1.
Conservation status
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The conservation status of a group of organisms indicates whether the group still exists and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future. Various systems of conservation status exist and are in use at international, multi-country, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is the best known worldwide conservation status listing and ranking system. Also included are species that have gone extinct since 500 AD, when discussing the IUCN Red List, the official term threatened is a grouping of three categories, critically endangered, endangered, and vulnerable. Widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category, Data deficient – Not enough data to make an assessment of its risk of extinction Not evaluated – Has not yet been evaluated against the criteria. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora aims to ensure that trade in specimens of wild animals. Many countries require CITES permits when importing plants and animals listed on CITES, in the European Union, the Birds and Habitats Directives are the legal instruments that evaluate the conservation status within the EU of species and habitats. NatureServe conservation status focuses on Latin America, United States, Canada, and it has been developed by scientists from NatureServe, The Nature Conservancy, and the network of natural heritage programs and data centers. It is increasingly integrated with the IUCN Red List system and its categories for species include, presumed extinct, possibly extinct, critically imperiled, imperiled, vulnerable, apparently secure, and secure. The system also allows ambiguous or uncertain ranks including inexact numeric ranks, NatureServe adds a qualifier for captive or cultivated only, which has a similar meaning to the IUCN Red List extinct in the wild status. The Red Data Book of the Russian Federation is used within the Russian Federation, in Australia, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 describes lists of threatened species, ecological communities and threatening processes. The categories resemble those of the 1994 IUCN Red List Categories & Criteria, prior to the EPBC Act, a simpler classification system was used by the Endangered Species Protection Act 1992. Some state and territory governments also have their own systems for conservation status, in Belgium, the Flemish Research Institute for Nature and Forest publishes an online set of more than 150 nature indicators in Dutch. In Canada, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada is a group of experts that assesses and designates which wild species are in danger of disappearing from Canada. Under the Species at Risk Act, it is up to the federal government, in China, the State, provinces and some counties have determined their key protected wildlife species. There is the China red data book, in Finland, a large number of species are protected under the Nature Conservation Act, and through the EU Habitats Directive and EU Birds Directive. In Germany, the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation publishes red lists of endangered species, india has the Wild Life Protection Act,1972, Amended 2003 and the Biological Diversity Act,2002. In Japan, the Ministry of Environment publishes a Threatened Wildlife of Japan Red Data Book, in the Netherlands, the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality publishes a list of threatened species, and conservation is enforced by the Nature Conservation Act 1998. Species are also protected through the Wild Birds and Habitats Directives, in New Zealand, the Department of Conservation publishes the New Zealand Threat Classification System lists
2.
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
3.
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
4.
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
5.
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
6.
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
7.
Gruiformes
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The Gruiformes are an order containing a considerable number of living and extinct bird families, with a widespread geographical diversity. Traditionally, a number of wading and terrestrial bird families that did not seem to belong to any other order were classified together as Gruiformes. Other birds have been placed in this more out of necessity to place them somewhere. Recent studies indicate that these odd Gruiformes are if at all only loosely related to the cranes, rails, there are only two suprafamilial clades among the birds traditionally classified as Gruiformes. Rails, flufftails, finfoots and sungrebe, adzebills, trumpeters, limpkin and these are the only true Gruiformes. The suborder Eurypygae includes the kagu and sunbittern and these are not even remotely related to Grues. The families of mesites or roatelos, button-quails, Australian plains-wanderer, seriemas, many families known only from fossils have been assigned to the Gruiformes, e. g. Ergilornithidae, Phorusrhacidae, Messelornithidae, Eogruidae, Idiornithidae, Bathornithidae, to name just a few. The traditional order Gruiformes was established by the influential German avian comparative anatomist Max Fürbringer, over the decades, many ornithologists suggested that members of the order were in fact more closely related to other groups. For example, it was thought that sunbittern might be related to herons, olson and Steadman were first to correctly disband any of the traditional Gruiformes. They recognized that the Australian plains-wanderer was actually a member of the based on skeletal characters. This was confirmed by Sibley and Ahlquist based on DNA–DNA hybridization, Paton and Baker and Fain and Houde. Sibley and Ahlquist furthermore removed button-quails from the Gruifomes based on large DNA–DNA hybridization distances to other supposed Gruiformes, using 12S ribosomal DNA sequences, Houde et al. were the first to present molecular genetic evidence of gruiform polyphyly, although apparently they were not convinced by it. However, on the basis of additional sequence data, it has been shown decisively that the traditionally recognized Gruiformes consist of five to seven unrelated clades. Fain and Houde proposed that Neoaves are divisible into two clades, Metaves and Coronaves, although it has been suggested from the start that Metaves maybe paraphyletic. Sunbittern, kagu, and mesites all group within Metaves but all the lineages of Gruiformes group either with a collection of waterbirds or landbirds within Coronaves. This division has been upheld by the analysis of as many as 30 independent loci. The kagu and sunbittern are one anothers closest relatives and it had been proposed that they and the recently extinct adzebills from New Zealand constitute a distinct Gondwanan lineage. However, sunbittern and kagu are believed to have diverged from one another long after the break-up of Gondwanaland, the seriemas and bustards represent distinct lineages within neoavian waterbirds
8.
Crane (bird)
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Cranes are a family, Gruidae, of large, long-legged and long-necked birds in the group Gruiformes. There are fifteen species of crane in four genera, unlike the similar-looking but unrelated herons, cranes fly with necks outstretched, not pulled back. Cranes live on all continents except Antarctica and South America and they are opportunistic feeders that change their diet according to the season and their own nutrient requirements. They eat a range of items from suitably sized small rodents, fish, amphibians, and insects to grain, berries, Cranes construct platform nests in shallow water, and typically lay two eggs at a time. Both parents help to rear the young, which remain with them until the breeding season. Some species and populations of cranes migrate over long distances, others do not migrate at all, Cranes are solitary during the breeding season, occurring in pairs, but during the non-breeding season they are gregarious, forming large flocks where their numbers are sufficient. Most species of cranes have been affected by human activities and are at the least classified as threatened, the plight of the whooping cranes of North America inspired some of the first US legislation to protect endangered species. The cranes are large to large birds, including the worlds tallest flying bird. They are long-legged and long-necked birds with streamlined bodies and large rounded wings, the males and females do not vary in external appearance, but on average males tend to be slightly larger than females. The plumage of the cranes varies by habitat, species inhabiting vast open wetlands tend to have more white in the plumage than do species that inhabit smaller wetlands or forested habitats, which tend to be more grey. These white species are generally larger. Most species of crane have some areas of skin on the face. This skin is used in communication with other cranes, and can be expanded by contracting and relaxing muscles, feathers on the head can be moved and erected in the blue, wattled and demoiselle cranes for signalling as well. Also important to communication is the position and length of the trachea, in the two crowned-cranes the trachea is shorter and only slightly impressed upon the bone of the sternum, whereas the trachea of the other species is longer and penetrates the sternum. In some species the entire sternum is fused to the plates of the trachea. The cranes have a distribution, occurring across most of the world continents. They are absent from Antarctica and, mysteriously, South America, east Asia is the centre of crane diversity, with eight species, followed by Africa, which holds five resident species and wintering populations of a sixth. Australia, Europe and North America have two species, the remaining genus, Grus, contains the most species and is the most widespread genus, although only a single species occurs in Africa as a wintering migrant
9.
Charles Lucien Bonaparte
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Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte, 2nd Prince of Canino and Musignano, was a French biologist and ornithologist. Lucien and his wife had children, including Cardinal Lucien Bonaparte. Bonaparte was the son of Lucien Bonaparte and Alexandrine de Bleschamp, born in Paris, he was raised in Italy. On 29 June 1822, he married his cousin, Zénaïde, soon after the marriage, the couple left for Philadelphia in the United States to live with Zénaïdes father, Joseph Bonaparte. Before leaving Italy, Carlo had already discovered a new to science, the moustached warbler. On arrival in the United States, he presented a paper on this new bird, Bonaparte then set about studying the ornithology of the United States and updating Wilsons American Ornithology. The revised edition was published between 1825 and 1833, in 1824, Bonaparte tried to get the then unknown John James Audubon accepted by the Academy of Natural Sciences, but this was opposed by the ornithologist George Ord. At the end of 1826, Bonaparte and his family returned to Europe and he visited Germany, where he met Philipp Jakob Cretzschmar, and England, where he met John Edward Gray at the British Museum, and renewed his acquaintance with Audubon. In 1828, the family settled in Rome, in Italy, he was the originator of several scientific congresses, and lectured and wrote extensively on American and European ornithology and other branches of natural history. Between 1832 and 1841, Bonaparte published his work on the animals of Italy and he had also published Specchio Comparativo delle Ornithologie di Roma e di Filadelfia, presenting a comparison between birds of the latitude of Philadelphia and Italian species. He created the genus Zenaida, after his wife, for the mourning dove and he was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1845. In 1849, he was elected to the Roman Assembly and participated in the creation of the Roman Republic and he participated in the defense of Rome against the 40,000 French troops sent by his cousin Louis Napoleon. He left Rome after the Republican army was defeated in July 1849 and he landed at Marseilles, but was ordered to leave the country by Louis Napoleon. He reaffirmed his political beliefs the following year in naming Wilsons bird-of-paradise in honor of the republican idea and he travelled to England, attending the meeting of the British Association in Birmingham. He then visited Sir William Jardine in southern Scotland, Charles then began work on preparing a methodical classification of all the birds in the world, visiting museums across Europe to study the collections. In 1850, he was allowed to return to France and made Paris his home for the rest of his life, in 1854, he became director of the Jardin des Plantes. In 1855, he was made a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. He published the first volume of his Conspectus Generum Avium before his death, Bonaparte also studied amphibians and reptiles, and is the author of Vipera ursinii, commonly known as Orsinis viper
10.
