How well will you score on the UK test
Monday, 7 May 2007
The Sea Shore
A site to help interpret and understand the seashore and its organisms
Salt Marshes A marsh is somewhere damp with vegetation on it. A salt marsh is a muddy seashore with plants on it.
Sand Dunes and Shingle Communities Sand dunes are accumulations of sand stabilised by vegetation.
Link to The Sea Shore
China warns of population growth
China's top family planning body has warned of a "population rebound" as couples flout one child policy rules.
The widening wealth gap could lead to a rise in birth rates, Zhang Weiqing, from the National Population and Family Planning Commission, told state media.
Link to BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | China warns of population growth
Sunday, 6 May 2007
Saturday, 5 May 2007
Google Maps
Many thanks to Noel Jenkins who enabled me to do this. The link is to his site, and the instructions can be found at "Embedding Google My Maps"
Click on the map and investigate
Friday, 4 May 2007
Thursday, 3 May 2007
Bryophytes et al
Bryophytes Link to BBS > Home
Lichens LINK
Rotifers LINK
Tardigrades (water bears) LINK
Nematodes (round worms) LINK
Mites and Springtails LINK
Antarctic Bestiary Terrestrial Animals Living on the ground of the Antarctic Peninsula presents some extreme challenges to organisms, including:
- Highly variable, extreme temperatures, from -30°F to 50°F air temperature, with summer surface temperatures of rocks and moss reaching 70°F.
- Extremely high winds.
- A very short growing season (period when temperatures allow plant growth).
- Wide swings in pH, from 3 (very acidic) to 12 (very basic), partly caused by...
- Immersion in penguin guano (waste) from nesting Adélie penguin colonies in the summer.
- Immersion in both freshwater (from melting glaciers and snow and rain) and saltwater (from waves splashing on the land).
- Dehydration from exposure to very dry air in the winter.
- Exposure to intense UV rays. The protective ozone layer is naturally thinner here, and there is a hole in it (probably caused by human pollution) that opens up in the winter.
- Lack of oxygen, due to being encased in ice for long periods, as well as being immersed in penguin guano filled with oxygen-using microbes.
Antarctic Treaty meeting moves to protect frozen continent from non-native species
Important new measures to protect Antarctica * the world's last great wilderness * from invasive non-native species have been agreed at a meeting of Antarctic experts in Edinburgh.
Scientists and policy makers at the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting, which finished at Edinburgh International Conference Centre on Friday 23 June, agreed new measures that will reduce the risk of non-native species being introduced into both marine and terrestrial ecosystems in Antarctica.
To protect the marine environment, the meeting adopted new practical guidelines for ballast water exchange by ships operating in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica. Under the new guidelines drawn up by the UK, vessels will need to exchange any ballast water before arriving in Antarctic waters, and plan for and keep records of all ballast water operations.
According to Dr John Shears of British Antarctic Survey, "In the past, Antarctica was isolated with a very harsh and cold environment, which made it very difficult for non-native species to establish. However, more and more people are travelling to the continent, most of them on ships. Evidence from other parts of the world has shown that there is a direct link between numbers of people visiting a remote area and the numbers of non-native species that survive. Once established, they can be very difficult to eradicate. Prevention is better than cure."
Concerned that a rapidly changing and warming climate on the Antarctic Peninsula could increase the risk of non-native species establishing themselves on the continent itself, the meeting also backed a series of recommendations made by New Zealand. These include development of a code of conduct for land-based activities - a set of minimum standards that all visitors, including tourists and scientists, would have to follow. Scientists called for more research into the issue. Dr Shears said that scientists need to identify which areas of Antarctica are most vulnerable and better understand the potential implications of climate change on the spread of non-native species.
Dr Shears says, "Antarctica's remoteness and isolation offer science a unique opportunity to understand our world. Part of Antarctica's value as a natural laboratory lies in the fact that its communities of animals and plants consist of only a few species living in simple relationships. This makes the Antarctic a perfect place to study how ecosystems work. The inadvertent introduction of non-native species into Antarctica could put this in jeopardy, and has the potential to change the continent's biodiversity forever."
Power station harnesses Sun's rays
There is a scene in one of the Austin Powers films where Dr Evil unleashes a giant "tractor beam" of energy at Earth in order to extract a massive payment.
Well, the memory of it kept me chuckling as I toured the extraordinary scene of the new solar thermal power plant outside Seville in southern Spain.
Link to BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Power station harnesses Sun's rays
Wednesday, 2 May 2007
Southern Ocean Water
Schematic depth-latitude diagram showing the major circulation and water masses of the Southern Ocean. The following water masses are highlighted: (1) Antarctic Bottom Water flowing along the abyssal ocean, (2) Circumpolar Deep Water upwelling into the Antarctic Divergence Zone, (3) Antarctic Intermediate Water in the temperature range 4-6°C, and (4) Subantarctic Mode Water in the upper ocean north of the Subantarctic Front (SAF).
Antarctic Ocean
The Antarctic Ocean, sometimes called the Southern Ocean, is the watery belt surrounding Antarctica. It includes the great polar embayments of the Weddell Sea and Ross Sea, and the deep circumpolar belt of ocean between 50 and 60°S and the southern fringes of the warmer oceans to the north. Its northern boundary is often taken as 30°S (see illustration). The Antarctic is a cold ocean, covered by sea ice during the winter from Antarctica's coast northward to approximately 60°S.
Source: Antarctic Ocean: Definition and Much More from Answers.com
NASA study links El Nino and southern ocean changes
NASA researchers have found strong relationships between El Nino episodes and changes in climate and sea ice cover around Antarctica. Identifying these relationships is important because it provides new insights into the changing characteristics of the Antarctic region and their role in Earth's climate system.
Source: Spaceflight Now | Breaking News | NASA study links El Nino and southern ocean changes
Rothera Research Station
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