1.
Greater flamingo
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The greater flamingo is the most widespread species of the flamingo family. It is found in Africa, on the Indian subcontinent, in the Middle East and this is the largest species of flamingo, averaging 110–150 cm tall and weighing 2–4 kg. The largest male flamingos have been recorded at up to 187 cm tall and 4.5 kg and it is closely related to the American flamingo and Chilean flamingo, with which it has sometimes been considered conspecific. Like all flamingos, this species lays a single egg on a mud mound. Most of the plumage is white, but the wing coverts are red. The bill is pink with a black tip, and the legs are entirely pink. The call is a goose-like honking, sub-adult flamingos are whitish grey and only attain the pink coloration several years into their adult life. The coloration comes from the pigments in the organisms that live in their feeding grounds. Secretions of the uropygial gland also contain carotenoids, during the breeding season, greater flamingos increase the frequency of their spreading uropygial secretions over their feathers and thereby enhance their color. This cosmetic use of uropygial secretions has been described as applying make-up, the bird resides in mudflats and shallow coastal lagoons with salt water. Using its feet, the bird stirs up the mud, then sucks water through its bill and filters out small shrimp, seeds, blue-green algae, microscopic organisms and mollusks. The greater flamingo feeds with its head down and its jaw is movable. It is found in parts of Africa, southern Asia, the Middle East, the most northern breeding spot is the Zwillbrocker Venn in Western Germany, close to the border with the Netherlands. In Gujarat, a state of India, flamingos can be observed at the Nal Sarovar Bird Sanctuary, Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary, Flamingo City and they remain here during entire winter season. The average lifespan in captivity, according to Zoo Basel, is over 60 years, the first recorded zoo hatch was in 1959 at Zoo Basel. In Zoo Basels breeding program over 400 birds have been hatched with an average of between 20 and 27 per year since 2000, the oldest known greater flamingo was a bird at the Adelaide Zoo in Australia who died aged at least 83 years old. The birds exact age is not known, he was already an adult when he arrived in Adelaide in 1933. He was euthanized in January 2014 due to complications of old age, adult flamingos have few natural predators
2.
Lesser flamingo
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The lesser flamingo is a species of flamingo occurring in sub-Saharan Africa with another population in India. Birds are occasionally reported from north, but these are generally considered vagrants. Until 2014, it was classified in genus Phoenicopterus but is now classified as the species in the genus Phoeniconaias. The lesser flamingo is the smallest species of flamingo, though it is a tall, the species can weigh from 1.2 to 2.7 kg. The standing height is around 80 to 90 cm, the total length and wingspan are in the same range of measurements, from 90 to 105 cm. Most of the plumage is pinkish white, the clearest difference between this species and the greater flamingo, the only other Old World species of flamingo, is the much more extensive black on the bill. Size is less helpful unless the species are together, since the sexes of each species also differ in height, the lesser flamingo may be the most numerous species of flamingo, with a population that probably numbers up to two million individual birds. This species feeds primarily on Spirulina, algae which grow only in alkaline lakes. Presence of flamingo herds near water bodies is indication of sodic alkaline water which is not suitable for irrigation use, although blue-green in colour, the algae contain the photosynthetic pigments that give the birds their pink colour. Their deep bill is specialised for filtering tiny food items, the lesser flamingo also feeds on shrimp. Lesser flamingos are prey to a variety of species, including storks, baboons, African fish eagles, wildcats. In Africa, where they are most numerous, the flamingos breed principally on the highly caustic Lake Natron in northern Tanzania. Their other African breeding sites are at Etosha Pan, Sua Pan, the last confirmed breeding at Aftout es Saheli in coastal Mauritania was in 1965. Breeding occurred at Lake Magadi in Kenya in 1962 when Lake Natron was unsuitable due to flooding, in the early 20th century, breeding was also observed at Lake Nakuru. The species also breeds in southwestern and southern Asia, in 1974, they bred at the Rann of Kutch, but since then only at the Zinzuwadia and Purabcheria salt pans in north-western India. There is some amount of movement of individuals between Africa and India, like all flamingos, they lay a single chalky white egg on a mound they build of mud. Chicks join creches soon after hatching, sometimes numbering over a thousand individuals. The creches are marshalled by a few birds who lead them by foot to fresh water
3.
