are true obligate carnivores. In addition, there are plenty of species that are not members of Carnivora. Outside the animal kingdom, there are several genera containing carnivorous plants, the former are predominantly insectivores, while the latter prey mostly on microscopic invertebrates, such as nematodes, amoebae and springtails. Carnivores are sometimes characterized by the type of prey that they consume, for example, animals that eat insects and similar invertebrates primarily or exclusively are called insectivores, while those that eat fish primarily or exclusively are called piscivores. The first tetrapods, or land-dwelling vertebrates, were piscivorous amphibians known as labyrinthodonts and they gave rise to insectivorous vertebrates and, later, to predators of other tetrapods. Carnivores may alternatively be classified according to the percentage of meat in their diet, obligate carnivores or true carnivores depend on the nutrients found only in animal flesh for their survival. For instance, felids including the cat are obligate carnivores requiring a diet of primarily animal flesh. Characteristics commonly associated with carnivores include organs for capturing and disarticulating prey, in truth, these assumptions may be misleading, as some carnivores do not hunt and are scavengers. Thus they do not have the associated with hunting carnivores. Carnivores have comparatively short digestive systems, as they are not required to break down tough cellulose found in plants, many animals that hunt other animals have evolved eyes that face forward, thus making depth perception possible. This is almost universal among mammalian predators, other predators, like crocodiles, as well as most reptiles and amphibians, have sideways facing eyes and hunt by ambush rather than pursuit. The first vertebrate carnivores were fish, and then amphibians that moved on to land, early tetrapods were large amphibious piscivores. Some scientists assert that Dimetrodon was the first terrestrial vertebrate to develop the curved, serrated teeth that enable a predator to eat prey much larger than itself. While amphibians continued to feed on fish and later insects, reptiles began exploring two new types, tetrapods, and later, plants. Carnivory was a transition from insectivory for medium and large tetrapods
30.
Crustacean
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Crustaceans form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill, woodlice and barnacles. In other words, some crustaceans are more related to insects. The 67,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at 0.1 mm, to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span of up to 3.8 m, like other arthropods, crustaceans have an exoskeleton, which they moult to grow. Most crustaceans are free-living aquatic animals, but some are terrestrial, some are parasitic, the group has an extensive fossil record, reaching back to the Cambrian, and includes living fossils such as Triops cancriformis, which has existed apparently unchanged since the Triassic period. More than 10 million tons of crustaceans are produced by fishery or farming for human consumption, krill and copepods are not as widely fished, but may be the animals with the greatest biomass on the planet, and form a vital part of the food chain. The scientific study of crustaceans is known as carcinology, and a scientist who works in carcinology is a carcinologist, the body of a crustacean is composed of segments, which are grouped into three regions, the cephalon or head, the thorax, and the pleon or abdomen. The head and thorax may be fused together to form a cephalothorax, the crustacean body is protected by the hard exoskeleton, which must be moulted for the animal to grow. The shell around each somite can be divided into a dorsal tergum, ventral sternum, various parts of the exoskeleton may be fused together. The abdomen bears pleopods, and ends in a telson, which bears the anus, the number and variety of appendages in different crustaceans may be partly responsible for the groups success. It is unclear whether the condition is a derived state which evolved in crustaceans. Trilobites, for instance, also possessed biramous appendages, the main body cavity is an open circulatory system, where blood is pumped into the haemocoel by a heart located near the dorsum. Malacostraca have haemocyanin as the pigment, while copepods, ostracods, barnacles. The alimentary canal consists of a tube that often has a gizzard-like gastric mill for grinding food and a pair of digestive glands that absorb food. Structures that function as kidneys are located near the antennae, a brain exists in the form of ganglia close to the antennae, and a collection of major ganglia is found below the gut. In many decapods, the first pair of pleopods are specialised in the male for sperm transfer, many terrestrial crustaceans mate seasonally and return to the sea to release the eggs. Others, such as woodlice, lay their eggs on land, in most decapods, the females retain the eggs until they hatch into free-swimming larvae. Marine crustaceans are as ubiquitous in the oceans as insects are on land, some branchiurans are able to withstand rapid changes of salinity and will also switch hosts from marine to non-marine species. Krill are the layer and the most important part of the food chain in Antarctic animal communities
31.
Invertebrate
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Invertebrates are animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column, derived from the notochord. This includes all animals apart from the subphylum Vertebrata, familiar examples of invertebrates include insects, crabs, lobsters and their kin, snails, clams, octopuses and their kin, starfish, sea-urchins and their kin, jellyfish, and worms. The majority of species are invertebrates, one estimate puts the figure at 97%. Many invertebrate taxa have a number and variety of species than the entire subphylum of Vertebrata. Some of the invertebrates, such as the Tunicata and Cephalochordata are more closely related to the vertebrates than to other invertebrates. This makes the term invertebrate paraphyletic and hence almost meaningless for taxonomic purposes, the word invertebrate comes from the form of the Latin word vertebra, which means a joint in general, and sometimes specifically a joint from the spinal column of a vertebrate. In turn the jointed aspect of vertebra derived from the concept of turning, coupled with the prefix in-, meaning not or without. The term invertebrates is not always precise among non-biologists since it does not accurately describe a taxon in the way that Arthropoda. Each of these describes an valid taxon, phylum, subphylum or family. Invertebrata is a term of convenience, not a taxon, it has very little circumscriptional significance except within the Chordata, the Vertebrata as a subphylum comprises such a small proportion of the Metazoa that to speak of the kingdom Animalia in terms of Vertebrata and Invertebrata has limited practicality. That would at least circumscribe the Chordata, however, even the notochord would be a less fundamental criterion than aspects of embryological development and symmetry or perhaps bauplan. The following text reflects earlier scientific understanding of the term and of animals which have constituted it. According to this understanding, invertebrates do not possess a skeleton of bone and they include hugely varied body plans. Many have fluid-filled, hydrostatic skeletons, like jellyfish or worms, others have hard exoskeletons, outer shells like those of insects and crustaceans. The most familiar invertebrates include the Protozoa, Porifera, Coelenterata, Platyhelminthes, Nematoda, Annelida, Echinodermata, Mollusca, Arthropoda include insects, crustaceans and arachnids. By far the largest number of described species are insects. The following table lists the number of described extant species for major invertebrate groups as estimated in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species,2014.3. The IUCN estimates that 66,178 extant vertebrate species have been described, the trait that is common to all invertebrates is the absence of a vertebral column, this creates a distinction between invertebrates and vertebrates
32.
Zooplankton
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Plankton are organisms drifting in oceans, seas, and bodies of fresh water. The word zooplankton is derived from the Greek zoon, meaning animal, individual zooplankton are usually microscopic, but some are larger and visible with the naked eye. Zooplankton is a categorization spanning a range of organism sizes including small protozoans, although zooplankton are primarily transported by ambient water currents, many have locomotion, used to avoid predators or to increase prey encounter rate. Ecologically important protozoan zooplankton groups include the foraminiferans, radiolarians and dinoflagellates and this wide phylogenetic range includes a similarly wide range in feeding behavior, filter feeding, predation and symbiosis with autotrophic phytoplankton as seen in corals. Zooplankton feed on bacterioplankton, phytoplankton, other zooplankton, detritus, as a result, zooplankton are primarily found in surface waters where food resources are abundant. Just as any species can be limited within a geographical region, however, species of zooplankton are not dispersed uniformly or randomly within a region of the ocean. As with phytoplankton, ‘patches’ of zooplankton species exist throughout the ocean, zooplankton patchiness can also be influenced by biological factors, as well as other physical factors. Biological factors include breeding, predation, concentration of phytoplankton, the physical factor that influences zooplankton distribution the most is mixing of the water column that affects nutrient availability and, in turn, phytoplankton production. Since they are small, zooplankton can respond rapidly to increases in phytoplankton abundance, for instance. Zooplankton can also act as a disease reservoir, crustacean zooplankton have been found to house the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, which causes cholera, by allowing the cholera vibrios to attach to their chitinous exoskeletons. This symbiotic relationship enhances the ability to survive in an aquatic environment, as the exoskeleton provides the bacterium with carbon. A global coverage database of zooplankton biomass and abundance data
33.
Herbivore
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A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthparts adapted to rasping or grinding, horses and other herbivores have wide flat teeth that are adapted to grinding grass, tree bark, and other tough plant material. A large percentage of herbivores have mutualistic gut flora that help them digest plant matter and this gut flora is made up of cellulose-digesting protozoans or bacteria living in the herbivores intestines. Herbivore is the form of a modern Latin coinage, herbivora. Richard Owen employed the term in an 1854 work on fossil teeth. Herbivora is derived from the Latin herba meaning a small plant or herb, Herbivory is a form of consumption in which an organism principally eats autotrophs such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria. More generally, organisms feed on autotrophs in general are known as primary consumers. Herbivory usually refers to eating plants, fungi, bacteria and protists that feed on living plants are usually termed plant pathogens. Flowering plants that obtain nutrition from other living plants are usually termed parasitic plants, there is however no single exclusive and definitive ecological classification of consumption patterns, each textbook has its own variations on the theme. Insects fed on the spores of early Devonian plants, and the Rhynie chert also provides evidence that organisms fed on plants using a pierce, during the next 75 million years, plants evolved a range of more complex organs, such as roots and seeds. There is no evidence of any organism being fed upon until the middle-late Mississippian,330.9 million years ago, further than their arthropod status, the identity of these early herbivores is uncertain. Hole feeding and skeletonisation are recorded in the early Permian, with surface fluid feeding evolving by the end of that period, Herbivory among four-limbed terrestrial vertebrates, the tetrapods developed in the Late Carboniferous. Early tetrapods were large amphibious piscivores, while amphibians continued to