1.
Arthur's Pass
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It is a popular base for exploring Arthurs Pass National Park. Arthurs Pass township is about 5 km south of the pass with the same name. Its elevation is 740 metres above sea level surrounded by beech forest, the Bealey River runs through the township. The town is located 153 km from Christchurch a 2-hour drive on SH73, the township and the pass are named after Sir Arthur Dudley Dobson. Arthur Dobson had been tasked by the Chief Surveyor, Thomas Cass, in 1864, his brother Edward joined him and accompanied him into the valley of the Otira River. A West Coast Māori Chief, Tarapuhi, told Arthur of a pass that Māori hunting parties occasionally used, when Arthur returned to Christchurch, he sketched the country he had traversed and included it in a report to Cass. Arthur Dobson did not name the pass, which he found very steep on the western side, Dobson named the site that became the township Camping Flat. When the gold rush began, a committee of businessmen offered a prize for anyone who would find a better or more suitable pass from Canterbury to the West Coast. Arthurs Pass township was reached by the railway in 1914, while the Westland section having advanced to Otira, construction of the tunnel was very slow. The tunnel was completed in 1923. The TranzAlpine Express passes through Arthurs Pass and the Otira Tunnel as part of its 223 kilometres trek from Christchurch to Greymouth, the trip is considered one of the worlds great train journeys for the scenery and views. A power station was built below the Devils Punchbowl Falls to provide electricity for the tunnel construction, in 1929 the Arthur’s Pass National Park was created, New Zealands third National Park. The Geographic Board had a policy of omitting apostrophe in place names, and this caused a great upset with the local population, and the Minister of Lands reinstated the old version with the apostrophe. Since 16 September 1975, the post office adopted the spelling with the apostrophe. The township has a DOC ranger station, which accommodates a visitor information. Visitor accommodation is provided, from ground up to hotel standard. The township provides a store, a petrol station, tea rooms. There are also several good walks from here, including the Devils Punchbowl Falls, Bealey Valley, the mischievous kea can be found here
2.
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
3.
Endangered species
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An endangered species is a species which has been categorized as likely to become extinct. In 2012, the IUCN Red List featured 3079 animal and 2655 plant species as endangered worldwide, the figures for 1998 were, respectively,1102 and 1197. Many nations have laws that protect conservation-reliant species, for example, population numbers, trends and species conservation status can be found in the lists of organisms by population. The conservation status of a species indicates the likelihood that it will become extinct, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is the best-known worldwide conservation status listing and ranking system. Over 40% of the species are estimated to be at risk of extinction. Internationally,199 countries have signed an accord to create Biodiversity Action Plans that will protect endangered, in the United States, such plans are usually called Species Recovery Plans. Those species of Near Threatened and Least Concern status have been assessed and found to have relatively robust and healthy populations, though these may be in decline. The IUCN categories, with examples of animals classified by them, include, Extinct Extinct in the wild Captive individuals survive, critically endangered Faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the immediate future. Endangered Faces a high risk of extinction in the near future, vulnerable Faces a high risk of endangerment in the medium term. Near-threatened May be considered threatened in the near future, Least concern No immediate threat to species survival. A population size reduction of ≥ 50%, projected or suspected to be met within the next 10 years or three generations, whichever is the longer, based on any of to under A1. E) Quantitative analysis showing the probability of extinction in the wild is at least 20% within 20 years or five generations, there is data from the United States that shows a correlation between human populations and threatened and endangered species. Under the Endangered Species Act in the United States, species may be listed as endangered or threatened, the Salt Creek tiger beetle is an example of an endangered subspecies protected under the ESA. Some endangered species laws are controversial, also lobbying from hunters and various industries like the petroleum industry, construction industry, and logging, has been an obstacle in establishing endangered species laws. The Bush administration lifted a policy that required federal officials to consult an expert before taking actions that could damage endangered species. Under the Obama administration, this policy has been reinstated, being listed as an endangered species can have negative effect since it could make a species more desirable for collectors and poachers. This effect is potentially reducible, such as in China where commercially farmed turtles may be reducing some of the pressure to poach endangered species. Another problem with the species is its effect of inciting the use of the shoot, shovel
4.
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
5.
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
6.
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
7.
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
8.
Bird
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Birds, a subgroup of Reptiles, are the last living examples of Dinosaurs. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the 5 cm bee hummingbird to the 2.75 m ostrich. They rank as the class of tetrapods with the most living species, at ten thousand. Birds are the closest living relatives of crocodilians, the fossil record indicates that birds evolved from feathered ancestors within the theropod group of saurischian dinosaurs. True birds first appeared during the Cretaceous period, around 100 million years ago, Birds, especially those in the southern continents, survived this event and then migrated to other parts of the world while diversifying during periods of global cooling. Primitive bird-like dinosaurs that lie outside class Aves proper, in the broader group Avialae, have been found dating back to the mid-Jurassic period, around 170 million years ago. Birds have wings which are more or less developed depending on the species, the digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely adapted for flight. Some bird species of aquatic environments, particularly seabirds and some waterbirds, have evolved for swimming. Many species annually migrate great distances, Birds are social, communicating with visual signals, calls, and bird songs, and participating in such social behaviours as cooperative breeding and hunting, flocking, and mobbing of predators. The vast majority of species are socially monogamous, usually for one breeding season at a time, sometimes for years. Other species have breeding systems that are polygynous or, rarely, Birds produce offspring by laying eggs which are fertilised through sexual reproduction. They are usually laid in a nest and incubated by the parents, most birds have an extended period of parental care after hatching. Some birds, such as hens, lay eggs even when not fertilised, songbirds, parrots, and other species are popular as pets. Guano is harvested for use as a fertiliser, Birds prominently figure throughout human culture. About 120–130 species have become extinct due to human activity since the 17th century, human activity threatens about 1,200 bird species with extinction, though efforts are underway to protect them. Recreational birdwatching is an important part of the ecotourism industry, the first classification of birds was developed by Francis Willughby and John Ray in their 1676 volume Ornithologiae. Carl Linnaeus modified that work in 1758 to devise the taxonomic classification system currently in use, Birds are categorised as the biological class Aves in Linnaean taxonomy. Phylogenetic taxonomy places Aves in the dinosaur clade Theropoda, Aves and a sister group, the clade Crocodilia, contain the only living representatives of the reptile clade Archosauria
9.
Parrot
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Parrots, also known as psittacines /ˈsɪtəsaɪnz/, are birds of the roughly 393 species in 92 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes, found in most tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three superfamilies, the Psittacoidea, the Cacatuoidea, and the Strigopoidea, Parrots have a generally pantropical distribution with several species inhabiting temperate regions in the Southern Hemisphere, as well. The greatest diversity of parrots is in South America and Australasia, characteristic features of parrots include a strong, curved bill, an upright stance, strong legs, and clawed zygodactyl feet. Many parrots are vividly coloured, and some are multi-coloured, most parrots exhibit little or no sexual dimorphism in the visual spectrum. They form the most variably sized bird order in terms of length, the most important components of most parrots diets are seeds, nuts, fruit, buds, and other plant material. A few species sometimes eat animals and carrion, while the lories and lorikeets are specialised for feeding on floral nectar, almost all parrots nest in tree hollows, and lay white eggs from which hatch altricial young. Parrots, along with ravens, crows, jays, and magpies, are among the most intelligent birds, some parrots are intelligent and talk at the level of a four-to-five year old human. Measures taken to conserve the habitats of some high-profile charismatic species have protected many of the less charismatic species living in the same ecosystems. Psittaciform diversity in South America and Australasia suggests that the order may have evolved in Gondwana, molecular studies suggest that parrots evolved approximately 59 million years ago in Gondwana. The three major clades of Neotropical parrots originated about 50 Mya, likewise, the earliest parrots do not have the specialised crushing bills of modern species. If so, they probably had not evolved their morphological autapomorphies yet, the combined evidence supported the hypothesis of Psittaciformes being near passerines, i. e. the mostly land-living birds that emerged in close proximity to the K-Pg extinction. Europe is the origin of the first undeniable parrot fossils, which date from about 50 Mya, the climate there and then was tropical, consistent with the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum. Initially, a neoavian named Mopsitta tanta, uncovered in Denmarks Early Eocene Fur Formation and dated to 54 Mya, was assigned to the Psittaciformes, fossils assignable to Psittaciformes date from slightly later in the Eocene, starting around 50 Mya. Several fairly complete skeletons of birds have been found in England. The fossil record—mainly from Europe—consists of bones clearly recognisable as belonging to parrots of modern type, at this point, however, is found the first unambiguous parrot fossil, an upper jaw that is indistinguishable from that of modern cockatoos. The Psittaciformes comprise three lineages, Strigopoidea, Psittacoidea and Cacatuoidea. Colourful feathers with high levels of psittacofulvin resist the feather-degrading bacterium Bacillus licheniformis better than white ones, lorikeets were previously regarded as a third family, Loriidae, but are now considered a tribe within the subfamily Lorinae, family Cacatuoidea. The two other tribes in the subfamily are the closely related fig parrots and budgerigar, the order Psittaciformes consists of roughly 393 species belonging to 92 genera
10.