East African Rift
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The East African Rift is an active continental rift zone in East Africa. The EAR began developing around the onset of the Miocene, 22–25 million years ago, in the past, it was considered to be part of a larger Great Rift Valley that extended north to Asia Minor. As extension continues, lithospheric rupture will occur within 10 million years, the Somalian plate will break off, a series of distinct rift basins, the East African Rift System extends over thousands of kilometers. The EAR consists of two main branches, the Eastern Rift Valley includes the Main Ethiopian Rift, running eastward from the Afar Triple Junction, which continues south as the Kenyan Rift Valley. The Western Rift Valley includes the Albertine Rift, and farther south, to the north of the Afar Triple Junction, the rift follows one of two paths, west to the Red Sea Rift or east to the Aden Ridge in the Gulf of Aden. The EAR runs from the Afar Triple Junction in the Afar Triangle of Ethiopia through eastern Africa, the EAR transects through Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia, Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique. The Davie Ridge ranges between 30–120 km wide, with a west facing scarp along the half of its length that rises up to 2300 m above the sea floor. Its movement is concurrent with the EAR, over time, many theories have tried to clarify the evolution of the East African Rift. In 1972 it was proposed that the EAR was not caused by tectonic activity, others proposed an African superplume causing mantle deformation. However, the varying geochemical signatures of a suite of Ethiopian lavas suggest multiple plume sources, at least one of deep mantle origin, additionally, the subject of deep-rooted mantle plumes is still a matter of controversy, and therefore cannot be confirmed. The most recent and accepted view is the theory put forth in 2009, at that time it was suggested that lithospheric thinning generated volcanic activity, further increasing the magmatic processes at play such as intrusions and numerous small plumes. These processes further thin the lithosphere in saturated areas, forcing the thinning lithosphere to behave like a mid-ocean ridge, prior to rifting, enormous continental flood basalts erupted on the surface and uplift of the Ethiopian, Somalian, and East African plateaus occurred. The first stage of rifting of the EAR is characterized by rift localization, periods of extension alternated with times of relative inactivity. There was also the reactivation of a weakness in the crust, a suture zone of multiple cratons, displacement along large boundary faults. The second stage of rifting is characterized by the deactivation of large boundary faults, the development of internal fault segments, today, the narrow rift segments of the East African Rift system form zones of localized strain. These rifts are the result of the actions of numerous faults which are typical of all tectonic rift zones. The African continental crust is generally cool and strong, many cratons are found throughout the EAR, such as the Tanzania and Kaapvaal cratons. The cratons are thick, and have survived for billions of years with little tectonic activity and they are characterized by greenstone belts, tonalites, and other high-grade metamorphic lithologies
4.
Ecoregion
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An ecoregion is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than an ecozone. All three of these are less or greater than an ecosystem. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, the biodiversity of flora, fauna and ecosystems that characterise an ecoregion tends to be distinct from that of other ecoregions. Three caveats are appropriate for all bio-geographic mapping approaches, firstly, no single bio-geographic framework is optimal for all taxa. Ecoregions reflect the best compromise for as many taxa as possible, secondly, ecoregion boundaries rarely form abrupt edges, rather, ecotones and mosaic habitats bound them. Thirdly, most ecoregions contain habitats that differ from their assigned biome, biogeographic provinces may originate due to various barriers. Some physical, some climatic and some ocean chemical related, the history of the term is somewhat vague as it was used in many contexts, forest classifications, biome classifications, biogeographic classifications, etc. The concept of ecoregion of Bailey gives more importance to ecological criteria, while the WWF concept gives more importance to biogeography, there is significant, but not absolute, spatial correlation among these characteristics, making the delineation of ecoregions an imperfect science. Such transition zones are called ecotones, Ecoregions can be categorized using an algorithmic approach or a holistic, “weight-of-evidence” approach where the importance of various factors may vary. An example of the approach is Robert Bailey’s work for the U. S. The intended purpose of ecoregion delineation may affect the method used, according to WWF, the boundaries of an ecoregion approximate the original extent of the natural communities prior to any major recent disruptions or changes. WWF has identified 867 terrestrial ecoregions, and approximately 450 freshwater ecoregions across the Earth, the use of the term ecoregion is an outgrowth of a surge of interest in ecosystems and their functioning. In particular, there is awareness of issues relating to spatial scale in the study and it is widely recognized that interlinked ecosystems combine to form a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. The Global 200 is the list of ecoregions identified by WWF as priorities for conservation, Terrestrial ecoregions are land ecoregions, as distinct from freshwater and marine ecoregions. In this context, terrestrial is used to mean of land, WWF ecologists currently divide the land surface of the Earth into 8 major ecozones containing 867 smaller terrestrial ecoregions. The WWF effort is a synthesis of previous efforts to define. Many consider this classification to be decisive, and some propose these as stable borders for bioregional democracy initiatives. The eight terrestrial ecozones follow the major floral and faunal boundaries, identified by botanists and zoologists, ecozone boundaries generally follow continental boundaries, or major barriers to plant and animal distribution, like the Himalayas and the Sahara
5.
Biodiversity
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Biodiversity, a contraction of biological diversity, generally refers to the variety and variability of life on Earth. One of the most widely used definitions defines it in terms of the variability within species and it is a measure of the variety of organisms present in different ecosystems. This can refer to genetic variation, ecosystem variation, or species variation within an area, biome, terrestrial biodiversity tends to be greater near the equator, which seems to be the result of the warm climate and high primary productivity. Biodiversity is not distributed evenly on Earth, and is richest in the tropics and these tropical forest ecosystems cover less than 10 per cent of earths surface, and contain about 90 percent of the worlds species. Marine biodiversity tends to be highest along coasts in the Western Pacific, there are latitudinal gradients in species diversity. Biodiversity generally tends to cluster in hotspots, and has been increasing through time, the number and variety of plants, animals and other organisms that exist is known as biodiversity. It is a component of nature and it ensures the survival of human species by providing food, fuel, shelter, medicines. The richness of biodiversity depends on the conditions and area of the region. All species of plants taken together are known as flora and about 300,000 species of plants are known to date, all species of animals taken together are known as fauna which includes birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, insects, crustaceans, molluscs, etc. Rapid environmental changes typically cause mass extinctions, more than 99 percent of all species, amounting to over five billion species, that ever lived on Earth are estimated to be extinct. Estimates on the number of Earths current species range from 10 million to 14 million, of which about 1.2 million have been documented and over 86 percent have not yet been described. More recently, in May 2016, scientists reported that 1 trillion species are estimated to be on Earth currently with only one-thousandth of one percent described, the total amount of related DNA base pairs on Earth is estimated at 5.0 x 1037 and weighs 50 billion tonnes. In comparison, the mass of the biosphere has been estimated to be as much as 4 TtC. In July 2016, scientists reported identifying a set of 355 genes from the Last Universal Common Ancestor of all living on Earth. The age of the Earth is about 4.54 billion years old, there are microbial mat fossils found in 3.48 billion-year-old sandstone discovered in Western Australia. Other early physical evidence of a substance is graphite in 3.7 billion-year-old meta-sedimentary rocks discovered in Western Greenland. More recently, in 2015, remains of life were found in 4.1 billion-year-old rocks in Western Australia. According to one of the researchers, If life arose relatively quickly on Earth, then it could be common in the universe
6.
Soda lake
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A soda lake or alkaline lake is a lake on the strongly alkaline side of neutrality. They are characterized by high concentrations of salts, typically sodium carbonate. In addition, many lakes also contain high concentrations of sodium chloride and other dissolved salts. High pH and salinity often coincide, because of how soda lakes develop, the resulting hypersaline and highly alkalic soda lakes are considered some of the most extreme aquatic environments on Earth. In spite of their apparent inhospitability, soda lakes are often highly productive ecosystems, gross primary production rates above 10 g C m−2 day−1, over 16 times the global average for lakes and streams, have been measured. This makes them the most productive aquatic environments on Earth, an important reason for the high productivity is the virtually unlimited availability of dissolved carbon dioxide. Soda lakes occur naturally throughout the world, typically in arid and semi-arid areas, the pH of most freshwater lakes is on the alkaline side of neutrality and many exhibit similar water chemistries to soda lakes, only less extreme. In order for a lake to become alkalic, a combination of geographic, geological. First of all, a suitable topography is needed, that limits the outflow of water from the lake, when the outflow is completely prevented, this is called an endorheic basin. Craters or depressions formed by tectonic rifting often provide such topological depressions, the high alkalinity and salinity arise through evaporation of the lake water. This requires suitable conditions, in order for the inflow to balance outflow through evaporation. Another critical geological condition for the formation of a lake is the relative absence of soluble magnesium or calcium. This results in a salt lake instead. A good example is the Dead Sea, which is rich in Mg2+. In some soda lakes, inflow of Ca2+ through subterranean seeps, in Mono Lake, California and Lake Van, Turkey, such precipitation has formed columns of tufa rising above the lake surface. Many soda lakes are strongly stratified, with well-oxygenated upper layer, stratification can be permanent, or with seasonal mixing. The depth of the interface separating the two layers varies from a few centimeters to near the bottom sediments, depending on local conditions. In either case, it represents an important barrier, both physically and between strongly contrasting biochemical conditions, a rich diversity of microbial life inhabit soda lakes, often in dense concentrations
7.
