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Blue has been chosen as the colour for this portal to emphasise that life on Earth relies on the unique chemistry of water. A photo of Darlingtonia californica, the cobra lily, was chosen as the portal icon because of this species' dependency on a humid habitat, as well as illustrating both autotrophy (in this case, photosynthesis) and carnivory. Finally, it superficially resembles young shoots, with their tips curved in, symbolising growth, a feature of all life.
Megafauna are species of large animals (Greek μεγας, large, + modern Latin fauna, animal).
Definitions of what constitutes 'large' vary, with some authors using a 40 kg minimum, others 44 kg, 100 kg, or 250 kg. In the last case, they may be further subdivided into small (250–500 kg), medium (500–1,000 kg) and large (over 1,000 kg) megafauna. Others say that any particular limit is arbitrary, and do not favour a single minimum weight.
The term is also used to refer to particular groups of large animals, both to extant species and, more often, those that have become extinct in the geologically recent Quaternary period.
Megafauna animals are generally K-strategists, with great longevity, slow population growth rates, low death rates, and few or no natural predators capable of killing adults. These characteristics make megafauna highly vulnerable to human exploitation. Some authors have argued that this reproductive capacity and ecological behaviour are more important than size alone, with some much smaller animals with very low reproductive rates showing 'megafauna' characteristics, such as all Tachyglossidae (echidnas) and Megatherioidea (two-toed sloths) above 7 kg and 6 kg respectively, having become extinct in late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions.
Stephen Jay Gould (September 10, 1941 – May 20, 2002) was a prominent American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation. Gould spent most of his career teaching at Harvard University and working at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
Gould's greatest contribution to science was his theory of punctuated equilibrium which he developed with Niles Eldredge in 1972. In T.J.M. Schopf, ed., Models in Paleobiology. San Francisco: Freeman, Cooper and Company, pp. 82-115. The theory proposes that most evolution is marked by long periods of evolutionary stability, which is later punctuated by rare instances of branching evolution. The theory was contrasted against phyletic gradualism, the popular idea that evolutionary change is marked by a pattern of smooth and continuous change in the fossil record.
Most of Gould’s empirical research was based on the land snails Poecilozonites and Cerion. He also contributed to evolutionary developmental biology, and has recieved wide praise for his book Ontogeny and Phylogeny. In evolutionary theory, he opposed strict selectionism, sociobiology as applied to humans, and evolutionary psychology. He campaigned against creationism and proposed that science and religion should be considered two distinct fields, or "magisteria," whose authority does not overlap.
Many of Gould's Natural History essays were reprinted in collected volumes, such as Ever Since Darwin and The Panda's Thumb, while his popular treatises included books such as The Mismeasure of Man, Wonderful Life and Full House.
- ...that a prokaryotic cytoskeleton has been found in prokaryote organisms by recent advances in visualization technology?
- ...that the Champawat tigress and the Tsavo lions had suffered injuries that disabled them from pursuing their natural prey, leading them to become man-eaters?
- ...that the aphid Brevicoryne brassicae has been called a "walking mustard oil bomb" due to its use of glucosinolates as a chemical defense mechanism against predators?
- ...that the 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack was the first bioterrorism attack in the United States, and one of only two confirmed terrorist uses of biological weapons to harm humans?
- ...that Florida has over 20 official state symbols, including a state soil and a state wildflower?
- ...that Adenovirus serotype 14 is an emerging virus, related to the common cold, that has recently caused 10 deaths in the United States, including at least one healthy young adult?
- ...that three out of every seventy-seven rainbow runners (pictured) have five spines rather than the normal six?
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