New Zealand parrot
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The New Zealand parrot superfamily consists of three genera of parrots, Nestor, Strigops and the fossil Nelepsittacus. The genus Nestor consists of the kea, kaka, Norfolk Island kaka and Chatham Island kaka, all extant species are endemic to New Zealand. The modern common names, kea, kākā and kākāpō, are the same as the original Māori names. The Norfolk kaka and the Chatham kaka have become extinct in recent times, all extant species, the kākāpō, kea, and the two subspecies of the kākā, are threatened. Human activity caused the two extinctions and the decline of the three species. No consensus existed regarding the taxonomy of Psittaciformes until recently, the placement of the Strigopoidea species has been variable in the past. This superfamily is one of three superfamilies in the order Psittaciformes, the two families are Cacatuoidea and Psittacoidea. While some taxonomists include three genera in the family Strigopidae, others place Nestor and Nelepsittacus in Nestoridae and retain only Strigops in Strigopidae, a hypothesis for the phylogeography of this group has been proposed and this provides a nice example of various speciation mechanisms at work. This mechanism is called allopatric speciation, over time, ancestors of the two surviving genera, Nestor and Strigops, adapted to different ecological niches. This led to isolation, an example of ecological speciation. In the Pliocene, around five years ago, the formation of the Southern Alps diversified the landscape. Around three million years ago, two lineages adapted to high altitude and low altitude, respectively, the high altitude lineage gave rise to the modern kea, while the low altitude lineage gave rise to the various kākā species. Island species diverge rapidly from mainland species once a few vagrants arrive at a suitable island, both the Norfolk kākā as well as the Chatham kākā are the result of migration of a limited number of individuals to islands and subsequent adaptation to the habitat of those islands. The lack of DNA material for the Chatham kākā makes it difficult to establish precisely when those events occurred. The parakeet species belonging to the genus Cyanoramphus belong to the parrot family Psittacidae and are closely related to the endemic genus Eunymphicus from New Caledonia. They reached New Zealand between 450,000 and 625,000 years ago from mainland Australia by way of New Caledonia, very little is known about the Chatham kākā. The genus Nelepsittacus consists of three described and one undescribed species recovered from early Miocene deposits in Otago, all common names for species in this family are the same as the traditional Māori names. The word kākā derives from the ancient Proto-Polynesian word meaning parrot, kākāpō is a logical extension of that name as pō means night, resulting in kākā of the night or night parrot, reflecting the species nocturnal behaviour
11.
Nestor (genus)
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The genus Nestor is one of three genera of the parrot family Strigopidae. Together with the kakapo, and the extinct parrots in the genus Nelepsittacus, the genus Nestor contains two extant parrot species from New Zealand and two extinct species from Norfolk Island and Chatham Island, New Zealand, respectively. All species are large birds with short squarish tails. A defining characteristic of the genus is the tongue, which is tipped with a hair-like fringe, the superficial resemblance of this tongue to that of lorikeets has led some taxonomists to consider the two groups closely related, but DNA evidence shows they are not. All four species in the genus Nestor are thought to stem from a proto-kākā, the closest living relative of the genus is the kākāpō. Together, they form the Strigopoidea, with comprises an ancient group that split off all other Psittaciformes before their radiation. There are two surviving species and at least one well documented extinct species in the genus Nestor, very little is known about the fourth, the Chatham kaka, which may have been conspecific with another kaka species. Of the four species, the Norfolk kaka and Chatham kaka became extinct in recent history, the last known individual of the Norfolk kaka died in captivity in London sometime after 1851, and only between seven and 20 skins survive. The Chatham kaka became extinct in pre-European times, after Polynesians arrived at the island, the mainland New Zealand kaka is listed as endangered, and the kea is listed as vulnerable
12.
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
13.
John Gould
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John Gould FRS was an English ornithologist and bird artist. He has been considered the father of study in Australia. His identification of the birds now nicknamed Darwins finches played a role in the inception of Darwins theory of evolution by natural selection, Goulds work is referenced in Charles Darwins book, On the Origin of Species. Gould was born in Lyme Regis, Dorset, the first son of a gardener and he and the boy probably had a scanty education. Shortly afterwards his father obtained a position on an estate near Guildford, Surrey and he was for some time under the care of J. T. Aiton, of the Royal Gardens of Windsor. The young Gould started training as a gardener, being employed under his father at Windsor from 1818 to 1824 and he became an expert in the art of taxidermy. In 1824 he set himself up in business in London as a taxidermist, Goulds position brought him into contact with the countrys leading naturalists. This meant that he was often the first to see new collections of birds given to the Zoological Society of London, in 1830 a collection of birds arrived from the Himalayas, many not previously described. Gould published these birds in A Century of Birds from the Himalaya Mountains, the text was by Nicholas Aylward Vigors and the illustrations were lithographed by Goulds wife Elizabeth, daughter of Nicholas Coxen, of Kent. Most of Goulds work were rough sketches on paper from which artists created the lithographic plates. This work was followed by four more in the seven years. It was completed in 1837, Gould wrote the text, and his clerk, Edwin Prince, some of the illustrations were made by Edward Lear as part of his Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae in 1832. Lear, however, was in difficulty, and he sold the entire set of lithographs to Gould. The books were published in a large size, imperial folio. Eventually 41 of these volumes were published, with about 3000 plates and they appeared in parts at £3 3s. A number, subscribed for in advance, and in spite of the expense of preparing the plates, Gould succeeded in making his ventures pay. This was a period for Gould who also published Icones Avium in two parts containing 18 leaves of bird studies on 54 cm plates as a supplement to his previous works. No further monographs were published as in 1838 he and his moved to Australia to work on the Birds of Australia
14.
South Island
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The South Island or Te Waipounamu is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, the South Island covers 150,437 square kilometres and has a temperate climate. In the early stages of European settlement of the country, the South Island had the majority of the European population, in prose, the two main islands of New Zealand are called the North Island and the South Island, with the definite article. Charcoal drawings can be found on rock shelters in the centre of the South Island. The drawings are estimated to be between 500 and 800 years old, and portray animals, people and fantastic creatures, possibly stylised reptiles, some of the birds pictured are long extinct, including moa and Haasts eagles. They were drawn by early Māori, but by the time Europeans arrived, early inhabitants of the South Island were the Waitaha. They were largely absorbed via marriage and conquest by the Kāti Mamoe in the 16th century, Kāti Mamoe were in turn largely absorbed via marriage and conquest by the Kāi Tahu who migrated south in the 17th century. While today there is no distinct Kāti Mamoe organisation, many Kāi Tahu have Kāti Mamoe links in their whakapapa and, a notable feature of the Moriori culture, an emphasis on pacifism, proved disadvantageous when Māori warriors arrived in the 1830s aboard a chartered European ship. In the early 18th century, Kāi Tahu, a Māori tribe who originated on the east coast of the North Island, There they and Kāti Mamoe fought Ngāi Tara and Rangitāne in the Wairau Valley. Ngāti Māmoe then ceded the east coast regions north of the Clarence River to Kāi Tahu, Kāi Tahu continued to push south, conquering Kaikoura. By the 1730s, Kāi Tahu had settled in Canterbury, including Banks Peninsula, from there they spread further south and into the West Coast. In 1827-1828 Ngāti Toa under the leadership of Te Rauparaha successfully attacked Kāi Tahu at Kaikoura, Ngāti Toa then visited Kaiapoi, ostensibly to trade. When they attacked their hosts, the well-prepared Kāi Tahu killed all the leading Ngāti Toa chiefs except Te Rauparaha, Te Rauparaha returned to his Kapiti Island stronghold. After destroying Te Maiharanuis village they took their captives to Kapiti, John Stewart, though arrested and sent to trial in Sydney as an accomplice to murder, nevertheless escaped conviction. In the summer of 1831–32 Te Rauparaha attacked the Kaiapoi pā, Kaiapoi was engaged in a three-month siege by Te Rauparaha, during which his men successfully sapped the pā. They then attacked Kāi Tahu on Banks Peninsula and took the pā at Onawe, in 1832-33 Kāi Tahu retaliated under the leadership of Tūhawaiki and others, attacking Ngāti Toa at Lake Grassmere. Kāi Tahu prevailed, and killed many Ngāti Toa, although Te Rauparaha again escaped, fighting continued for a year or so, with Kāi Tahu maintaining the upper hand. Ngāti Toa never again made an incursion into Kāi Tahu territory
15.
New Zealand
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New Zealand /njuːˈziːlənd/ is an island nation in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses—the North Island, or Te Ika-a-Māui, and the South Island, or Te Waipounamu—and around 600 smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal, the countrys varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealands capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland, sometime between 1250 and 1300 CE, Polynesians settled in the islands that later were named New Zealand and developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight New Zealand, in 1840, representatives of Britain and Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which declared British sovereignty over the islands. In 1841, New Zealand became a colony within the British Empire, today, the majority of New Zealands population of 4.7 million is of European descent, the indigenous Māori are the largest minority, followed by Asians and Pacific Islanders. Reflecting this, New Zealands culture is derived from Māori and early British settlers. The official languages are English, Māori and New Zealand Sign Language, New Zealand is a developed country and ranks highly in international comparisons of national performance, such as health, education, economic freedom and quality of life. Since the 1980s, New Zealand has transformed from an agrarian, Queen Elizabeth II is the countrys head of state and is represented by a governor-general. In addition, New Zealand is organised into 11 regional councils and 67 territorial authorities for local government purposes, the Realm of New Zealand also includes Tokelau, the Cook Islands and Niue, and the Ross Dependency, which is New Zealands territorial claim in Antarctica. New Zealand is a member of the United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Pacific Islands Forum, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sighted New Zealand in 1642 and called it Staten Landt, in 1645, Dutch cartographers renamed the land Nova Zeelandia after the Dutch province of Zeeland. British explorer James Cook subsequently anglicised the name to New Zealand, Aotearoa is the current Māori name for New Zealand. It is unknown whether Māori had a name for the country before the arrival of Europeans. Māori had several names for the two main islands, including Te Ika-a-Māui for the North Island and Te Waipounamu or Te Waka o Aoraki for the South Island. Early European maps labelled the islands North, Middle and South, in 1830, maps began to use North and South to distinguish the two largest islands and by 1907, this was the accepted norm. The New Zealand Geographic Board discovered in 2009 that the names of the North Island and South Island had never been formalised and this set the names as North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui, and South Island or Te Waipounamu
16.