Cichlid
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Cichlids /ˈsɪklᵻdz/ are fish from the family Cichlidae in the order Perciformes. Cichlids are members of a known as Labroidei, along with the wrasses, damselfishes. This family is large and diverse. At least 1,650 species have been described, making it one of the largest vertebrate families. New species are discovered annually, and many species remain undescribed, the actual number of species is therefore unknown, with estimates varying between 2,000 and 3,000. Cichlids are popular freshwater fish kept in the home aquarium, Cichlids span a wide range of body sizes, from species as small as 2.5 cm in length to much larger species approaching 1 m in length. As a group, cichlids exhibit a diversity of body shapes, ranging from strongly laterally compressed species to species that are cylindrical. Generally, however, cichlids tend to be of size, ovate in shape, and slightly laterally compressed, and generally similar to the North American sunfishes in morphology, behavior. Many cichlids, particularly tilapia, are important food fishes, while others are valued game fish, the family also includes many familiar aquarium fish, including the angelfish, oscars, and discus. Cichlids have the largest number of endangered species among vertebrate families and their diversity in the African Great Lakes is important for the study of speciation in evolution. Many cichlids introduced into waters outside of their range have become nuisances. Cichlids share a key trait, the fusion of the lower pharyngeal bones into a single tooth-bearing structure. Cichlids are efficient and often highly specialized feeders that capture and process a wide variety of food items. This is assumed to be one reason why they are so diverse, Cichlids vary in body shape, ranging from compressed and disc-shaped, to triangular to elongated and cylindrical. A ninth subfamily, Ptychochrominae, was recognized by Sparks. Cichlid taxonomy is still debated, and classification of genera cannot yet be definitively given, a comprehensive system of assigning species to monophyletic genera is still lacking, and there is not complete agreement on what genera should be recognized in this family. As an example of the problems, Kullander placed the African genus Heterochromis phylogenetically within Neotropical cichlids. Other problems center upon the identity of the common ancestor for the Lake Victoria superflock
8.
World Wide Fund for Nature
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It was formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States. It is the worlds largest conservation organization with five million supporters worldwide, working in more than 100 countries, supporting around 1,300 conservation. WWF is a foundation, with 55% of funding from individuals and bequests, 19% from government sources, the groups mission is to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature. Currently, much of its work concentrates on the conservation of three biomes that contain most of the biodiversity, oceans and coasts, forests. Among other issues, it is concerned with endangered species, sustainable production of commodities. The Conservation Foundation, a precursor to WWF, was founded in 1947 by Fairfield Osborn in New York City in support of capitalism-friendly ecological practices. The advisory council included leading scientists such as Charles Sutherland Elton, G Evelyn Hutchinson, Aldo Leopold, Carl Sauer, and Paul Sears. It supported much of the work cited by Rachel Carsons Silent Spring, including that of John L. George, Roger Hale, Robert Rudd. In 1990, the Conservation Foundation was merged into WWF, after becoming an affiliate of WWF in 1985, the organization now known as the Conservation Foundation in the United States is the former Forest Foundation of DuPage County. The idea for a fund on behalf of endangered animals was initially proposed by Victor Stolan to Sir Julian Huxley in response to articles he published in the British newspaper The Observer, nicholson thought up the name of the organization. WWF was conceived on 29 April 1961, under the name of World Wildlife Fund, godfrey A. Rockefeller also played an important role in its creation, assembling the first staff. For sending experts to danger spots and training, making it all possible that their needs are met before it is too late. WWF has set up offices and operations around the world, the organization also began to run its own conservation projects and campaigns, and by the 1980s started to take a more strategic approach to its conservation activities. In 1986, the changed its name to World Wide Fund for Nature. However, it continued at that time to operate under the name in the United States. We shant save all we should like to, but we shall save a great deal more than if we had never tried, – Sir Peter Scott In 1996, the organization obtained general consultative status from UNESCO. WWFs giant panda logo originated from a panda named Chi Chi that had transferred from Beijing Zoo to London Zoo in 1958. The logo was founded by Young in 1966, the organization also needed an animal that would have an impact in black and white printing
9.
