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Human Interactions With Insects In Africa
Various cultures throughout Africa utilize insects for many things and have developed unique interactions with insects: as food sources, for sale or trade in markets, or for use in traditional practices and rituals, as ethnomedicine or as part of their traditional ecological knowledge. As food, also known as entomophagy, a variety of insects are collected as part of a protein rich source of nutrition for marginal communities. Entomophagy had been part of traditional culture throughout Africa, though this activity has been diminishing gradually with the influx of Western culture and market economies. Often the collection of insects for food has been the activity of children, both male and female. Within Southern Africa different communities have established practices for regulating and maintaining their insect harvests. Some groups, through taboos, ritual, and hierarchical organizational structures acting as regulating bodies, have maintained their traditional practice for centurie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eye On Nature
An eye is a sensory organ that allows an organism to perceive visual perception, visual information. It detects light and converts it into electro-chemical impulses in neurons (neurones). It is part of an organism's visual system. In higher organisms, the eye is a complex optics, optical system that collects light from the surrounding environment, regulates its intensity through a Iris (anatomy), diaphragm, Focus (optics), focuses it through an adjustable assembly of Lens (anatomy), lenses to form an image, converts this image into a set of electrical signals, and transmits these signals to the brain through neural pathways that connect the eye via the optic nerve to the visual cortex and other areas of the brain. Eyes with resolving power have come in ten fundamentally different forms, classified into compound eyes and non-compound eyes. Compound eyes are made up of multiple small visual units, and are common on insects and crustaceans. Non-compound eyes have a single lens a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Climate Change
Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to Earth's climate. The current rise in global temperatures is Scientific consensus on climate change, driven by human activities, especially fossil fuel burning since the Industrial Revolution. Fossil fuel use, Deforestation and climate change, deforestation, and some Greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, agricultural and Environmental impact of concrete, industrial practices release greenhouse gases. These gases greenhouse effect, absorb some of the heat that the Earth Thermal radiation, radiates after it warms from sunlight, warming the lower atmosphere. Carbon dioxide, the primary gas driving global warming, Carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere, has increased in concentratio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Winnowing
Winnowing is a process by which chaff is separated from grain. It can also be used to remove pests from stored grain. Winnowing usually follows threshing in grain preparation. In its simplest form, it involves throwing the mixture into the air so that the wind blows away the lighter chaff, while the heavier grains fall back down for recovery. Techniques included using a winnowing fan (a shaped winnowing basket, basket shaken to raise the chaff) or using a tool (a winnowing fork or shovel) on a pile of harvested grain. In Greek culture The winnowing-fan (λίκνον [''líknon''], also meaning a "cradle") featured in the rites accorded Dionysus and in the Eleusinian Mysteries: "it was a simple agricultural implement taken over and mysticized by the religion of Dionysus," Jane Ellen Harrison remarked. ''Dionysus Liknites'' ("Dionysus of the winnowing fan") was wakened by the Dionysian women, in this instance called ''Thyia (naiad), Thyiades'', in a cave on Mount Parnassus, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blouberg (range)
The Blouberg (formerly "Blaauwberg"), meaning "Blue Mountain" in Dutch, is a range of mountains in the Limpopo Province, at the far north of South Africa. It is located in Blouberg Local Municipality, Capricorn District. The mountain is entrenched in the history of the local Northern Sotho people, and they have different names for its various parts. The Blouberg forms part of the 'Vhembe Biosphere Reserve', named a biosphere reserve by UNESCO since 2009. This reserve also includes the neighboring Makgabeng Plateau, the Soutpansberg, the northern part of the Kruger National Park, the Makuleke Wetlands and the Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape. The eastern and part of the central Blouberg prominences are enclosed and protected as part of the Blouberg Nature Reserve. A 4x4 track traverses Rapanyan's Neck, the defile that separates these easterly subranges. Setting This rocky mountain range rises over a plateau averaging 900 m to the west of the western end of the Soutpansberg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eupterotidae
Eupterotidae is a family of insects in the order Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ... with more than 300 described species. Diversity The family consists of four subfamilies and the unplaced ''Ganissa group''. The subfamily Eupterotinae consists of about 11 genera, the ''Ganissa group'' about 10 genera, the subfamily Janinae about 16 genera, the subfamily Panacelinae consists of one genus and 3 species and the subfamily Striphnopteryginae of 15 genera. Genera *Subfamily Eupterotinae **Tribe Cotanini Forbes, 1955 ***'' Cotana'' ***'' Melanergon'' **Tribe Eupterotini ***'' Apha'' ***'' Apona'' ***'' Cyrtojana'' ***'' Dreata'' ***'' Eupterote'' ***'' Ganisa'' ***'' Janomima'' ***'' Lasiomorpha'' ***'' Lichenopteryx'' ***'' Marmaroplegma'' ***'' Melanothrix' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organisms, making it the second largest insect order (behind Coleoptera) with 126 family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic rank, superfamilies, and one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world. Lepidopteran species are characterized by more than three derived features. The most apparent is the presence of scale (anatomy), scales that cover the torso, bodies, large triangular Insect wing, wings, and a proboscis for siphoning nectars. The scales are modified, flattened "hairs", and give butterflies and moths their wide variety of colors and patterns. Almost all species have some form of membranous wings, except for a few that have reduced wings or are wingless. Mating and the laying of eggs is normally performe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hemijana Variegata