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
11.
Peter Simon Pallas
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Peter Simon Pallas was a German zoologist and botanist who worked in Russia. Pallas was born in Berlin, the son of Professor of Surgery Simon Pallas and he studied with private tutors and took an interest in natural history, later attending the University of Halle and the University of Göttingen. In 1760, he moved to the University of Leiden and passed his doctors degree at the age of 19, Pallas traveled throughout the Netherlands and to London, improving his medical and surgical knowledge. He then settled at The Hague, and his new system of classification was praised by Georges Cuvier. Pallas wrote Miscellanea Zoologica, which included descriptions of several new to science which he had discovered in the Dutch museum collections. A planned voyage to southern Africa and the East Indies fell through when his father recalled him to Berlin, there, he began work on his Spicilegia Zoologica. He explored the Caspian Sea, the Ural and Altai Mountains, the regular reports which Pallas sent to St Petersburg were collected and published as Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des Russischen Reichs. They covered a range of topics, including geology and mineralogy, reports on the native peoples and their religions. In 1776, Pallas was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Pallas settled in St Petersburg, becoming a favourite of Catherine II and teaching history to the Grand Dukes Alexander. He was provided with the plants collected by other naturalists to compile the Flora Rossica, a Russian flora, and started work on his Zoographica Rosso-Asiatica and he also published an account of Johann Anton Güldenstädts travels in the Caucasus. The Empress bought Pallass large natural history collection for 2,000 rubles,500 more than his asking price, during this period, Pallas helped plan the Mulovsky expedition, which was cancelled in October 1787. Between 1793 and 1794, Pallas led an expedition to southern Russia, visiting the Crimea. He was accompanied by his daughter and his new wife, an artist, servants, in February 1793, they travelled to Saratov and then downriver to Tsaritsyn. They spent the spring exploring the country to the east, and in August travelled along the banks of the Caspian Sea, in September, they travelled to the Crimea, wintering in Simferopol. Pallas spent the spring of 1794 exploring to the southeast, and in July travelled up the valley of the Dnieper, Pallas gave his account of the journey in his P. S. Pallas Bemerkungen auf einer Reise in die Südlichen Statthalterschaften des Russischen Reichs. Catherine II gave him an estate at Simferopol, where Pallas lived until the death of his second wife in 1810. He was then granted permission to leave Russia by Emperor Alexander, and returned to Berlin and his grave is preserved in the Protestant Friedhof I der Jerusalems- und Neuen Kirchengemeinde in Berlin-Kreuzberg, south of Hallesches Tor
12.
Synonym (taxonomy)
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For example, Linnaeus was the first to give a scientific name to the Norway spruce, which he called Pinus abies. This name is no longer in use, it is now a synonym of the current scientific name which is Picea abies, unlike synonyms in other contexts, in taxonomy a synonym is not interchangeable with the name of which it is a synonym. In taxonomy, synonyms are not equals, but have a different status, for any taxon with a particular circumscription, position, and rank, only one scientific name is considered to be the correct one at any given time. A synonym cannot exist in isolation, it is always an alternative to a different scientific name, given that the correct name of a taxon depends on the taxonomic viewpoint used a name that is one taxonomists synonym may be another taxonomists correct name. Synonyms may arise whenever the same taxon is described and named more than once, independently. They may also arise when existing taxa are changed, as when two taxa are joined to one, a species is moved to a different genus. To the general user of scientific names, in such as agriculture, horticulture, ecology, general science. A synonym is a name that was used as the correct scientific name but which has been displaced by another scientific name. Thus Oxford Dictionaries Online defines the term as a name which has the same application as another. In handbooks and general texts, it is useful to have mentioned as such after the current scientific name. Synonyms used in this way may not always meet the strict definitions of the synonym in the formal rules of nomenclature which govern scientific names. Changes of scientific name have two causes, they may be taxonomic or nomenclatural, a name change may be caused by changes in the circumscription, position or rank of a taxon, representing a change in taxonomic, scientific insight. A name change may be due to purely nomenclatural reasons, that is, based on the rules of nomenclature, the earliest such name is called the senior synonym, while the later name is the junior synonym. One basic principle of zoological nomenclature is that the earliest correctly published name, synonyms are important because if the earliest name cannot be used, then the next available junior synonym must be used for the taxon. Objective synonyms refer to taxa with the type and same rank. For example, John Edward Gray published the name Antilocapra anteflexa in 1855 for a species of pronghorn, however, it is now commonly accepted that his specimen was an unusual individual of the species Antilocapra americana published by George Ord in 1815. Ords name thus takes precedence, with Antilocapra anteflexa being a subjective synonym. Objective synonyms are common at the level of genera, because for various reasons two genera may contain the type species, these are objective synonyms
13.
Flight feather
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The primary function of the flight feathers is to aid in the generation of both thrust and lift, thereby enabling flight. The flight feathers of birds have evolved to perform additional functions, generally associated with territorial displays. In some species, these feathers have developed into long showy plumes used in courtship displays. Tiny serrations on the edge of their remiges help owls to fly silently. Even flightless birds still retain flight feathers, though sometimes in modified forms. The moult of their feathers can cause serious problems for birds. Different species have evolved different strategies for coping with this, ranging from dropping all their feathers at once to extending the moult over a period of several years. Remiges are located on the side of the wing. Ligaments attach the long calami firmly to the bones. Corresponding remiges on individual birds are symmetrical between the two wings, matching to an extent in size and shape, though not necessarily in pattern. They are given different names depending on their position along the wing, primaries are connected to the manus, these are the longest and narrowest of the remiges, and they can be individually rotated. These feathers are important for flapping flight, as they are the principal source of thrust. The mechanical properties of primaries are important in supporting flight, most thrust is generated on the downstroke of flapping flight. However, on the upstroke, the primaries are separated and rotated, the flexibility of the remiges on the wingtips of large soaring birds also allows for the spreading of those feathers, which helps to reduce the creation of wingtip vortices, thereby reducing drag. The barbules on these feathers, friction barbules, are specialized with large lobular barbicels that help grip, species vary somewhat in the number of primaries they possess. The number in non-passerines generally varies between 9 and 11, but grebes, storks and flamingos have 12, and ostriches have 16, while most modern passerines have ten primaries, some have only nine. Those with nine are missing the most distal primary which is very small. The outermost primaries—those connected to the phalanges—are sometimes known as pinions, secondaries are connected to the ulna
14.