feed on fish and insects, some reptiles began exploring two new food types, tetrapods and plants. The entire dinosaur order ornithischia was composed with herbivores dinosaurs, carnivory was a natural transition from insectivory for medium and large tetrapods, requiring minimal adaptation. In contrast, a set of adaptations was necessary for feeding on highly fibrous plant materials. Arthropods evolved herbivory in four phases, changing their approach to it in response to changing plant communities, tetrapod herbivores made their first appearance in the fossil record of their jaws near the Permio-Carboniferous boundary, approximately 300 million years ago. The earliest evidence of their herbivory has been attributed to dental occlusion, the evolution of dental occlusion led to a drastic increase in plant food processing and provides evidence about feeding strategies based on tooth wear patterns. Examination of phylogenetic frameworks of tooth and jaw morphologes has revealed that dental occlusion developed independently in several lineages tetrapod herbivores and this suggests that evolution and spread occurred simultaneously within various lineages
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Algae
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Algae is an informal term for a large, diverse group of photosynthetic organisms which are not necessarily closely related, and is thus polyphyletic. Included organisms range from unicellular genera, such as Chlorella and the diatoms, to forms, such as the giant kelp. Most are aquatic and autotrophic and lack many of the cell and tissue types, such as stomata, xylem, and phloem. No definition of algae is generally accepted, one definition is that algae have chlorophyll as their primary photosynthetic pigment and lack a sterile covering of cells around their reproductive cells. Some authors exclude all prokaryotes thus do not consider cyanobacteria as algae, Algae constitute a polyphyletic group since they do not include a common ancestor, and although their plastids seem to have a single origin, from cyanobacteria, they were acquired in different ways. Green algae are examples of algae that have primary chloroplasts derived from endosymbiotic cyanobacteria, diatoms and brown algae are examples of algae with secondary chloroplasts derived from an endosymbiotic red alga. Algae exhibit a range of reproductive strategies, from simple asexual cell division to complex forms of sexual reproduction. Algae lack the various structures that characterize land plants, such as the phyllids of bryophytes, rhizoids in nonvascular plants, and the roots, leaves, and other organs found in tracheophytes. Most are phototrophic, although some are mixotrophic, deriving energy both from photosynthesis and uptake of organic carbon either by osmotrophy, myzotrophy, or phagotrophy. Some other heterotrophic organisms, such as the apicomplexans, are derived from cells whose ancestors possessed plastids. Fossilized filamentous algae from the Vindhya basin have been dated back to 1.6 to 1.7 billion years ago, the singular alga is the Latin word for seaweed and retains that meaning in English. Although some speculate that it is related to Latin algēre, be cold, a more likely source is alliga, binding, entwining. The Ancient Greek word for seaweed was φῦκος, which could mean either the seaweed or a red dye derived from it, the Latinization, fūcus, meant primarily the cosmetic rouge. It could be any color, black, red, green, accordingly, the modern study of marine and freshwater algae is called either phycology or algology, depending on whether the Greek or Latin root is used. The name Fucus appears in a number of taxa, most algae contain chloroplasts that are similar in structure to cyanobacteria. Chloroplasts contain circular DNA like that in cyanobacteria and presumably represent reduced endosymbiotic cyanobacteria, however, the exact origin of the chloroplasts is different among separate lineages of algae, reflecting their acquisition during different endosymbiotic events. The table below describes the composition of the three groups of algae. Their lineage relationships are shown in the figure in the upper right, many of these groups contain some members that are no longer photosynthetic
35.
Phytoplankton
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Phytoplankton /ˌfaɪtoʊˈplæŋktən/ are the autotrophic components of the plankton community and a key part of oceans, seas and freshwater basin ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek words φυτόν, meaning plant, most phytoplankton are too small to be individually seen with the unaided eye. Phytoplankton are photosynthesizing microscopic organisms that inhabit the upper layer of almost all oceans. They are agents for primary production, the creation of organic compounds from carbon dioxide dissolved in the water, Phytoplankton obtain energy through the process of photosynthesis and must therefore live in the well-lit surface layer of an ocean, sea, lake, or other body of water. Phytoplankton account for half of all activity on Earth. Their cumulative energy fixation in carbon compounds is the basis for the vast majority of oceanic, the effects of anthropogenic warming on the global population of phytoplankton is an area of active research. Additionally, changes in the mortality of phytoplankton due to rates of zooplankton grazing may be significant, as a side note, one of the more remarkable food chains in the ocean – remarkable because of the small number of links – is that of phytoplankton-feeding krill feeding baleen whales. Phytoplankton are also dependent on minerals. However, across large regions of the World Ocean such as the Southern Ocean and this has led to some scientists advocating iron fertilization as a means to counteract the accumulation of human-produced carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Large-scale experiments have added iron to the oceans to promote phytoplankton growth, however, controversy about manipulating the ecosystem and the efficiency of iron fertilization has slowed such experiments. Phytoplankton depend on other substances to survive as well, in particular, Vitamin B is crucial. Areas in the ocean have been identified as having a lack of Vitamin B. While almost all species are obligate photoautotrophs, there are some that are mixotrophic and other. Of these, the best known are dinoflagellate genera such as Noctiluca and Dinophysis, the term phytoplankton encompasses all photoautotrophic microorganisms in aquatic food webs. Phytoplankton serve as the base of the food web, providing an essential ecological function for all aquatic life. However, unlike terrestrial communities, where most autotrophs are plants, phytoplankton are a group, incorporating protistan eukaryotes. There are about 5,000 known species of marine phytoplankton, how such diversity evolved despite scarce resources is unclear. In terms of numbers, the most important groups of phytoplankton include the diatoms, cyanobacteria and dinoflagellates, one group, the coccolithophorids, is responsible for the release of significant amounts of dimethyl sulfide into the atmosphere
36.
