Reservoir
A reservoir is, most an enlarged natural or artificial lake, pond or impoundment created using a dam or lock to store water. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of water, interrupting a watercourse to form an embayment within it, through excavation, or building any number of retaining walls or levees. Defined as a storage space for fluids, reservoirs may hold gasses, including hydrocarbons. Tank reservoirs elevated, or buried tanks. Tank reservoirs for water are called cisterns. Most underground reservoirs are used to store liquids, principally either water or petroleum, below ground. Reservoir is most an enlarged natural or artificial lake. A dam constructed in a valley relies on the natural topography to provide most of the basin of the reservoir. Dams are located at a narrow part of a valley downstream of a natural basin; the valley sides act as natural walls, with the dam located at the narrowest practical point to provide strength and the lowest cost of construction.
In many reservoir construction projects, people have to be moved and re-housed, historical artifacts moved or rare environments relocated. Examples include the temples of Abu Simbel, the relocation of the village of Capel Celyn during the construction of Llyn Celyn, the relocation of Borgo San Pietro of Petrella Salto during the construction of Lake Salto. Construction of a reservoir in a valley will need the river to be diverted during part of the build through a temporary tunnel or by-pass channel. In hilly regions, reservoirs are constructed by enlarging existing lakes. Sometimes in such reservoirs, the new top water level exceeds the watershed height on one or more of the feeder streams such as at Llyn Clywedog in Mid Wales. In such cases additional side dams are required to contain the reservoir. Where the topography is poorly suited to a single large reservoir, a number of smaller reservoirs may be constructed in a chain, as in the River Taff valley where the Llwyn-on, Cantref and Beacons Reservoirs form a chain up the valley.
Coastal reservoirs are fresh water storage reservoirs located on the sea coast near the river mouth to store the flood water of a river. As the land based reservoir construction is fraught with substantial land submergence, coastal reservoir is preferred economically and technically since it does not use scarce land area. Many coastal reservoirs were constructed in Europe. Saemanguem in South Korea, Marina Barrage in Singapore and Plover Cove in China, etc are few existing coastal reservoirs. Where water is pumped or siphoned from a river of variable quality or size, bank-side reservoirs may be built to store the water; such reservoirs are formed by excavation and by building a complete encircling bund or embankment, which may exceed 6 km in circumference. Both the floor of the reservoir and the bund must have an impermeable lining or core: these were made of puddled clay, but this has been superseded by the modern use of rolled clay; the water stored in such reservoirs may stay there for several months, during which time normal biological processes may reduce many contaminants and eliminate any turbidity.
The use of bank-side reservoirs allows water abstraction to be stopped for some time, when the river is unacceptably polluted or when flow conditions are low due to drought. The London water supply system is one example of the use of bank-side storage: the water is taken from the River Thames and River Lee. Service reservoirs store treated potable water close to the point of distribution. Many service reservoirs are constructed as water towers as elevated structures on concrete pillars where the landscape is flat. Other service reservoirs can be entirely underground in more hilly or mountainous country. In the United Kingdom, Thames Water has many underground reservoirs, sometimes called cisterns, built in the 1800s, most of which are lined with brick. A good example is the Honor Oak Reservoir in London, constructed between 1901 and 1909; when it was completed it was said to be the largest brick built underground reservoir in the world and it is still one of the largest in Europe. This reservoir now forms part of the southern extension of the Thames Water Ring Main.
The top of the reservoir is now used by the Aquarius Golf Club. Service reservoirs perform several functions, including ensuring sufficient head of water in the water distribution system and providing water capacity to out peak demand from consumers, enabling the treatment plant to run at optimum efficiency. Large service reservoirs can be managed to reduce the cost of pumping, by refilling the reservoir at times of day when energy costs are low. Circa 3 000 BC, the craters of extinct volcanoes in Arabia were used as reservoirs by farmers for their irrigation water. Dry climate and water scarcity in India led to early development of stepwells and water resource management techniques, including the building of a reservoir at Girnar in 3000 BC. Artificial lakes dating to the 5th century BC have been found in ancient Greece; the artificial Bhojsagar lake in present-day Madhya Pradesh state of India, constructed in the 11th century, covered 650 square kilometres. In Sri Lanka large reservoirs were created by ancient Sinhalese kings in order to save the water for irrigation.