Bird migration
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Bird migration is the regular seasonal movement, often north and south along a flyway, between breeding and wintering grounds. Migration carries high costs in predation and mortality, including from hunting by humans and it occurs mainly in the northern hemisphere, where birds are funnelled on to specific routes by natural barriers such as the Mediterranean Sea or the Caribbean Sea. More recently, Johannes Leche began recording dates of arrivals of spring migrants in Finland in 1749, threats to migratory birds have grown with habitat destruction especially of stopover and wintering sites, as well as structures such as power lines and wind farms. The Arctic tern holds the long-distance migration record for birds, travelling between Arctic breeding grounds and the Antarctic each year, shorter migrations are common, including altitudinal migrations on mountains such as the Andes and Himalayas. The timing of migration seems to be controlled primarily by changes in day length, migrating birds navigate using celestial cues from the sun and stars, the earths magnetic field, and probably also mental maps. Records of bird migration were made as much as 3,000 years ago by the Ancient Greek writers Hesiod, Homer, Herodotus and Aristotle. The Bible also notes migrations, as in the Book of Job, the author of Jeremiah wrote, Even the stork in the heavens knows its seasons, and the turtle dove, the swift and the crane keep the time of their arrival. Aristotle noted that cranes traveled from the steppes of Scythia to marshes at the headwaters of the Nile, pliny the Elder, in his Historia Naturalis, repeats Aristotles observations. Aristotle however suggested that swallows and other birds hibernated and this belief persisted as late as 1878, when Elliott Coues listed the titles of no less than 182 papers dealing with the hibernation of swallows. It was not until the end of the century that migration as an explanation for the winter disappearance of birds from northern climes was accepted. Bewick then describes an experiment which succeeded in keeping alive in Britain for several years. He concludes, These experiments have since been confirmed by. Migration is the seasonal movement, often north and south. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat, sometimes, journeys are not termed true migration because they are irregular or in only one direction. Migration is marked by its annual seasonality, non-migratory birds are said to be resident or sedentary. Approximately 1800 of the worlds 10,000 bird species are long-distance migrants, many bird populations migrate long distances along a flyway. The most common pattern involves flying north in the spring to breed in the temperate or Arctic summer, of course, in the southern hemisphere the directions are reversed, but there is less land area in the far south to support long-distance migration. The primary motivation for migration appears to be food, for example, also, the longer days of the northern summer provide extended time for breeding birds to feed their young
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Habitat destruction
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Habitat destruction is the process in which natural habitat is rendered unable to support the species present. In this process, the organisms that used the site are displaced or destroyed. Habitat destruction by human activity is mainly for the purpose of harvesting natural resources for production and urbanization. Clearing habitats for agriculture is the cause of habitat destruction. Other important causes of habitat destruction include mining, logging, trawling, habitat destruction is currently ranked as the primary cause of species extinction worldwide. Perhaps the greatest threat to organisms and biodiversity is the process of habitat loss, temple found that 82% of endangered bird species were significantly threatened by habitat loss. Endemic organisms with limited ranges are most affected by destruction, mainly because these organisms are not found anywhere else within the world. Many endemic organisms have very specific requirements for their survival that can only be found within a certain ecosystem, extinction may also take place very long after the destruction of habitat, a phenomenon known as extinction debt. Habitat destruction can also decrease the range of certain organism populations, one of the most famous examples is the impact upon Chinas giant panda, once found across the nation. Now it is found in fragmented and isolated regions in the southwest of the country. Biodiversity hotspots are chiefly tropical regions that feature high concentrations of species and. These hotspots are suffering from loss and destruction. Most of the habitat on islands and in areas of high human population density has already been destroyed. Islands suffering extreme habitat destruction include New Zealand, Madagascar, the Philippines, South and East Asia — especially China, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Japan — and many areas in West Africa have extremely dense human populations that allow little room for natural habitat. Marine areas close to highly populated coastal cities also face degradation of their coral reefs or other marine habitat and these areas include the eastern coasts of Asia and Africa, northern coasts of South America, and the Caribbean Sea and its associated islands. Regions of unsustainable agriculture or unstable governments, which may go hand-in-hand, central America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Amazonian tropical rainforest areas of South America are the main regions with unsustainable agricultural practices and/or government mismanagement. Areas of high agricultural output tend to have the highest extent of habitat destruction, in the U. S. less than 25% of native vegetation remains in many parts of the East and Midwest. Only 15% of land area remains unmodified by human activities in all of Europe, tropical rainforests have received most of the attention concerning the destruction of habitat
16.
Poyang Lake
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Poyang Lake, located in Jiangxi Province, is the largest freshwater lake in China. The lake is fed by the Gan, Xin, and Xiu rivers, the area of Poyang Lake fluctuates dramatically between the wet and dry seasons, but in recent years the size of the lake has been decreasing overall. In a normal year the area of the lake averages 3,500 square kilometres, in early 2012, due to drought, sand quarrying, and the practice of storing water at the Three Gorges Dam the area of the lake reached a low of about 200 square kilometres. The lake provides a habitat for half a million birds and is a favorite destination for birding. During the winter, the lake becomes home to a number of migrating Siberian cranes. Poyang Lake has also been called Pengli Marsh historically, but they are not the same, before the Han Dynasty, the Yangtze followed a more northerly course through what is now Longgan Lake whilst Pengli Marsh formed the lower reaches of the Gan River. The area that is now Poyang Lake was a plain along the Gan River, around 400 AD, the Yangtze River switched to a more southerly course, causing the Gan River to back up and form Lake Poyang. The backing up of the Gan River drowned Poyang County and Haihun County, Wucheng thus became one of the great ancient townships of Jiangxi Province. This migration gave birth to the phrase, Drowning Haihun County gives rise to Wucheng Township, Lake Poyang reached its greatest size during the Tang Dynasty, when its area reached 6,000 square kilometres. There has been a ban in place since 2002. In 2007 fears were expressed that Chinas finless porpoise, known locally as the jiangzhu, a native of the lake, might follow the baiji, the Yangtze river dolphin, into extinction. 2007 population levels are less than half the 1997 levels, sand dredging has become a mainstay of local economic development in the last few years, and is an important source of revenue in the region that borders Poyang Lake. But at the time, high-density dredging projects have been the principal cause of the death of the local wildlife population. Dredging makes the waters of the lake muddier, and the porpoises cannot see as far as they once could, due to the Three Gorges Dam upriver on the Yangtze river, Poyang Lake can shrink and dry up for portions of the year. In 2016, the nearly dried up completely. 200 square kilometers of land was underwater in October, while the lake is normally 3,500 square kilometers in area when full. In addition to the Three Gorges Dam, which must store water in its reservoir to be used in the winter, a drought was also blamed for the shrinkage. The Jiangxi local government has proposed to build the Poyang Lake Dam to maintain levels in the lake
17.
Three Gorges Dam
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The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric dam that spans the Yangtze River by the town of Sandouping, located in Yiling District, Yichang, Hubei province, China. The Three Gorges Dam is the worlds largest power station in terms of installed capacity, in 2014 the dam generated 98.8 terawatt-hours and had the world record, but was surpassed by Itaipú Dam that set the new world record in 2016 producing 103.1 TWh. Except for the locks, the dam project was completed and fully functional as of July 4,2012, the ship lift was complete in December 2015. Each main water turbine has a capacity of 700 MW, the dam body was completed in 2006. Coupling the dams 32 main turbines with two generators to power the plant itself, the total electric generating capacity of the dam is 22,500 MW. As well as producing electricity, the dam is intended to increase the Yangtze Rivers shipping capacity, China regards the project as monumental as well as a success socially and economically, with the design of state-of-the-art large turbines, and a move toward limiting greenhouse gas emissions. However, the dam flooded archaeological and cultural sites and displaced some 1.3 million people, the dam has been controversial both domestically and abroad. A large dam across the Yangtze River was originally envisioned by Sun Yat-sen in The International Development of China and he stated that a dam capable of generating 30 million horsepower was possible downstream of the Three Gorges. In 1932, the Nationalist government, led by Chiang Kai-shek, in 1939, Japanese military forces occupied Yichang and surveyed the area. A design, the Otani plan, was completed for the dam in anticipation of a Japanese victory over China. In 1944, the United States Bureau of Reclamation chief design engineer, John L. Savage, surveyed the area, Some 54 Chinese engineers went to the U. S. for training. In the case of water craft, groups of craft would be lifted together for efficiency. Some exploration, survey, economic study, and design work was done, after the 1954 Yangtze River Floods, in 1956, Mao Zedong authored Swimming, a poem about his fascination with a dam on the Yangtze River. In 1958, after the Hundred Flowers Campaign, some engineers who spoke out against the project were imprisoned, during the 1980s, the idea of a dam reemerged. The National Peoples Congress approved the dam in 1992, out of 2,633 delegates,1,767 voted in favour,177 voted against,664 abstained, Construction started on December 14,1994. The dam was expected to be operational in 2009, but additional projects, such as the underground power plant with six additional generators. The ship lift was completed in 2015, the dam had raised the water level in the reservoir to 172.5 m above sea level by the end of 2008 and the designed maximum level of 175 m by October 2010. Made of concrete and steel, the dam is 2,335 m long, the project used 27. 2×10^6 m3 of concrete, used 463,000 T of steel, and moved about 102. 6×10^6 m3 of earth
18.
