Ecosystems
View allAll Photos Tagged ECOSYSTEMS
More and more wanted in our fragile Ecosystem.
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Dear friends,
unfortunately, I didn't have much time for Flickr lately.
...My thoughts and wishes go to the people in regions hit by a horrible heatwave lately ( North America) and the regions in my country (North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate),
parts of Benelux Union, Denmark and Austria ,
hit by a devastating flood disaster some days ago..Fingers crossed.
From tomorrow on, I will be away now for about 10 days.
Many thanks for your kind visits and comments.
Looking forward to watch your lovely images after may return.
Wishing you a safe and happy weekend.
__________
Ein Traum von einer Wildblumenwiese
Mehr und mehr gewünscht und praktiziert für unser fragiles Ökosystem.
Liebe Flickr Freunde,
Meine Gedanken und mein Mitgefühl gehen zu den Menschen ,
die kürzlich von einer extremen Hitzewelle (Nordamerika) heimgesucht wurden und den Opfern und ihren Angehörigen in den Gegenden von Deutschland (Nordrhein-Westfalen und Rheinland-Pfalz), Teilen der Benelux-Staaten und Österreich, die von einer fürchterlichen Flutkatastrophe überrascht wurden. Viele stehen schlichtweg vor dem Nichts...
Leider hatte ich kürzlich wenig Zeit für Flickr und werde nun ab heute für ca. 10 Tage abwesend sein.
Ich freue mich auf Eure neuen Bilder nach meiner Rückkehr.
Danke für Euern Besuch und Eure Kommentare.
Auf bald.
•*¨*•♫♪¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪¸¸.•*¨*¨*•.•*¨*•♫♪•*¨*•♫♪¸¸•♫♪•*¨*•♫♪¸¸*¨**
A rainforest is an area of tall, mostly evergreen trees and a high amount of rainfall. Rainforests are Earth’s oldest living ecosystems, with some surviving in their present form for at least 70 million years. They are incredibly diverse and complex, home to more than half of the world’s plant and animal species—even though they cover just 6% of Earth’s surface. This makes rainforests astoundingly dense with flora and fauna. Rainforests’ rich biodiversity is incredibly important to our well-being and the well-being of our planet.
Tessin
My best photos are here: www.lacerta-bilineata.com/ticino-best-photos-of-southern-...
Whole PHOTO SERIES about my garden on my blog: www.lacerta-bilineata.com/post/western-green-lizard-lacer...
My latest ANIMAL VIDEO (warning, it's a bit shocking): www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T2-Xszz7FI
AUDIO (if you want to hear the sounds of my garden in the early morning): www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfoCTqdAVCE
ABOUT THIS PHOTO:
Partly out of fear to bore the Flickr community with too many lizard photos, I thought it would make for a nice change - yet in keeping with the main theme of my gallery - to give interested nature and reptile fans the opportunity to get a sense of the lacerta bilineata habitat where I photographed all the animals on this page.
So this is the second of a (as yet planned) series of pictures (if people like them there will be more) that will show you where all the reptile "action" took place: my garden in the beautiful community of Monteggio in the Malcantone region of the Ticino, Switzerland.
The pictures were taken over a period of over a decade, so there were obviously some changes in the garden during that time, but If you focus on the palm tree - which has grown considerably over the years but is visible in all the photos I plan to upload - you get a sense of the geography of the place.
In summer, which is when this photo was taken, the micro-climate in this particular area of the Ticino can be almost tropical in the sense that it's hot and very humid with frequent thunderstorms and heavy rain, and I often refer to my garden (half-)jokingly as my "little Swiss rainforest". I guess you can see how animals - particularly lacerta bilineata and other lizards - would feel at home in this "tropical paradise" of mine :-)
Apparently - as I learned in the comments here on Flickr - the occurrence of this particular lizard species is a very good indicator that an ecosystem is intact, and my family and I always took great care not to interfere too much in our garden and let nature roam as free as possible.
In return, over the years we were rewarded for this "calculated inaction" with a wide variety of species of plants, insects, lizards and snakes visiting - or by now residing permanently in - our little nature refuge, some of which I managed to capture on camera.
