|
Oberländer's Ground Thrush
Oberländer's ground thrush (''Geokichla oberlaenderi''), also known as the forest ground-thrush, is a species of bird in the thrush family, Turdidae. It is found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. Taxonomy This species was described as ''Geocichla gurneyi oberlaenderi'' by Sassi in 1914 as a race of the orange ground thrush and later as a population of the Abyssinian ground thrush. It is monotypic. The species is named after Philipp von Oberländer who funded the expedition of the collector Rudolf Grauer. Distribution and habitat There have been records of the species in the Ituri Forest, the Semliki Valley and the Itombwe Mountains in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Bwamba Forest and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda, but it may have become locally extinct in some areas. In Uganda, the species is only known to still exist in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. The size of its range is estimated at . Its habitat is riparian forests at elevat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moritz Sassi
Moriz Sassi or Moritz Sassi (13 June 1880 – 25 September 1967) was an Austrian ornithologist who worked at the Natural History Museum in Vienna. In 1933 he was made a government councilor and given the title of ''hofrat''. Life and work Sassi was born in Vienna to Eugen and Ida who owned the Schwindgasse palace in Vienna and Villa Sassi in northern Italy. Sassi went to school at Hegelgasse and volunteered with the Dragoons. He then studied zoology at the University of Vienna under Karl Grobben and Berthold Hatschek writing a dissertation on the anatomy of ''Anomia ephippium'' for which he received a doctorate in 1903. He then followed an interest in art. In 1905 he joined an expedition into Anglo-Egyptian Sudan led by Franz Werner and collected numerous specimens of birds and mammals, and describing several as new to science including ''Procavia slatini'' (now merely a synonym for the rock hyrax) dedicated to his friend Rudolf Slatin. In 1908 he joined the Natural History Mus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bwamba Forest
Semuliki National Park is a national park in Bwamba County, a remote part of the Bundibugyo District in the Western Region of Uganda that was established in October 1993. It encompasses of East Africa's only lowland tropical rainforest. It is one of the richest areas of floral and faunal biodiversity in Africa, with bird and butterfly species being especially diverse. The park is managed by the Uganda Wildlife Authority. Location Semuliki National Park lies on Uganda's border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Rwenzori Mountains are to the south-east of the park, while Lake Albert is to the park's north. The park lies within the Albertine Rift, the western arm of the East African Rift. The park is located on a flat to gently undulating landform that ranges from above sea level. The park experiences an average rainfall of , with peaks in rainfall from March to May and from September to December. Many areas of the park experience flooding during the wet season. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birds Of Central Africa
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the bee hummingbird to the common ostrich. There are over 11,000 living species and they are split into 44 orders. More than half are passerine or "perching" birds. Birds have wings whose development varies according to species; the only known groups without wings are the extinct moa and elephant birds. Wings, which are modified forelimbs, gave birds the ability to fly, although further evolution has led to the loss of flight in some birds, including ratites, penguins, and diverse endemic island 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 furth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geokichla
The ''Geokichla'' thrushes are medium-sized mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the thrush (bird), thrush family, Turdidae. They were traditionally listed in the ''Zoothera'', but molecular phylogenetic studies published in 2008 led to their placement in a separate genus. Taxonomy The genus ''Geokichla'' was introduced in 1836 by the German naturalist Salomon Müller with ''Turdus citrinus'' John Latham (ornithologist), Latham, 1790, the orange-headed thrush, as the type species. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek ''geō-'' meaning "ground-" with ''kikhlē'' meaning "thrush. These species were formerly placed in the genus ''Zoothera''. Molecular phylogenetic analysis by Gary Voelker and collaborators published in 2008 found that ''Zoothera'' was polyphyletic. To create monophyletic genera 21 species were moved from ''Zoothera'' to the resurrected genus ''Geokichla''. List of species The genus contains the following 21 species: * Siberian thrush, ''Geokichla sibiri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Near Threatened
A near-threatened species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as that may be vulnerable to Endangered species, endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify for the threatened status. The IUCN notes the importance of reevaluating near-threatened taxon, taxa at appropriate intervals. The rationale used for near-threatened taxa usually includes the criteria of Vulnerable species, vulnerable which are plausible or nearly met, such as reduction in numbers or range. Those designated since 2001 that depend on conservation efforts to not become threatened are no longer separately considered conservation-dependent species. IUCN Categories and Criteria version 2.3 Before 2001, the IUCN used the version 2.3 Categories and Criteria to assign conservation status, which included a separate category for conservation-dependent species ("Conservation Dependen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
IUCN Red List