Mughal painting
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Mughal painting later spread to other Indian courts, both Muslim and Hindu, and later Sikh. This art of painting developed as a blending of Persian and Indian ideas, by the time of the Mughal invasion, the tradition had abandoned the high viewpoint typical of the Persian style, and adopted a more realistic style for animals and plants. No miniatures survive from the reign of the founder of the dynasty, Babur, nor does he mention commissioning any in his diaries, the Baburnama. Copies of this were illustrated by his descendents, Akbar in particular, with portraits of the many new animals Babur encountered when he invaded India. However some surviving un-illustrated manuscripts may have been commissioned by him, Mughal painting immediately took a much greater interest in realistic portraiture than was typical of Persian miniatures. Animals and plants were more realistically shown. Subjects are rich in variety and include portraits, events and scenes from life, wild life and hunting scenes. The Persian tradition of richly decorated borders framing the image was continued. The style of the Mughal school developed within the royal atelier, knowledge was primarily transmitted through familial and apprenticeship relationships, and the system of joint manuscript production which brought multiple artists together for single works. When Humayun returned to India, he brought him two accomplished Persian artists Abd al-Samad and Mir Sayyid Ali. His usurping brother Kamran Mirza had maintained a workshop in Kabul, humayans major known commission was a Khamsa of Nizami with 36 illuminated pages, in which the different styles of the various artists are mostly still apparent. Apart from the London painting, he commissioned at least two miniatures showing himself with family members, a type of subject that was rare in Persia but was to be common among the Mughals. Mughal painting developed and flourished during the reigns of Akbar, Jahangir, Akbar inherited and expanded his fathers library and atelier of court painters, and paid close personal attention to its output. He had studied painting in his youth under Abd as-Samad, though it is not clear how far these studies went. Between 1560 and 1566 the Tutinama, now in the Cleveland Museum of Art was illustrated, among other manuscripts, between 1562 and 1577 the atelier worked on an illustrated manuscript of the Hamzanama consisting of 1,400 canvas folios. Sadis masterpiece The Gulistan was produced at Fatehpur Sikri in 1582, a Darab Nama around 1585, Mughal style during this period continued to refine itself with elements of realism and naturalism coming to the fore. Between the years of 1570 to 1585 Akbar hired over a one hundred painters to practice Mughal style painting, Jahangir had an artistic inclination and during his reign Mughal painting developed further. Brushwork became finer and the colors lighter, Jahangir was also deeply influenced by European painting
19.
Ustad Mansur
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Ustad Mansur was a seventeenth-century Mughal painter and court artist. He grew in acclaim during the reign of Jahangir during which period he excelled at depicting plants and he was the earliest artist to depict the dodo in colour, apart from being the first to illustrate the Siberian crane. Towards the end of Akbars reign, he gained the title of ustad, although largely known for his natural history illustrations, he also portrayed people in various manuscript illustrations. The year of Mansurs birth is unknown and his name was suffixed in some early miniatures as Naqqash, which can refer to an artist, painter, or carver, indicating that he came from a family that was in an artistic profession. A single miniature showing Babur meeting his sister is attributed to Mansur and he was associated with other artists of the period including Basawan, Miskina and Nanha. During Akbars reign he appears to have involved only as a colourist in the plates for the Book of Akbar. Akbar followed the principle that all artwork should include the name of the artist on the margin, the British Museums copy of the Akbarnama includes some folios where his name is prefixed with ustad, indicating his rise to excellence. Early works included parts of portraits and other scenes, the earliest works were made as part of the Baburnama and most of these are as an assistant or a colourist. His Veena-player and coronation portrait of Jahangir are early works, in 1612, Jehangir received a turkey cock from Goa and this was illustrated by Mansur. In 1619, Jehangir received a Barbary falcon as a gift from Shah Abbas of Persia, Jehangir found it rare, in 1620, Jehangir visited Kashmir and spotted a brown dipper which he described in his memoirs translated as. In this stream I saw a bird like a saj and it dives and remains for a long time underneath and then comes up from a different place. I ordered them to catch and bring two or three of these birds, that I might ascertain whether they were waterfowl and were web-footed, one died immediately and the other lived for a day. Its feet were not webbed like a ducks, I ordered Nadirul-asr Ustad Mansur to draw its likeness. Mansur painted at least one hundred flowers from the Kashmir valley during this period, a red tulip from Kashmir is a better-known painting. The identity of the tulip is however debated with competing suggestions that include Tulipa lanata, T. montana, in 1621, Jehangir was gifted a zebra and this was perhaps the subject of the last miniature painting made by Mansur. It is suggested that his career ended with the reign of Jehangir in 1627, several other signed works, such as one of the Siberian crane and the other of a Bengal florican are in the Indian Museum, Kolkata. Some other works are in the National Museum, Delhi, the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum, Jaipur, not all of Mansurs birds were based on reality. He also created fantasy birds and many of the such as the flowers
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.
Binomial name
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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
22.
Jahangir
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Mirza Nur-ud-din Beig Mohammad Khan Salim, known by his imperial name Jahangir, was the fourth Mughal Emperor who ruled from 1605 until his death in 1627. Much romance has gathered around his name, and the tale of his relationship with the Mughal courtesan, Anarkali, has been widely adapted into the literature, art. Jahangir was the eldest surviving son of Mughal Emperor Akbar, impatient for power, he revolted in 1599 while Akbar was engaged in the Deccan. These women wielded considerable influence over Akbar and favoured Jahangir as his successor, the first year of Jahangirs reign saw a rebellion organised by his eldest son Khusrau. The rebellion was put down, Khusrau was brought before his father in chains. After subduing and executing nearly 2000 members of the rebellion, Jahangir blinded his renegade son, Jahangir built on his fathers foundations of excellent administration and his reign was characterised by political stability, a strong economy and impressive cultural achievements. The imperial frontiers continued to move forward—in Bengal, Mewar, Ahmadnagar, Later during his rule, Jahangir was battling his rebellious son Khurram in Hindustan. The rebellion of Khurram absorbed Jahangirs attention, so in the spring of 1623 he negotiated an end to the conflict. Much of India was politically pacified, Jahangirs dealings with the Hindu rulers of Rajputana were particularly successful, the Hindu rulers all accepted Mughal supremacy and in return were given high ranks in the Mughal aristocracy. Jahangir was fascinated with art, science and architecture, from a young age he showed a leaning towards painting and had an atelier of his own. His interest in portraiture led to development in this artform. The art of Mughal painting reached great heights under Jahangirs reign and his interest in painting also served his scientific interests in nature. Jahangir maintained an aviary and a large zoo, kept a record of every specimen. Jahangir patronised the European and Persian arts and he promoted Persian culture throughout his empire. This was especially so during the period when he came under the influence of his Persian Empress, Nur Jahan and her relatives, amongst the most highly regarded Mughal architecture dating from Jahangirs reign is the famous Shalimar Gardens in Kashmir. The worlds first seamless celestial globe was built by Mughal scientists under the patronage of Jahangir, Jahangir, like his father, was a proper Sunni Muslim with tolerance, he allowed, for example, the continuation of his fathers tradition of public debate between different religions. The Jesuits were allowed to dispute publicly with Muslim ulema and to preach the Gospel, Jahangir specifically warned his nobles that they should not force Islam on anyone. Jizya was not imposed by Jahangir, edward Terry, an English chaplain in India at the time, saw a ruler under which all Religions are tolerated and their Priests in good esteem
23.
George Robert Gray
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George Robert Gray FRS was an English zoologist and author, and head of the ornithological section of the British Museum, now the Natural History Museum, in London for forty-one years. He was the brother of the zoologist John Edward Gray. George Grays most important publication was his Genera of Birds, illustrated by David William Mitchell and Joseph Wolf and he was born in Little Chelsea, London to Samuel Frederick Gray, naturalist and pharmacologist, and Elizabeth, his wife. He was educated at Merchant Taylors School, Gray started at the British Museum as Assistant Keeper of the Zoology Branch in 1831. He began by cataloguing insects, and published an Entomology of Australia, Gray described many species of Lepidoptera. In 1833, he was a founder of what became the Royal Entomological Society of London, Grays original description of Grays grasshopper warbler, which was named for him, appeared in 1860. The specimen had been collected by Alfred Russel Wallace in the Moluccas, 1–401833 The Entomology of Australia, in a series of Monographs. The Monograph of the Genus Phasma,1835 Synopsis of the species of insects belonging to the family of Phasmidae. 1846 Descriptions and Figures of some new Lepidopterous Insects chiefly from Nepal, London, Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans. 1843 Description of several species of the genus Phyllium,1852 Catalogue of Lepidopterous Insects in the British Museum. 1871 A fasciculus of the Birds of China, with Richard Bowdler Sharpe, The Zoology of the Voyage of HMS Erebus & HMS Terror
24.
