View allAll Photos Tagged ECOSYSTEMS
The Golden Tanager (Tangara arthus) is a vibrant gem of the Andean cloud forests, and capturing this species at La Minga Ecolodge near Cali, Colombia, was a rewarding experience. The soft morning light filtered through the dense canopy, illuminating the tanager’s striking yellow plumage contrasted by its deep black facial markings. Perched against a natural backdrop of lush green foliage, the bird’s pose reflected both elegance and alertness, creating a visually dynamic scene.
From a technical perspective, I relied on a fast shutter speed of 1/350 sec to freeze the tanager’s subtle movements, while an aperture of f/6.7 provided a shallow depth of field, beautifully separating the subject from its surroundings. An ISO setting of 400 allowed for optimal detail retention without introducing unwanted noise, essential in the low-light forest environment. The interplay of natural light and thoughtful exposure choices helped emphasize the bird’s vivid coloring while preserving the surrounding environment’s atmospheric mood. This photograph reminds me of how patience, preparation, and respect for nature converge in a perfect photographic moment.
©2021 Adam Rainoff Photographer
Continuing my coastal ecosystem series with this preening Brown Pelican.
Brown Pelicans live in estuaries and coastal marine habitats along both the east and west coasts. This one was found perched and preening atop a weathered wharf pole near a fish cleaning station in Lamar, Texas.
Brittle stars, an alternate common name is the 'serpent stars', are a species-rich class of echinoderms with outstanding regenerative abilities. Living under rocks or in crevices with only the tips of the arms exposed, they are known to be seafloor ecosystem engineers. They reshape the seafloor sediment surface and influence the distribution of other seafloor species. They also provide nutrition to fish, sea stars and crab predators.
Their presence in a sediment sample is one indicator of a healthy benthic community. They embody nature's fragility and resilience.
Shot from the Three Pools shoreline during low tide.
On this one I used the sun peaking through the shade at a medium slow shutter speed 1/40 second to make little squiggly lines in the water ripples from the sun's reflection on the water, this is done in bright afternoon light in the shade, now you know how to do this trick,
it's about imagination and the love of light, break free, feel the light. you can do anything with a camera, get a idea in your head and then figure out how to do it, and bring it to life, might take a few try's, learn what went wrong as you attempt your creation, and end up with the image you wanted, it is not magic, it is you. be yourself, and use the light
The famous hanging bridges of Costa Rica, high in the treetops, provide a unique view of one of the world's most amazing rainforest ecosystems.
in Explore 2022-08-16 (#123)
Sally Lightfoot crabs are rumoured to have been named after a Caribbean dancer, due to their agility in jumping from rock to rock, their ability to run in four directions and their capacity to climb up vertical slopes. This extreme agility makes them very difficult to catch.
They are brightly-coloured coastal scavengers, found in the Galapagos Islands and across the western coast of South and Central America. They have an extremely generalist diet, feeding on anything from sea lion placenta to other crabs. This makes them an important part of the ecosystem, as they provide services such as keeping the shore clean of any organic debris and eating ticks off marine iguanas. . Adult crabs show characteristic intense blue and red colouring on their shells, with a white or pale blue underbelly. Younger crabs have darker colouration with red spots, providing a higher degree of camouflage. Every time the crabs moult their shell, the spots become gradually larger, until they obtain the adult colouring.
Female Sally Lightfoot crabs carry their eggs around with them on their stomachs until they hatch into the water. The larvae then swim out to deeper waters, where they consume phytoplankton and undergo a rapid series of moults. Eventually they undergo metamorphosis to become juvenile crabs and swim to shore, where they start to scavenge, becoming bigger and more colourful with each moult. These juveniles tend to travel in large groups until they reach maturity, after which they become largely solitary when not mating. When they are not mating or feeding, the crabs spend their time hiding in cracks in rocks. If they are disturbed, they may spray water or shed one of their legs as a defence mechanism.
Their scientific name is Grapsus grapsus.
Salar de Uyuni, amid the Andes in southwest Bolivia, is the world’s largest salt flat. It’s the legacy of a prehistoric lake that went dry, leaving behind a desertlike, nearly 11,000-sq.-km. landscape of bright-white salt, rock formations and cacti-studded islands. Its otherworldly expanse can be observed from central Incahuasi Island. Though wildlife is rare in this unique ecosystem, it harbors many pink flamingos. ― Google
The organisms in the riparian zone respond to changes in river channel location and patterns of flow. The ecosystem of rivers is generally described by the river continuum concept, which has some additions and refinements to allow for dams and waterfalls and temporary extensive flooding. The concept describes the river as a system in which the physical parameters, the availability of food particles and the composition of the ecosystem are continuously changing along its length. The food (energy) that remains from the upstream part is used downstream.
The general pattern is that the first order streams contain particulate matter (decaying leaves from the surrounding forests) which is processed there by shredders like Plecoptera larvae. The products of these shredders are used by collectors, such as Hydropsychidae, and further downstream algae that create the primary production become the main food source of the organisms. All changes are gradual and the distribution of each species can be described as a normal curve, with the highest density where the conditions are optimal. In rivers succession is virtually absent and the composition of the ecosystem stays fixed in time.