Detritus
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In biology, detritus is dead particulate organic material. It typically includes the bodies or fragments of organisms as well as fecal material. Detritus is typically colonized by communities of microorganisms which act to decompose the material, in terrestrial ecosystems, it is encountered as leaf litter and other organic matter intermixed with soil, which is referred to as humus. Detritus of aquatic ecosystems is organic material suspended in water and piles up on seabed floors which is referred to as marine snow. Dead plants or animals, material derived from animal tissues gradually lose their form, decomposition, the process through which organic matter is decomposed, takes place in many stages. Materials like proteins, lipids and sugars with low weight are rapidly consumed and absorbed by micro-organisms and organisms that feed on dead matter. Other compounds, such as complex carbohydrates are broken down more slowly, the various micro-organisms involved in the decomposition break down the organic materials in order to gain the resources they require for their own survival and proliferation. Accordingly, at the time that the materials of plants and animals are being broken down. In ecosystems on land, detritus is deposited on the surface of the ground, in aquatic ecosystems, most detritus is suspended in water, and gradually settles. In particular, many different types of material are collected together by currents, much detritus is used as a source of nutrition for animals. In particular, many bottom feeding animals living in mud flats feed in this way, however, there are many micro-organisms which multiply in natural environments. A characteristic type of food chain called the cycle takes place involving detritus feeders, detritus. For example, mud flats are inhabited by many univalves which are detritus feeders, what is left behind by the detritivores is then further broken down and recycled by decomposers, such as bacteria and fungi. In ecosystems on land, far more material is broken down as dead material passing through the detritus chain than is broken down by being eaten by animals in a living state. In both land and aquatic ecosystems, the role played by detritus is too large to ignore, in contrast to land ecosystems, dead materials and excreta in aquatic ecosystems do not settle immediately, and the finer the particles involved are, the longer they tend to take. Detritus occurs in a variety of habitats including forest, chaparral. In forests the detritus is typically dominated by leaf, twig and this plant litter provides important cover for seedling protection as well as cover for a variety of arthropods, reptiles and amphibians. Some insect larvae feed on the detritus, there is an extremely large number of detritus feeders in water
37.
Piscivore
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A piscivore /ˈpɪsᵻvɔər/ is a carnivorous animal which eats primarily fish. Piscivorous is equivalent to the Greek-derived word ichthyophagous, fish were the diet of early tetrapods, insectivory came next, then in time, reptiles added herbivory. Humans can live on fish-based diets as can their carnivorous domesticated pets, such as dogs, the name piscivore is derived from the Latin word for fish, piscis. Baryonyx Spinosaurus Laganosuchus Pteranodon Elasmosaurus Thyrsocles Xiphactinus Diplomystus Ornithocheirus Titanoboa
38.
Largemouth bass
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The largemouth bass is a freshwater gamefish in the sunfish family, a species of black bass native to North America. The largemouth bass is the fish of Georgia, Mississippi, and Indiana, the state freshwater fish of Florida and Alabama. The upper jaw of a largemouth bass extends beyond the margin of the orbit. In comparison to age, a bass is larger than a male. The largemouth is the largest of the basses, reaching a maximum recorded overall length of 29.5 in. The fish lives 16 years on average, the juvenile largemouth bass consumes mostly small bait fish, scuds, small shrimp, and insects. Adults consume smaller fish, shad, snails, crawfish, frogs, snakes, salamanders, bats and even small birds, mammals. It also consumes younger members of larger species, such as pike, catfish, trout, walleye, white bass, striped bass. Prey items can be as large as 50% of the body length or larger. Studies of prey utilization by largemouths show that in weedy waters, less weed cover allows bass to more easily find and catch prey, but this consists of more open-water baitfish. With little or no cover, bass can devastate the prey population, fisheries managers must consider these factors when designing regulations for specific bodies of water. Adult largemouth are generally apex predators within their habitat, but they are preyed upon by animals while young. Notably in the Great Lakes Region, Micropterus salmoides along with other species of native fish have been known to prey upon the invasive round goby. Remains of said fish have been found inside the stomachs of largemouth bass consistently and this feeding habit may impact the ecosystem positively, but more research must be conducted to verify this. Note that it is illegal to use Neogobius melanostomus as bait in the Great Lakes Region, largemouth bass are keenly sought after by anglers and are noted for the excitement of their fight. The fish will become airborne in their effort to throw the hook, but many say that their cousin species. Anglers most often fish for bass with lures such as plastic worms, jigs. A recent trend is the use of large swimbaits to target trophy bass that often forage on juvenile rainbow trout in California, fly fishing for largemouth bass may be done using both topwater and worm imitations tied with natural or synthetic materials
39.
