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Field Vole
The short-tailed field vole, short-tailed vole, or simply field vole (''Microtus agrestis'') is a grey-brown vole, around 10 cm in length, with a short tail. It is one of the most common mammals in Europe, with a range extending from the Atlantic coast to Lake Baikal. These voles are found in moist grassy habitats, such as woodland, marsh or on river banks. Although they make shallow burrows, they usually build nests above ground. They are an important food source for owls and some other predators and their population size tends to peak and trough cyclically. Field voles breed prolifically, mainly in summer, but often all year round, even under snow. Females produce up to seven litters a year, each averaging from four to six young which are weaned after about fourteen days. The short-tailed field vole is both widespread and common and is listed as being of "Least Concern" by the IUCN. Description The short-tailed field vole is a small, dark brown rodent with a short tail, di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming organisms. He is known as the "father of modern Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy". Many of his writings were in Latin; his name is rendered in Latin as and, after his 1761 ennoblement, as . Linnaeus was the son of a curate and was born in Råshult, in the countryside of Småland, southern Sweden. He received most of his higher education at Uppsala University and began giving lectures in botany there in 1730. He lived abroad between 1735 and 1738, where he studied and also published the first edition of his ' in the Netherlands. He then returned to Sweden where he became professor of medicine and botany at Uppsala. In the 1740s, he was sent on several journeys through Sweden to find and classify plants and animals. In the 1750s and 1760s, he co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Festuca Rubra
''Festuca rubra'' is a species of grass known by the common name red fescue, creeping red fescue or the rush-leaf fescue. It is widespread across much of the Northern Hemisphere and can tolerate many habitats and climates. It is best adapted to well-drained soils in cool, temperate climates; it prefers shadier areas and is often planted for its shade tolerance. Wild animals browse it, but it has not been important for domestic forage due to low productivity and palatability. It is also an ornamental plant for gardens. Description ''Festuca rubra'' is perennial and has sub-species that have rhizomes and/or form bunchgrass tufts. It mainly exists in neutral and acidic soils. It can grow between 2 and 20 cm tall. Like all fescues, the leaves are narrow and needle like, making it less palatable to livestock. The swards that it forms are not as tufted as sheep's fescue (''Festuca ovina'') or wavy hair grass ('' Deschampsia flexuosa''). The tufted nature is what gives the grass ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red List Of Threatened Species
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological species. A series of Regional Red Lists, which assess the risk of extinction to species within a political management unit, are also produced by countries and organizations. The goals of the Red List are to provide scientifically based information on the status of species and subspecies at a global level, to draw attention to the magnitude and importance of threatened biodiversity, to influence national and international policy and decision-making, and to provide information to guide actions to conserve biological diversity. Major species assessors include BirdLife International, the Institute of Zoology (the research division of the Zoological Society of London), the World Conservation Monitoring Centre, and many Specialist Groups within t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scramble Competition
In ecology, scramble competition (or complete symmetric competition or exploitation competition) refers to a situation in which a resource is accessible to all competitors (that is, it is not monopolizable by an individual or group). However, since the particular resource is usually finite, scramble competition may lead to decreased survival rates for all competitors if the resource is used to its carrying capacity. Scramble competition is also defined as " finite resource hatis shared equally amongst the competitors so that the quantity of food per individual declines with increasing population density".Den Berg, V., Rossing, W., and Grasman, J. (2006). "Contest and Scramble Competition and the Carry-Over Effect in Globodera spp. In Potato-Based Crop Rotations Using an Extended Ricker Model". Journal of Nematology, 38(2):210-220. A further description of scramble competition is "competition for a resource that is inadequate for the needs of all, but which is partitioned equally a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Territory (biology)
In ethology, territory is the sociographical area that an animal consistently defends against conspecific competition (or, occasionally, against animals of other species) using agonistic behaviors or (less commonly) real physical aggression. Animals that actively defend territories in this way are referred to as being territorial or displaying territorialism. Territoriality is only shown by a minority of species. More commonly, an individual or a group of animals occupies an area that it habitually uses but does not necessarily defend; this is called its home range. The home ranges of different groups of animals often overlap, and in these overlap areas the groups tend to avoid each other rather than seeking to confront and expel each other. Within the home range there may be a ''core area'' that no other individual group uses, but, again, this is as a result of avoidance. Function The ultimate function of animals inhabiting and defending a territory is to increase the indiv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birth
