Tag: biodiversity
Polar Links Through Marine Census
by director on Feb.15, 2009, under Ecology, science
People who are biologically aware in the slightest have heard, since they were children, that although the Arctic and the Antarctic may have similarly cold weather, there are different sets of animals living at each pole, because of the great distance between them. Well, it turns out that’s not exactly true.
The Census of Marine Life reports that there are some species of animals that live not just near the North Pole or at the South Pole, but in both polar regions. These animals aren’t just polar migrators, such as Grey Whales and birds, but invertebrates, such as molluscs, worms and crustaceans. How could these species exist in both environments, but not in between?
Look to the Census of Marine Life project members, such as the Arctic Ocean Diversity team to propose some answers to this mystery soon.
Visit the EDGE of Evolution and Existence
by director on Jan.28, 2008, under Ecology, science
Forget all those ridiculous advertisements for sodas pops that claim to have edge. Nobody has got the edge on EDGE, a new biodiversity information resources put online by the Zoological Society of London. EDGE stands for Evolutionarily Distinct Globally Endangered, and exists at EdgeOfExistence.Org
None of the human posers you see pouting their way across your TV screen like Zoolander have anything close to the edge of the animals profiled on the EDGE website. EDGE animals are far out, both in terms of their evolutionary adaptations and in terms of being far out on a limb. They’re all in danger of extinction.
Consider the Aye Aye, the skanky lemur that issues a blood-curdling scream in the night, and uses one extremely long, kinky finger to probe for its meals. Or, how about the long-beaked echidna, a mammal that lays eggs? Would a giant salamander as long as a human being interest you?
Check it out, and then get involved, because these animals are too close to the edge for their own good. With climate change on a rampage their little niches may soon be gone forever.
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