Northern pike
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The northern pike, known simply as a pike in Britain, Ireland, most of Canada, and most parts of the United States, is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus Esox. They are typical of brackish and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere, Pike can grow to a relatively large size, the average length is about 40–55 cm, with maximum recorded lengths of up to 150 cm and published weights of 28.4 kg. The IGFA currently recognizes a 25 kg pike caught by Lothar Louis in Lake on Grefeern, Germany, on 16 October 1986, the northern pike gets its common name from its resemblance to the pole-weapon known as the pike. Toothy, and other names as long head and pointy nose. Numerous other names can be found in Field Museum Zool and its earlier common name, the luci, was used to form its taxonomic name and is used in heraldry. Northern pike are most often green, shading from yellow to white along the belly. The flank is marked with short, light spots and a few to many dark spots on the fins. Younger pike have yellow stripes along a body, later, the stripes divide into light spots. The lower half of the gill cover lacks scales, and it has large pores on its head. A hybrid between northern pike and muskellunge is known as a tiger muskellunge, in the hybrids, the males are invariably sterile, while females are often fertile, and may back-cross with the parent species. Another form of northern pike, the pike, is not a subspecies. Silver pike, sometimes called silver muskellunge, lack the rows of spots and appear silver, white, when ill, silver pike have been known to display a somewhat purplish hue, long illness is also the most common cause of male sterility. In Italy, the newly identified species Esox cisalpinus was long thought to be a variation of the northern pike. Northern pike in North America seldom reach the size of their European counterparts and it was caught in Great Sacandaga Lake on 15 September 1940 by Peter Dubuc. As northern pike grow longer, they increase in weight, for northern pike, b =3.096 and c =0.000180. The relationship described in this section suggests a 20-inch northern pike will weigh about 2 lb, Pike are found in sluggish streams and shallow, weedy places in lakes, as well as in cold, clear, rocky waters. They are typical ambush predators, they lie in wait for prey, holding perfectly still for long periods, in short, they inhabit any water body that contains fish, but suitable places for spawning are essential for their numbers. Because of their nature, young pike need places where they can take shelter between plants so they are not eaten
40.
Yellow perch
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The yellow perch, commonly referred to as perch, is a freshwater perciform fish native to much of North America. The yellow perch was described in 1814 by Samuel Latham Mitchill from New York, yellow perch are closely related, and morphologically similar to the European perch, however, the two are recognized as independent species based on anatomical and genetic differences. Other common names for yellow perch include American perch, coontail, lake perch, raccoon perch, ring-tail perch, ringed perch, and striped perch. Latitudinal variability in age, growth rates, and size have been observed among populations of perch, likely resulting from differences in day-length. Typically, northern populations of yellow perch live longer and grow to larger sizes, however, southern populations of yellow perch generally grow much faster. In many populations, yellow perch often live from 9–10 years, the world record yellow perch was caught in 1865 from New Jersey, and is the longest standing record for freshwater fish in North America. The yellow perch has a yellow to brass-colored body and distinct pattern, consisting of five to nine olive-green, vertical bars, triangular in shape and its fins are lighter in coloration, with an orange hue on the margins. The anterior portion of the body is deep, gradually tapering into a slender caudal peduncle, the opercle is partially scaled, and a single spine is present on the posterior margin. As with all percid fishes, yellow perch have two dorsal fins, the anterior is convex in shape and consists of 11–15 spines. The posterior dorsal fin has a margin, consisting of one or two spines and 12–16 rays. The nape, breast, and belly of yellow perch are all fully scaled, a complete lateral line is present. The anal fin consists of two spines and six to nine rays, a single spine and five rays make up the pelvic fins, and the pectoral fins consist of 13–15 rays. The caudal fin of the perch is forked. Yellow perch are found in North America, they are native to the Arctic, Atlantic, Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River. In Canada, its range extends throughout Nova Scotia and Quebec north to the Mackenzie River. It also is common in the northwest to Great Slave Lake and it is not native to any other areas of Canada. In the United States, the range extends south into Ohio, Illinois. It is also considered native to the Atlantic Slope basin, extending south to the Savannah River, the yellow perch has also been widely introduced for sport and commercial fishing purposes
41.
Walleye
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Walleye is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern United States. It is a North American close relative of the European Zander, walleyes show a fair amount of variation across watersheds. In general, fish within a watershed are quite similar and are distinct from those of nearby watersheds. The common name, walleye, comes from the fact that the fishs eyes point outward and this eyeshine is the result of a light-gathering layer in the eyes called the tapetum lucidum, which allows the fish to see well in low-light conditions. In fact, many look for walleyes at night since this is when major feeding patterns occur. The fishs eyes also allow them to see well in turbid waters, thus, walleye anglers will commonly look for locations where there is a good walleye chop. This excellent vision also allows the fish to populate the regions in a lake. Walleyes are largely olive and gold in color, the dorsal side of a walleye is olive, grading into a golden hue on the flanks. The olive/gold pattern is broken up by five darker saddles that extend to the upper sides, the color shades to white on the belly. The mouth of a walleye is large and is armed with sharp teeth. The first dorsal and anal fins are spinous, as is the Operculum, walleyes are distinguished from their close cousin the sauger by the white coloration on the lower lobe of the caudal fin which is absent on the sauger. In addition, the two dorsals and the fin of the sauger are marked with distinctive rows of black dots which are absent from or indistinct on the same fins of walleyes. Walleyes grow to about 80 cm in length, and weigh up to about 9 kg, the maximum recorded size for the fish is 107 cm in length and 13 kilograms in weight. The rate depends partly on where in their range they occur, in general, females grow larger than males. Walleyes may live for decades, the recorded age is 29 years. In heavily fished populations, however, few walleye older than five or six years of age are encountered, in North America, where they are highly prized, their typical size when caught is on the order of 30 to 50 cm, substantially below their potential size. As walleye grow longer, they increase in weight, for walleye, b =3.180 and c =0.000228. The relationship described in this section suggests a 50 cm walleye will weigh about 1.5 kg, in most of the species range, male walleyes mature sexually between three and four years of age
42.
Ostariophysi
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Ostariophysi is the second-largest superorder of fish. Members of this superorder are called ostariophysians and this diverse group contains almost 8,000 species, about 28% of known fish species in the world and 68% of freshwater species, and are present on all major continents except Antarctica. They have a number of characteristics such as an alarm substance. Members of this group include fish important to people for food, sport, the aquarium industry, currently, this superorder is divided into two series, Anotophysi and Otophysi. However, in literature, Ostariophysi was restricted only to the fish that are currently classified under Otophysi. Otophysi was coined in 1970 by Rosen and Greenwood to separate the traditional Ostariophysians from the added Gonorynchiformes, Gonorynchiformes is more closely related to Clupeiformes than Otophysi. It is possible that the Gonorynchiformes and Clupeiformes form a monophyletic group, there is evidence for a sister group relationship between Ostariophysi and Clupeomorpha. Ostariophysian fossils, both anotophysan and otophysian, are known from the early Cretaceous, ostariophysian fossils are known from every continent except Australia. Ostariophysians are currently distributed worldwide on all continents except Antarctica, the common ancestor of this group entered fresh water about 251 million years ago coincident with the global decrease in oxygen levels in marine waters. The Otophysi originated in freshwaters during the Jurassic before the breakup of the super continent Pangea, the division of the Otophysi into the four extant clades closely follows the breakup of Pangea. The separation of Laurasia in the north from Gondwana in the south isolated the lineages which gave rise to the modern Cyprinoformes, the Characiphysi then was itself divided into the diurnal Characiformes and the nocturnal Siluriphysi, including Siluriformes and Gymnotiformes. Modern Characiformes are present in both South America and Africa, and have recently extended their range to North America. The Siluriphysi are characterized by many derived traits, including notably, alternatively, these basal taxa have subsequently become extinct in Africa. The modern distribution of Siluriformes is cosmopolitan due to subsequent dispersal, Ostariophysi is the second largest teleost superorder. Ostariophysians includes five major lineages and is a diverse group. As of 2006, the five orders contain 1,075 genera in 64 families and about 7,931 species, the four largest families in this group include 4,656 species, over half of ostariophysian species. Cyprinidae itself is the largest fresh water fish family and the largest family of vertebrates after Gobiidae, Ostariophysians account for about 68% of all freshwater species, in fact, there are only about 123 marine species. They are present on all continents and major land masses except Antarctica, Greenland and this group includes a wide variety of different fishes
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Mucus
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In vertebrates, mucus is a slippery secretion produced by, and covering, mucous membranes. Mucous fluid is rich in glycoproteins and water and is produced from cells found in mucous glands. Mucous fluid may also originate from mixed glands, which contain both serous and mucous cells and this mucus serves to protect epithelial cells in the respiratory, gastrointestinal, urogenital, visual, and auditory systems, the epidermis in amphibians, and the gills in fish. A major function of mucus is to protect against infectious agents such as fungi, bacteria. The average human nose produces about a liter of mucus per day, most of the mucus produced is in the gastrointestinal tract. Bony fish, hagfish, snails, slugs, and some other invertebrates also produce external mucus, the rest of this article deals with the production and function of mucus in humans. In the human system, mucus aids in the protection of the lungs by trapping foreign particles that enter them, in particular, through the nose. Phlegm is a term for mucus that is restricted to the respiratory tract. Nasal mucus is produced by the mucosa, and mucosal tissues lining the airways is produced by specialized