Carrion
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Carrion is the decaying dead flesh of an animal. Carrion is an important food source for large carnivores and omnivores in most ecosystems, examples of carrion-eaters include vultures, hawks, eagles, hyenas, Virginia opossum, Tasmanian devils, coyotes, and Komodo dragons. Carrion begins to decay the moment of the death, and it will increasingly attract insects. Not long after the animal has died, its body will begin to exude a foul odor caused by the presence of bacteria, some plants and fungi smell like decomposing carrion and attract insects that aid in reproduction. Plants that exhibit this behavior are known as carrion flowers, stinkhorn mushrooms are examples of fungi with this characteristic. Sometimes carrion is used to describe an infected carcass that is diseased, another example can be found in Daniel Defoes Robinson Crusoe when the title character kills an unknown bird for food but finds its flesh was carrion, and fit for nothing
17.
Wildlife Act 1953
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Wildlife Act 1953 is an Act of Parliament in New Zealand. Under the act, the majority of native New Zealand vertebrate species are protected by law, violations may be punished with fines of up to $100,000. Wildlife are classified under a number of schedules, all species not included in these lists are protected by default. This group comprises commonly hunted waterfowl and introduced game birds, including pheasant, quail, chukar and these birds may be hunted during the open season, which begins in early May and lasts approximately four weeks. This group comprises just the little owl, the silvereye and, on the Chatham Islands only and it formerly included the kea, which has been blamed for attacking sheep, but is now considered endangered. These birds may be shot by land owners if they pose a threat to crops or livestock and these may be culled on application to the Department of Conservation, subject to whatever restrictions are imposed. This group includes the Australasian harrier, grey teal, grey-faced petrel, mute swan, black shag, little shag, pied shag and this group formerly consisted of wild horses, which had some degree of protection in the Kaimanawa range, but is now obsolete. This is a group including many common domestic and introduced species. It includes numerous land mammals and birds, three species of Australian Litoria tree frogs, the Australian rainbow skink and the North American red-eared slider turtle. The only species on this list that occur naturally in New Zealand are the southern black-backed gull and this group consists of the chamois, the Himalayan tahr, and all species of deer, goats, and pigs. All are considered harmful to New Zealands native forests and may be hunted without restriction, under the original legislation, the word animal referred only to land-based vertebrates. Schedule 7 was added to give protected status to a number of native invertebrates, similarly, this list gives protected status to a number of marine species, including some corals, several sharks, and two species of grouper. Conservation in New Zealand Text of the Wildlife Act 1953 Protection status changes to Wildlife Act
18.
Bird intelligence
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Bird intelligence deals with the definition of intelligence and its measurement as it applies to birds. Traditionally, birds have been considered inferior in intelligence to humans and still are, the difficulty of defining or measuring intelligence in non-human animals makes the subject difficult for scientific study. Anatomically, a bird has a large brain compared to its head size. The visual and auditory senses are well developed in most species, while the tactile, Birds communicate using visual signals as well as through the use of calls and song. The testing of intelligence is based on studying the responses to sensory stimuli. Bird intelligence has been studied through several attributes and abilities, many of these studies have been on birds such as quail, domestic fowl and pigeons kept under captive conditions. It has, however, been noted that studies have been limited. Counting has been considered an ability that shows intelligence, anecdotal evidence from the 60s has suggested that crows may count up to 3. Researchers however need to be cautious and ensure that birds are not merely demonstrating the ability to subitize, some studies, such as one done at Moscow State University, have suggested that crows may indeed have a true numerical ability. It has been shown that parrots can count up to 6, cormorants used by Chinese fishermen that were given every eighth fish as a reward were found to be able to keep count up to seven. Hoh wrote in Natural History magazine, In the 1970s, on the Li River, Pamela Egremont observed fishermen who allowed the birds to eat every eighth fish they caught. Writing in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, she reported that, once their quota of seven fish was filled and they ignore an order to dive and even resist a rough push or a knock, sitting glum and motionless on their perches. Meanwhile, other birds that had not filled their quotas continued to fish as usual. One is forced to conclude that these intelligent birds can count up to seven. Many birds are able to detect changes in the number of eggs in their nest. Parasitic cuckoos are known to remove one of the host eggs before laying their own. Also, A common test of intelligence is the detour test, most mammals discover that the objective is reached by first going away from the target. Whereas domestic fowl fail on this test, many within the family are able to readily solve the problem
19.
Curiosity
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Curiosity is a quality related to inquisitive thinking such as exploration, investigation, and learning, evident by observation in humans and other animals. Curiosity is heavily associated with all aspects of development, in which derives the process of learning and desire to acquire knowledge. The term curiosity can also be used to denote the behavior or emotion of being curious, curiosity as a behavior and emotion is attributed over millennia as the driving force behind not only human development, but developments in science, language, and industry. Curiosity can be seen as a quality of many different species. It is common to human beings at all ages from infancy through adulthood, and is easy to observe in other animal species, these include apes, cats. Early definitions cite curiosity as a desire for information. This motivational desire has been said to stem from a passion or an appetite for knowledge, information, like other desires and need states that take on an appetitive quality, curiosity is linked with exploratory behavior and experiences of reward. Curiosity can be described as positive emotions and acquiring knowledge, when one’s curiosity has been aroused it is considered inherently rewarding, discovering new information may also be rewarding because it can help reduce undesirable states of uncertainty rather than stimulating interest. Theories have arisen in attempts to understand this need to rectify states of uncertainty. Curiosity-drive theory relates to the experiences of uncertainty. The reduction of these unpleasant feelings, in turn, is rewarding and this theory suggests that people desire coherence and understanding in their thought processes. Once understanding of unfamiliar has been achieved and coherence has been restored, causes can range from basic needs that need to be satisfied to needs in fear induced situations. Each of these theories state, that whether the need is primary or secondary curiosity is developed from experiences that create a sensation of uncertainty or perceived unpleasantness. Curiosity then acts as a means in which to dispel this uncertainty, by exhibiting curious and exploratory behavior, one is able to gain knowledge of the unfamiliar and thus reduce the state of uncertainty or unpleasantness. This theory, however, does not address the idea that curiosity can often be displayed even in the absence of new or unfamiliar situations and this type of exploratory behavior is common in many species. Take the example of a toddler who, if bored in his current situation devoid of arousing stimuli. The observation of curiosity even in the absence of novel stimuli pinpoints one of the shortcomings in the curiosity-drive model. Optimal-arousal theory developed out of the need to explain the desire for some to seek out opportunities to engage in exploratory behaviors without the presence of uncertain or ambiguous situations
20.
Species description
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A species description is a formal description of a newly discovered species, usually in the form of a scientific paper. Its purpose is to give a description of a new species of organism and explain how it differs from species which have been described previously. The species description often contains photographs or other illustrations of the type material, the publication in which the species is described gives the new species a formal scientific name. Today, some 1.9 million species have been described and named and it is customary for scientists to introduce all relevant new findings and research in a scientific manuscript, which is sent to other scientists for peer review. If accepted, it is published in a journal of the appropriate discipline or in a book. Descriptions and naming of a new species or other taxa follow the same process, a name of a new species becomes valid with the date of publication of its formal scientific description. A scientific species description must fulfill several formal criteria specified by the nomenclature codes, Species names are written in the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet, but many species names are based on words from other languages, Latinized. Once the manuscript has been accepted for publication, the new name is officially created. Once a species name has been assigned and approved, it can not be changed except in the case of error. For example, a species of beetle was named by a German collector after Adolf Hitler in 1933 when he had become chancellor of Germany. It is not clear whether such a dedication would be considered acceptable or appropriate today, Species names have been chosen on many different bases. Most common is a naming for the external appearance, its origin. Examples would include a bat species named for the two stripes on its back, a named for its Bolivian origin, and an ant species dedicated to the actor Harrison Ford. A scientific name in honor of a person or persons is a known as a taxonomic patronym or patronymic, a number of humorous species names also exist. Literary examples include the genus name Borogovia, which is named after the borogove, a second example, Macrocarpaea apparata was named after the magical spell to apparate from the Harry Potter novels by J. K. Rowling, as it seemed to appear out of nowhere. For example, the genus Victoria was named in honour of Queen Victoria of Great Britain, more recently, a species of lemur was named after the actor John Cleese in recognition of his work to publicize the plight of lemurs in Madagascar. Non-profit ecological organizations may also allow benefactors to name new species in exchange for support for taxonomic research. A German non-profit organisation, BIOPAT - Patrons for Biodiversity has raised more than $450,000 for research, the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants discourages this practice somewhat, Recommendation 20A
21.
