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Argyroxiphium Kauense
The Mauna Loa silversword, ''Argyroxiphium kauense'', or Kaʻū silversword, is a rare species of flowering plant in the Asteraceae, aster family. It is endemic to the eastern and southern slopes of Mauna Loa on the island of Hawaii (island), Hawaiʻi. ''A. kauense'' occurs in mountainous shrublands, bogs, and open mesic forest. The species is managed by the National Park Service and Hawaiʻi State Department of Forestry and Wildlife. It is a federally listed Endangered species, endangered species of the United States. There are three known populations remaining, for a total of fewer than 1000 individuals. Description The Mauna Loa silversword is a primarily monocarpic, single-stemmed Rosette (botany), rosette shrub. The shrub consists of a spherical rosette of many silvery, dagger-shaped leaves. The silver reflection seen on the leaves is caused by the dense, felty leaf hairs that help to lower the Ultraviolet, UV absorption of the plant. The leaves are long and narrow, so whe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Rock
Joseph Francis Charles Rock (1884 – 1962) was an Austrian-American botanist, explorer, geographer, linguist, ethnographer and photographer. Life Josef Franz Karl Rock was born in Vienna, Austria, the son of a steward of a Polish count. As a result of a generally unhappy childhood and his father's determination that he become a priest, Rock set off on a wandering life in late adolescence. After a few precarious years traveling around Europe, he emigrated to the United States in 1905. He eventually ended up in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1907, where he would remain for 13 years. Although Rock had no tertiary education, a fact about which he was sensitive and often dissembled, he had a remarkable capability for foreign languages; by the time he reached Hawaii he had a reasonable command of more than half a dozen, including Chinese. Hawaii (1907-1920) Initially Rock taught Latin and natural history at Mills College (now known as Mid-Pacific Institute). With little formal background ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adaptive Radiation
In evolutionary biology, adaptive radiation is a process in which organisms diversify rapidly from an ancestral species into a multitude of new forms, particularly when a change in the environment makes new resources available, alters biotic interactions or opens new environmental niches. Starting with a single ancestor, this process results in the speciation and phenotypic adaptation of an array of species exhibiting different morphological and physiological traits. The prototypical example of adaptive radiation is finch speciation on the Galapagos ("Darwin's finches"), but examples are known from around the world. Characteristics Four features can be used to identify an adaptive radiation: #A common ancestry of component species: specifically a ''recent'' ancestry. Note that this is not the same as a monophyly in which ''all'' descendants of a common ancestor are included. #A phenotype-environment correlation: a ''significant'' association between environments and the mor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Argyroxiphium
''Argyroxiphium'' is a small genus of plants in the family Asteraceae. Its members are known by the common names silversword or greensword due to their long, narrow leaves and the silvery hairs on some species. The silverswords belong to a larger radiation of over 50 species, including the physically different genera ''Dubautia'' and '' Wilkesia''. This grouping is often referred to as the silversword alliance. . Baldwin. Age and Rate of Diversification of the Hawaiian Silversword Alliance (Compositae). 1998./ref> Botanist P. H. Raven referred to this radiation as "the best example of adaptive radiation in plants". Description Species in ''Argyroxiphium'' are perennial, rosette-forming shrubs. They may consist of a single large rosette or a collection of several rosettes. In all ''Argyroxiphium'' species, long, narrow leaves contain interstitial gels hypothesized to function as water storage. For some species, leaves are covered with trichomes that provide protection from f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mouflon
The mouflon (''Ovis gmelini'') is a wild sheep native to Cyprus, the Caspian region from eastern Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran. It is thought to be the ancestor of all modern domestic sheep breeds. Taxonomy ''Ovis gmelini'' was the scientific name proposed by Edward Blyth in 1841 for wild sheep in the Middle East. In the 19th and 20th centuries, several wild sheep were described that are considered mouflon subspecies today: * ''Ovis ophion'' by Blyth in 1841 for wild sheep in Cyprus; * ''Ovis laristanica'' by Nikolai Nasonov in 1909 for wild sheep in Lar in southern Iran; * ''Ovis orientalis isphahanica'' by Nasonov in 1910 for wild sheep in the Zagros Mountains. Subspecies Five mouflon subspecies of are distinguished by MSW3: * Armenian mouflon (Armenian red sheep), ''O. g. gmelini'' : nominate subspecies; native to northwestern Iran, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. It has been introduced to Texas in the U.S. * Esfahan mouflon, ''O. g. isphahanica'' : Zagros Mountains ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cattle