The famous Sri Lankan king Pa
Bald eagle
The bald eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle, its range includes most of Canada and Alaska, all of the contiguous United States, northern Mexico. It is found near large bodies of open water with an abundant food supply and old-growth trees for nesting; the bald eagle is an opportunistic feeder which subsists on fish, which it swoops down and snatches from the water with its talons. It builds the largest nest of any North American bird and the largest tree nests recorded for any animal species, up to 4 m deep, 2.5 m wide, 1 metric ton in weight. Sexual maturity is attained at the age of four to five years. Bald eagles are not bald; the adult is brown with a white head and tail. The sexes are identical in plumage; the beak is hooked. The plumage of the immature is brown; the bald eagle is both the national bird and national animal of the United States of America. The bald eagle appears on its seal. In the late 20th century it was on the brink of extirpation in the contiguous United States.
Populations have since recovered and the species was removed from the U. S. government's list of endangered species on July 12, 1995 and transferred to the list of threatened species. It was removed from the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife in the Lower 48 States on June 28, 2007; the plumage of an adult bald eagle is evenly dark brown with a white tail. The tail is moderately long and wedge-shaped. Males and females are identical in plumage coloration, but sexual dimorphism is evident in the species, in that females are 25% larger than males; the beak and irises are bright yellow. The legs are feather-free, the toes are short and powerful with large talons; the developed talon of the hind toe is used to pierce the vital areas of prey while it is held immobile by the front toes. The beak is hooked, with a yellow cere; the adult bald eagle is unmistakable in its native range. The related African fish eagle has a brown body, white head and tail, but differs from the bald in having a white chest and black tip to the bill.
The plumage of the immature is a dark brown overlaid with messy white streaking until the fifth year, when it reaches sexual maturity. Immature bald eagles are distinguishable from the golden eagle, the only other large, non-vulturine raptorial bird in North America, in that the former has a larger, more protruding head with a larger beak, straighter edged wings which are held flat and with a stiffer wing beat and feathers which do not cover the legs; when seen well, the golden eagle is distinctive in plumage with a more solid warm brown color than an immature bald eagle, with a reddish-golden patch to its nape and a contrasting set of white squares on the wing. Another distinguishing feature of the immature bald eagle over the mature bird is its black, yellow-tipped beak; the bald eagle has sometimes been considered the largest true raptor in North America. The only larger species of raptor-like bird is the California condor, a New World vulture which today is not considered a taxonomic ally of true accipitrids.
However, the golden eagle, averaging 4.18 kg and 63 cm in wing chord length in its American race, is 455 g lighter in mean body mass and exceeds the bald eagle in mean wing chord length by around 3 cm. Additionally, the bald eagle's close cousins, the longer-winged but shorter-tailed white-tailed eagle and the overall larger Steller's sea eagle, may wander to coastal Alaska from Asia; the bald eagle has a body length of 70–102 cm. Typical wingspan is between 1.8 and 2.3 m and mass is between 3 and 6.3 kg. Females are about 25% larger than males, averaging as much as 5.6 kg, against the males' average weight of 4.1 kg. The size of the bird varies by location and corresponds with Bergmann's rule, since the species increases in size further away from the Equator and the tropics. For example, eagles from South Carolina average 3.27 kg in mass and 1.88 m in wingspan, smaller than their northern counterparts. One field guide in Florida listed small sizes for bald eagles there, at about 4.13 kg. Of intermediate size, 117 migrant bald eagles in Glacier National Park were found to average 4.22 kg but this was juvenile eagles, with 6 adults here averaging 4.3 kg.