airway epithelial cells. Small particles such as dust, particulate pollutants, and allergens, as well as agents and bacteria are caught in the viscous nasal or airway mucus. This event along with the movement of the respiratory mucus layer toward the oropharynx. This explains why coughing often occurs in those who smoke cigarettes, the bodys natural reaction is to increase mucus production. In addition, mucus aids in moisturizing the inhaled air and prevents tissues such as the nasal, nasal and airway mucus is produced continuously, with most of it swallowed subconsciously, even when it is dried. Increased mucus production in the tract is a symptom of many common illnesses, such as the common cold. Hypersecretion of mucus can occur in respiratory diseases such as respiratory allergies, asthma. The presence of mucus in the nose and throat is normal, in general, nasal mucus is clear and thin, serving to filter air during inhalation. During times of infection, mucus can change color to yellow or green either as a result of trapped bacteria or due to the reaction to viral infection. The green color of mucus comes from the group in the iron-containing enzyme myeloperoxidase secreted by white blood cells as a cytotoxic defense during a respiratory burst
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Estrogen
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Estrogen or oestrogen is the primary female sex hormone as well as a medication. It is responsible for the development and regulation of the reproductive system. Estrogen may also refer to any substance, natural or synthetic, the estrane steroid estradiol is the most potent and prevalent endogenous estrogen, although several metabolites of estradiol also have estrogenic hormonal activity. They are one of three types of sex hormones, the others being androgens/anabolic steroids like testosterone and progestogens like progesterone, estrogens are synthesized in all vertebrates as well as some insects. Their presence in both vertebrates and insects suggests that sex hormones have an ancient evolutionary history. The three major naturally occurring forms of estrogen in women are estrone, estradiol, and estriol, another type of estrogen called estetrol is produced only during pregnancy. Quantitatively, estrogens circulate at lower levels than androgens in both men and women, while estrogen levels are significantly lower in males compared to females, estrogens nevertheless also have important physiological roles in males. Like all steroid hormones, estrogens readily diffuse across the cell membrane, once inside the cell, they bind to and activate estrogen receptors which in turn modulate the expression of many genes. Additionally, estrogens bind to and activate rapid-signaling membrane estrogen receptors, the three major naturally occurring estrogens in women are estrone, estradiol, and estriol. Estradiol is the predominant estrogen during reproductive years both in terms of serum levels as well as in terms of estrogenic activity. During menopause, estrone is the predominant circulating estrogen and during pregnancy estriol is the predominant circulating estrogen in terms of serum levels. Though estriol is the most plentiful of the three estrogens it is also the weakest, whereas estradiol is the strongest with a potency of approximately 80 times that of estriol. Thus, estradiol is the most important estrogen in non-pregnant females who are between the menarche and menopause stages of life, however, during pregnancy this role shifts to estriol, and in postmenopausal women estrone becomes the primary form of estrogen in the body. Another type of estrogen called estetrol is produced only during pregnancy, all of the different forms of estrogen are synthesized from androgens, specifically testosterone and androstenedione, by the enzyme aromatase. Estradiol, estrone, and estriol have all been approved as drugs and are used medically. Estetrol is currently under development for medical indications, but has not yet approved in any country. A variety of synthetic estrogen esters, such as estradiol valerate, estradiol cypionate, estradiol acetate, estradiol undecylate, polyestradiol phosphate, the aforementioned compounds behave as prodrugs to estradiol, and are longer-lasting in comparison. Esters of estrone and estriol also exist and are employed in clinical medicine, ethinylestradiol is a more potent synthetic analogue of estradiol that is used widely in hormonal contraceptives
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Estradiol
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Estradiol, also spelled oestradiol, is a steroid, an estrogen, and the primary female sex hormone. It is named for and is important in the regulation of the estrous, while estrogen levels in men are lower compared to women, estrogens have essential functions in men as well. Estradiol is found in most vertebrates as well as crustaceans, insects, fish. Estradiol is produced especially within the follicles of the female ovaries, estradiol is biosynthesized from cholesterol through a series of chemical intermediates. One principal pathway involves the generation of 4-androstenedione, which is converted into estrone by aromatase, alternatively, 4-androstenedione can be converted into testosterone, an androgen and the primary male sex hormone, which in turn can be aromatized into estradiol. The development of sex characteristics in women is driven by estrogens, to be specific. These changes are initiated at the time of puberty, most are enhanced during the reproductive years, thus, estradiol produces breast development, and is responsible for changes in the body shape, affecting bones, joints, and fat deposition. Fat structure and skin composition are modified by estradiol and it enhances growth of the myometrium. Estradiol appears necessary to maintain oocytes in the ovary, in the luteal phase, estradiol, in conjunction with progesterone, prepares the endometrium for implantation. During pregnancy, estradiol increases due to placental production, the effect of estradiol, together with estrone and estriol, in pregnancy is less clear. They may promote blood flow, myometrial growth, stimulate breast growth and at term, promote cervical softening. In baboons, blocking of estrogen production leads to pregnancy loss, research is investigating the role of estrogens in the process of initiation of labor. Actions of estradiol are required before the exposure of progesterone in the luteal phase, the effect of estradiol upon male reproduction is complex. Estradiol is produced by action of aromatase mainly in the Leydig cells of the testis, but also by some germ cells. It functions to prevent apoptosis of male sperm cells, suppression of estradiol production in a subpopulation of subfertile men may improve the semen analysis. Males with certain sex chromosome genetic conditions, such as Klinefelters syndrome, estradiol has a profound effect on bone. Individuals without it will become tall and eunuchoid, as epiphyseal closure is delayed or may not take place, bone structure is affected also, resulting in early osteopenia and osteoporosis. Also, women past menopause experience a loss of bone mass due to a relative estrogen deficiency
