Camembert was reputedly invented in 1791 by Marie Harel, a farmer from Normandy, thanks to advice from a priest who came from Brie.[2]

However, the origin of the cheese known today as Camembert is more likely to rest with the beginnings of the industrialization of the cheesemaking process at the end of the 19th century. In 1890, an engineer, M. Ridel invented the wooden box which was used to carry the cheese and helped to send it for longer distances, in particular to America where it became very popular. These boxes are still used today.

Before fungi were properly understood, the colour of Camembert rind was a matter of chance, most commonly blue-grey, with brown spots. From the early 20th century onwards, the rind has been more commonly pure white, but it was not until the mid-1970s that pure white became standard.

The cheese was famously issued to French troops during World War I, becoming firmly fixed in French popular culture as a result. It has many other roles in French culture, literature and history. It is now internationally known, and many local varieties are made around the world.

The variety named "Camembert de Normandie" was granted a protected designation of origin in 1992 after the original AOC in 1983.

 

Prosciutto comes from either pig's leg or from a wild horse's thigh. The process of making prosciutto can take anywhere from nine months to two years, depending on the size of the ham.

Writer on Italian food Bill Buford describes talking to an old Italian butcher who says:

"When I was young, there was one kind of prosciutto. It was made in the winter, by hand, and aged for two years. It was sweet when you smelled it. A profound perfume. Unmistakable. To age a prosciutto is a subtle business. If it's too warm, the aging process never begins. The meat spoils. If it's too dry, the meat is ruined. It needs to be damp but cool. The summer is too hot. In the winter—that's when you make salumi. Your prosciutto. Your soppressata. Your sausages."[2]

Today, the ham is first cleaned, salted, and left for about two months. During this time the ham is pressed, gradually and carefully to avoid breaking the bone, to drain all blood left in the meat. Next it is washed several times to remove the salt and hung in a dark, well-ventilated environment. The surrounding air is important to the final quality of the ham; the best results are obtained in a cold climate. The ham is then left until dry. The amount of time this takes varies, depending on the local climate and size of the ham. When the ham is completely dry it is hung to air, either at room temperature or in a controlled environment, for up to eighteen months.

Various regions have their own PDO (Protected Designation of Origin), whose specifications do not in general require ham from free range pigs.

Prosciutto is sometimes cured with nitrites (either sodium or potassium), which are generally used in other hams to produce the desired rosy color and unique flavour. Only sea salt is used in many PDO hams, but not all; some consortia are allowed to use nitrite. Prosciutto's characteristic pigmentation is produced by a direct chemical reaction of nitric oxide with myoglobin to form nitrosomyoglobin, followed by concentration of the pigments due to drying. Bacteria convert the added nitrite or nitrate to nitric oxide.

A difficult plant to see in deep shade under trees. It is saprophytic, so lacks the green pigmentation of most plants.

www.drdarm.com "Dr. Jerry Darm" "Aesthetic Medicine Portland OR" "BBB rated A+" Laserlift Botox Dysport Juvederm Restylane "Acne treatments" ANSR "Rosacea treatments" "facial veins treatments" "mole removal" "skin tags removal" "skin pigmentation treatments" "skin lesion treatments" "laser tattoo removal" "dark spots treatments" "sun damage treatments" "laser hair removal" revlite "laser skin" "laser skin treatments" lipolift velashape mesoderm "exilis therapy" "laser lipolysis" "laser liposuction" "liposuction doctor portland" "oregon liposuction doctor" "vein therapy" sclerotherapy "spider veins treatments" "medical weight management" "medical weight loss" "dr. darm weight loss programs" "facial plastic surgeries" "plastic surgeon portland" "face lifts" "nose lifts" "brow lifts" "ear surgery" "double neck surgery" microdermabrasion n-lite, "Dr. Jerry Darm" "Jerry Darm MD"

The brown anole (Anolis sagrei), also called the Bahamian Anole, is a lizard native to Cuba and the Bahamas. It has been widely introduced elsewhere, and is now found in Florida and as far north as Southern Georgia, Texas, Taiwan, Hawaii, and other Caribbean islands. In its introduced range it reaches exceptionally high population densities, is capable of expanding its range at an exponential rate, and both out competes and consumes many species of native lizards.

 

The brown anole is a slender lizard reaching about 18 cm in length. This anole has the ability to change coloration to match its surroundings. They can change pigmentation from brown, light tan, green, rust, to black. Males and females differ somewhat in coloration: males have a dark stripe down their backs, females a light stripe. The mature males weigh about twice that of females. As in other anoles, the male has a brightly colored throat fan, called a dewlap, which is yellow or reddish-orange. They are territorial and the dewlap is used in territorial displays. Anoles have expanded toe pads that allow them to cling to smooth surfaces.

 

Unlike the green anole which prefers foliage, the brown anole is found often on the ground. They are athletic creatures that run fast, and jump many times their length. They can also climb straight up almost any surface at blinding speed. The brown anole gets used to humans and can be studied at close range.

 

The brown anole feeds on insects such as crickets, grasshoppers, roaches, spiders, mealworms, and waxworms. It may also eat other lizards, such as the green anole, and lizard eggs. They will also usually eat their molted skin.

 

Photo by Kevin Borland. Portions of the text derived from Wikipedia article(s).

The Carolina anole (Anolis carolinensis) is an arboreal lizard found primarily in the southeastern parts of the United States and some Caribbean islands. Common synonyms include the green anole, American anole and red-throated anole. It is sometimes referred to as the American chameleon due to its color-changing abilities; however, it is not a true chameleon.

 

This species is native to North America, where it is found mainly in the southeastern parts of the continent. Anoles are most abundant on the Atlantic Coastal Plains in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and Georgia, and the Gulf Coastal Plain in Texas. The species has been introduced into Hawaii.

 

Anoles are territorial. In fact some have even been witnessed fighting their own reflection in mirrored glass. Stress in an anole can be identified by several symptoms. These symptoms include a constant shade of brown and a persistent black semicircle behind their eyes and chronic lethargy. In a group of one male and several females some aggressive chasing may occur, but the encounters are short lived and less violent than between males.

During shedding an anole may use its mouth to pull the old skin off and will usually eat it. In addition to discarding their tails, anoles will attempt to bite perceived predators if cornered, which can be somewhat painful, but does not cause much harm other than some scratching of the bite area caused by the lizard's teeth.

When an anole is stressed out, or nervous, they will begin to turn a dark brown. Green means that an anole is happy, healthy, or relaxed. Some anoles, when relaxed, on a hot day will turn a soft yellow-green in color. There are many shades of brown and green. The darker the shade of brown, the more stressed, cold, or possibly ill the lizard is.

Anoles are curious creatures. A healthy lizard usually has a good awareness of its surroundings. The males are very territorial and will fight other males to defend its territory.

 

The typical breeding season for green anoles starts from as early as April and ends to as late as August and lasts even occasionally into September. It is during this time that the most brilliant displays of these creatures can be seen, as the males must court the females with their elaborate displays of extending their brightly colored dewlaps while bobbing up and down, almost doing a dance for her while she runs in temptation from the male. The pursuit will continue until the two successfully mate. Usually, when the female is ready to mate, she may let the male simply "catch" her and he will thus grasp a hold of a fold of her skin above her neck area, or she will bow her head before him and simply "let" him take his grasp. At this point, the male will position his tail underneath the female's near her vent and the mating ritual will take place.

 

After a 2–4 week span following mating, the female will lay her first clutch of eggs, usually ranging from 1–2 in the first clutch. She will continue to lay eggs during the season until a total of 10 or so eggs have been produced. When it comes time for her to lay her eggs, she will bury them in the soft soils or compost nearby, and after that she no longer takes any care for it. The egg(s) are left alone to incubate by the light of the sun and if successful will hatch in 30–45 or so days.

The hatchlings must fend for themselves, as anoles are by nature solitary animals since birth and are not cared for by the mother or the father. The young hatchlings must be wary of other adult anoles in the area as well as larger reptiles and mammals who could eat them.

For breeding anoles in captivity, however, for best results the eggs must be taken out of the adults' enclosure and incubated in moist, not wet, vermiculite at a temperature of around 85 degrees Fahrenheit and around 70% humidity. The eggs will hatch within 35–40 or so days.

Once the eggs hatch, the young should be put into their own separate enclosure (separate from the adults), and the enclosure's temps and humidity levels should match that of the adult anoles. Hatchlings can be fed soft-shelled pinhead crickets, small leaf-hoppers, flightless fruit-flies, and other pesticide-free insects that do not exhibit a hard exoskeleton. The same goes true for adults as well. Pesticide-free insects are a must for anoles, so do not go for bugs in the area if you know that pesticides are sprayed or if you live in a rural area with lots of car exhaust and air pollution that can get on the insect.