As mentioned before, if people like these photos or are interested in other flora and fauna from my private jungle, I'll upload one every once in a while between lizards, so let me know in the comments if you're interested in seeing more of these or if I should stick to just reptiles ;-)
As always, thank you so much for your interest and feedback, stay safe - and have a great week everyone!
Lacerta
Music:
"Repeat" by CHRIS COMBETTE, in 'Les Enfants de Gorée' (2010)
open.spotify.com/track/5ErThqPZNKTeyITR3fYNL9?si=hRygwwzP...
Standing 18 metres (59 feet) tall and 200 metres (656 feet) long, the walkway affords a stunning bird’s eye view across the Gardens as well as offering an opportunity to experience the ecosystem of the forest canopy.
Designed by the team behind the London Eye, the construction has been deliberately aged and weathered to blend with its surroundings and to ensure that it enhances the landscape rather than detracting from it. As result, the supporting steel columns with their rust colours take on the form of the surrounding tree trunks.
The walkway itself is designed to move slightly in the wind, so visitors will experience a certain amount of ‘bounce’ as they immerse themselves in the foliage of chestnut, beech and oak trees of different species. Visit in early spring or late autumn and your views are unimpeded by foliage.
There are 118 steps to the walkway’s platform and a lift is available for the visitors who are unable to use stairs easily, or for customers in wheelchairs. Buggies or strollers are not permitted on the walkway so must be left in the designated area on the ground.
Opened in 2008, The Treetop Walkway is one of Kew’s most popular attractions, especially with our younger visitors and families.
female of this beautiful and peculiar eagle species in Mara North Conservancy, Kenya
IUCN Red List Status: Endangered
The Bateleur is a mid-sized African eagle with long wings and a very short tail. It lives in partially open savanna country and woodland within Sub-Saharan Africa. The adults have spectacular colors but the juveniles have a quite uniform brown colors. It may take up to 8 years before the birds have the full adult plumage.
Bateleur is the French word for "tightrope-walker", this aptly describes its distinctive, erratic and unstable manner of flying; the rocking flight motion very much mimics the side-to-side movement of a tight rope walker maintaining his balance. The species also demonstrates some spectacular aerial displays, particularly during courtship.
They prey on mammals (often rodents), birds and reptiles. While looking for food they stay up in the air for up to 8 hours and cover huge distances. Carrion is also a part of their diet, especially for juvenile and immature birds. Many carcasses are often first detected by a Bateleur ( or a Tawny Eagle ) well before the vultures arrive
Terathopius ecaudatus
bateleur
Bateleur des savanes
Gaukler
Águila Volatinera
Falco giocoliere
águia-bailarina
Many thanks for your views, favorites and supportive comments.
All rights reserved. Fons Buts©2024
My photos may not be used on websites, blogs or in any other media without my written and explicit permission
a pair found in Enonkishu Conservancy in the Greater Masai Mara ecosystem, Kenya
IUCN Red List Status: ENDANGERED with population trend
updated in 2024 as Decreasing
also Grey Crowned-Crane
Balearica regulorum
Grijze kroonkraanvogel
Grue royale
Grauhals-Kronenkranich
Grulla Coronada Cuelligrís
Gru coronata grigia
grou-coroado-cinzento
Many thanks for your views, favorites and supportive comments.
All rights reserved. Fons Buts©2024
My photos may not be used on websites, blogs or in any other media without my written and explicit permission
White-fronted Bee-eaters in Enonkishu Conservancy in the Greater Masai Mara ecosystem, Kenya
Merops bullockoides
Witkapbijeneter
Guêpier à front blanc
Weißstirnspint
Abejaruco Frentiblanco
Gruccione frontebianca
abelharuco-de-testa-branca
Many thanks for your views, favorites and supportive comments.
All rights reserved.
Fons Buts©2025
My photos may not be used on websites, blogs or in any other media without my written and explicit permission.
Erythrina Mulungu and its "customers"
July and August are months rich in beauty and color here.
Crossing the mountains that separate Rio de Janeiro from São Paulo, with a halfway detour to Minas Gerais, this is the time when the green is punctuated by many trees with red flowers, others in coral tones.
Erythrina mulungu, known by the common names of Murungu, Mulungu-coral, is an endemic tree in Brazil, found in several national ecosystem including the Amazon and Atlantic Forest.
The species is used as an ornamental tree in tropical and subtropical regions and as a medicinal plant in traditional South American medicine, especially in Brazil. The tree is 10 to 25 m tall, blooms from mid-August with the tree completely leafless, lasting until the end of September. Its flowers are much sought after by hummingbirds and other birds to suck their nectar.
The fruits ripen in October-November with the plant still without leaves, but they are not edible.
Studies show that the plant has sedative, anxiolytic and anticonvulsant properties.
In my hometown I saw specimens of this beautiful and exuberant flowering being attacked by flocks of Maritacas, and I ended up feeling a small shower of flowers on my head, as the clumsy creatures lose a lot of food on these wild visits to the trees where they feed on.
Maritaca is a popular term to refer to the various species of birds in the parrot family. Depending on the region, Maritaca is the name used for medium-sized birds, which are smaller than parrots.
In the first photo you can see the Psittacara leucophthalma (Periquitão Maracanã) which has an “oval” shaped head, general green coloration with the sides of the head and neck with some red feathers. The average size is 32cm. In juveniles, the red feathers on the head and under the wings are absent, being entirely green in color.
The species flyes in flocks of 5 to 40 individuals, sleeping collectively in different places.
Found from the east of the Andes, from Colombia and Venezuela to the north of Argentina and Uruguay, including part of the Amazon and almost all of Brazil.
In the second photo another species, the Brotogeris chiriri (Yellow-winged Parakeet or Star Parakeet).
It is found in Central and Eastern Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Eastern Paraguay, Uruguay and Peru. In the national territory, it occurs from the South to the extreme of Pará, Ceará, Maranhão, Bahia, Minas Gerais, Pantanal, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
Both species were feeding from the same tree when I took these photos.
Enonkishu Conservancy in the Greater Masai Mara ecosystem, Kenya
Merops bullockoides
Witkapbijeneter
Guêpier à front blanc
Weißstirnspint
Abejaruco Frentiblanco
Gruccione frontebianca
abelharuco-de-testa-branca
Many thanks for your views, favorites and supportive comments.
All rights reserved. Fons Buts©2024
My photos may not be used on websites, blogs or in any other media without my written and explicit permission.
View form Trail Ridge Road (highest continuous paved road in the US reaching elevation of 12,183 feet), Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. Driving on this road is little nerve wrecking, but in the end rewarded by breathtaking scenery. Changing elevation takes you from tree lines to alpine tundra which has very fragile ecosystem. Weather up top is ever changing and highly unpredictable.
A view of the San Antonio River Walk outside the Marriott River Center hotel. The River Walk is a world-renowned 15-mile urban waterway. Also known as Paseo del Río, the River Walk is a San Antonio treasure and the largest urban ecosystem in the nation. Tucked quietly below street level, it provides a serene and pleasant way to navigate the city by foot or aboard a river barge for a ride and guided tour.
The River Walk winds and loops under bridges as two parallel sidewalks lined with restaurants and shops, connecting the major tourist draws including:
▪ The Shops at Rivercenter, an upscale downtown mall;
▪ Arneson River Theater, an outdoor performance theater;
▪ Marriage Island, an islet in the middle of the San Antonio River on the River Walk that is used for weddings;
▪ La Villita, an historic arts village;
▪ HemisFair Park, the site of the 1968 World's Fair;
▪ Tower Life Building, a late Gothic Revival skyscraper on the National Register of Historic Places;
▪ San Antonio Museum of Art;
▪ Pearl, the historic former Pearl Brewing Company; and
▪ San Antonio's five Spanish colonial missions, which have been named a World Heritage Site, including the Alamo.
San Antonio is the seat of Bexar County. With an estimated population of 1,547,253 in 2019, it is the seventh-most populous city in the United States. The metro population is 2,550,960, making it the 24th largest metro area in the nation.
Picturesque framing of a mangrove forest, one of the most productive ecosystems on earth.
The coastline of Nabq National Park is fringed by 4.8 km of mangrove forest, the most northerly and the largest in the Red Sea.
A mangrove ecosystem is characterized by salt-tolerant trees and shrubs
adapted to thrive in salty, intertidal environments.
Mangroves have developed impressive adaptations to survive in challenging conditions, including filtration systems to manage salt intake and complex root systems that anchor them in shifting sediments.
Some of the mangroves here have completely become terrestrial and don't grow aerial roots anymore. The grey mangroves of Nabq normally build aerial roots all around them, that are able to desalinate the seawater and to absorb oxygen. They also serve as a stabilization on the muddy and soft substrate. The leafs excrete salt through special pores and keep the degree of salinity within the plant at a low level.
They play a vital role in coastal ecology by stabilizing shorelines, reducing erosion from storms and tides, and providing critical habitat and nursery grounds for a wide variety of marine organisms.
Marine life lives and breeds among the mangrove root systems, while the crowns of the mangrove form a nesting and feeding habitat for shore birds.
No life would be possible for them and us without water ...
so us humans must learn to use it more responsibly!
"The climate crisis is a water crisis. To tackle the climate crisis, we must understand how it is intrinsically linked to changes in the water cycle. We need to prepare ourselves for a future with more severe droughts and floods, with more unpredictable rainfall patterns and dramatically rising sea levels. Our best chance is to focus on smart, water-related solutions that build resilient societies and ecosystems whilst cutting greenhouse gas emissions and improving carbon storage. This is the next generation of climate solutions."
(www.siwi.org/priority-area/water-climate/)
African Elephant mom and baby/ Afrikanische Elefanten (Loxodonta africana) in Tarangire River, Tarangire N.P., Tanzania, Africa
The title “Red Elephants” of Tsavo doesn’t mean that the elephants were born that way… NO! The name is more of a nickname. Tsavo East National Park soil is somewhat red and when the elephants wallow in the mud they look that shade of red.The elephant population within the Tsavo Ecosystem is the largest and thus most important in Kenya. Tsavo is home to approximately 12,000 elephants, one-third of all the elephants in Kenya.
FROM WIKIPEDIA:
Yellowstone National Park is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho.
It was established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872. Yellowstone, widely held to be the first national park in the world, is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features, especially Old Faithful Geyser, one of the most popular features in the park.
It has many types of ecosystems, but the subalpine forest is most abundant. It is part of the South Central Rockies forests ecoregion.
Thingvellir National Park, Iceland.
Thingvellir National Park is UNESCO World Heritage Site. In recent decades, research has shown that Thingvellir National Park is a natural wonder of the world where the geology and ecosystem of Thingvallavatn form a unique whole. Thingvellir National Park area is part of the Atlantic Ocean ridge that runs through Iceland. There you can see the consequences of the erosion of the earth's crust in the gorges and cracks in the area.
Arts nature dans le Sancy
Du crochet pour fixer ces pépites en verre coloré et pierres volcaniques (environ 3m de hauteur)
une "histoire de résilience et d'harmonie dans l'écosystème" de la tourbière de Picherande
Mara North Conservancy, Kenya
coracias caudatus
vorkstaartscharrelaar
rollier à longs brins
Gabelracke
Carraca Lila
Ghiandaia marina pettolilla
rolieiro-de-peito-lilás
Many thanks for your views, favorites and supportive comments.
All rights reserved.
Fons Buts©2025
My photos may not be used on websites, blogs or in any other media without my written and explicit permission.
Generations ... In a tree's life
Nature Preserve
Captured w/Apple iPhone 8 Plus back dual camera 3.99mm f/1.8
© All rights reserved.
Diana's Grove is a tranquil wooded area situated near to Blair Castle within the grounds of Atholl Estates. Diana's Grove is named after the Roman Goddess of Hunting. Blair Castle is the ancestral home of the Dukes of Atholl, known as the 'Planting Dukes' in the 18th & 19th centuries, by 1830 the family had planted over 27 million trees within the Atholl Glens.