''Hemijana variegata'' is a moth in the family Eupterotidae. It was described by Rothschild in 1917. It is found in Mozambique. The wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ... about 55 mm. The forewings are cinnamon pinkish white, but the outer one-third umber-brown washed and clouded with pinkish cinnamon and cinnamon-white. There is an arc of three large irregular umber-brown patches on basal one-fourth, as well as several lines and a black stigmatic dot beyond which is a brown patch. The outer one-third of the wing is sharply cut off from the basal paler two-thirds. The hindwings are salmon-pink, the outer one-third with an ill-defined broad sooty grey-black band and suffusion. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fruit Anatomy
Fruits are the mature ovary (plants), ovary or ovaries of one or more flowers. They are found in three main anatomical categories: aggregate fruits, multiple fruits, and simple fruits. Fruitlike structures may develop directly from the seed itself rather than the ovary, such as a fleshy aril or sarcotesta. The grains of grasses are single-seed simple fruits wherein the pericarp and seed coat are fused into one layer. This type of fruit is called a caryopsis. Examples include cereal grains, such as wheat, barley, oats and rice. Categories of fruits Fruits are found in three main anatomical categories: aggregate fruits, multiple fruits, and simple fruits. Aggregate fruits are formed from a single compound flower and contain many ovaries or fruitlets. Examples include raspberry, raspberries and blackberry, blackberries. Multiple fruits are formed from the fused ovaries of multiple flowers or inflorescence. An example of multiple fruits are the fig, mulberry, and the pineapple. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Limpopo
Limpopo () is the northernmost Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The term Limpopo is derived from Rivombo (Livombo/Lebombo), a group of Tsonga language, Tsonga settlers led by Hosi Rivombo who settled in the mountainous vicinity and named the area after their leader. The Lebombo mountains are also named after them. The river has been called the Vhembe by local Venda communities of the area. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while the provincial legislature is situated in Lebowakgomo. The province is made up of three former Bantustan, Bantustans of Lebowa, Gazankulu and Venda and part of the former Transvaal (province), Transvaal province. The Limpopo province was established as one of nine provinces after the 1994 South African general election. The province's name was first "Northern Transvaal", later changed to "Northern Province" on 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blouberg Local Municipality
Blouberg Municipality () is a Local municipality (South Africa), local municipality within the Capricorn District Municipality, in the Limpopo province of South Africa, bordering Botswana. It takes its name from the Blouberg (range), Blouberg (literally meaning "blue mountain" in Afrikaans), a mountain range located to the west of the western end of the Soutpansberg mountain range, north west of the town of Vivo, Limpopo, Vivo. Blouberg is home to some of the most spectacular rock climbing in South Africa. The rock climbing destination is famous for its big wall natural climbing with route lengths up to 350m. The vegetation ranges from sub-tropical savanna at the base, to alpine near the summit. Demography According to the 2001 census conducted by Statistics South Africa, the population of the greater Blouberg municipality was 161,314, of whom 99.4% are African, 0.5% white, 0.1% Coloured and 0.1% Asian. Main places The South African National Census of 2001, 2001 census divided ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maize
Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native Americans planted it alongside beans and squashes in the Three Sisters polyculture. The leafy stalk of the plant gives rise to male inflorescences or tassels which produce pollen, and female inflorescences called ears. The ears yield grain, known as kernels or seeds. In modern commercial varieties, these are usually yellow or white; other varieties can be of many colors. Maize relies on humans for its propagation. Since the Columbian exchange, it has become a staple food in many parts of the world, with the total production of maize surpassing that of wheat and rice. Much maize is used for animal feed, whether as grain or as the whole plant, which can either be baled or made into the more palatable silage. Sugar-rich varieties called sw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ecology
Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely related sciences of biogeography, evolutionary biology, genetics, ethology, and natural history. Ecology is a branch of biology, and is the study of abundance (ecology), abundance, biomass (ecology), biomass, and distribution of organisms in the context of the environment. It encompasses life processes, interactions, and adaptations; movement of materials and energy through living communities; ecological succession, successional development of ecosystems; cooperation, competition, and predation within and between species; and patterns of biodiversity and its effect on ecosystem processes. Ecology has practical applications in fields such as conservation biology, wetland management, natural resource m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