Richard Bowdler Sharpe
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Richard Bowdler Sharpe was an English zoologist and ornithologist who worked as curator of the bird collection at the British Museum of natural history. In the course of his career he published monographs on bird groups. He described several new species of bird and a species of bird including Sharpes longclaw. Richard was born in London, the first son of Thomas Bowdler Sharpe and his grandfather, Reverend Lancelot Sharpe was Rector of All Hallows Staining. His father was a publisher on Skinner Street and was best known for being the publisher of Sharpes London Magazine and his care from the age of six was under an aunt, Magdalen Wallace, widow of the headmaster at Grammar School in Sevenoaks and went to school in Brighton. At nine he studied at The Kings School, Peterborough receiving a Kings Scholarship and he then moved to Loughborough Grammar School. He returned to London at the age of sixteen and worked as a clerk with W. H. Smith & Sons and he already took an interest in ornithology and was interested in writing a monograph on the kingfishers. The book was produced in parts with 121 illustrations and he then began to collaborate with Henry Dresser on A History of the Birds of Europe but this had to be abandoned because of his new appointment. On the death of George Robert Gray in 1872 he joined the British Museum as a Senior Assistant in the Department of Zoology, on December 3,1867 he married Emily Eliza, daughter of J. W. Burrows of Cookham dedicating Tanysiptera galatea emiliae to her in 1871. They had ten daughters and many of them contributed to his books by hand colouring the lithograph plates, one daughter, Emily Mary, worked in the entomology department of the Natural History Museum between 1905 and 1925. He became Assistant Keeper in 1895, a position he held until his death from pneumonia in 1909 and he died at his home in Chiswick. In 1911 a ₤100 civil pension was granted to his wife and daughters Emily Mary, Ada Lavinia, as curator of the bird collections, Sharpes main work was in classifying and cataloguing the collections. He also played a role in acquiring private collections by persuading wealthy collectors and travellers to contribute to the museum. In 1872 the museum had 35,000 bird specimens, the collection had grown to half a million specimens by the time of his death. These included the bequests of Allan Octavian Hume, Osbert Salvin and Frederick DuCane Godman, rickett, F. W. Styan, Alfred Russel Wallace, George Ernest Shelley, Philip Sclater and the bird illustrator John Gould. Sharpe founded the British Ornithologists Club in 1892 and edited its bulletin and he wrote thirteen and a half of the 27 volumes of the Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum. Sharpe was nominated at the International Ornithological Congress at Paris in 1900 to preside over the London Congress in 1905, Sharpe was noted as a genial and humorous person. Richard Meinertzhagen and his brother were introduced to the collections by him
25.
Wattled crane
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The wattled crane is a large bird found in Africa, south of the Sahara Desert. It is often placed in the monotypic genus Bugeranus, though some place it with other crane species in the genus Grus. At a height of up to 175 cm, it is the largest crane in Africa and is the second tallest species of crane, after the sarus crane. The wingspan is 230–260 cm, the length is typically 120 cm, among standard measurements, the wing chord length is 61. 3–71.7 cm, the exposed culmen is 12. 4–18.5 cm and the tarsus is 23. 2–34.2 cm. The back and wings are ashy gray, the breast, primaries, secondaries, and tail coverts are black. The secondaries are long and nearly reach the ground, the upper breast and neck are white all the way to the face. The skin in front of the eye extending to the base of the beak and tip of the wattles is red and bare of feathers, Wattled cranes have long bills and black legs and toes. Males and females are virtually indistinguishable, although tend to be slightly larger. Juveniles have tawny body plumage, lack the skin on the face. The wattled crane occurs in eleven countries in Africa, including an isolated population in the highlands of Ethiopia. More than half of the world’s wattled cranes occur in Zambia, Wattled cranes are thought to have historically ranged over a much larger area including coastal West Africa. The range has certainly retracted considerably in historical times, the wattled crane has been spotted in Uganda for the first time in 2011, seen in the Kibimba Rice region in the eastern side of the country. This sighting brings the number of bird species in Uganda to 1040. Wattled cranes inhabit fairly inaccessible wetlands under most conditions and it requires shallow marsh-like habitats with a good deal of sedge-based vegetation. The principal food of the crane is mainly aquatic eating the tubers and rhizomes of submerged sedges. It is one of the more herbivorous of extant cranes, the other primary portion of the diet consists of aquatic insects. They will supplement the diet with snails, amphibians and snakes when the opportunity arises, roughly 90% of foraging done by this species occurs in shallow waters. They typically forage by digging vigorously with their bill into the muddy soil, on occasion, it will eat grain and grass seed as well, but does so much less often than the other three African crane species
26.
Polyphyly
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A polyphyletic group is characterized by one or more homoplasies, phenotypes which have converged or reverted so as to appear to be the same but which have not been inherited from common ancestors. Alternatively, polyphyletic is used to describe multiple ancestral sources regardless of convergence, for example, warm-bloodedness evolved separately in the ancestors of mammals and the ancestors of birds. Other polyphyletic groups are protozoans, lipotyphla, and algae, as well as invertebrates, many biologists aim to avoid homoplasies in grouping species together and therefore it is frequently a goal to eliminate groups that are found to be polyphyletic. This is often the stimulus for major revisions of the classification schemes, in many schools of taxonomy, the existence of polyphyletic groups in a classification is discouraged. Monophyletic groups are considered by these schools of thought to be the most important grouping of organisms, on the other hand, polyphyletic groups can often be delimited in terms of clades, for example the flying vertebrates consist of the bat, bird, and pterosaur clades. Because polyphyletic groups can frequently be defined as a sum of clades, a stronger reason is that grouping species monophyletically facilitates prediction far more than does polyphyletic grouping. Predictive success is the touchstone by which theories are evaluated in all experimental sciences, species have a special status in systematics as being an observable feature of nature itself and as the basic unit of classification. It is usually assumed that species are monophyletic. However hybrid speciation arguably leads to polyphyletic species, hybrid species are a common phenomenon in nature, particularly in plants where polyploidy allows for rapid speciation. Funk, D. J. and Omland, K. E. Species-level paraphyly and polyphyly, Frequency, cause and consequences, with insights from animal mitochondrial DNA Annu
27.
Monophyletic
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In common cladistic usage, a monophyletic group is a taxon which forms a clade, meaning that it consists of an ancestral species and all its descendants. The term is synonymous with the uncommon term holophyly, monophyletic groups are typically characterized by shared derived characteristics. Monophyly is contrasted with paraphyly and polyphyly, as shown in the second diagram, a paraphyletic group consists of all of the descendants of a common ancestor minus one or more monophyletic groups. These definitions have taken time to be accepted. When the cladistic school of thought became mainstream in the 1960s, indeed, taxonomists sometimes used terms without defining them, leading to confusion in the early literature, a confusion which persists. On the broadest scale, definitions fall into two groups, willi Hennig defined monophyly as groups based on synapomorphy. Some authors have sought to define monophyly to include paraphyly as any two or more groups sharing a common ancestor, however, this broader definition encompasses both monophyletic and paraphyletic groups as defined above. Therefore, most scientists today restrict the term monophyletic to refer to groups consisting of all the descendants of one common ancestor, however, when considering taxonomic groups such as genera and species, the most appropriate nature of their common ancestor is unclear. Assuming that it would be one individual or mating pair is unrealistic for sexually reproducing species, some argue that using a broader definition, such as a species and all its descendants, does not really work to define a genus. According to D. M. Glossary of scientific naming Clade Paraphyly Polyphyly Crown group Abbey, graphical explanation of basic phylogenetic terms. Carr, Steven M. Concepts of monophyly, polyphyly & paraphyly
28.