Wintering eagles in Arizona were found to average 4.74 kg. The largest eagles are from Alaska, where large females may weigh more than 7 kg and span 2.44 m across the wings. A survey of adult weights in Alaska showed that females there weighed on average 5.35 kg and males weighed 4.23 kg against immatures which averaged 5.09 kg and 4.05 kg in the two sexes. An Alaskan adult female eagle, considered outsized we
Brown bullhead
The brown bullhead is a fish of the Ictaluridae family, distributed in North America. It is similar to the black bullhead and yellow bullhead, it was described as Pimelodus nebulosus by Charles Alexandre Lesueur in 1819, is referred to as Ictalurus nebulosus. The brown bullhead is widely known as the "mud pout," "horned pout," "hornpout," or "mud cat," along with the other bullhead species; the brown bullhead is important as a clan symbol of the Ojibwe group of Native Americans. In their tradition, the bullhead or "wawaazisii" is one of six beings that came out of the sea to form the original clans; the brown bullhead grows to be 21 inches in length and is darker brown green dorsally growing lighter green and yellow towards the ventral surface. The belly is off white or cream, the fish has no scales. Additionally there are darker brown black speckles along the entire surface of the fish; the brown bullhead has two dorsal fins, a single adipose fin, abdominal pelvic fins, an anal fin with 21 to 24 rays.
The tail is only notched, having dorsal and ventral lobes angling inward. The fish has barbels on the pelvic spine; the barbels around the mouth are black to yellowish brown on the chin and saw-like on the pelvic spines. Juvenile brown bullheads are similar in appearance but are more to be of a single solid color; the brown bullhead's mouth is subterminal, with the upper jaw extending past the lower jaw. This position enables bottom feeding; the brown bullhead may be distinguished from similar species by its absence of a tooth patch on its upper jaw with the lateral backwards extensions. Adult brown bullheads range in size from 200mm to 500mm and weigh between 0.5 kg to 3.6 kg in extreme cases. Brown bullheads are ectothermic and bilaterally symmetrical. Brown bullheads can be distinguished from black and yellow bullheads with their yellow- black chin barbels, missing bar at the base of tail present in black bullheads, 21-24 anal fin rays; the native range of the brown bullhead is in the Gulf Slope drainages.
More it is found from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to Mobile Bay, in the St. Lawrence- Great Lakes, Hudson Bay, Mississippi River basins. However, there is evidence that the brown bullhead was absent from the Gulf Coast west of Apalachicola and east of the Mississippi River; the species is abundant in many regions as a result of stocking for food and/or sport. These locations include Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Kentucky, Maine, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon and Washington. Brown bullheads are a social non migratory species; the brown bullhead thrives in a variety of habitats, including lakes and slow moving streams with low oxygen and/or muddy conditions. In many areas of the United States, brown bullheads are opportunistic bottom feeders, it has few natural predators and is not popular with fishermen, so it has thrived. For native fish species, this predatory fish is a disaster. Catfish are found from lakes or murky ponds to drainage ditches, they are scarce during the day but come out at night to feed, searching the bottom of a lake or river for food.
They eat insects, snails, fish and many plants. They are known to eat corn, which can be used as bait. Similar to other catfish, they spawn only after the temperature of the water has reached 80 degrees Fahrenheit in June and July. Brown bullheads can withstand a wide range of low oxygen levels. Brown bullheads can survive waters with heavy pollution and dissolved oxygen values as low as 0.2ppm. Because of bullheads tolerance of low oxygen levels, they are less threatened by winter kill and capable of survival in extreme environments; this catfish is caught with natural bait such as worms and chicken livers. They have a scrappy but not unusually strong fight. Anglers catch them by fishing off the bottom; when caught in clear water when the flesh is firm and reddish to pinkish, the hornpout is quite edible and delicious. Its genial cousins such as the channel catfish and the blue catfish are better known for their consumption qualities. In most areas, they will not exceed two pounds in weight, with a current IGFA world's record of 7 lb 6oz, by Glenn Collacuro, Lake Mahopac NY, August 1, 2009.
Brown Bullheads live between six and eight years, spawn between April and June. During the duration of each breeding season, females will be monogamous; the females lay eggs in dark shallow locations like under rocks and inside logs, nests are created by the females. The fertilization is external and the fish face opposite one another during the process. There are no consistent behaviors of mate attraction; the eggs are protected by both the males and the females who additionally will guard their offspring for a while following their hatching. The eggs will hatch in 13 days but closer to six days. Additionally, following the hatching the parents will care for their offspring for five days. Adults and female, will reach sexual maturity around age three and in their lifetime can produce between 10 and 10,000 offspring. Brown bullheads have additionally been recorded eating their own eggs occasionally; the fish has been introduced into many Eu
Typha latifolia
Typha latifolia is a perennial herbaceous plant in the genus Typha. It is found as a native plant species in North and South America, Europe and Africa. In Canada, broadleaf cattail occurs in all provinces and in the Yukon and Northwest Territories, in the United States, it is native to all states except Hawaii, it is an introduced and invasive species, is considered a noxious weed, in Australia and Hawaii. It has been reported in Indonesia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines. Typha latifolia has been found in a variety of climates, including tropical, subtropical and northern temperate, humid coastal, dry continental, it is found at elevations from sea level to 7,500 feet. Typha latifolia is an "obligate wetland" species, meaning that it is always found near water; the species grows in flooded areas where the water depth does not exceed 2.6 feet. However, it has been reported growing in floating mats in deeper water. T. latifolia grows in fresh water but occurs in brackish marshes. The species can displace other species native to salt marshes upon reduction in salinity.