 

Generally, the typical coloration for a green anole ranges from the richest and brightest of greens to the darkest of browns, with little variation in between. There are a few exceptions, however, which are caused when a lack in one of the pigment genes occurs. There are three layers of pigment cells – chromatophores that make up the green anole color spectrum: the xanthophores, responsible for the yellow pigmentation; cyanophores, responsible for the blue pigmentation, and melanophores, responsible for the brown and black pigmentation. The combination of the xanthophores and cyanophores are what make up the different arrays of green seen in the green anole, whereas the melanophores are responsible for its change to brown when the anole is cold or stressed. When there is a lack of one of these pigments, color mutations, also called "phases," can occur. In particular, this can lead to the incidence of the rare and beautiful blue-phased green anole, which lacks xanthophores, or the yellow pigment that makes up the green hues of the green anole's color spectrum. What results is a blue, often baby or pastel blue, anole. These rare beauties have become a recent popularity in the trade market. When the anole is completely lacking xanthophores, however, it is said to be axanthic. Such individuals are often completely pastel or baby-blue in hue, however are extremely rare -- usually produced in 1 out of every 20,000 individual anoles in the wild. Other color phases can also occur, such as the yellow-phased green anole, which lacks cyanophores, which are responsible for the blue pigment in the green anole color spectrum. However, none are as popular or as brilliant as the blue-phased green anole. Colonies of these rare color-phased anoles have been reported, but anoles with these color mutations rarely live for long, since the green anole relies on its green and brown camouflage to hunt down prey as well as hide from predators.

 

The Brown Anole is a highly invasive lizard in the same genus as the Carolina anole. It is native to Cuba and several other Caribbean islands, but has been introduced in Florida and has spread through the state. It has seriously depleted the population of carolina anoles throughout its range, due to competing with them for food and habitat. Some think that these lizards spread when they laid their eggs in potted plants at nurseries, which were then shipped throughout the state.

 

The information above was gathered from Wikipedia.

We are here to share one of our #patientstories with you!

She came to us with the problem of facial hair & hormonal acne along with post-acne hyper-pigmentation and scars.

 

We examined and treated her problem with oral medication, chemical peels, hydrafacial and also she was suggested permanent laser hair reduction treatment. Thus, a cocktail of medical & procedural treatment along with multiple sessions of the permanent laser hair reduction treatment helped her a lot to get a clear and hair-free skin.

We feel happy that we could provide her with the desired results and will continue to provide all our patients with the happiness they deserve.

 

For more information visit our website: www.parisadermatology.com/

 

Our Social Media:

 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ParisaSkinCo...

Twitter: twitter.com/PARISAskinLASER

Instagram: www.instagram.com/parisaskinl...

 

Other important videos from our channel:

 

FUNGAL INFECTIONS: youtu.be/4Mn7ert5H34

 

HYDRAFACIAL PROCEDURE: youtu.be/vDWlesnYl5o

 

Transoceanic Series

( Resistance in Acid, Partisan Terror, Liguria, IT )

Panel g.

oils on poplar 48cm x 73.5cm vnframed / vnuarnished

 

Hunting Art Prize twenty15 svbmission

 

Breach the open air, pierced by a sorta intelligence that lends clarity to all the animated months’ combined easelworks, now the tovch-haruest clocking spring svmmer fallback. heard uoices haue been collected, encamped in the ear as ignorant armies* do. only once in awhile euery now and then their lyricality yield sense as they ’tempt-seize yov from yovr hovrs straightening perspectiual lines, lost in the intrauenovs yolk redefining what colovr is.

 

when yov think yov are so smart, less politely time embodies how yovr shovlders ache from strain - and still poised tense. bleary-eyed, the magnification settling the dvel between two worlds, three padlocks deep and behind the black gate exists a fire, the door is blameless, the girl’s crying inside from electronic jet-lag, from time-zoned complexities, and her parents are jealous and afraid that the painter, their creator, loues adjvstments more to heauing sloganed tits than the uery meat of meat itself. behind power lines and smvdges and follow and lose again and again the sovrce. yet first it mvst havnch fovr legged to the grovnd, yov rend, and strip, and man-handle and the form twists itself becavse it wants more than anything to get away from the bestiality of the tvbes vpright, in strokes discharged to retreat into the dimension of birch ... yet it’s oliue trees instead that catch the light in the distance, beyond this City of Pickvp Trvcks ... meantime an amatevr painter walks ovt of a bar with his svpposed masterpiece vnder his arm and heads right for the clay terrain of rooftops, this rvined apse, scales the crow’s nest. he kicks ovt the lattice with his wingtips, raise yovr lamplike eyes and peer ovt. today the glyph all yovr friends seem to haue missed yov see, sharper in the recyclable dawn of pigmentation - a qviet svpper, among long drinks, a tease of conuersation, yov’ue bvilt more than jvst a motherfvckin’ sandwich from sawdvst with those hands and raw fingertips. straight lips gesso across a smile, nonetheles dammit its fvlness is knowingly felt, becavse this is the inuisible regalia of two worlds when they combine: becavse the can reads TONNO GENOVA.

 

yes. yes. what took an amatevr months, will consvme a little less of his logic and fire, seasons in the fvtvre. for months we’ue allowed ovrselues few recreations beside all those disciplines yovr friends deem absvrdities. what are yovr conceits? are yov prepared to strip? motherfvcker, are yov?

 

yes, euerything, all for the sake of what colovr is.

  

- *M. Arnold

lipstick maven Poppy King, this Saint & Sinner trio combines retro influences with modern technology for formulas that are fresh, current, and always glamorous. Saint lipsticks are sheer with 10% pigmentation. Sinner lipsticks are rich and opaque with 90% pigmentation. The lip liner is an exact match to both. From Lipstick Queen

The black pigmentation and fibrosis are due to inhalation of carbon pigment and silica respectively in a coal worker.

Coal worker's pneumoconiosis (CWP), also known as black lung disease and anthracosilicosis, is a lung disease that results from breathing in dust from coal, graphite, or man-made carbon over a long period of time. It occurs primarily in coal miners and others with long time exposure to coal dust. CWP occurs in two forms: simple and complicated (also called progressive massive fibrosis, or PMF).

The risk for developing CWP depends on the length of time of exposure coal dust. Most people with this disease are older than 50. Smoking does not increase the risk for developing CWP. If CWP occurring together with rheumatoid arthritis is called Caplan syndrome.

On a fallen tree, mostly covered in moss, were a few of these springtails. Very small, moderately active. Getting them in the frame was a lot harder than usual, for some reason - perhaps the complex, undulating surface confused me.

 

Canon EOS 5D mark III, Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x, Canon EF Extender 1.4x III, Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT (handheld, Live View).

91mm, f/8, 1/200, ISO 800 (exif incorrect, >3x magnification, ETTL).

Removal of Acne,

Scars (Scars - Accidental, Chicken Pox Scars, Acne Scars) & Pigmentation

 

www.pallavilaser.com/contact_us.asp

Dubai cosmetic surgery is giving excellent offers on this special Valentines day. So don't miss this offer, this is just for limited time.

 

Iron Age, ca. 650-550 B.C.E., H. 31.8 cm.

 

Condition: Intact and in excellent condition, with full pigmentation remaining.

 

Description

 

The large vase is characterized by its large globular belly, richly decorated with large concentric circles in dark brown slip, filled with graduated concentric bands. A similar circular motif around the shoulder forms interlocking bands. There are small concentric circles in the background, while the front is adorned with a wheel-shaped motif and the sides with two plain circular motifs of similar size. On the shoulder, a scene depicts the figure of a calf (?) standing to one side of a lotus motif, the decoration with the white-painted details. This piece is dated to the period of the apogee of Cypriot pottery manufacture, when potters reach the height of their skills in modeling as well as painting.

     

Bibliography

 

KARAGEORGHIS V., “Ancient Art from Cyprus, the Cesnola Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art”, New York, 2000, pp. 77ss., p. 92, no. 145 et 148.

SPITERIS T., “The Art from Cyprus”, New York, 1970, p. 107.

 

I was at the local churchyard again this morning and pleased to see that there are plently of these little (all less than 1mm) "golden" Sminthurinus springtails around in the leaf-litter. I managed to get some reasonable photographs of three different individuals.

 

I think this composite image illustrates just how difficult it can be for the "amateur" (like me), to differentiate the different species and colour variants and how ID from photographs generally, is often an "educated" guess. I'll have a go anyway! I'll be looking back at Frans Janssens ultra-helpful guidance on the matter.

 

1. Even with my x10 hand-lens, I could see this was a particularly-deep golden colour. I reckon it's Sminthurinus aureus but there is a hint of an even darker "reticulate" pattern on the abdomen. Perhaps it's a dark form of Sminthurinus aureus f. reticulata?

 

2. With the paler overall colour and distinct orange reticulate pattern, I feel that this fits quite nicely with Frans' description of Sminthurinus aureus f. reticulata.

 

3. Now, Frans advises me that if the reticulate pattern had dark elements to the pigmentation (rather than just darker orange), it's legitimate to assume that it's Sminthurinus reticulatus. Sometimes the difference is clear; sometimes less clear. On this one I'll opt for Sminthurinus reticulatus!

 

Canon 1D3 + MP-E 65mm Macro (at x5) + MT24-EX Flash (-2/3 FEC). Cropped significantly.

  

Smooth, clean and healthy skin is one of the main criteria for beauty. Some people have good skin by nature, but most of us have at least once in our lives encountered what is delicately called “imperfections” in advertising. Everyone knows how just one small pimple can affect self-esteem. And there are dozens of such inflammations and they do not want to disappear. Therefore, it is necessary to treat acne. But how to cure acne?

 

Acne is an inflammation of the sebaceous glands. The sebaceous glands are necessary for our skin, thanks to their activity, it always remains hydrated, and the secret of the sebaceous glands protects the skin from the external environment. But sometimes this system crashes. The ducts of the sebaceous glands are clogged with dead cells, the gland becomes inflamed and a comedone or painful pimple appears.

 

Acne is a common problem. In one form or another, acne occurs in 60-80% of young people and girls aged 12 to 24 years. However, acne can also appear in adults.

 

How to Cure Acne and Get Rid of It?

 

Often, the cause of acne is a change in the hormonal background. Therefore, acne is a common sign of puberty. But it’s not just hormones that are responsible for acne. Stress, an unbalanced diet, and taking certain medications can trigger the appearance of a rash. These factors alone do not lead to acne, but they can be the trigger if you have a predisposition to acne.

 

It is not so difficult to cure acne, although it takes a long time. Today, cosmetologists have everything necessary to get rid of this skin disease. However, many people prefer to self-medicate, which often only makes the situation worse.

 

It is necessary to understand some of the myths associated with this disease.

 

Myth # 1. Sun Baths Help Against Acne.

 

This theory is true, but only partially. Under the influence of ultraviolet light, the skin does become a little drier. But sunburn increases the number of dead cells on the surface of the skin, they clog the ducts of the sebaceous glands and acne eventually becomes even more. Tan is a great way to get rid of a couple of small pimples and get a few dozen large ones in a week. To avoid unpleasant consequences, a couple of days after taking a sun bath, you should plan a scrub or mild peeling.

 

Myth # 2. Acne Can Be Cured by Frequent Washing.

 

We have to disappoint purists and perfectionists: in the fight against acne on the face, too frequent “wet cleaning” can cause harm. Repeated washing and peels injure the skin and destroy its healthy microflora. Micro-cracks appear on the dry skin, which get bacteria. Weakened, it cannot resist these microorganisms, and its condition worsens. Wash with acne should not be more than twice a day, using delicate products that do not have an aggressive effect on the problem skin.

 

Myth # 3. Blackheads need to be removed manually before they become large.

 

This is what more than one generation of teenagers and their parents did, which they probably later regretted. The fact is that when a pimple is squeezed out, only part of it comes to the surface, and the remaining contents in the skin provoke the appearance of deep inflammation. In addition, this method injures the skin and the sebaceous gland channel. This prevents the secret from coming out, so rashes on the site of the destroyed pimple will occur again and again. The result is acne and scars, which are expensive and unpleasant to remove.

 

Facial cleansing (mechanical or hardware) is recommended to trust professional cosmetologists and dermatologists. This procedure requires thorough septic treatment of the hands, disinfection of tools (for example, UNO spoons, loops, Vidal needles), ultrasound and contact devices for cleaning the pores.

 

Acne Treatment

 

Most often, acne appears on the face, chest and back — where there are a lot of sebaceous glands and the pores are the widest. Acne is a disease that should be treated by a specialist. The method of treating acne depends on the severity of the disease. So, cosmetologists distinguish three forms of acne:

 

Light: no more than ten closed or open blackheads without signs of inflammation;

 

Average: 10 to 40 acne elements with minor signs of inflammation;

 

Severe: more than 40 inflamed acne elements.