New Zealand kaka
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The New Zealand kaka, also known as kākā, is a large species of parrot of the family Strigopidae found in native forests of New Zealand. It is endangered and has disappeared from much of its former range, the New Zealand kaka was described by German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1788. There are two subspecies, the North Island kākā, Nestor meridionalis septentrionalis, and the South Island kākā, the name kākā is a Māori language word meaning parrot, possibly related to kā, to screech. The genus Nestor contains four species, the New Zealand kākā, the kea, the extinct Norfolk kaka, all four are thought to stem from a proto-kākā, dwelling in the forests of New Zealand five million years ago. Their closest relative is the kakapo, together, they form the parrot family Strigopidae, an ancient group that split off from all other Psittacidae before their radiation. The New Zealand kākā is a parrot, measuring 45 cm in length and weighing from 390 to 560 g. It is closely related to the kea, but has darker plumage and is more arboreal, the forehead and crown are greyish white and the nape is greyish brown. The neck and abdomen are more reddish, while the wings are more brownish and this group of parrots is unusual, retaining more primitive features lost in most other parrots, because it split off from the rest around 100 million years ago. The calls include a harsh ka-aa and a whistling u-wiia, the New Zealand kākā lives in lowland and mid-altitude native forest. Its strongholds are currently the offshore reserves of Kapiti Island, Codfish Island and it is breeding rapidly in the mainland island sanctuary at Zealandia, with over 600 birds banded since their reintroduction in 2002. From their reintroduction in 2002 the North Island Kākā continue to re-colonise Wellington, Kākā are mainly arboreal and occupy mid-to-high canopy. Often seen flying across valleys or calling from the top of emergent trees and they are very gregarious and move in large flocks often containing kea where present. The New Zealand kākā eats fruits, berries, seeds, flowers, buds, nectar, sap, plants and it uses its strong beak to shred the cones of the kauri tree to obtain the seeds. It has a tongue with which it feeds on nectar. New Zealand kākā make their nests in trees, laying clutches of 2 to 4 eggs in late winter. Both parents assist in feeding the chicks, in a good fruiting year pairs can double clutch often utilizing the same nest hole for the second clutch. It is unusual for a pair to raise more than three chicks in a clutch, the New Zealand kākā is considered vulnerable. A closely related species, Nestor productus, the Norfolk kaka, predatory mammals are responsible for the loss of an estimated 26 million native birds and their eggs each year in New Zealand
22.
Norfolk kaka
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The Norfolk kaka is an extinct species of large parrot, belonging to the parrot family Strigopidae. The birds were about 38 cm long, with mostly olive-brown upperparts, orange cheeks and throat, straw-coloured breast, thighs, rump and lower abdomen dark orange and it inhabited the rocks and treetops of Norfolk Island and adjacent Phillip Island. It was a relative of the kākā from New Zealand and it was first described by the naturalist Johann Reinhold Forster and his son Georg following the discovery of Norfolk Island by James Cook on 10 October 1774. The description was published in 1844. Around 1790, John Hunter depicted a bird on a kangaroo apple, the bird was formally described by John Gould in 1836, from a specimen at the Zoological Society of London. The Norfolk kaka was first described by John Gould in 1836 as Plyctolophus productus, little is known of the birds biology. It was said to have lived both on the ground and in trees, feeding on flowering shrubs and trees. The call was described by Gould as hoarse, quacking, inharmonious noise, the Polynesians who lived at the Island for some time before the arrival of the Europeans hunted the kākā for food before disappearing from the island around the 1600s. It was also hunted for food and trapped as a pet after the arrival of the first settlers in 1788, the species population suffered heavily after a penal colony was maintained from 1788 to 1814, and again from 1825 to 1854. The species likely became extinct in the wild in the nineteenth century sometime during the period of this second penal colony. It was not recorded by Ensign Abel D. W, Best on either Norfolk or Phillip Island in his 1838/1839 diary entries. As Best collected specimens for ornithology, including the Norfolk parakeet, the last bird in captivity died in London in 1851. Forshaw has measurements of seven skins, one male, one female, naturalis in Leiden has 2 skins, one male and one female. Both individuals originate from Philip Island, the male skin was acquired in 1863 long after the species assumed disappearance, but it is unknown how it came to Leiden. It is more likely, given Phillip Island was already overrun with feral pigs, rabbits, goats and chicken in late 1838, an old list of the specimens of birds present in the British Museum of Natural History list two individuals, both from Philip Island. One of the two came from Bells collection
23.
Kakapo
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The kakapo, Strigops habroptilus, also called owl parrot, is a species of large, flightless, nocturnal, ground-dwelling parrot of the super-family Strigopoidea endemic to New Zealand. It has finely blotched yellow-green plumage, a facial disc of sensory, vibrissa-like feathers, a large grey beak, short legs, large feet, and wings. It is also one of the worlds longest-living birds. It was also kept as pets. The kakapo is critically endangered, as of June 2016, the total adult population was 154 living individuals, as reported by the Kakapo Recovery programme. Because of Polynesian and European colonisation and the introduction of such as cats, rats, ferrets, and stoats. Conservation efforts began in the 1890s, but they were not very successful until the implementation of the Kakapo Recovery plan in the 1980s. As of April 2012, surviving kakapo are kept on three islands, Codfish, Anchor and Little Barrier islands, where they are closely monitored. The New Zealand government is providing the use of islands to kakapo conservation. The kakapo was originally described by English ornithologist George Robert Gray in 1845, the name kakapo is the English transliteration of kākāpō which is derived from the Māori terms kākā + pō. Its generic name is derived from the Ancient Greek strix, genitive strigos owl, and ops face, while its specific epithet comes from habros soft and it has so many unusual features that it was initially placed in its own tribe, Strigopini. Recent phylogenetic studies have confirmed the position of this genus as well as the closeness to the kākā. Together, they are now considered a family within the parrots. Within the Strigopidae, the kakapo is placed in its own tribe, the common ancestor of the kakapo and the genus Nestor became isolated from the remaining parrot species when New Zealand broke off from Gondwana, around 82 million years ago. Around 70 million years ago, the kakapo diverged from the genus Nestor, the kakapo is a large, rotund parrot, the adult can measure from 58 to 64 cm in length, and weight can vary from 0.95 to 4 kg at maturity. Twenty-eight males were found to average 2 kg in one study, in the same studies,28 females were found to average 1.5 kg and 18 females averaged 1.28 kg. However, one states that females will not breed until they attain a threshold weight of 1.5 kg. They are the heaviest living species of parrot, while the largest males attain much heavier weights than any other extant parrot, the kakapo cannot fly, having short wings for its size and lacking the pronounced keel bone that anchors the flight muscles of other birds
24.
Psittacidae
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The family Psittacidae is one of three families of true parrots. It comprises the approximately 10 species of subfamily Psittacinae and 148 species of subfamily Arinae, some of the most iconic birds in the world are represented here, such as the blue-and-gold macaw among the New World parrots and the African grey parrot among the Old World parrots. Two parrots, one extinct, formerly inhabited North America and it is estimated that the New World parrots, and by implication Old World parrots, last shared a common ancestor with the Australian parrots of Cacatuidae c.59 mya. The data place most of the diversification of psittaciforms around 40 mya, after the separation of Australia from West Antarctica, the family Psittacidae was introduced by the French polymath Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1815. Subfamily Loriinae and the tribes of subfamily Psittacinae are now placed in superfamily Psittacoidea of all true parrots which includes family Psittacidae
25.
Parrots of New Zealand
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The arrival of Māori, then European settlers with their attendant animals, habitat destruction and even deliberate targeting, has resulted in their numbers plummeting. Today one species is on the brink of extinction and three other species range from vulnerable to critically endangered, apart from the occasional bird blown in from Australia, all the parrot species naturally occurring in New Zealand are found nowhere else. There are eight surviving parrot species endemic to New Zealand, the mainland species are the kea, the New Zealand kaka, the kākāpō, and three species of kākāriki, the yellow-crowned parakeet, the red-crowned parakeet and the orange-fronted parakeet. The other New Zealand parrot species are the Chatham kaka and Chatham parakeet, from the Chatham Islands, the total kākāpō population of 126 individuals is being carefully managed to save it from extinction. Malherbes parakeet is critically endangered, the kākā is listed as endangered, an unidentified parakeet lived on Campbell Island, but was extinct by 1840, so had disappeared before it could be scientifically described. The Chatham Island kaka was extinct by 1550–1700, so is described from sub-fossil remains. And the Norfolk Island kaka was extinct by 1851, various Australian species have either been deliberately introduced or accidentally released. But only two appear to have significant self-sustaining populations - the eastern rosella and the sulphur-crested cockatoo, crimson rosellas and Galahs may be present in small numbers. The eastern rosella can be found in the half of the North Island, the Wellington Region. It is reported that an attempt to import eastern rosellas about 1910 was refused by customs, the Auckland population dates from about 1920 and the Wellington one from about 1960. As early as 1928 the rosella was reported as being a pest around Auckland, the sulphur-crested cockatoo population appears to be result of escapes of captive birds which have built to a total population of fewer than 1000 birds. Feral birds were first seen in the Waitākere Ranges in the early 1900s, there are now populations in the Auckland Region, western Waikato, the Turakina–Rangitīkei region, Wellington Region and Banks Peninsula. Around 1992 an attempt was made by a breeder to establish a population of rainbow lorikeets around Auckland. The species was considered a competitor to native species and a threat to horticulture, so in 1999 it was declared an unwanted organism under the Biosecurity Act, and a plan to remove the estimated 200 feral birds was made. Live trapping of the birds was carried out The population appears under control, and there is an ongoing program to ensure they do not establish a self-sustaining wild population
26.