Alula
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The alula, or bastard wing, is a small projection on the anterior edge of the wing of modern birds and a few non-avian dinosaurs. The word is Latin and means winglet, it is the diminutive of ala, the alula is the freely moving first digit, a birds thumb, and typically bears three to five small flight feathers, with the exact number depending on the species. There also are minor covert feathers overlying the flight feathers, like the larger flight feathers found on the wings trailing edge, these alula feathers are asymmetrical, with the shaft running closer to anterior edge. In most situations, the alula is held flush against the wing, however, when flying at slow speeds or landing, the bird moves its alula slightly upwards and forward, which creates a small slot on the wings leading edge. This functions in the way as the slats on the wing of an aircraft, allowing the wing to achieve a higher than normal angle of attack –. The tip of the forms a tiny vortex that forces the airflow over the wing to better bind to it. During stretching of the wing down toward the ground, the alula is abducted from the wing, the presence of an alula has been confirmed in several now-extinct ancient relatives of modern birds, including Eoalulavis hoyasi and the earlier Protopteryx fengningensis. Since these species are not closely related to birds, either the alula evolved twice. Bird flight Alular digit homology Leading edge slot, the equivalent on fixed-wing aircraft Ehrlich, Paul R, Dobkin, David S. Wheye, Darryl, Pimms. The Birdwatchers Handbook, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-858407-5 Sanz, J. L. Chiappe, L. M. Pérez-Moreno, B. P. Buscalioni, A. D. Moratalla, J. J. Ortega, F. Poyato-Ariza, F. J
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Covert feather
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A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts, which, as the name implies, cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail, the ear coverts are small feathers behind the birds eye which cover the ear opening The uppertail and undertail coverts cover the base of the tail feathers above and below. Sometimes these coverts are more specialised, the tail of a peacock is made of very elongated uppertail coverts. Within each group, the form a number of rows. The feathers of the outermost, largest, row are termed greater coverts, those in the row are the median coverts. The underwing has corresponding sets of coverts, in addition the front edge of the wing is covered with a group of feathers called the marginal coverts. Within each group of wing coverts, the rows of feathers overlap each other like roof tiles, mullarney, Killian, Svensson, Lars, Zetterstrom, Dan, Grant, Peter
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Crown (anatomy)
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The crown is the top of the head, or the whole head. Crown can mean the top of the head and it can mean the whole head. In the study of human anatomy the terms Calvaria, skullcap, skull cap, or the roof of the cranial cavity are used for the top part of the head. In bird anatomy, the crown is the top of the head, or more specifically the zone from the frons, or forehead, extending posteriorally to the occiput, the upper part of the head, including frons, crown and occiput, is sometimes called the pileum. In whale anatomy the crown is the bulge on the head through which the blow-holes emerge
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Ural Mountains
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The mountain range forms part of the conventional boundary between the continents of Europe and Asia. Vaygach Island and the islands of Novaya Zemlya form a continuation of the chain to the north into the Arctic Ocean. The mountains lie within the Ural geographical region and significantly overlap with the Ural Federal District and they have rich resources, including metal ores, coal, precious and semi-precious stones. Since the 18th century the mountains have contributed significantly to the sector of the Russian economy. As attested by Sigismund von Herberstein, in the 16th century Russians called the range by a variety of names derived from the Russian words for rock and it might have been a borrowing from either Turkic stone belt, or Ob-Ugric. From the 13th century, in Bashkortostan there has been a legend about a hero named Ural and he sacrificed his life for the sake of his people and they poured a stone pile over his grave, which later turned into the Ural Mountains. Possibilities include Bashkir үр elevation, upland or Mansi ур ала mountain peak, top of the mountain, tatischev believes that this oronym is set to belt and associates it with the Turkic verb oralu- gird. Dobrodomov suggests a transition from Aral to Ural explained on the basis of ancient Bulgar-Chuvash dialects, hawks believes that the name goes back to the Bashkir folklore Ural-Batyr. Shumilov suggested a Mongolian origin, Khural Uul, that is, the Evenk geographical term era mountain has also been theorized. Finno-Ugrist scholars consider Ural deriving from the Mansi word urr meaning a mountain, turkologists, on the other hand, have achieved majority support for their assertion that ural in Tatar means a belt, and recall that an earlier name for the range was stone belt. During the next few centuries Novgorodians engaged in fur trading with the population and collected tribute from Yugra and Great Perm. The rivers Chusovaya and Belaya were first mentioned in the chronicles of 1396 and 1468, in 1430 the town of Solikamsk was founded on the Kama at the foothills of the Ural, where salt was produced in open pans. Ivan III of Moscow captured Perm, Pechora and Yugra from the declining Novgorod Republic in 1472, with the excursions of 1483 and 1499–1500 across the Ural Moscow managed to subjugate Yugra completely. The Middle and Southern Ural were still largely unavailable and unknown to the Russian or Western European geographers, the Stroganovs land provided the staging ground for Yermaks incursion into Siberia. Yermak crossed the Ural from the Chusovaya to the Tagil around 1581, in 1597 Babinovs road was built across the Ural from Solikamsk to the valley of the Tura, where the town of Verkhoturye was founded in 1598. Customs was established in Verkhoturye shortly thereafter and the road was made the legal connection between European Russia and Siberia for a long time. In 1648 the town of Kungur was founded at the foothills of the Middle Ural. During the 17th century the first deposits of iron and copper ores, mica, gemstones, iron and copper smelting works emerged
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Ob River
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The Ob River, also Obi, is a major river in western Siberia, Russia and is the worlds seventh-longest river. It forms at the confluence of the Biya and Katun Rivers which have their origins in the Altay Mountains and it is the westernmost of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean. The Gulf of Ob is the worlds longest estuary, the Ob is known to the Khanty people as the As, Yag, Kolta and Yema, to the Nenets people as the Kolta or Kuay, and to the Siberian Tatars as the Umar or Omass. Possibly from Proto-Indo-Iranian *ap-, river, water, the Ob forms 25 km southwest of Biysk in Altai Krai at the confluence of the Biya and Katun rivers. Both these streams have their origin in the Altay Mountains, the Biya issuing from Lake Teletskoye, the Obs entire main course is within Russia, though its tributaries extend into Kazakhstan, China and Mongolia. The river splits into more than one arm, especially after joining the large Irtysh tributary at about 69° E, from the source of the Irtysh to the mouth of the Ob, the river flow is the longest in Russia at 5,410 kilometres. Other noteworthy tributaries are, from the east, the Tom, Chulym, Ket, Tym and Vakh rivers, and, from the west and south, the Vasyugan, Irtysh, and Sosva Rivers. The combined Ob-Irtysh system, the fourth-longest river system of Asia, is 5,410 kilometres long, the river basin of the Ob consists mostly of steppe, taiga, swamps, tundra, and semi-desert topography. The floodplains of the Ob are characterized by many tributaries and lakes. The Ob is ice-bound at southern Barnaul from early in November to near the end of April, the Ob River crosses several climatic zones. The upper Ob valley, in the south, grows grapes, melons and watermelons, the most comfortable climate for the rest on the Ob are Biysk, Barnaul, and Novosibirsk. The Ob is used mostly for irrigation, drinking water, hydroelectric energy, the navigable waters within the Ob basin reach a total length of 15,000 km. Until the early 20th century, an important western river port was Tyumen, located on the Tura River. In the eastern reaches of the Ob basin, Tomsk on the Tom River was an important terminus, Tyumen had its first steamboat in 1836, and the middle reaches of the Ob have been navigated by steamboats since 1845. Steamboats started operating on the Yenisei in 1863, on the Lena, in 1916 there were 49 steamers on the Ob,10 on the Yenesei. The Trans-Siberian Railway, once completed, provided for more direct, but the Ob river system still remained important for connecting the huge expanses of Tyumen Oblast and Tomsk Oblast with the major cities along the Trans-Siberian route, such as Novosibirsk or Omsk. A dam was built near Novosibirsk in 1956, which created the then-largest artificial lake in Siberia, the project never left the drawing board, abandoned in 1986 due to economic and environmental considerations. In its early years of operation, the Mayak plant released vast quantities of contaminated water into several small lakes near the plant
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Tobol River
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Tobol is a river which is the main tributary of the Irtysh. Its length is 1660 km, and the area of its basin is 395,000 km². The Tobol River was one of the four important rivers of the Khanate of Sibir, in 1428 the khan was killed in a battle with the forces of Abul-Khayr Khan at the Battle of Tobol. In the 16th century, the Tobol was the terminus of the portage route leading westward to the Vishera
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Kolyma
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Kolyma is a region located in the Russian Far East. It is bounded by the East Siberian Sea and the Arctic Ocean in the north, the region gets its name from the Kolyma River and mountain range, parts of which were not discovered until 1926. Today the region consists roughly of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug and the Magadan Oblast, the area, part of which is within the Arctic Circle, has a subarctic climate with very cold winters lasting up to six months of the year. Permafrost and tundra cover a part of the region. Average winter temperatures range from −19 °C to −38 °C, and average summer temperatures, there are rich reserves of gold, silver, tin, tungsten, mercury, copper, antimony, coal, oil, and peat. Twenty-nine zones of possible oil and gas accumulation have been identified in the Sea of Okhotsk shelf, total reserves are estimated at 3.5 billion tons of equivalent fuel, including 1.2 billion tons of oil and 1.5 billion m3 of gas. The principal town Magadan has nearly 100,000 inhabitants and is the largest port in north-eastern Russia and it has a large fishing fleet and remains open year-round thanks to icebreakers. Magadan is served by the nearby Sokol Airport, there are many public and private farming enterprises. Gold mines, pasta and sausage factories, fishing companies, the houses were analogous, on one hand, to Paleolithic European houses and, on the other, to ethnographically studied houses of the Eskimos, Chukchi and Koryaks. Under Joseph Stalins rule, Kolyma became the most notorious region for the Gulag labor camps. Tens of thousands or more people may have died en route to the area or in the Kolymas series of mining, road building, lumbering. It was Kolymas reputation that caused Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, author of The Gulag Archipelago, to characterize it as the pole of cold, Gold and platinum were discovered in the region in the early 20th century. During the time of the USSRs industrialization the need for capital to economic development was great. The abundant gold resources of the area seemed tailor-made to provide this capital, a government agency Dalstroy was formed to organize the exploitation of the area. These prisoners formed a readily available workforce, the initial efforts to develop the region began in 1932, with the building of the town of Magadan by forced labor. Conditions aboard the ships were harsh, according to a 1987 article in Time Magazine, During the 1930s the only way to reach Magadan was by ship from Khabarovsk, which created an island psychology and the term Gulag archipelago. Within the crowded prison ships thousands died during transportation, one survivors memoir recounts that the prison ship Dzhurma was caught in the autumn ice in 1933 while trying to get to the mouth of the Kolyma River. When it reached port the following spring, it carried only crew, all 12,000 prisoners were missing, left dead on the ice
