Yellow-billed Giant Honeyeater
The yellow-billed giant honeyeater (''Gymnomyza viridis''), also known as yellow-billed honeyeater, yodeling giant honeyeater, the chattering giant honeyeater, is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is endemic to Fiji. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest. It is threatened by habitat loss. It occurs on the Vanua Levu and Taveuni islands. It was considered conspecific with the giant honeyeater, although they showed both phenotypic and behavioural differences. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 found that they also differed significantly in their mitochondrial DNA sequences and suggested that ''G. v. brunneirostris'' should be promoted to the species level. The International Ornithologists' Union The International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) is an international organization for the promotion of ornithology Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), mean ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
|
Edgar Leopold Layard
Edgar Leopold Layard MBOU, (23 July 1824 – 1 January 1900) was a British diplomat and a naturalist mainly interested in ornithology and to a lesser extent the molluscs. He worked for a significant part of his life in Ceylon and later in South Africa, Fiji and New Caledonia. He studied the zoology of these places and established natural history museums in Sri Lanka and South Africa. Several species of animals are named after him. Early life and education Born in the Berti Palace, Florence, Italy, to an English family of Huguenot descent, Layard was the youngest of seven sons (two of the earlier siblings died in infancyLayard, E.L. Unpublished autobiography. MS at Blacker-Wood library, McGill University, Canada.) of Henry Peter John Layard of the Ceylon Civil Service (the son of Charles Peter Layard, dean of Bristol, and grandson of Daniel Peter Layard the physician) with his wife Marianne, a daughter of Nathaniel Austen, banker, of Ramsgate. Through her, he was part ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
|
Taveuni
Taveuni (pronounced ) is the third-largest island in Fiji, after Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, with a total land area of . The cigar-shaped island, a massive shield volcano which rises from the floor of the Pacific Ocean, is situated east of Vanua Levu, across the Somosomo Strait. It belongs to the Vanua Levu Group of islands and is part of Fiji's Cakaudrove Province within the Northern Division, Fiji, Northern Division. The island had a population of around 19,000, some 75 per cent of them Fijians, indigenous Fijians, at the 2015 census. Taveuni has abundant flora and is known as the 'Garden Island of Fiji'. It is a popular tourist destination. Tourists are attracted by the excellent diving opportunities, prolific bird life, bushwalks and waterfalls. Central parts of the island receive very high rainfall. Being volcanic in origin, Taveuni's soils have supported the island's most historically significant industry, agriculture. Geography Taveuni is located at the northern end o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
|
Birds Described In 1875
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]   [Amazon] |
|
Endemic Birds Of Fiji
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, the Cape sugarbird is found exclusively in southwestern South Africa and is therefore said to be ''endemic'' to that particular part of the world. An endemic species can also be referred to as an ''endemism'' or, in scientific literature, as an ''endemite''. Similarly, many species found in the Western ghats of India are examples of endemism. Endemism is an important concept in conservation biology for measuring biodiversity in a particular place and evaluating the risk of extinction for species. Endemism is also of interest in evolutionary biology, because it provides clues about how changes in the environment cause species to undergo range shifts (potentially expanding their range into a larger area or becomin ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
|
Gymnomyza
''Gymnomyza'' is a genus of birds, in the honeyeater family Meliphagidae, which are restricted to a few islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is .... The genus contains four species: * Crow honeyeater (''Gymnomyza aubryana'') * Mao (''Gymnomyza samoensis'') * Yellow-billed giant honeyeater (''Gymnomyza viridis'') * Duetting giant honeyeater (''Gymnomyza brunneirostris'') References External links Itis: ''Gymnomyza'' Giant forest honeyeater Bird genera Birds of the Pacific Ocean Meliphagidae Taxa named by Anton Reichenow {{meliphagidae-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
|
International Ornithologists' Union
The International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) is an international organization for the promotion of ornithology Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip .... It links basic and applied research and nurtures education and outreach activities. Specifically, the IOU organizes and funds global congresses on ornithology at regular intervals, sets up and supports commissions and committees on various aspects of avian biology and conservation, and initiates and backs other international ornithological activities with specific aims consistent with its own mission and goal. It discloses the names and professional affiliations of its members on its website to encourage international collaboration and networking. The IOU acts as the Ornithology Section of the International Union of Biologi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
|
Mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondrion, mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the DNA contained in a eukaryotic cell; most of the DNA is in the cell nucleus, and, in plants and algae, the DNA also is found in plastids, such as chloroplasts. Mitochondrial DNA is responsible for coding of 13 essential subunits of the complex oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) system which has a role in cellular energy conversion. Human mitochondrial DNA was the first significant part of the human genome to be sequenced. This sequencing revealed that human mtDNA has 16,569 base pairs and encodes 13 proteins. As in other vertebrates, the human mitochondrial genetic code differs slightly from nuclear DNA. Since animal mtDNA evolves faster than nuclear genetic markers, it represents a mainstay of phylogenetics and evolutionary biology. It als ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
|
Giant Honeyeater
The duetting giant honeyeater (''Gymnomyza brunneirostris''), formerly known as the giant honeyeater, is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is endemic to Fiji. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest. It is threatened by habitat loss. It is endemic Viti Levu island. It was formerly considered conspecific with the yellow-billed giant honeyeater. Both showed phenotypic and behavioural differences. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 found that they also differed significantly in their mitochondrial DNA sequences and suggested that ''G. v. brunneirostris'' should be promoted to the species level. The International Ornithologists' Union accepted these proposals and introduced the name "yellow-billed giant honeyeater The yellow-billed giant honeyeater (''Gymnomyza viridis''), also known as yellow-billed honeyeater, yodeling giant honeyeater, the chattering giant honeyeater, is a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
|
Vanua Levu
Vanua Levu (pronounced , , ), formerly known as Sandalwood Island, is the second largest island of Fiji. Located to the north of the larger Viti Levu, the island has an area of and a population of 135,961 . Geology Fiji lies in a tectonically complex area between the Australian plate and the Pacific plate. The Fiji Platform lies in a zone bordered with active extension fault lines around which most of the shallow earthquakes were centred. These fault lines are the Fiji Fracture Zone (FFZ) to the north, the 176° Extension Zone (176°E EZ) to the west, and the Hunter fracture zone (HFZ) and Lau Ridge to the east. Mio-Pliocene sandstones and marl grade into epiclastics and andesitic volcanics of the Suva Group. The Group forms the Korotini Tableland in the middle of the island, it includes the peaks of Seseleka (), Ndelanathau (), Nararo (), Valili (), Mariko (), Mount Nasorolevu (), Ndikeva (), and Uluingala (). The Pliocene Undu Group in the northeastern portion of th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
|
Bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight Bird skeleton, 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 Order (biology), orders. More than half are passerine or "perching" birds. Birds have Bird wing, 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 Flightless bird, loss of flight in some birds, including ratites, penguins, and diverse endemism, endemic island species. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
|
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]   [Amazon] |
|
Montane Forest
Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial factor in shaping plant community, biodiversity, metabolic processes and ecosystem dynamics for montane ecosystems. Dense montane forests are common at moderate elevations, due to moderate temperatures and high rainfall. At higher elevations, the climate is harsher, with lower temperatures and higher winds, preventing the growth of trees and causing the plant community to transition to montane grasslands and shrublands or alpine tundra. Due to the unique climate conditions of montane ecosystems, they contain increased numbers of endemic species. Montane ecosystems also exhibit variation in ecosystem services, which include carbon storage and water supply. Life zones As elevation increases, the alpine climate, climate becomes co ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |