Penguin Facts

                                  

Who does not like the blubber filled birds called penguins! 

Interesting facts about penguins coming ahead!

1. Penguins cannot fly thus they are categorized as flightless birds.

2. Their distinct colouring of white bellies & black back & wings is thought to hide penguins from predators in the sea. It helps with the camouflage.

Why Plants Live Longer Than Animals

In a research conducted by researchers at VIB and Ghent University, the researchers learn more about how plant stem cells function differently compared to animal stems cells which allows plants to live longer than animals.

What the researchers have found is as explained by Lieven De Veylder, one of the researchers, "Our data suggest that certain organizing stem cells in plant roots are less sensitive for DNA-damage. Those cells hold an original and intact DNA copy which can be used to replace damaged cells if necessary. Animals rely on a similar mechanism but most likely plants have employed this in a more optimized manner. This could explain why many plants can live for more than hundreds of years, while this is quite exceptional for animals."

A Potentially Invasive Plant May Bring Positive Impact Towards a Region.

It is always feared that invasive species which includes plants or animals will most likely bring harm towards its unnatural habitat as its population is not able to be controlled by its natural predators/ enemies due to their absence. Thus the invasive species are able to thrive and replace the natural species of a particular area.

However a recent study published in the open access Journal of Hymenoptera Research, aimed to obtain empirical data on the activity and distribution of the bee species Braunsapis puangensis in the Suva area of Fiji and examine its association with the invasive creeping daisy Sphagneticola trilobata. The paper suggests that the invasive creeping daisy could in fact have a positive influence on a wild bee pollinator species, thus benefiting crops and biodiversity on the islands.

Endangered Animals Species You Most Likely Have Never Heard Of

Endangered Animals Species You Most Likely Have Never Heard Of

In the conservation field, animals & plant species has conservation status which states how likely the species is going to be extinct in the future. The status ranges from 'Least concern' to 'Critically endangered' and lastly and sadly 'Extinct'.

Many articles and news have covered well known iconic animal species which has a 'Vulnerable' to 'Critically endangered' status such as several species tigers, turtles, orangutan, tuna, dolphin, whales, panda, gorilla, sharks, rhinocerous and many more which most of us know how these animal species look like.

Effects of Dams and Reservoirs On The Environment

Effects of Dams and Reservoirs On The Environment

First of all, what are dams and reservoirs?

Well according to Wikipedia:

"A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees (also known as dikes) are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are often used in conjunction with dams to generate electricity. A dam can also be used to collect water or for storage of water which can be evenly distributed between locations."

What is Evolution? Explaining through interesting YouTube videos!

What is Evolution? Explaining through interesting YouTube videos!

Evolution is a biological theory of how the current species of animals present at this time originate or changed in time from their ancestry form species many million years ago.

A very common example would be how did the ancestry form of apes changed and evolved to become humans.

In the internet, tons of articles are written about evolution, some are very simplistic articles while some could go on and on about other related theories and it can be a lot of materials to digest before you could grasp a good understanding of evolution.

However here, I will not dwell much on what evolution is, but rather share several YouTube videos which are very fun to watch and easy to understand and hopefully you will enjoy it as much as I did.

List of Popular Environmental Concerns

List of Popular Environmental Concerns

It is good to know that now more and more people are getting aware about environmental issues and even started acting upon it in their effort to save their beloved environment.

Many years ago, the top environmental concerns were only global warming and anything to do with carbon foot print, but now the public are more aware about other issues such as food safety, health safety and many more which are directly related to our surroundings and environment as well.

Here are the list of top environmental concerns of the public in 2012/2013.

Threatened Species: Dugong

Dugongs are marine mammals common in tropical coasts of East Africa, through south and southeast Asia all the way to Australia. Its body shape is similar to a pregnant lady which led to the idea of the presence of mermaids in the sea. But of course, that is not true. Dugong dugon belongs to the Sirenia order and it is the remaining species in the Dugongidae family. They are herbivorous animals, mainly focusing on specific seagrass species or marine algae if seagrass are scarce, so they are usually found grazing at the seagrass beds (Gales et al. 2003; Marsh et al. 1982). Having low birth rate and late sexual maturity, their population is vulnerable to disturbances (Hines et al. 2005). Large amount of energy is spent on raising their single offspring making them a good representative of consummate K-selectors (Pianka 1970). Little is known about this marine mammal because of their sensitive and shy character, most of the time avoiding places with human activities (Hutomo & Moosa 2005).

The Environmental Impacts of Aquaculture in Southeast Asia

Aquaculture is the farming of marine and fresh water fish, shellfish and aquatic plants which can be done in a marine or freshwater environment. It is an important sector as it reduces the pressure on the wildfish population due to overfishing (Naylor et al. 2000). Currently aquaculture supplies one-third of the world seafood supplies and is expected to increase due to the high demand of fish as a main protein source (Naylor et al. 2001). In Southeast Asia, the commonly used species for aquaculture are tilapia, shrimps (Penaeus monodon), crabs (Scylla serrata) and catfish to name a few (SEAFDEC 2009). Even though aquaculture is expected to provide a net increase of the global fish production, it has several negative impacts towards the environment. In this paper, major environmental impacts will be discussed such as discharge of effluent and chemicals from farms, introduction of exotic species, spread of disease, habitat loss and dependence of fish-based fish feed. Together with these, management of the impacts which are currently used will be discussed such as the integrated coastal zone management, management of farm effluent, disease control and the use of native species and low trophic level fish.

Garbage Enzyme Pseudoscience

Taken from The Star Online

"I WISH to point out that a lot of the facts championed by the garbage enzyme movement is largely inaccurate and falls perilously into the category of pseudoscience. I feel compelled to correct some of the myths and misrepresentations.

Garbage enzyme is nothing more than vinegar produced from organic wastes. It is essentially homebrew vinegar except that starch-rich food like rice is replaced with kitchen waste. The key ingredient is the sugar that is metabolised by bacteria into alcohol which subsequently is reduced to acetic acid (vinegar).

The Effects Of Global Warming.

We know what cause it and how to prevent it but we don't really know how will it effect us. We just see people panic without understanding why are they acting that way. And we go panic too. Monkey see monkey do.

Well, here are the effects of GW ( global warming ):

Extreme weathers- the green house gasses traps the heat from the sun light causing the amount of heat in the atmoshpere of our earth to increase. Thus increasing the temperature. Not just a little bit but at some place a lot such as in the dessert. Now most of the dessert are inhabitable for humans and animals unlike before.