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Konda River
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Konda is a river in the Khanty–Mansia district of Russia. The town of Uray and the Shaimskoye oil field are along the Konda and it is a left tributary of the Irtysh. It is 1,097 kilometres long with a basin of 72,800 square kilometres. The river has its sources on the edge of the West Siberian Plain. The average discharge 164 kilometres from its mouth is 231 cubic metres per second, with a maximum of 1,220 cubic metres per second, the river is frozen over from late October to late April. Its main tributaries are from the left, Mulymya, Bolshoy Tap, Yukonda and Kama, the Konda region, or Kondia, is one of the many provinces mentioned in the full official title of Russian tsars
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Sakha Republic
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The Sakha Republic is a federal subject of Russia. It has a population of 958,528, consisting mainly of ethnic Yakuts and it is larger than Argentina and just smaller than India which covers an area of 3,287,590 square kilometers. Its capital is the city of Yakutsk, the Sakha Republic is one of the ten autonomous Turkic Republics within the Russian Federation. The hypercontinental tendencies also result in warm summers for much of the republic. Borders, internal, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Magadan Oblast, Khabarovsk Krai, Amur Oblast, Zabaykalsky Krai, Irkutsk Oblast, Krasnoyarsk Krai. water, Arctic Ocean. These waters, the coldest and iciest of all seas in the Northern Hemisphere, are covered by ice for 9–10 months of the year, new Siberian Islands are a part of the republics territory. Sakha can be divided into three great vegetation belts, about 40% of Sakha lies above the Arctic circle and all of it is covered by permafrost which greatly influences the regions ecology and limits forests in the southern region. Arctic and subarctic tundra define the region, where lichen. In the southern part of the belt, scattered stands of dwarf Siberian pine. Below the tundra is the vast taiga forest region, larch trees dominate in the north and stands of fir and pine begin to appear in the south. Taiga forests cover about 47% of Sakha and almost 90% of the cover is larch, Sakha spans three time zones, Yakutsk Time Zone. Covers the republics territory to the west of the Lena River as well as the territories of the located on the both sides of the Lena River. Covers most of the territory located between 127°E and 140°E longitude. Covers most of the territory located east of 140°E longitude. Districts, Abyysky, Allaikhovsky, Momsky, Nizhnekolymsky, Srednekolymsky, Verkhnekolymsky, the Chersky Range runs east of the Verkhoyansk Range and has the highest peak in Sakha, Peak Pobeda. The second highest peak is Peak Mus-Khaya reaching 3,011 m, the Stanovoi Range borders Sakha in the south. Sakha is well endowed with raw materials, the soil contains large reserves of oil, gas, coal, diamonds, gold, silver, tin, tungsten and many others. Sakha produces 99% of all Russian diamonds and over 25% of the diamonds mined in the world, Sakha is known for its climate extremes, with the Verkhoyansk Range being the coldest area in the Northern Hemisphere
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Yana River
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The Yana River, is a river in Sakha in Russia, located between the Lena to the west and the Indigirka to the east. It is 872 kilometres long, while the upper Yana is 1,320 kilometres long and its drainage basin covers 238,000 square kilometres, and its annual discharge totals approximately 25 cubic kilometres. Most of this occurs in May and June as the ice on the river breaks up. The Yana freezes up on the surface in October and stays under the ice until late May or early June, in the Verkhoyansk area, it stays frozen to the bottom for 70 to 110 days, and partly frozen for 220 days of the year. The river begins at the confluence of the rivers Sartang and Dulgalakh, as the Yana flows into the Yana Bay of the Laptev Sea, it forms a huge river delta covering 10,200 square kilometres. Yarok is a flat island located east of the main mouths of the Yana. The whole Yana basin is under continuous permafrost and most is larch woodland grading to tundra north of about 70°N, the principal tributaries of the Yana are, Adycha, Oldzho, Abyrabyt, Bytantay. Most of these tributaries are rivers flowing from the high Verkhoyansk Mountains. Verkhoyansk, Batagay, Ust-Kuyga, Nizhneyansk are the ports on the Yana. The Yana basin is the site of the so-called Pole of Cold of Russia, where the lowest recorded temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere are found. In the winter, temperatures in the centre of the average as low as −51 °C and have reached as low as −71 °C though in the mountains it is believed that temperatures have reached −82 °C. Yakut folklore says that, at such temperatures, if you shout to a friend and they hear you. However, when spring comes the words thaw and one can hear everything that was months ago. The Yana River area is the first known site of habitation in the Arctic. In 1633–38 Ilya Perfilyev and Ivan Rebrov sailed down the Lena and east along the Arctic coast to the mouth of the Yana, in 1636–42 Elisei Buza followed essentially the same route. In 1638–40, Poznik Ivanov ascended a tributary of the lower Lena, crossed the Verkhoyansk Range to the upper Yana and then crossed the Chersky Range to the Indigirka. During one year and two days the expedition covered 25,000 kilometres, of which 4,200 kilometres were up rivers, william Barr, Baron Eduard Von Tolls Last Expedition. Alexander von Bunge & Baron Eduard Von Toll, The Expedition to the New Siberian Islands and the Jana country, equipped by the Imperial Academy of Sciences
38.
Alazeya River
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The Alazeya River is a river in the northeastern part of Yakutia, Russia which flows into the Arctic between the basins of the larger Indigirka River to the west and the Kolyma River to the east. The river is 1,590 kilometres long, the area of its basin is 64,700 square kilometres. It crosses through the tundra and has lakes and marshes. The Alazeya is formed by the confluence of the Nelkan and Kadylchan Rivers and drains into the Kolyma Bay of the East Siberian Sea and it freezes in late September through early October and stays icebound until late May through early June. The biggest tributary of the Alazeya is the Rossokha River, there are more than 24,000 lakes in the basin of the Alazeya River. Dmitrii Zyryan was the first Russian to reach the Alazeya in 1641, but did not found a permanent settlement
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Nagpur district
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Nagpur district is a district in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra state in central India. The city of Nagpur is the district headquarters, the district is part of Nagpur Division. In 1853, after the death of Raghoji III, the state of Nagpur was annexed by the British. In 1861, it was merged with the Central Provinces and Nagpur district became a part of one of its divisions, in 1903, it became part of the Central Provinces and Berar. In 1950, Nagpur district became part of the newly formed Madhya Pradesh state, in 1956, after the reorganisation of states, Nagpur district was incorporated in Bombay state. On 1 May 1960, it became a district of Maharashtra state, Nagpur district is divided into 14 talukas, Ramtek, Umred, Kalameshwar, Katol, Kamthi, Kuhi, Narkhed, Nagpur, Nagpur, Parseoni, Bhiwapur, Mouda, Savner and Hingna. Nagpur district has 12 Vidhan Sabha constituencies, Nagpur South West, Nagpur South, Nagpur East, Nagpur Central, Nagpur West, Nagpur North, Katol, Savner, Hingna, Umred, Kamthi and Ramtek. The first six constituencies are part of Nagpur Lok Sabha constituency, according to the 2011 census Nagpur district has a population of 4,653,171, roughly equal to the nation of Ireland or the US state of South Carolina. This gives it a ranking of 29th in India, the district has a population density of 470 inhabitants per square kilometre. Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 14. 39%, Nagpur has a sex ratio of 948 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 89. 52%. The district had a population of 4,653,171 of which 64. 26% were urban as of 2011, the current District Collector is Abhishek Krishna. Also, Nagpur is a junction for roadways as Indias two major national highways, Kanyakumari-Varanasi and Hajira-Kolkata, passing through the city. One more highway number 69 connect Nagpur to Obaidullaganj near Bhopal, Nagpur is at the junction of two Asian Highways namely AH43 Agra to Matara, Sri Lanka and AH46 connecting Kharagpur, India to Dhule, India. The MSRTC buses run a transport service in and around the district. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport in Sonegaon, Nagpur is a domestic and international airport in this district, which connects Nagpur to Mumbai, Delhi, Sharjah, Dubai and muscat via doha
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Bihar
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Bihar is a state in the eastern part of India. It is the 13th-largest state of India, with an area of 94,163 km2. The third-largest state of India by population, it is contiguous with Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the Bihar plain is split by the river Ganges which flows from west to east. On November 15,2000, southern Bihar was ceded to form the new state of Jharkhand, only 11. 3% of the population of Bihar lives in urban areas, which is lowest in India after Himachal Pradesh. Additionally, almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, the official languages of the state are Hindi and Urdu. Other languages commonly used within the state include Bhojpuri, Maithili, Magahi, Bajjika, in ancient and classical India, Bihar was considered a centre of power, learning, and culture. From Magadha arose Indias first empire, the Maurya empire, as well as one of the worlds most widely adhered-to religions, Magadha empires, notably under the Maurya and Gupta dynasties, unified large parts of South Asia under a central rule. Another region of Bihar is Mithila which was a centre of Brahmanical learning. Since the late 1970s, Bihar has lagged far behind other Indian states in terms of social, the state government has, however, made significant strides in developing the state. The name Bihar is derived from the Sanskrit and Pali word, Vihara, the region roughly encompassing the present state was dotted with Buddhist vihara, the abodes of Buddhist monks in the ancient and medieval periods. Medieval writer Minhaj al-Siraj Juzjani records in the Tabakat-i-Nasiri that in 1198, Bakhtiyar Khalji committed a massacre in a town now known as Bihar Sharif, chirand, on the northern bank of the Ganga River, in Saran district, has an archaeological record from the Neolithic age. Regions of Bihar—such as Magadha, Mithila and Anga—are mentioned in religious texts, the power centre of ancient Bihar was in the region of modern-day southwestern Bihar called Magadha, which remained the centre of power, learning, and culture in India for 1000 years. The Haryanka dynasty, founded in 684 BC, ruled Magadha from the city of Rajgriha, the two well-known kings from this dynasty were Bimbisara and his son Ajatashatru, who imprisoned his father to ascend the throne. Ajatashatru founded the city of Pataliputra which later became the capital of Magadha and he declared war and conquered the Vajji of north Bihar, another powerful Mahajanapada north of Ganges with its capital at Vaishali. Vaishali was ruled by the Licchavi clan, who had a form of government where the king was elected from the number of rajas. The Haryanka dynasty was followed by the Shishunaga dynasty, later the Nanda Dynasty ruled a vast tract stretching from Bengal to Punjab. The Nanda dynasty was replaced by the Maurya Empire, Indias first empire, the Maurya Empire and the religion of Buddhism arose in the region that now makes up modern Bihar. The Mauryan Empire, which originated from Magadha in 325 BC, was founded by Chandragupta Maurya and it had its capital at Pataliputra
41.
Veratrum
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Veratrum is a genus of flowering plants in the family Melanthiaceae. It occurs in habitats across much of temperate and subarctic Europe, Asia. Veratrum species are herbaceous perennials with highly poisonous black rhizomes. In English they are known as both false hellebores and corn lilies, Veratrum is not closely related to hellebores, nor do they resemble them. Veratrum species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Setaceous Hebrew Character, Veratrum species contain highly toxic steroidal alkaloids that activate sodium ion channels and cause rapid cardiac failure and death if ingested. All parts of the plant are poisonous, with the root, the toxins are only produced during active growth. In the winter months, the plant degrades and metabolizes most of its toxic alkaloids, Native Americans harvested the roots for medicinal purposes during this dormant period. During the 1930s Veratrum extracts were investigated in the treatment of blood pressure in humans. Patients treated often suffered side effects due to the therapeutic index of these products. Due to their toxicity and the availability of less toxic drugs. Native Americans used the juice pressed from the roots of plant to poison arrows before combat. The dried powdered root of this plant was used as an insecticide. The plants teratogenic properties and ability to induce birth defects were well known to Native Americans. Members of Veratrum are known both in western herbalism and traditional Chinese medicine as toxic herbs to be used with great caution and it is one of the medicinals cited in Chinese herbal texts as incompatible with many other common herbs because of its potentiating effects. Especially, many herbs, particularly ginseng, san qi. The roots of V. nigrum and V. schindleri have been used in Chinese herbalism (where plants of this genus are known as li lu. Li lu is used internally as a powerful emetic of last resort, and topically to kill parasites, treat tinea and scabies. Some herbalists refuse to prescribe li lu internally, citing the difficulty in preparing a safe and effective dosage
42.
Empetrum nigrum
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It is also native in the Falkland Islands. It is usually dioecious, but there is a bisexual tetraploid subspecies, Empetrum nigrum ssp. hermaphroditum, evolutionary biologists have explained the striking geographic distribution of crowberries as a result of long-distance migratory birds dispersing seeds from one pole to the other. The metabolism and photosynthetic parameters of Empetrum can be altered in winter-warming experiments, the leaves are 3–6 mm long, arranged alternately along the stem. The fruits are drupes, 4–6 mm wide, usually black or purplish-black and their vitamin content is low, as is the concentration of volatile liquids, the lack of which makes them almost odorless. The acidity is lower than is typically encountered in forest berries, asiaticum Kuvaev – Korean crowberry E. nigrum can be grown in acidic soils in shady, moist areas. It can be grown for the fruit, as a ground cover, or as an ornamental plant in rock gardens. The fruit is high in anthocyanin pigment, and can be used to make a food dye. After waning popularity, E. nigrum is regaining its reputation as an edible fruit and it provides a steady crop and the gathering is relatively easy. The fruits make good pie and jam, in subarctic areas, E. nigrum has been a vital addition to the diet of the Inuit and the Sami. The Denaina harvest it for food, sometimes storing in quantity for winter, the fruits are usually collected in fall, but if not picked they may persist on the plant and can be picked in the spring. They keep well in a place without any special preparation. The Inuit and Native Americans mix them with other berries, especially blueberries, the leaves and stems are used in Denaina medicine for diarrhea and stomach problems, they are boiled or soaked in hot water, and the strained liquid drunk. In Denaina plantlore in the Outer and Upper Inlet area of Lake Clark, the roots are boiled and the eyes are washed with the strained, cooled tea, to which a little sugar may be added. In Labrador, where the name blackberry is used, the smoke of the stems and leaves is used to smoke fish, notably Salmon, Sea Trout
43.
Lemming
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A lemming is a small rodent usually found in or near the Arctic in tundra biomes. They make up the subfamily Arvicolinae together with voles and muskrats, which part of the superfamily Muroidea, which also includes rats, mice, hamsters. Lemmings weigh from 30 to 110 g and are about 7 to 15 cm long and they generally have long, soft fur, and very short tails. They are herbivorous, feeding mostly on leaves and shoots, grasses, and sedges in particular, at times, they will eat grubs and larvae. Like other rodents, their incisors grow continuously, allowing them to exist on much tougher forage than would otherwise be possible, Lemmings do not hibernate through the harsh northern winter. They remain active, finding food by burrowing through the snow and they are solitary animals by nature, meeting only to mate and then going their separate ways, but like all rodents, they have a high reproductive rate and can breed rapidly when food is plentiful. It is not known why lemming populations fluctuate with such great variance roughly every four years, Lemming behavior and appearance are markedly different from those of other rodents, which are inconspicuously colored and try to conceal themselves from their predators. Lemmings, by contrast, are colored and behave aggressively towards predators. The lemming defense system is thought to be based on aposematism, misconceptions about lemmings go back many centuries. In the 1530s, geographer Zeigler of Strasbourg proposed the theory that the creatures fell out of the sky during stormy weather, Lemmings have become the subject of a widely popular misconception that they commit mass suicide when they migrate by jumping off cliffs. It is in not a mass suicide but the result of their migratory behavior. Driven by strong biological urges, some species of lemmings may migrate in groups when population density becomes too great. They can swim and may choose to cross a body of water in search of a new habitat, in such cases, many may drown if the body of water is so wide as to stretch their physical capabilities to the limit. This fact and the fluctuations in the population of Norwegian lemmings gave rise to the misconception. The misconception of lemming mass suicide is long-standing and has been popularized by a number of factors and it was well enough known to be mentioned in The Marching Morons, a 1951 short story by Cyril M. Kornbluth. In 1955, Disney Studio illustrator Carl Barks drew an Uncle Scrooge adventure comic with the title The Lemming with the Locket and this comic, which was inspired by a 1953 American Mercury article, showed massive numbers of lemmings jumping over Norwegian cliffs. Lemmings also appear in Arthur C, clarkes 1953 short story The Possessed, where their suicidal urges are attributed to the lingering consciousness of an alien group mind which had inhabited the species in the prehistoric past. In a 2010 board game by GMT games, Leaping Lemmings, players must maneuver lemmings across a board while avoiding hazards, the 1994 short film Lemming Aid portrayed a group of misfits attempting to save lemmings from mass suicide
44.
Vallisneria spiralis
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Vallisneria spiralis, also known as straight vallisneria, tape grass, or eel grass is a common aquarium plant that prefers good light and a nutrient rich substrate. In the wild, it can be found in tropical and sub-tropical regions worldwide and it has narrow, linear leaves that range in colour from a pale-green to reddish up to 3 feet long and up to 0.75 inches broad. V. spiralis is monoecious with flowers carried on long stalks that break away from the plant. Seeds have not been observed germinating in aquaria, instead, it most often propagates by runners which can lead to dense stands. One form of plant has been described, V. spiralis f. tortifolia. The form has tightly twisted leaves, along with this form, many other trade names have been developed for small variations on the species. The species is an effective invader due to its efficient dispersal, vegetative reproduction, high biomass production, spiralis is an unwanted organism in New Zealand. It is listed on the National Pest Plant Accord prohibiting it from sale, since 2013 V. spiralis is listed as naturalized alien in Iceland, where it was recorded in geothermal ponds. AquaHobby AquaHobby var. tortissima Wet Web Media Tropica spiralis Tiger Plants for a Future