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult males are referred to as bulls. Cattle are commonly raised as livestock for meat (beef or veal, see beef cattle), for milk (see dairy cattle), and for hides, which are used to make leather. They are used as riding animals and draft animals ( oxen or bullocks, which pull carts, plows and other implements). Another product of cattle is their dung, which can be used to create manure or fuel. In some regions, such as parts of India, cattle have significant religious significance. Cattle, mostly small breeds such as the Miniature Zebu, are also kept as pets. Different types of cattle are common to different geographic areas. Taurine cattle are found primarily in Europe and temperate areas of Asia, the Americas, and Australia. Zeb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endangered Species Act Of 1973
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA or "The Act"; 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq.) is the primary law in the United States for protecting imperiled species. Designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of economic growth and development untempered by adequate concern and conservation", the ESA was signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 28, 1973. The Supreme Court of the United States described it as "the most comprehensive legislation for the preservation of endangered species enacted by any nation"."Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill" 437 U.S. 153 (1978) Retrieved 24 November 2015. The purposes of the ESA are two-fold: to prevent extinction and to recover species to the point where the law's protections are not needed. It therefor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sphagnum
''Sphagnum'' is a genus of approximately 380 accepted species of mosses, commonly known as sphagnum moss, peat moss, also bog moss and quacker moss (although that term is also sometimes used for peat). Accumulations of ''Sphagnum'' can store water, since both living and dead plants can hold large quantities of water inside their cells; plants may hold 16 to 26 times as much water as their dry weight, depending on the species.Bold, H. C. 1967. Morphology of Plants. second ed. Harper and Row, New York. p. 225-229. The empty cells help retain water in drier conditions. As sphagnum moss grows, it can slowly spread into drier conditions, forming larger mires, both raised bogs and blanket bogs. Thus, sphagnum can influence the composition of such habitats, with some describing sphagnum as 'habitat manipulators'. These peat accumulations then provide habitat for a wide array of peatland plants, including sedges and ericaceous shrubs, as well as orchids and carnivorous plants.Keddy, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Argentine Ant
The Argentine ant (''Linepithema humile''), formerly ''Iridomyrmex humilis'', is an ant native to northern Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and southern Brazil. It is an invasive species that has been established in many Mediterranean climate areas, inadvertently introduced by humans to many places, including South Africa, New Zealand, Japan, Easter Island, Australia, Europe, Hawaii, and the continental United States. Description The worker ants are long and can easily squeeze through cracks and holes as small as in size. Queens are long, much smaller than other species of ants. These ants will set up quarters in the ground, in cracks in concrete walls, in spaces between boards and timbers, even among belongings in human dwellings. In natural areas, they generally nest shallowly in loose leaf litter or beneath small stones, due to their poor ability to dig deeper nests. However, if a deeper nesting ant species abandons their nest, Argentine ant colonies wil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metrosideros Polymorpha
''Metrosideros polymorpha'', the ''ōhia lehua'', is a species of flowering evergreen tree in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, that is endemic to the six largest islands of Hawaii. It is a highly variable tree, being tall in favorable situations, and a much smaller prostrate shrub when growing in boggy soils or directly on basalt. It produces a brilliant display of flowers, made up of a mass of stamens, which can range from fiery red to yellow. Many native Hawaiian traditions refer to the tree and the forests it forms as sacred to Pele, the volcano goddess, and to Laka, the goddess of hula. Ōhia trees grow easily on lava, and are usually the first plants to grow on new lava flows. It is a common misconception that the word ''ōhia'' is used to refer to the tree and that the word ''lehua'' refers only to its flowers. ''The Hawaiian Dictionary'' (Pukui and Elbert 1986: 199) defines ''lehua'' with these words: "The flower of the ''ōhia'' tree... ''also the tree itself'' mphas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Volcanic Ash
Volcanic ash consists of fragments of rock, mineral crystals, and volcanic glass, created during volcanic eruptions and measuring less than 2 mm (0.079 inches) in diameter. The term volcanic ash is also often loosely used to refer to all explosive eruption products (correctly referred to as '' tephra''), including particles larger than 2 mm. Volcanic ash is formed during explosive volcanic eruptions when dissolved gases in magma expand and escape violently into the atmosphere. The force of the gases shatters the magma and propels it into the atmosphere where it solidifies into fragments of volcanic rock and glass. Ash is also produced when magma comes into contact with water during phreatomagmatic eruptions, causing the water to explosively flash to steam leading to shattering of magma. Once in the air, ash is transported by wind up to thousands of kilometres away. Due to its wide dispersal, ash can have a number of impacts on society, including animal and h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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