Le syrphe ceinturé Episyrphus balteatus, espèce indigène abondamment retrouvée dans nos agro-écosystèmes, possède de nombreux atouts en tant qu’agent de lutte biologique. En effet, ce Diptère, polyaphidiphage au stade larvaire, est retrouvé sur une large gamme de végétaux et se nourri de nombreuses espèces de pucerons. Particulièrement voraces au second et au troisième stade, les larves peuvent consommer jusqu’à 1200 pucerons. Les adultes présentent aussi un grand intérêt puisqu’ils participent activement à la pollinisation de nombreuses espèces végétales. Par ailleurs, les femelles d’Episyrphus balteatus peuvent pondre jusqu’à 1000 œufs pour assurer leur descendance. Très sélectives quant à leur site d’oviposition, elles privilégient les plants infectés de colonies de pucerons en pleine expansion : ceci assure une lutte biologique optimale sur le terrain et l’éradication des aphidiens dommageables à nos cultures.
Along the garden path ~
If you plant it ... they will come
Orange Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
Captured w/Canon EOS Rebel T6
© All rights reserved.
A bridge, and many species of birds, trees, grasses and aquatic plants in, around, and over Creekfield Lake in Brazos Bend State Park, Needville, TX.
For the Remote theme of Flickr Friday.
Pronounced MOH-noh, this "is a large, shallow saline soda lake in Mono County, California, formed at least 760,000 years ago as a terminal lake in an endorheic basin. The lack of an outlet causes high levels of salts to accumulate in the lake. These salts also make the lake water alkaline. This desert lake has an unusually productive ecosystem based on brine shrimp that thrive in its waters, and provides critical nesting habitat for two million annual migratory birds that feed on the shrimp and blackflies (that also feed on the shrimp)." Source: wikipedia.org
Wetlands are a distinct ecosystem that benefit people through ecosystem services that include water purification, groundwater replenishment, stabilization of shorelines and storm protection, water storage and flood control, processing of carbon (carbon fixation, decomposition and sequestration), other nutrients and pollutants, and support of plants and animals. Put bluntly, no wetlands, no sustainable life for humans.
Source Wikipedia.
World Wetlands Day, February 2, 2022.
Le Hopewell Rocks Park, au sud de Moncton, Nouveau-Brunswick, Canada. Situé au débouché de la rivière Petitcodiac, sur la baie de Shepody, le Hopewell Cape est célèbre pour ses falaises de conglomérat rouge dont l'érosion a détaché de pittoresques rochers parfois coiffés d'épinettes noires (épicéas) et de quelques sapins baumiers.
À marée haute, ces rochers forment de petits îlots et lorsque la mer se retire on aperçoit leur base étrangement rétrécie par le frottement de l'eau qu'on surnomme alors rochers en "pot-de-fleur".
Des panneaux d’interprétation sur chaque belvédère du parc aident les visiteurs à mieux comprendre les écosystèmes uniques de la baie de Fundy reconnue comme ayant les marées les plus hautes au monde. Des interprètes amicaux et bien renseignés sont partout dans le parc pour répondre directement aux questions ou aider les visiteurs.
Voilà ce que l'on voit à marée basse dans la baie du Mont St Michel.
Espèce ingénieur de son écosystème, l'hermelle donne naissance à une bioconstruction dont les individus coloniaux érigent des tubes formant le massif ou récif d'hermelles. Les tubes de sable ont une section circulaire de 5 à 10 mm de diamètre, cimentés par une glande du ver, sont droits et forment un ensemble à l’allure buissonnante.
This is what you see at low tide in the bay of Mont St Michel.
An engineer of its ecosystem, the hermella gives rise to a bioconstruction whose colonial individuals erect tubes forming the hermella mass or reef. The sand tubes have a circular cross-section of 5 to 10 mm in diameter, cemented by a gland of the worm, are straight and form a bushy-looking whole.
“Urban Ecosystem Restoration” mural painted by Millo for Street Art For Mankind
From the Street Art For Mankind instagram post:
It features the artist’s signature clumsy character in a surreal setting, attempting to reclaim his space in an urban jungle that has forgotten our primary needs. It poetically and powerfully underscores the importance of green spaces in urban environments. The character demonstrates the strength of these spaces, their transformative impact on our reality, and how they enhance our well-being. It’s a clear invitation to reconnect with nature in our cities.