Alpine climate
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Alpine climate is the average weather for the regions above the tree line. This climate is referred to as a mountain climate or highland climate. There are multiple definitions of alpine climate, one simple definition is the climate which causes trees to fail to grow due to cold. According to the Holdridge life zone system, alpine climate occurs when the mean biotemperature of a location is between 1.5 and 3 °C, which prevents tree growth. Biotemperature is defined as the temperature, except all temperatures below 0 °C are treated as 0 °C, in the Köppen climate classification, the alpine climate is part of Group E, along with the polar climate, where no month has a mean temperature higher than 10 °C. The temperature profile of the atmosphere is a result of an interaction between radiation and convection, sunlight in the visible spectrum hits the ground and heats it. The ground then heats the air at the surface, however, when air is hot, it tends to expand, which lowers its density. Thus, hot air tends to rise and transfer heat upward and this is the process of convection. Convection comes to equilibrium when a parcel at air at a given altitude has the density as its surroundings. Air is a conductor of heat, so a parcel of air will rise. This is known as a process, which has a characteristic pressure-temperature curve. As the pressure gets lower, the temperature decreases, the rate of decrease of temperature with elevation is known as the adiabatic lapse rate, which is approximately 9.8 °C per kilometre of altitude. Note that the presence of water in the atmosphere complicates the process of convection, water vapor contains latent heat of vaporization. As air rises and cools, it becomes saturated and cannot hold its quantity of water vapor. The water vapor condenses, and releases heat, which changes the rate from the dry adiabatic lapse rate to the moist adiabatic lapse rate. The actual lapse rate, called the lapse rate, is not constant. Therefore, moving up 100 metres on a mountain is roughly equivalent to moving 80 kilometres towards the pole and this relationship is only approximate, however, since local factors, such as proximity to oceans, can drastically modify the climate. As the altitude increases, the form of precipitation becomes snow
27.
Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park
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Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park is in the South Island of New Zealand, near the town of Twizel. Aoraki / Mount Cook, New Zealands highest mountain, and Aoraki/Mount Cook Village lie within the park, the area was gazetted as a national park in October 1953 and consists of reserves that were established as early as 1887 to protect the areas significant vegetation and landscape. Even though most of the park is alpine terrain, it is easily accessible. The village is situated within the park, however, it consists only of a hotel and motels, as well as housing and amenities for the staff of the hotel and motels and other support personnel. The park stretches for about 60 kilometres along the southwest-northeast direction of the Southern Alps, the valleys of the Tasman, Hooker, and Godley glaciers are the only entrances into this alpine territory that lie below 1,000 m. Glaciers cover 40% of the area, notably the Tasman Glacier in the Tasman Valley east of Aoraki / Mount Cook. Tasman Lake and Hooker Lake are easily accessible via walking tracks and are the two of these lakes that have official names. At an area of 7 km², Tasman Lake is the largest of the proglacial lakes, of New Zealands 20 peaks over 3,000 metres, all except Mount Aspiring / Tititea lie in the park. These include New Zealands highest mountain, Aoraki / Mount Cook, other prominent peaks include Mt Tasman, Mt Hicks, Mt Sefton and Mt Elie de Beaumont. The mountains of the Southern Alps in general are young, less than ten years old. Uplift in the region of the park is at the rate of 5–10 mm per year. Its estimated that approximately 25 km of uplift has occurred, however the rate of uplift has been countered by erosion, the park borders Westland Tai Poutini National Park along the Main Divide. Together they form part of Te Wahipounamu South Westland World Heritage Site, as a result, the only pockets of forest and native bush in the park are along the southern edge of the Hooker Valley and the lower slopes of Sealy Range. The plant life in the majority of the park consists mostly of alpine plants, all of these plants flower in the warmer months from November to February – early in the season in the valley floors, and late at higher altitudes. At the highest rocks of Aoraki / Mount Cook, around 14 species of lichen have been found, the native vegetation continues to be under threat by introduced plant species ranging from non-native trees through to lupins, broom and non-native grasses. These are mostly contained in the floors of the Tasman and Hooker Valley. There are about 35 to 40 species of birds in the park and include the kea, the only alpine parrot, the kea is now only found in the Southern Alps. The tiny rock wren/pïwauwau, a species, is the only permanent resident high on the mountains
28.
Nothofagus
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Nothofagus, also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of 43 species of trees and shrubs native to the Southern Hemisphere in southern South America and Australasia. The species are ecological dominants in many forests in these regions. Some species are naturalised in Germany and Great Britain. The genus has a fossil record of leaves, cupules and pollen, with fossils extending into the late Cretaceous and occurring in Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica. In the past, they were included in the family Fagaceae, but genetic tests revealed them to be distinct, and they are now included in their own family. The leaves are toothed or entire, evergreen or deciduous, the fruit is a small, flattened or triangular nut, borne in cupules containing one to seven nuts. Nothofagus species are used as food plants by the larvae of moths of the genus Aenetus, including A. eximia. Sexual reproduction has since shown to be possible. This proposed change is not taxonomically essential and has not been accepted outside New Zealand, in South America the northern genus limit can be construed as La Campana National Park and the Vizcachas Mountains in the central part of Chile. Every four to six years or so, Nothofagus produces a crop of seeds and is known as the beech mast. In New Zealand, the beech mast causes an increase in the population of introduced mammals such as mice, rats, when the rodent population collapses, the stoats begin to prey on native bird species, many of which are threatened with extinction. This phenomenon is covered in detail in the article on stoats in New Zealand. Beechwood Honeydew is a type of honey made in New Zealand from the secretions of Hemiptera aphids feeding on Nothofagus trees, cyttaria, genus of ascomycete fungi found on or associated with Nothofagus Misodendrum, specialist parasites of Nothofagus
29.
Milford Sound
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Milford Sound / Piopiotahi is a fiord in the south west of New Zealands South Island within Fiordland National Park, Piopiotahi Marine Reserve, and the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage site. It has been judged the top travel destination in an international survey and is acclaimed as New Zealands most famous tourist destination. Rudyard Kipling had previously called it the eighth Wonder of the World, Milford Sound is named after Milford Haven in Wales, while the Cleddau River which flows into the sound is also named for its Welsh namesake. The Māori named the sound Piopiotahi after the thrush-like piopio bird, Piopiotahi means a single piopio, harking back to the legend of Māui trying to win immortality for mankind - when Maui died in the attempt, a piopio was said to have flown here in mourning. Milford Sound runs 15 kilometres inland from the Tasman Sea at Dale Point - the mouth of the fiord - and is surrounded by sheer rock faces that rise 1,200 metres or more on either side. Among the peaks are The Elephant at 1,517 metres, said to resemble an elephants head, Milford Sound sports two permanent waterfalls all year round, Lady Bowen Falls and Stirling Falls. After heavy rain however, many hundreds of temporary waterfalls can be running down the steep sided rock faces that line the fiord. They are fed by rain water drenched moss and will last a few days at most once the rain stops. With a mean rainfall of 6,412 mm each year. Rainfall can reach 250 mm during a span of 24 hours, the rainfall creates dozens of temporary waterfalls cascading down the cliff faces, some reaching a thousand metres in length. Smaller falls from such heights may never reach the bottom of the sound, accumulated rainwater can, at times, cause portions of the rain forest to lose their grip on the sheer cliff faces, resulting in tree avalanches into the sound. The regrowth of the rain forest after these avalanches can be seen in locations along the sound. The sound has been identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International because it is a site for Fiordland penguins. Milford Sound was initially overlooked by European explorers, because its narrow entry did not appear to lead into such large interior bays. The fiord was a playground for local Maori who had acquired a large amount of local marine knowledge including tidal patterns, the fiord remained undiscovered by Europeans until Captain John Grono discovered it c.1812 and named it Milford Haven after his homeland in Wales. Captain John Lort Stokes later renamed Milford Haven as Milford Sound, following the passage of the Ngai Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998, the name of the fiord was officially altered to Milford Sound / Piopiotahi. In the same year, the low watershed saddle between the Hollyford River and the Cleddau River was discovered, where the Homer Tunnel was to be developed about sixty years later to provide road access. As of the 2006 census, just 120 people lived in Milford Sound, Milford Sound attracts between 550,000 and 1 million visitors per year
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Fiordland National Park
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Fiordland National Park occupies the southwest corner of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the largest of the 14 national parks in New Zealand, with an area of 12,500 km2, the park is administered by the Department of Conservation. During the cooler past, glaciers carved many deep fiords, the most famous of which is Milford Sound, other notable fiords include Doubtful Sound and Dusky Sound. From one of the peaks within Fiordland National Park, a view of Mount Aspiring/Tititea to the far north can be observed. Fiordlands coast is steep and crenellated, with the running from the valleys of the southern ranges of the Southern Alps, such as the Kepler. At the northern end of the park, several peaks rise to over 2,000 metres, ice has carved islands from the mainland, leaving two large uninhabited offshore islands, Secretary Island and Resolution Island. Several large lakes lie wholly or partly within the boundaries, notably Lake Te Anau, Lake Manapouri, Lake Monowai, Lake Hauroko. The Sutherland Falls, to the southwest of Milford Sound on the Milford Track, are among the worlds highest waterfalls and this supports the lush temperate rain forests of the Fiordland temperate forests ecoregion. The wildlife in this area include dolphins, seals and birds, introduced species include mice, rats, hare and deer. Among the birds are the kakapo, the only flightless parrot in the world, also there is the kiwi, which is native to New Zealand. The park is forested with Nothofagus trees, a large variety of understory shrubs and ferns being present, examples of the forest floor vegetation include crown fern. Road access to Fiordland is restricted to the Milford Road, which runs north from Te Anau, from there it crosses the northwest corner of the park, reaching its terminus at Milford Sound. South of Te Anau a smaller road links to Manapouri, a minor road links Doubtful Sound with the western edge of Lake Manapouri via the Wilmot Pass. Light aircraft and helicopter services link with Milford Sound, which also has a boat marina. Parts of Fiordland National Park are a designated Wilderness Area and aircraft landings are not permitted, the park is a popular destination for alpine climbers and especially for trampers, with the Milford, Kepler, Hollyford and Routeburn Tracks all in or close to the park. Fiordland is a challenging tramping destination, off-track travel often relies on following deer trails. Sandflies, flooding and poor weather are a hazard, other tourists are attracted to areas such as Milford Sound. Red deer were introduced to New Zealand in the 1850s and they subsequently colonised the Fiordland Park area, costs were recouped from the sale of deer hides