Under such conditions the plant may be considered invasive, since it interferes with preservation of the salt marsh habitat. Typha latifolia shares its range with other related species, hybridizes with Typha angustifolia, narrow-leaf cattail, to form Typha × glauca, white cattail. Common cattail is found in shallower water than narrow-leaf cattail; the plant is 1.5 to 3 metres high and it has 2–4 cm broad leaves, will grow out in to 0.75 to 1 metre of water depth. Traditionally, Typha latifolia has been a part of certain indigenous cultures of British Columbia, as a source of food and for other uses; the rhizomes are edible after cooking and removing the skin, while peeled stems and leaf bases can be eaten raw, or cooked. Young flower spikes are edible as well. While Typha latifolia grows all over, including in rural areas, it is not advisable to eat specimens deriving from polluted water as it absorbs pollutants and in fact is used as a bioremediator. Specimens with a bitter or spicy taste should not be eaten.
ROOK description Edibility of Cattail - Edible parts and identification of Typha latifolia. U. of Michigan-Dearborn: Ethnobotany
Leech Lake Indian Reservation
The Leech Lake Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation located in the north-central Minnesota counties of Cass, Itasca and Hubbard. The reservation forms the land base for the federally recognized Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, one of six bands comprising the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, organized in 1934; the Leech Lake Reservation has the highest population of any reservation in Minnesota, with a resident population of 10,660 indicated by the 2010 United States census. As of the 2010 census, the reservation had a population of 10,660, making it the largest in the state by number of residents; as the reservation covers 972.517 sq mi of land and 337.392 sq mi of water, about one-fourth of its territory is covered by lakes. The largest lakes on the reservation are Leech Lake, Lake Winnibigoshish, Cass Lake; the band uses 40 lakes for the production of wild rice, the community produces more rice than any other reservation in the state. The reservation is the second-largest in Minnesota in terms of land area, the largest in terms of total area.
The core areas of the reservation were established by the 1855 treaty of Washington, which formed three smaller reservations for the Pillager Band of Chippewa Indians, modified several times thereafter. Under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, the present "Greater" Leech Lake Indian Reservation was formed from the merger of the Leech Lake, Cass Lake, Lake Winnibigoshish reservations of the Pillager Band, the Chippewa Indian Reservation of the Lake Superior Band, the White Oak Point reservation of the Mississippi Band. A minimal percentage of reservation land is owned by citizens of the Band; the reservation consists of eleven villages. Nearly all Leech Lake communities are located near the woods of the Chippewa National Forest; the largest community is Cass Lake, situated on the southwestern shores of the eponymous lake. The next largest settlements are Ball Club, Onigum and Bena. In some communities, housing is located with each side lined with homes. Battle of Sugar Point Bryan v. Itasca County Leech Lake Tribal College List of historical Indian reservations in the United States List of largest Indian reservations Minnesota Indian Affairs Council Palace Bingo and Casino Official website Ekidong, Aaniin.