TMI: your ART & NATURE
October Contest - Fresh Water Wonder
www.flickr.com/groups/impressionists/
~ai/pixlr
chickens
"Nature is cruel, but we don't have to be" Temple Grandin
I have a lot of beliefs about stewardship, the environment, and modern mankinds disconnect from our traditional place in the ecosystem. I just don't have the time to get into it all here and now. I am off, ironically, to my job in the modern, service economy.
Always one of my favorite caterpillar finds, due to its outrageous appearance, I found this guy in the first five minutes of my hike yesterday at the newly reopened Blakeley State Park!
Happy Earth Day, everyone!🌄🌿♻🌻🐧🐙🐬🐝🐌
Today is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, and it's emphasis on the urgent need for a balanced relationship between mankind and the world's ecosystems...
It is a wonderous time of year on Vancouver Island, where all of the Garry Oak ecosystems are exploding with colour. These are Camas flowers.
Excessive gentrification destroys the biodiversity and ecosystem of a community. - Khang Kijarro Nguye
Il nuovo servizio ARS Altomann gestito da Rail Traction Company / Lokomotion da Verona QE per Monaco è da poco ripartita dal passo del Brennero verso Innsbruck al traino della 189.917 ed è qui ripreso sul celebre curvone di St Jodok. (10/3/16)
The new ARS Altmann train from Verona QE to München has just letf the Brennerpass station pulled by the Br189.917. (2016/3/10)
A Pink Salmon, desperately trying to elude a hungry Black Bear, leaps from the shallow spawning steam only to land on a rock. For all their bulk, bears are agile and quick, and this one is about to clamp down on her meal... but... believe it or not, the salmon did a backflip and escaped! (Unfortunately it flipped behind that out of focus rock in the left foreground, so my next frame wasn't as good.)
My title refers to both of them. The salmon needs to spawn. The bear needs to pack on calories to get through the coming winter. The salmon that don't make it feed not only bears, but eagles, crows, wolves, vultures, gulls, and the forest itself (bears and eagles will carry their catch into the woods to consume, and the leftovers will fertilize the forest floor). This is how a healthy ecosystem should work. Whether the BC coastal ecosystem is healthy enough to maintain itself at this point is anyone's guess...
Wildlife action from the wild coast of British Columbia (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 2019 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Thanks for the comments, faves and visits
This captivating image showcases a graceful snowy egret standing at the water's edge in Vasona Lake Park, Los Gatos. The bird's pristine white plumage creates a striking contrast against the muted greens and browns of its surroundings. With its slender neck extended and keen yellow eye alert, the egret appears poised and watchful, perhaps scanning the shallow waters for its next meal. The scene is rich with natural textures - from the bird's delicate feathers to the mix of fallen leaves, aquatic plants, and rippling water at its feet. This photograph beautifully captures the serene coexistence of wildlife within the park's diverse ecosystem, offering viewers a moment of tranquility and a glimpse into the patient hunting strategies of these elegant waders.
Brazil
Cuiaba River
The Pantanal
South America
This image celebrates International Jaguar Day.
International Jaguar Day was created to raise awareness about the increasing threats facing the jaguar and the critical conservation efforts ensuring its survival from Mexico to Argentina.
Observed annually on November 29, International Jaguar Day celebrates the Americas’ largest wild cat as an umbrella species for biodiversity conservation and an icon for sustainable development and the centuries-old cultural heritage of Central and South America.
The jaguar (Panthera onca) is a large felid species and the only extant member of the genus Panthera native to the Americas. The jaguar's present range extends from Southwestern United States and Mexico in North America, across much of Central America, and south to Paraguay and northern Argentina in South America.
It is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List; and its numbers are declining. Threats include loss and fragmentation of habitat.
Overall, the jaguar is the largest native cat species of the New World and the third largest in the world. This spotted cat closely resembles the leopard, but is usually larger and sturdier. It ranges across a variety of forested and open terrains, but its preferred habitat is tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest, swamps and wooded regions.
The jaguar enjoys swimming and is largely a solitary, opportunistic, stalk-and-ambush predator at the top of the food chain. As a keystone species it plays an important role in stabilizing ecosystems and regulating prey populations.
A resurgent strip of Sherwood Forest ecosystem sandwiched between an industrial estate and a housing estate on the edge of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, UK. Taken on a smartphone.
Grizzly Bear
The Grizzly Bear (Ursus arctos horribilis), also known as the North American brown bear or simply Grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the Brown Bear inhabiting North America.
Grizzlies, like black bears, come in a variety of colors. They can range from blond to nearly black. Sometimes they have silver-tipped guard hairs that give them a "grizzled" appearance. Grizzlies often have a dished-in face and a large hump of heavy muscle above the shoulders. Their claws are around four inches long. Grizzlies usually weigh around 300-600 pounds but can grow up to 1,400 pounds. Adult Grizzlies can be six feet or more when standing on hind legs, and three to four feet when standing on all fours. Based on a multi-year DNA study, it's estimated that there are roughly 750 grizzly bears living within the Greater Yellowstone Area.
For more info: www.livewaterjacksonhole.com/the-jackson-hole-way/grizzly...
Altamaha River, Swamps, Creeks, Sloughs, Marshes, and Associated Wetlands XXIX
Altamaha Regional Park
Glynn County, Georgia USA
[004-D70s-Neo]
© 2024 Mike McCall
A b/w depiction Mt. Rainier.
"Ascending to 14,410 feet above sea level, Mount Rainier stands as an icon in the Washington landscape. An active volcano, Mount Rainier is the most glaciated peak in the contiguous U.S.A., spawning six major rivers. Subalpine wildflower meadows ring the icy volcano while ancient forest cloaks Mount Rainier’s lower slopes. Wildlife abounds in the park’s ecosystems."
re: nps.gov
Your visits, comments, faves and suggestions are always appreciated!
Northchurch Common, Hertfordshire, England
Foggy morning walk
One mature Oak plays host to a myriad of other life forms.
Cette sculpture environnementale se dresse sur les quais du port Havnegade à Helsingør (ou Elseneur) dans la région Hovedstaden ou Région-Capitale au nord de l'île Sjælland du Danemark.
Intitulée "Golden Bream From the Øresund", ce poisson géant a été créé par un groupe de bénévoles avec des rebuts selon la Yodogawa Technique. Cette technique a été imaginée par les artistes japonais Hideaki Shibata et Kazuya Matsunaga qui se sont associés en 2003 pour créer des œuvres à partir de déchets et d'objets divers trouvés le long de la rivière Yodogawa à Osaka. En travaillant avec des biens de consommation mis au rebut et du bois flotté, le duo astucieux a créé des pièces sculpturales qui ressemblent à des collages physiques et qui, au départ, ne semblent même pas avoir été fabriquées à partir de déchets. Ce Golden Bream (ou dorade dorée), qui vise à éveiller les consciences sur l’enjeu des déchets et lafragilité de l’écosystème de l’Øresund, a voyagé durant l’année 2015 tout autour la région de l’Øresund, de chaque côté du détroit qui sépare le Danemark et la Suède. Il semble qu’au moment de notre visite il faisait une longue pause sur les quais de Helsingør.
La vieille ville de Helsingør, célèbre pour son fameux château Kronborg Slot, a aussi conservé nombre de maisons à colombages, restaurées avec soin. Les marchands aisés et les armateurs habitaient à proximité du port tandis que les artisans et les marins vivaient à la périphérie. Le personnel jadis chargé de prélever le droit de passage de l'Øresund, s'était aussi assez enrichi pour se faire construire de splendides maisons bourgeoises 17e et 18e siècle qui font le charme des vieux quartiers. La vieille ville est aujourd'hui en grande partie piétonne.
L'île de Sjælland) (ou Seeland ou Sélande) est la plus grande île du Danemark. Elle se trouve entre la péninsule danoise du Jutland et la Suède. Sa superficie est de 7 031 km2 et c’est sur elle que se concentre la majorité de la population. C'est d’ailleurs dans l'Est de cette île habitée par 2 625 206 d'habitants (chiffres de 2024) qu'est située Copenhague, la capitale du Danemark. L'île forme la majorité du territoire de la région de Sjælland, à laquelle elle donne son nom. La région de la capitale se trouve aussi (en grande partie) sur l'île, mais constitue une entité administrative séparée.
A bird jumping from one perch to another at the Swan Lake Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary. It is a wild oasis in the heart of the urban landscape and includes two distinct ecosystems: the beautiful marshland of Swan Lake and the rocky oak-forested highlands of Christmas Hill. Both are home to an incredible array of native plants and wild animals. Victoria British Columbia Canada
Germany, Wedel, Marshland, ...twilight & raising fogg over the peaceful & fertile marshland with a special fresh & “fragranced air” to breathe.
The Wedeler Marsch is the southern part to which the Haseldorfer & Seestermüher Marsch also belong. Together they extend over a length of 22 kilometers along the banks of the Elbe and border directly on the Wadden Sea, which stretches from the Netherlands via Germany to Denmark.
The Wadden Sea is one of the most valuable ecosystems on earth. Huge mud flats that dry out at low tide are populated by billions of organisms, a richly laid table for fish and birds.
The nature reserves of the Wedeler Elbmarsh are protected according to the EU Birds Directive & Flora-Fauna-Habitat Directive and are therefore part of Natura 2000, a Europe-wide network of protected areas.
👉 One World one Dream,
🙏...Danke, Xièxie 谢谢, Thanks, Gracias, Merci, Grazie, Obrigado, Arigatô, Dhanyavad, Chokrane to you & over
16 million visits in my photostream with countless motivating comments