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Department of Conservation (New Zealand)
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The Department of Conservation is the public service department of New Zealand charged with the conservation of New Zealands natural and historical heritage. An advisory body, the New Zealand Conservation Authority is provided to advise DOC, in addition there are 13 conservation boards for different areas around the country that provide for interaction between DOC and the public. This Act also set out the majority of the Departments responsibilities and roles, as a consequence of Conservation Act all Crown land in New Zealand designated for conservation and protection became managed by the Department of Conservation. All of the land under its control is protected for conservation, ecological, scenic, scientific, historic or cultural reasons. DOC also administers the Nature Heritage Fund, and is responsible for fire control. In addition to its work managing land and providing for recreation in New Zealand and this is particularly a concern amongst some farmers and other industries that are major users of neighbouring land, many of whom have been affected by decisions of the department. After a number of years of falling budgets, in 2013 the department announced it would be slashing 140 jobs, the Department of Conservation moved into a new headquarters, Conservation House, on Manners Street, Wellington in 2006. It is the first green building in New Zealand to be given a 5-star rating, having won numerous environmental awards, including a top 10 placing by Grist Magazine. The site was originally a cinema operated by the Hoyts Group from the mid-1980s until the early 2000s. The Department serves 1 portfolio and 3 ministers, New Zealand has 13 national parks, and a wide number of other conservation lands with varying levels of environmental protection, called the conservation estate in total. About one third of this estate, generally the land considered most valuable, has been protected from mining since 1997 via being listed in Schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act 1991, in 1995,14 people died when a viewing platform maintained by the Department of Conservation collapsed. Immediately following the tragedy, all of the departments 106 viewing platforms throughout New Zealand were checked, fifteen platforms were closed for repairs. A Commission of Inquiry that followed the tragedy revealed that the department had acted illegally and negligently in constructing the viewing platform. Many people in New Zealand criticised the government for the situation, and Denis Marshall. In March 2006, an eruption at the Green Lake of Raoul Island. At the exact time of the eruption, Mr Kearney is thought to have been taking measurements of the lake as part of a programme for monitoring volcanic activity. Five other DOC workers, who were living on the island, were forced to evacuate back to New Zealand shortly after the eruption. Searches for Mr Kearney, which have been inhibited by the remote location
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Median
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The median is the value separating the higher half of a data sample, a population, or a probability distribution, from the lower half. In simple terms, it may be thought of as the value of a data set. For example, in the set, the median is 6. The median is a commonly used measure of the properties of a set in statistics. The basic advantage of the median in describing data compared to the mean is that it is not skewed so much by extremely large or small values, and so it may give a better idea of a typical value. For example, in understanding statistics like household income or assets which vary greatly, Median income, for example, may be a better way to suggest what a typical income is. The median of a finite list of numbers can be found by arranging all the numbers from smallest to greatest, if there is an odd number of numbers, the middle one is picked. For example, consider the set of numbers,1,3,3,6,7,8,9 This set contains seven numbers, the median is the fourth of them, which is 6. If there are a number of observations, then there is no single middle value. For example, in the set,1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9 The median is the mean of the middle two numbers, this is ÷2, which is 4.5. The formula used to find the number of a data set of n numbers is ÷2. This either gives the number or the halfway point between the two middle values. For example, with 14 values, the formula will give 7.5, and you will also be able to find the median using the Stem-and-Leaf Plot. There is no accepted standard notation for the median. In any of these cases, the use of these or other symbols for the needs to be explicitly defined when they are introduced. The median is used primarily for skewed distributions, which it summarizes differently from the arithmetic mean, the median is 2 in this case, and it might be seen as a better indication of central tendency than the arithmetic mean of 4. The widely cited empirical relationship between the locations of the mean and the median for skewed distributions is, however. There are, however, various relationships for the difference between them, see below
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Polygyny
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Polygyny is the most common and accepted form of polygamy, entailing the marriage of a man with several women. Most countries that permit polygamy are Muslim-majority countries in which polygyny is the only form permitted, polyandry is illegal in virtually every state of the world. In some countries where polygamy is illegal, and sometimes even when legal, at times it is known for men to have one or more mistresses, whom they do not marry. The status of a mistress is not that of a wife, throughout the polygyny belt stretching from Senegal in the west to Tanzania in the east, as many as a third to a half of married women are in polygynous unions. Historically, polygyny was partly accepted in ancient Hebrew society, in classical China, in India it was known to have been practiced during ancient times. It was accepted in ancient Greece, until the Roman Empire, Boserup was the first to propose that the high incidence of polygyny in sub-Saharan Africa is rooted in the sexual division of labor in hoe-farming and the large economic contribution of women. In the regions of shifting cultivation where polygyny is most frequently recorded, the task of felling trees in preparation of new plots is usually done by older boys and very young men. An elderly cultivator, with wives and likely several young male children. By the combined efforts of his sons and young wives, he may gradually expand his cultivation. A man with a wife has less help in cultivation and is likely to have little or no help for felling trees. According to Boserups historical data, women living in such a structure also welcome one or more co-wives to share them the burden of daily labor. However, the wife will usually do the most tiresome work, almost as if she were a servant to the first wife. Polygyny is considered an advantage in many rural areas. In some cases, the role of the additional wife enables the husband to enjoy more leisure. Drawing on the work of Ester Boserup, Goody notes that in some of the populated regions where shifting cultivation takes place in Africa. This favoured polygamous marriages in which men sought to monopolize the production of women who are valued both as workers and as child bearers, Goody, however, observes that the correlation is imperfect. Most research into the determinants of polygyny has focused on macro-level factors, widespread polygyny is linked to the kinship groups that share descent from a common ancestor. Scholars have argued that in farming systems where men do most of the agriculture work, in order to feed an additional wife, the husband must either work harder himself or he must hire laborers to do part of the work
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Tree line
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The tree line is the edge of the habitat at which trees are capable of growing. It is found at high elevations and in frigid environments, beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions. The tree line should not be confused with a lower timberline or forest line, at the tree line, tree growth is often sparse and stunted, with the last trees forming densely matted bushes, known as krummholz. The tree line, like other natural lines, appears well-defined from a distance. Trees grow shorter towards the inhospitable climate until they stop growing. The climate above the line of mountains is called an alpine climate. In the northern hemisphere treelines on north-facing slopes are lower than on south-facing slopes because the increased shade on north-facing slopes means the snowpack takes longer to melt and this shortens the growing season for trees. In the southern hemisphere, the slopes have the shorter growing season. The alpine tree line boundary is seldom abrupt, it forms a transition zone between closed forest below and treeless alpine tundra above. Environmentally dwarfed shrubs commonly forms the upper limit, the decrease in air temperature due to increasing elevation causes the alpine climate. Skin effects and topography can create microclimates that alter the general cooling trend, however, the number of degree days calculated from leaf temperatures may be very similar in the two kinds of timberlines. A series of warm summers in the 1940s seems to have permitted the establishment of “significant numbers” of spruce seedlings above the treeline in the hills near Fairbanks. Survival depends on a sufficiency of new growth to support the tree, the windiness of high-elevation sites is also a potent determinant of the distribution of tree growth. However, snow accumulation in sheltered gullies in the Selkirk Mountains of southeastern British Columbia causes timberline to be 400 metres lower than on exposed intervening shoulders. In a desert, the line marks the driest places where trees can grow. These tend to be called the tree line and occur below about 5,000 ft elevation in the Desert Southwestern United States. In some mountainous areas, higher elevations above the line or on equator-facing and leeward slopes can result in low rainfall. This dries out the soil, resulting in an arid environment unsuitable for trees
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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