Ojibwe Vocabulary Project. St. Paul, Minnesota: Minnesota Humanities Center. ISBN 9780578034645. Treuer, Anton. Living Our Language: Ojibwe Tales & Oral Histories. Minnesota Historical Society Press. ISBN 9780873514040. Treuer, Anton. Ojibwe in Minnesota. Minnesota Historical Society Press. ISBN 9780873517683
Bluegill
The bluegill is a species of freshwater fish sometimes referred to as bream, sunny, or copper nose. It is a member of the sunfish family Centrarchidae of the order Perciformes, it is native to North America and lives in streams, rivers and ponds. It is found east of the Rockies, it hides around, inside, old tree stumps and other underwater structures. It can live in either deep or shallow water, will move back and forth, depending on the time of day or season. Bluegills like to find shelter among water plants and in the shade of trees along banks. Bluegills can grow up to about 4 1⁄2 pounds, they have distinctive coloring, with deep blue and purple on the face and gill cover, dark olive-colored bands down the side, a fiery orange to yellow belly. The fish will eat anything they can fit in their mouth, they feed on small aquatic insects and fish. The fish play a key role in the food chain, are prey for muskies, trout, herons, snapping turtles, otters; the bluegill is the state fish of Illinois. The bluegill is noted for the black spot that it has on the posterior edge of the gills and base of the dorsal fin.
The sides of its head and chin are a dark shade of blue. It contains 5–9 vertical bars on the sides of its body, but these stripes are not always distinct, it has a yellowish abdomen, with the breast of the breeding male being a bright orange. The bluegill has three anal spines, ten to 12 anal fin rays, six to 13 dorsal fin spines, 11 to 12 dorsal rays, 12 to 13 pectoral rays, they are characterized by their flattened bodies. They have a terminal mouth, ctenoid scales, a lateral line, arched upward anteriorly; the bluegill ranges in size from about four to 12 inches, reaches a maximum size just over 16 inches. The largest bluegill caught was four pounds, 12 ounces in 1950; the bluegill is most related to the orangespotted sunfish and the redear sunfish, but different in a distinct spot at or near the base of the soft dorsal fin. The bluegill occurs in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains from coastal Virginia to Florida, west to Texas and northern Mexico, north to western Minnesota and western New York.
Today they have been introduced to everywhere else in North America, have been introduced into Europe, South Africa, Asia, South America, Oceania. Bluegills have been found in the Chesapeake Bay, indicating they can tolerate up to 1.8% salinity. In some locations where they have been transplanted, they are considered pests: trade in the species is prohibited in Germany and Japan. In the case of Japan, bluegills were presented to the then-crown prince, Akihito in 1960 as a gift by Richard J. Daley, mayor of Chicago; the prince, in turn, donated the fish to fishery research agencies in Japan from which they escaped, becoming an invasive species which has wreaked havoc with native species in Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture. The emperor has since apologized. Bluegill live in the shallow waters of many lakes and ponds, along with slow-moving areas of streams and small rivers, they prefer water with many aquatic plants, hide within fallen logs or water weeds. They can be found around weed beds, where they search for food or spawn.
In the summer, adults move to deep, open water where they suspend just below the surface and feed on plankton and other aquatic creatures. Bluegill try to spend most of their time in water from 60 to 80 °F, tend to have a home range of about 320 square feet during nonreproductive months, they enjoy heat, but do not like direct sunlight - they live in deeper water, but will linger near the water surface in the morning to stay warm. Bluegill are found in schools of 10 to 20 fish, these schools will include other panfish, such as crappie and smallmouth bass. Young bluegills' diet consists of rotifers and water fleas; the adult diet consists of aquatic insect larvae, but can include crayfish, leeches and other small fish. If food is scarce, bluegill will feed on aquatic vegetation, if scarce enough, will feed on their own eggs or offspring; as bluegill spend a great deal of time near the surface of water, they can feed on surface bugs. Most bluegills feed during daylight hours, with a feeding peak being observed in the morning and evening.
Feeding location tends to be a balance between predator abundance. Bluegill use gill bands of small teeth to ingest their food. During summer months, bluegills consume 3.2 percent of their body weight each day. To capture prey, bluegills use a suction system. Prey comes in with this water. Only a limited amount of water is able to be suctioned, so the fish must get within 1.75 centimeters of the prey. In turn, bluegill are prey to many larger species, including largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, muskellunge, northern pike, yellow perch, walleye and larger bluegill. Herons and otters have been witnessed catching bluegill in shallow water. However, the shape of the fish makes them hard to swallow. Bluegills have the ability to travel and change directions at high speeds by means of synchronized fin movements, they use notched caudal fins, soft dorsal fins, body undulations, pectoral fins to move forward. Having a notched caudal fin allows them to accelerate quickly; the speed of their forward motion depends on the strength of which they adduct fins.
The flat, slender body of