Birth is the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring, also referred to in technical contexts as parturition. In mammals, the process is initiated by hormones which cause the muscular walls of the uterus to contract, expelling the fetus at a developmental stage when it is ready to feed and breathe. In some species, the offspring is precocial and can move around almost immediately after birth but in others, it is altricial and completely dependent on parenting. In marsupials, the fetus is born at a very immature stage after a short gestation and develops further in its mother's womb Pouch (marsupial), pouch. It is not only mammals that give birth. Some reptiles, amphibians, fish and invertebrates carry their developing young inside them. Some of these are Ovoviviparity, ovoviviparous, with the eggs being hatched inside the mother's body, and others are Viviparity, viviparous, with the embryo developing inside their body, as in the case of mammals. Human childbirth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Induced Ovulator
Induced ovulation occurs in some animal species that do not ovulate cyclically or spontaneously. Ovulation can be induced by externally-derived stimuli during or before mating, such as sperm, pheromones, or mechanical stimulation during copulation. Ovulation occurs at the ovary surface and is described as the process in which an oocyte (female germ cell) is released from the follicle. Ovulation is a non-deleterious 'inflammatory response' which is initiated by a luteinizing hormone (LH) surge. The mechanism of ovulation varies between species. In humans the ovulation process occurs around day 14 of the menstrual cycle, this can also be referred to as 'cyclical spontaneous ovulation'. However the monthly menstruation process is typically linked to humans and primates, all other animal species ovulate by various other mechanisms. Spontaneous ovulation is the ovulatory process in which the maturing ovarian follicles secrete ovarian steroids to generate pulsatile GnRH (the neuropep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Better Planet Education
Better Planet Education (formerly the Young People's Trust for the Environment) is a British charity, founded in 1982 to encourage young people's understanding of the environment. The charity's main goal is to give young people a real awareness of environmental issues such as climate change, pollution, deforestation, endangered flora and fauna, and sustainable development. Activity Better Planet Education offers free learning resources via their website to assist teachers in educating young people about the environment and sustainability. Better Planet Education provide free school talks to schools on environmental issues. The trust has given various Parliamentary Receptions at the House of Commons in London, providing the opportunity for Members of Parliament to meet young people involved in the trust's work. In 2011 the trust launched the ‘Roots to Green Living’ campaign. The scheme provided eight schools in the Bristol/Bath and NE Somerset area with regular support from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Barn Owl
The western barn owl (''Tyto alba'') is a species of Tyto, barn owl ''Tyto'' native to Europe, southwestern Asia, and Africa. It was formerly considered a subspecies group together with barn owls native to other parts of the world, but this classification was found to be paraphyletic with respect to some other members of the genus. The plumage on the head and back is a mottled shade of grey or brown; that on the underparts varies from white to brown and is sometimes speckled with dark markings. The facial disc is characteristically large and heart-shaped, with white plumage in most subspecies. This owl does not hoot, but utters an eerie, drawn-out screech. The western barn owl is nocturnal over most of its range, but in Great Britain, it also hunts by day. Barn owls specialise in hunting animals on the ground, and nearly all of their food consists of small mammals, which they locate by sound, their hearing being very acute. The owls usually mate for life unless one of the pair i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chamerion Angustifolium
''Chamaenerion angustifolium'' is a perennial herbaceous flowering plant in the willowherb family, Onagraceae. It is known in North America as fireweed and in Britain and Ireland as rosebay willowherb. It is also known by the synonyms ''Chamerion angustifolium'' and ''Epilobium angustifolium''. It is native throughout the temperate Northern Hemisphere, including large parts of the boreal forests. Description The reddish stems of this herbaceous perennial are usually simple, erect, smooth, high with scattered alternate leaves. The leaves are spirally arranged, entire, narrowly lanceolate, and pinnately veined, the secondary leaf veins anastomosing, joining together to form a continuous marginal vein just inside the leaf margins. The inflorescence is a symmetrical terminal raceme that blooms progressively from bottom to top, producing a gracefully tapered shape. The flowers are in diameter, slightly asymmetrical, with four magenta to pink petals and four narrower pink sepal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deschampsia Cespitosa
''Deschampsia'' is a genus of plants in the grass family Poaceae, commonly known as hair grass or tussock grass. The genus is widespread across many countries.Palisot de Beauvois, Ambroise Marie François Joseph. 1812. Essai d'une Nouvelle Agrostographie 91 descriptions in Latin, etymology explained in French The genus is named for French physician and naturalist Louis Auguste Deschamps (1765–1842). ''Deschampsia'' species are used as food plants by the e of some species of |
Ranunculus
''Ranunculus'' is a large genus of about 1750 species of flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae. Members of the genus are known as buttercups, spearworts and water crowfoots. The genus is distributed worldwide, primarily in temperate and montane regions. The familiar and widespread buttercup of gardens throughout Northern Europe (and introduced elsewhere) is the creeping buttercup '' Ranunculus repens'', which has extremely tough and tenacious roots. Two other species are also widespread, the bulbous buttercup '' Ranunculus bulbosus'' and the much taller meadow buttercup '' Ranunculus acris''. In ornamental gardens, all three are often regarded as weeds. Buttercups usually flower in the spring, but flowers may be found throughout the summer, especially where the plants are growing as opportunistic colonizers, as in the case of garden weeds. The water crowfoots (''Ranunculus'' subgenus ''Batrachium''), which grow in still or running water, are sometimes treated in a sep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