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Shearwater
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There are more than 30 species of shearwaters, a few larger ones in the genus Calonectris and many smaller species in the genus Puffinus. The genus Puffinus can be divided into a group of small species close to Calonectris and these birds are most common in temperate and cold waters. They are pelagic outside the breeding season and these tubenose birds fly with stiff wings and use a shearing flight technique to move across wave fronts with the minimum of active flight. This technique gives the group its English name, some small species, like the Manx shearwater are cruciform in flight, with their long wings held directly out from their bodies. One study found Sooty shearwaters migrating nearly 40,000 miles a year, short-tailed shearwaters perform an even longer figure of eight loop migration in the Pacific Ocean from Tasmania to as far north as the Arctic Ocean off northwest Alaska. Manx shearwaters migrate over 10,000 km to South America in winter, using waters off southern Brazil and Argentina, shearwaters come to islands and coastal cliffs only to breed. They are nocturnal at the breeding sites, preferring moonless nights to minimize predation. They nest in burrows and often give eerie contact calls on their night-time visits and they lay a single white egg. They feed on fish, squid, and similar oceanic food, some will follow fishing boats to take scraps, commonly the sooty shearwater, these species also commonly follow whales to feed on fish disturbed by them. Their primary technique for feeding is diving and some species diving as much as 70 m under water, shearwaters are part of the family Procellariidae, which also includes fulmarine petrels, prions, and gadfly petrels
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Alfred Russel Wallace
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Alfred Russel Wallace OM FRS was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, and biologist. He is best known for conceiving the theory of evolution through natural selection. This prompted Darwin to publish his own ideas in On the Origin of Species and he was considered the 19th centurys leading expert on the geographical distribution of animal species and is sometimes called the father of biogeography. Wallace was one of the leading thinkers of the 19th century. Wallace was strongly attracted to unconventional ideas and his advocacy of spiritualism and his belief in a non-material origin for the higher mental faculties of humans strained his relationship with some members of the scientific establishment. Aside from scientific work, he was a social activist who was critical of what he considered to be an unjust social and his interest in natural history resulted in his being one of the first prominent scientists to raise concerns over the environmental impact of human activity. Since its publication in 1869 it has never been out of print, Wallace had financial difficulties throughout much of his life. Alfred Wallace was born in the Welsh village of Llanbadoc, near Usk and he was the seventh of nine children of Thomas Vere Wallace and Mary Anne Greenell. Mary Anne was English, Thomas Wallace was probably of Scottish ancestry and his family, like many Wallaces, claimed a connection to William Wallace, a leader of Scottish forces during the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 13th century. Thomas Wallace graduated in law, but never practised law and he owned some income-generating property, but bad investments and failed business ventures resulted in a steady deterioration of the familys financial position. His mother was from a middle-class English family from Hertford, north of London, when Wallace was five years old, his family moved to Hertford. There he attended Hertford Grammar School until financial difficulties forced his family to him in 1836. Wallace then moved to London to board with his older brother John and this was a stopgap measure until William, his oldest brother, was ready to take him on as an apprentice surveyor. While in London, Alfred attended lectures and read books at the London Mechanics Institute, here he was exposed to the radical political ideas of the Welsh social reformer Robert Owen and of Thomas Paine. He left London in 1837 to live with William and work as his apprentice for six years, at the end of 1839, they moved to Kington, Hereford, near the Welsh border, before eventually settling at Neath in Glamorgan in Wales. Between 1840 and 1843, Wallace did land surveying work in the countryside of the west of England, by the end of 1843, Williams business had declined due to difficult economic conditions, and Wallace, at the age of 20, left in January. One result of Wallaces early travels is a controversy about his nationality. Since Wallace was born in Monmouthshire, some sources have considered him to be Welsh, one Wallace scholar has stated that the most reasonable interpretation is therefore that he was an Englishman born in Wales
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Nelson Lakes National Park
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Nelson Lakes National Park is located in the South Island of New Zealand. It was formed in 1956 and covers some 1,020 square kilometres and it is centered at two large lakes, Rotoiti and Rotoroa. The park also includes surrounding valleys and mountain ranges, the park is a popular area for camping, tramping and fishing. The park is administered by the Department of Conservation who operate a Visitors Centre in Saint Arnaud that provides up to date and reliable information on all aspects of the National Park. The main access point to Nelson Lakes National Park is at Lake Rotoiti, a secondary access point is at Lake Rotoroa, turning off New Zealand State Highway 6 at Gowanbridge. Shuttle services operate between St Arnaud, Nelson, Blenheim and Picton, the main campgrounds are on the shores of Lake Rotoiti, there is a smaller campground at Lake Rotoroa. There is a network of tramping tracks throughout the park, tracks range from short nature walks at Lake Rotoiti and Lake Rotorua, to multi-day backcountry tramps. Day tramps include the Lake Rotoiti circuit, St. Arnaud Range, the most popular long-distance tramping routes are the Travers-Sabine Circuit and other loops through Lake Angelus. The skifield on Mt. Robert is no longer operational, rainbow Ski Area is located on the eastern side of the St Arnaud range, just outside the park. Other activities include mountaineering, boating and fishing, and mountain biking, see the DOC web site for more information. Nelson Lakes National Park contains 20 Department of Conservation huts, ranging in quality from basic hut/bivvy to serviced hut, the Rotoiti Mainland Island consists of 5000 hectares of beech forest around Lake Rotoiti. The project aims to eliminate introduced pests such as stoats, possums, wasps and rodents, and allow recovery of the forests and native wildlife populations
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Massey University
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Massey University is a university based in Раlmеrstоn Nоrth, Nеw Zеаlаnd, with significant campuses in Аlbаny and Wellington. Research is undertaken on all three campuses, and more than 3,000 international students from over 100 countries study at the university, Massey University is the only university in New Zealand offering degrees in aviation, dispute resolution, veterinary medicine, and nanoscience. Masseys veterinary school is accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Association and is recognised in the United States, Australia, Canada and its agriculture programme is the highest-ranked in New Zealand, and 19th in Quacquarelli Symonds world university subject rankings. It drew from the departments of Victoria University College in Wellington. In 1927 the college was renamed Massey Agricultural College after former New Zealand Prime Minister William Fergusson Massey who died in 1925 and had been vigorous in land reform efforts. The Massey Agricultural College Committee first met on 1 February 1927, the college was officially opened for tuition on 20 March 1928 by O. J. Hawkin. Women were admitted from 1932, with Enid Hills being the first, with the demise of the UNZ in 1961, it became Massey College, part of Victoria University of Wellington. In 1960 a branch of VUW was established in Palmerston North to teach students by distance education, inaugurated in 1993, classes began at Masseys Albany campus in 1994. In December 2010 Massey announced that the Wellington campus would close its School of Engineering, in December 2016, the Chancellor of the University, Chris Kelly, caused outrage by making several comments in a rural newspaper regarding the gender of those in the veterinarian profession. Whereas men find out about booze and all sorts of things during their first year. That’s fine, but the problem is one woman graduate is equivalent to two-fifths of a full-time equivalent vet throughout her life because she married and has a family. These remarks caused outrage, with Kellys apology via Twitter. Kelly resigned as Chancellor on 14 December 2016, and was replaced promptly by then Pro Chancellor Michael Ahie, Massey University has campuses in the Manawatu at Palmerston North, at Wellington and on Aucklands North Shore at Albany. In addition, Massey offers most of its degrees extramurally within New Zealand and it has the nations largest business college. Research is undertaken on all three campuses, New Zealands first satellite, KiwiSAT is currently being designed and built by New Zealand Radio Amateurs with the support of Massey, especially in space environment testing. The Manawatu campus in Palmerston North is based at the Turitea site, the campus has around 9,000 students. The Turitea site houses the administrative units of Massey University as well as the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the College of Sciences. The Turitea site is home to the only Veterinary School in New Zealand, in 2013 the College of Education became the Institute of Education and is part of College of Humanities and Social Sciences
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1080 usage in New Zealand
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The use of 1080, a pesticide using sodium fluoroacetate, is a contentious issue in New Zealand, with the majority of the debate occurring between conservationists and hunters. Concerns are also raised about security of water supplies in areas where 1080 is applied. New Zealand is the largest user of biodegradable 1080 poison, using about 80% of the worlds supply and it has been used as such since the late 1950s. Sodium fluoroacetate is imported in a raw form from the United States, the largest users of 1080 in New Zealand are the Animal Health Board and the Department of Conservation. It is also used on a scale for pest control by Regional Councils. The first trials were carried out in New Zealand in 1954,1080 baits are used through ground-based and aerial application. 1080 is considered to be suitable for use as a mammalian pest control in New Zealand because the country has two native land mammals. New Zealands flora and fauna evolved for 80 million years with moa being the primary browsing animals, consequently, the native birds, insects, and flora have developed no natural defence mechanisms against introduced animals such as possums, rats, mustelids and feral cats. These exotic species have become pests, and their presence has had a disastrous effect on the populations of many endemic species, including the national symbol. Populations of the reptile tuatara have also severely impacted. An estimated 30 million possums inhabit New Zealand, and they are found in 98% of vegetated areas on mainland New Zealand, when correctly applied,1080 is very effective at controlling conservation pests. One aerial application can kill 98% of possums and more than 90% of rats in the targeted area and these successful knock-down rates provide vulnerable native birds with a crucial breeding window to raise chicks through to fledging, increasing their survival rate. The DOC uses aerially applied 1080 poison across about 440,000 ha of land each year. This equates to 5% of the conservation estate. In New Zealand, the common brushtail possum was the vector for the spread of bovine tuberculosis - a highly contagious disease affecting farmed cattle. Aerial application of 1080 poison is used in places where ground control methods are impractical or unable to knock possum numbers down to a low enough level to break the disease cycle. In 2011, this was less than 10% of the area receiving possum control. Both aerial and ground-based application of 1080 poison are used to control rabbits — an introduced grazing pest
