Portal:Biology
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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 for this species' dependency on a humid habitat, as well as illustrating both autotrophy (in this case, photosynthesis) and carnivory. Finally, they superficially resemble young shoots, with their tips curved in, symbolising growth, a feature of all life.
Krill are shrimp-like marine invertebrate animals. These small crustaceans are important organisms of the zooplankton, particularly as food for baleen whales, mantas, whale sharks, crabeater seals and other seals, and a few seabird species that feed almost exclusively on them. Another name is euphausiids, after their taxonomic order Euphausiacea. The name krill comes from the Norwegian word krill meaning "young fry of fish".
Krill occur in all oceans of the world. They are considered keystone species near the bottom of the food chain because they feed on phytoplankton and to a lesser extent zooplankton, converting these into a form suitable for many larger animals for whom krill makes up the largest part of their diet. In the Southern Ocean, one species, the Antarctic Krill, Euphausia superba, makes up a biomass of hundreds of millions of tonnes, similar to the entire human consumption of animal protein. Over half of this biomass is eaten by whales, seals, penguins, squid and fish each year, and replaced by growth and reproduction. Most of the species display large daily vertical migrations making a significant amount of biomass available as food for predators near the surface at night and in deeper waters during the day.
Commercial fishing of krill is done in the Southern Ocean and in the waters around Japan. The total global production amounts to 150 – 200,000 tonnes annually, most of this from the Scotia Sea. Most krill is used for aquaculture and aquarium feeds, as bait in sport fishing, or in the pharmaceutical industry. In Japan and Russia, krill is also used for human consumption and known as okiami (オキアミ) in Japan.
After his return to continental Europe, Forster turned towards academics. From 1778 to 1784 he taught natural history at the Collegium Carolinum in Kassel and continued later at Academy of Vilna (1784-1787) until he accepted the position of head librarian at the University of Mainz in 1788. Most of his scientific work during this time consisted of essays on botany and ethnology, but he also prefaced and translated many books about travels and explorations, including a German translation of Cook's diaries.
Forster was a central figure of the Enlightenment in Germany, and corresponded with most of its adherents, including Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, who was a close friend of his. His ideas and personality influenced strongly one of the greatest German scientists of the 19th century, Alexander von Humboldt. When the French took control of Mainz in 1792, Forster became one of the founders of the Jacobin Club there and went on to play a leading role in the Mainz Republic, the earliest republican state in Germany. During July 1793 and while he was in Paris as a delegate of the young Mainz Republic, Prussian and Austrian coalition forces regained control of the city and Forster was declared an outlaw. Unable to return to Germany and separated from his friends and family, he died in Paris of illness in early 1794.
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Here are some Open Tasks :
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- ...that a Blue Whale's tongue weighs around the same as a whole elephant?
- ...that the oldest fossilised dinosaur eggs ever found, belong to Massospondylus and were found in Golden Gate Highlands National Park, South Africa in 1978, and also contain fossilized dinosaur embryos?
- ...that the Bignose Unicornfish can change colors when frightened or asleep to help camoflage itself from predators?
- ...that Polar Bears are so effective at retaining heat as to be nearly invisible in infrared light?
- ...that viruses can have either DNA or RNA as their genetic material?
- ...that the native mammal fauna of Puerto Rico consists exclusively of bats?
- ...that the family Caponiidae is unique among spiders because its members usually have two eyes?
WikiProjects connected with biology:
- Ecology
- Ecoregions
- Evolutionary biology
- History of Science
- Medicine
- Microbiology
- Molecular and Cellular Biology
- Neuroscience
- Tree of Life
See also Wikispecies, a Wikimedia project dedicated to classification of biological species.
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| Chemistry | Earth sciences | History of science | Philosophy of science | Science |
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| Biotechnology | Cetaceans | Ecology | Extinction | Fish |
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| Marine Life | Molecular and Cell Biology |
Sharks |
Applied biology
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