Global 200
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The Global 200 is the list of ecoregions identified by WWF, the global conservation organization, as priorities for conservation. So, for example, based on their levels of endemism, Madagascar gets multiple listings, ancient Lake Baikal gets one, the WWF assigns a conservation status to each ecoregion in the Global 200, critical or endangered, vulnerable, and relatively stable or intact. Over half of the ecoregions in the Global 200 are rated endangered, the WWF has identified 867 terrestrial ecoregions across the Earths land surface, as well as freshwater and marine ecoregions. The goal of classification system is to ensure that the full range of ecosystems will be represented in regional conservation. Of these ecoregions, the WWF selected the Global 200 as the ecoregions most crucial to the conservation of global biodiversity, the Global 200 list actually contains 238 ecoregions, made up of 142 terrestrial,53 freshwater, and 43 marine ecoregions. Several habitats, such as Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome, were determined to be more threatened than tropical rain forests, historically, zoologists and botanists have developed various classification systems that take into account the worlds plant and animal communities. Two of the classification systems most commonly used today were summarized by Miklos Udvardy in 1975. The biome system classifies the world into ecosystem types based on climate, each biogeographical realm contains multiple biomes, and biomes occur across several biogeographical realms. The WWF system represents a refinement of the system of biomes, biogeographical realms. Based on a comprehensive list of ecoregions, The Global 200 includes all major types, all ecosystem types. It focuses on each major type of every continent. It uses ecoregions as the unit of scale for comparison, WWF say ecoregions could be considered as conservation units at regional scale because they meet similar biological communities. Some ecoregions were selected over other ecoregions of the major habitat type or ecozone. Selection of the Global 200 relied on studies of 19 terrestrial, freshwater. Selection of the ecoregions was based on analyses of species richness, species endemism, unique higher taxa, unusual ecological or evolutionary phenomena, and global rarity of major habitat type. Global 200 ecoregion list is most helpful to conservation efforts at a scale, local deforestation, destruction of swamp habitats, degradation of soils. However, certain phenomena, such as bird or whale migration, depend on more complex parameters not used to define the current database, such as atmospheric currents and these would require gathering more information, and co-ordination of efforts between multiple ecoregions. However, the Global 200 ecoregions can help these efforts by identifying habitat sites and it may also help identify the origin of invasive species, and offer insights for slowing down or stopping their intrusion
10.
Lake Malawi
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It is the ninth largest lake in the world and the third largest and second deepest lake in Africa. It is home to species of fish than any other lake. The Mozambique portion of the lake was declared a reserve by the Government of Mozambique on June 10,2011. Lake Malawi is a lake, meaning that its water layers do not mix. The permanent stratification of Lake Malawis water and the boundary are maintained by moderately small chemical and thermal gradients. Lake Malawi is between 560 kilometres and 580 kilometres long, and about 75 kilometres wide at its widest point, the total surface area of the lake is about 29,600 square kilometres. The lake has shorelines on western Mozambique, eastern Malawi, the largest river flowing into it is the Ruhuhu River, and there is an outlet at its southern end, the Shire River, a tributary that flows into the very large Zambezi River in Mozambique. The lake lies in a formed by the opening of the East African Rift. This is called a divergent plate tectonics boundary and it is variously estimated at about 40,000 years old or about one to two million years. The lake is about 350 kilometres southeast of Lake Tanganyika, another of the lakes of the East African Rift. The Lake Malawi National Park is located at the end of the lake. The lakes water is alkaline and warm with a temperature between 24 and 29 °C, while deep sections typically are about 22 °C. The oxygen limit is at a depth of approximately 250 m, effectively restricting fish, the Portuguese trader Candido José da Costa Cardoso was the first European to visit the lake in 1846. David Livingstone reached the lake in 1859, and named it Lake Nyasa, rhoadess crew found the Hermann von Wissmann in a bay near Sphinxhaven, in German East African territorial waters. Gwendolen disabled the German boat with a cannon shot from a range of about 1,800 metres. This very brief gunboat conflict was hailed by The Times in England as the British Empires first naval victory of World War I, the Lake of Stars is the nickname for Lake Malawi coined by David Livingstone. This name came about due to lights from the lanterns of the fishermen in Malawi on their boats, the lake is also known as the Lake of Storms, for the unpredictable and extremely violent gales that sweep through the area. The partition of the surface area between Malawi and Tanzania is under dispute