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Estrone
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Estrone, or oestrone, also known as estra-1,3, 5-trien-3-ol-17-one, is an estrogenic hormone secreted by the ovary as well as adipose tissue. It is one of natural estrogens, which also include estriol and estradiol. Estrone is the least abundant of the three hormones, estradiol is present almost always in the female body, and estriol is abundant primarily during pregnancy. Estrone was discovered and isolated by German chemist Adolf Butenandt and it was formerly marketed under the brand name Theelin in the United States for intramuscular injection, but this formulation is no longer available. Estrone is synthesized via aromatase from 4-androstenedione, the conversion consists of the demethylation of the C19 position and the aromatization of the A ring. This reaction is similar to the conversion of testosterone to estradiol via aromatase, estrone is also reversibly produced from estradiol via 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase. Estrone has the chemical name 3-hydroxyestra-1,3, 5-triene-17-one or estra-1,3, 5-triene-3-ol-17-one and it is an odorless, solid crystalline powder, white in color with a melting point of 254.5 °C and a specific gravity of 1.23. At high temperatures estrone is combustible and the products of combusting estrone are carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. Estrone is known to be a carcinogen for human females as well as a cause of breast tenderness or pain, nausea, headache, hypertension, in men, estrone has been known to cause anorexia, nausea, vomiting, and erectile dysfunction. Estrone is relevant to health and disease states because of its conversion to estrone sulfate, estrone sulfate acts as a reservoir that can be converted as needed to the more active estradiol. It is the predominant estrogen in postmenopausal women, the use of estrone in norsteroid, a derivative of steroids, and in medications can cause its release into the environment through waste streams. Estrone has been proven to be a carcinogen for human females. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration classifies estrone as an OSHA Select carcinogen, mothers lactating can also experience a decrease in the production of breast milk. Estrone can be found in the urine of pregnant women and can also be excreted in feces, estrone is commonly produced in large quantities of the livers of transgender women who take oral estradiol. This is a result of first pass metabolism converting estradiol to estrone, exposure to estrone can cause anorexia, nausea, vomiting, edema, feminization including gynecomastia and erectile dysfunction in men. If exposure of estrone to the eyes occurs, contacts should be removed and rinsed with water for 15 minutes, if any irritation occurs medical attention may be necessary. Exposure of estrone to the eyes can be prevented through the use of safety goggles, if exposure of estrone to the skin occurs, the effected area should be washed with soap and water and then covered with an emollient or moisturizer. Medical attention may be necessary if irritation persists, exposure of estrone can be prevented through the use protective gloves, the wearing of pants, shirts that cover the entire upper body, and lab coat
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Blood plasma
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Blood plasma is a straw coloured liquid component of blood that normally holds the blood cells in whole blood in suspension, this makes plasma the extracellular matrix of blood cells. It makes up about 55% of the total blood volume. It is the fluid part of extracellular fluid. It is mostly water, and contains dissolved proteins, glucose, clotting factors, electrolytes, hormones, carbon dioxide, Plasma also serves as the protein reserve of the human body. It plays a role in an intravascular osmotic effect that keeps electrolytes in balanced form and protects the body from infection. Blood plasma is prepared by spinning a tube of fresh blood containing an anticoagulant in a centrifuge until the blood fall to the bottom of the tube. The blood plasma is then poured or drawn off, Blood plasma has a density of approximately 1025 kg/m3, or 1.025 g/ml. Blood serum is blood plasma without clotting factors, in other words, plasmapheresis is a medical therapy that involves blood plasma extraction, treatment, and reintegration. Fresh frozen plasma is on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines, Blood plasma volume may be expanded by or drained to extravascular fluid when there are changes in Starling forces across capillary walls. For example, when blood pressure drops in circulatory shock, Starling forces drive fluid into the interstitium, standing still for a prolonged period will cause an increase in transcapillary hydrostatic pressure. As a result, approximately 12% of blood plasma volume will cross into the extravascular compartment and this causes an increase in hematocrit, serum total protein, blood viscosity and, as a result of increased concentration of coagulation factors, it causes orthostatic hypercoagulability. The use of plasma as a substitute for whole blood and for transfusion purposes was proposed in March 1918, in the correspondence columns of the British Medical Journal. Dried plasmas in powder or strips of material format were developed, prior to the United States involvement in the war, liquid plasma and whole blood were used. The Blood for Britain program during the early 1940s was quite successful based on Charles Drews contribution, a large project began in August 1940 to collect blood in New York City hospitals for the export of plasma to Britain. Drew was appointed supervisor of the Plasma for Britain project. His notable contribution at this time was to transform the test tube methods of many blood researchers into the first successful mass production techniques. Nonetheless, the decision was made to develop a dried plasma package for the forces as it would reduce breakage and make the transportation, packaging. The resulting dried plasma package came in two tin cans containing 400 cc bottles, one bottle contained enough distilled water to reconstitute the dried plasma contained within the other bottle