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Pest (organism)
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A pest is a plant or animal detrimental to humans or human concerns, alternative meanings include organisms that cause nuisance and epidemic disease associated with high mortality. In its broadest sense, a pest is a competitor of humanity, a pest is any living organism, whether animal, plant or fungus, which is invasive or troublesome to plants or animals, human or human concerns, livestock, or human structures. It is a concept, as an organism can be a pest in one setting but beneficial. Animals are called pests when they cause damage to agriculture by feeding on crops or parasitising livestock, such as codling moth on apples, an animal could also be a pest when it causes damage to a wild ecosystem or carries germs within human habitats. Examples of these include those organisms which vector human disease, such as rats and fleas which carry the disease, mosquitoes which vector malaria. A species can be a pest in one setting but beneficial or domesticated in another, Many weeds are also seen as useful under certain conditions, for instance Pattersons curse is often valued as food for honeybees and as a wildflower, even though it can poison livestock. The animal groups of greatest importance as pests are insects, mites, nematodes, the term plant pest has a specific definition in terms of the International Plant Protection Convention and phytosanitary measures worldwide. A pest is any species, strain or biotype of plant, animal, plants may be considered pests themselves if an invasive species. Pigeons and seagulls eat human food and carry disease Many birds, such as crows, eat crops Canada goose, widely regarded as pests in the United States, woodpeckers peck at rooftops and also nest in them. They cause structural damage to houses, in particular, the species poses a serious threat to the ecosystems of Australia where it was named The Most Important Pest/Problem. Cowbirds are brood parasites, which cause declines in local songbird populations, bullfrogs cause problems to the ecosystems. Cane toads have had negative effects on many ecosystems to which they have been introduced. The toads skin is toxic, killing many wild and domestic animals that attempt to eat it. Mice, rats, and other small rodents damage crops and stored produce Big cats, such as lions and cougars Rabbits decimate native plant populations in Australia, Deroceras reticulatum is a worldwide slug pest. Local importance slug pests include, Deroceras spp, arion spp. and some species of Veronicellidae, Veronicella sloanei. Helix aspersa damages citrus fruits in California, Cernuella virgata, Theba pisana, achatina fulica damages vegetables and ornamental plants in the Pacific region. Succinea costaricana damages ornamental plants in Costa Rica, ovachlamys fulgens damages ornamental plants and orchids in Costa Rica. Other pest species include Amphibulima patula dominicensis, Zachrysia provisoria and Bradybaena similaris, some snails and slugs of quarantine significance to the United States
42.
Stoat
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Originally from Eurasia, it crossed into North America some half million years ago, where it naturalized and joined the notably larger closely related native long-tailed weasel. The name ermine is often, but not always, used for the stoat in its white winter coat. In the late 19th century, stoats were introduced into New Zealand to control rabbits, the stoat is classed by the IUCN as least concern, due to its wide circumpolar distribution, and because it does not face any significant threat to its survival. It was nominated as one of the worlds top 100 worst invaders, Ermine luxury fur was used in the 15th century by Catholic monarchs, who sometimes used it as the mozzetta cape. It was also used in capes on images such as the Infant Jesus of Prague, the root word for stoat is likely either the Dutch word stout or the Gothic word stautan. This seems to come from the Lithuanian word šarmu, in Ireland, the stoat is referred to as a weasel, while in North America it is called a short-tailed weasel. A male stoat is called a dog, hob, or jack, the collective noun for stoats is either gang or pack. The stoat is the product of a process begun 5–7 million years ago, the stoats ancestors were larger than the current form, and underwent a reduction in size as they exploited the new food source. The stoat first arose in Eurasia, shortly after the long-tailed weasel arose as its image in North America 2 million years ago. The stoat thrived during the Ice Age, as its size and long body allowed it to easily operate beneath snow. The stoat and the long-tailed weasel remained separated until half a million years ago, combined phylogenetic analyses indicate the stoats closest living relative is the mountain weasel, though it is also closely related to the least weasel and long-tailed weasel. Its next closest relatives are the New World Colombian weasel and the Amazon weasel, as of 2005,37 subspecies are recognized. The stoat has a neck, the head being set exceptionally far in front of the shoulders. The trunk is cylindrical, and does not bulge at the abdomen. The greatest circumference of body is more than half its length. The skull, although similar to that of the least weasel, is relatively longer. The projections of the skull and teeth are developed. The eyes are round, black and protrude slightly, the whiskers are brown or white in colour, and very long
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Common brushtail possum
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The common brushtail possum is a nocturnal, semi-arboreal marsupial of the family Phalangeridae, it is native to Australia, and the second largest of the possums. Like most possums, the common brushtail possum is nocturnal and it is mainly a folivore, but has been known to eat small mammals such as rats. In most Australian habitats, leaves of eucalyptus are a significant part of the diet, the tail is prehensile and naked on its lower underside. There are four variations, silver-grey, brown, black. It is the Australian marsupial most often seen by city-dwellers, as it is one of few that thrives in cities, as well as a range of natural. Around human habitations, common brushtails are inventive and determined foragers with a liking for fruit trees, vegetable gardens, the common brushtail possum has large and pointed ears. It has a tail that is adapted to grasping branches. Its forefeet have claws and the first toe of each hind foot is clawless but has a strong grasp. The possum grooms itself with the third and fourth toes which are fused together and it has a thick and woolly pelage that varies in colour depending on the subspecies. Colour patterns tend to be silver-gray, brown, black, red or cream, the ventral areas are typically lighter and the tail is usually brown or black. The muzzle is marked with dark patches, the common brushtail possum has a head and body length of 32–58 cm with a tail length of 24–40 cm. Males are generally larger than females, in addition, the coat of the male tends to be reddish at the shoulders. As with most marsupials, the female brushtail possum has a forward-opening, the chest of both sexes has a scent gland that emits a reddish secretion which stains that fur around it. It marks its territory with these secretions, the common brushtail possum is perhaps the most widespread marsupial of Australia. It is found throughout the eastern and northern parts of the continent, as well as some regions, Tasmania. It is also widespread in New Zealand since its introduction in 1840, the common brushtail possum can be found in a variety of habitats, such as forests, semiarid areas and even cultivated or urban areas. It is mostly a forest inhabiting species, however it is found in treeless areas. In New Zealand, possums favour broadleaf-podocarp near farmland pastures, in southern beech forests and pine plantations, possums are less common
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Fox Glacier
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Fox Glacier / Te Moeka o Tuawe is a 13-kilometre-long temperate maritime glacier located in Westland Tai Poutini National Park on the West Coast of New Zealands South Island. It was named in 1872 after a visit by then Prime Minister of New Zealand Sir William Fox, following the passage of the Ngai Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998, the name of the glacier was officially altered to Fox Glacier / Te Moeka o Tuawe. Although retreating throughout most of the last 100 years, it was advancing between 1985 and 2009, in 2006 the average rate of advance was about a metre a week. In January 2009, the face of the glacier was still advancing and had vertical or overhanging faces which were continually collapsing. Since then there has been a significant retreat, with the 2009 high level clearly visible as vegetation line on the slope above what is left of the lower glacier today. The outflow of the forms the Fox River. During the last ice age, its ice reached beyond the present coastline, lake Matheson formed as a kettle lake within one of these. Like nearby Franz Josef Glacier, it is one of the most accessible glaciers in the world and it is a major tourist attraction and about 1000 people daily visit it during high tourist season. Though people are not to, some go beyond the barriers and climb without guides onto the glacier, whose rapid advance creates dangers of sudden ice. The approximate township site had been gazetted as early as 1866, bruce Bay is 46 km to the south-west of the township, and Franz Josef is 23 km north-east. State Highway 6 runs through the town, the population was 375 in the 2006 Census, an increase of 117 from 2001. The town is served by the Fox Glacier Aerodrome, two Australian tourists, Ashish Miranda and Akshay Miranda, were killed on 8 January 2009 when more than 100 tonnes of ice fell on them. They were not part of a group and had crossed safety barriers. Ashishs body was recovered shortly after the accident, at the time, it was thought by rescuers that Akshay might have to be left under the ice permanently. However, his body was recovered a week later,10 km downstream from the accident, on 21 November 2015, seven people were killed when a Eurocopter Écureuil helicopter on a scenic flight crashed on the glacier. The helicopter was operated by Alpine Adventures, Fox Glacier School is a coeducational full primary school with a decile rating of 8 and a roll of 17. Climate change in New Zealand Retreat of glaciers since 1850 Franz Josef Glacier Fox Glacier area, Department of Conservation Fox Glacier Daily Access Update & Live Webcam - Glacier Country Tourism
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