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 w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deforestation
Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. About 31% of Earth's land surface is covered by forests at present. This is one-third less than the forest cover before the expansion of agriculture, with half of that loss occurring in the last century. Between 15 million to 18 million hectares of forest, an area the size of Bangladesh, are destroyed every year. On average 2,400 trees are cut down each minute. Estimates vary widely as to the extent of deforestation in the tropics. In 2019, nearly a third of the overall tree cover loss, or 3.8 million hectares, occurred within humid tropical primary forests. These are areas of mature rainforest that are especially important for biodiversity and carbon storage. The direct cause of most deforestation is agriculture by far. More than ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Forest Degradation
Forest degradation is a process in which the biological wealth of a forest area is permanently diminished by some factor or by a combination of factors. "This does not involve a reduction of the forest area, but rather a quality decrease in its condition." The forest is still there, but with fewer trees, or fewer species of trees, plants or animals, or some of them affected by plagues. This degradation makes the forest less valuable and may lead to deforestation. Forest degradation is a type of the more general issue of land degradation. Deforestation and forest degradation continue to take place at alarming rates, which contributes significantly to the ongoing Biodiversity loss, loss of biodiversity. Interpretations of the term Deforestation is much worse than forest degradation, but it is clear and visible. On the contrary, forest degradation may start and go on without showing clear effects. It is difficult to measure and even the very term is controversial. In a paper submi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Habitat Loss
Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease in biodiversity and Abundance (ecology), species numbers. Habitat destruction is in fact the leading cause of biodiversity loss and species extinction worldwide. Humans contribute to habitat destruction through the Exploitation of natural resources, use of natural resources, agriculture, industrial production and urbanization (urban sprawl). Other activities include mining, logging and trawling. Environmental factors can contribute to habitat destruction more indirectly. Geological processes, climate change, introduced species, introduction of invasive species, ecosystem nutrient depletion, water pollution, water and noise pollution are some examples. Loss of habitat can be preceded by an initial habitat fragmentation. Fragmentation and lo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liverworts
Liverworts are a group of non-vascular plant, non-vascular embryophyte, land plants forming the division Marchantiophyta (). They may also be referred to as hepatics. Like mosses and hornworts, they have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry only a single set of genetic information. The division name was derived from the genus name ''Marchantia'', named after his father by French botanist Jean Marchant. It is estimated that there are about 9000 species of liverworts. Some of the more familiar species grow as a flattened leafless thallus, but most species are leafy with a form very much like a flattened moss. Leafy species can be distinguished from the apparently similar mosses on the basis of a number of features, including their single-celled rhizoids. Leafy liverworts also differ from most (but not all) mosses in that their leaves never have a costa (botany), costa (present in many mosses) and may bear marginal cilia (botany), cilia (very rare i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
The Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is a national park in southwestern Uganda. It is part of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and is situated along the Democratic Republic of the Congo border next to the Virunga National Park and on the edge of the Albertine Rift. Composed of of both lowland and montane forest, it is accessible only on foot. It is a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization-designated World Heritage Site. Species diversity is a feature of the park. It provides habitat for 120 species of mammals, 350 species of birds, 310 species of butterflies, 27 species of frogs, chameleons, geckos, and many endangered species. Floristically, the park is among the most diverse forests in East Africa, with more than 1,000 flowering plant species, including 200 species of trees and 104 species of ferns. The northern (low elevation) sector has many species of Guineo-Congolian flora, including two endangered species, the brown mahogany and '' Brazzeia longi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Locally Extinct
Local extinction, also extirpation, is the termination of a species (or other taxon) in a chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinctions. Local extinctions mark a change in the ecology of an area. It has sometimes been followed by a replacement of the species taken from other locations, such as with wolf reintroduction. Discussion Glaciation is one factor that leads to local extinction. This was the case during the Pleistocene glaciation event in North America. During this period, most of the native North American species of earthworm were killed in places covered by glaciation. This left them open for colonization by European earthworms brought over in soil from Europe. Species naturally become extinct from islands over time; this can be either local extinction if the species also occurs elsewhere, or in cases of island endemism, outright extinction. The number of species an island can support is l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