 

A mild form of acne is well treated with external remedies — gels, special creams and ointments. In moderate to severe forms, drugs for local therapy are combined with medications that need to be taken orally. Sometimes antibiotics are prescribed that can destroy bacteria and relieve inflammation, and if the problem is a hormonal imbalance, hormones. Taking such drugs should be prescribed by a doctor, since both antibiotics and hormonal drugs have a serious impact on the body as a whole.

 

After the acne disappears, you will need a course of cosmetic procedures to return the skin to a healthy color and smoothness. Acne often leaves scars and spots of hyper-pigmentation. Laser therapy and other modern cosmetic procedures are able to cope with them.

 

How to Cure Acne Using Home Remedies

 

Mild forms of acne can be overcome without resorting to the use of medications. Pharmacies and stores sell many types of gels, lotions and creams designed to solve this skin problem. As a rule, such products contain benzoyl peroxide, resorcinol, salicylic acid, oxides and salts of sulfur and zinc. The chemicals included in such products have different degrees of effectiveness and may have undesirable side effects. For example, the use of resorcinol, which until relatively recently was the main anti-heat “weapon”, is now in doubt. A number of products use the antimicrobial action of benzoyl peroxide. Among the time-tested cosmetic ingredients, we can note sulfur and zinc, which are actively used, for example, by LIBREDERM. The manufacturer has developed a special collection of products based on sulfur and organic zinc salts – “Seracin”.

 

Sulfur and zinc reduce the intensity of fat production by skin pores, suppress the development of bacteria, and have a local anti-inflammatory effect. Additional “helpers” in the composition of funds from the collection “Seracin” – azelaic acid, brown algae extract, Centella asiatica, burdock root and others.

 

A special series against acne and blackheads from LIBREDERM is represented by means for washing and cleansing the skin (gel, foam, scrub, lotion, tonic), as well as creams, masks and patches for basic care, moisturizing and matting the skin. Special attention should be paid to the new seracin products with an additional component — azelaic acid. So, the night cream “Azelain-Forte Antiakne” with 5% azelaic acid in the composition helps to reduce excess sebum production, inflammation and growth of abnormal melanocytes, that is, reduces the risk of acne and traces of them. The cream can noticeably improve the condition of problem oily skin.

 

If regular use of hygiene cosmetics becomes a habit, then such a problem as acne can soon be forgotten — the skin will be pleased with its cleanliness, even tone and healthy appearance.

 

Specific Immunotherapy

 

Immunotherapy is prescribed when the relationship between the clinical manifestations of acne and the work of the immune system. Weakened protective functions of the body can affect the reproduction of bacteria that provoke the disease. Inadequate work of the immune system can also cause the development of the disease.

 

For the treatment of acne and acne rashes on the face, drugs belonging to the group of cytokines or cytomedines are often used.

 

Using these tips and prevention can help you to cure acne. If you like this article please share it to your friends and loved ones who want to know how to cure acne through simple behavioral changes and natural remedies.

 

POPULAR

 

Treatment

 

How to Cure Acne and What Is the Best Remedy ?

 

June 10, 2020

 

Acne, Causes

 

Causes of Acne Apart from Hormonal Imbalance

 

June 9, 2020

 

Acne

 

Acne Around the Mouth: What Is the Cause of Their Appearance?

 

June 9, 2020

 

Acne, Types of Acne

 

Pimples on the Temple: Causes and Treatment

 

June 9, 2020

 

Acne, Causes

 

Acne Causes, Signs, Treatment and Home Remedies

 

June 9, 2020

 

Acne, Home Remedies

 

Acne Apple Cider Vinegar – A Natural Remedy

 

June 9, 2020

 

Acne

 

What is Acne and It’s Treatment?

 

June 9, 2020

 

Acne

 

Acne – Behaviors and Treatments

 

June 9, 2020

 

Tips

 

How to Take Care of My Skin Under Mask?

 

June 9, 2020

 

Types of Acne

 

How to Prevent and Treat Hormonal Acne?

 

June 9, 2020

 

The post How to Cure Acne and What Is the Best Remedy ? appeared first on Acne Vulgaris.

 

via Acne Vugaris ift.tt/2BT0RiJ

Kosgoda

Sri Lanka

  

This is the oldest Conservation and Research project started in Sri Lanka in early 1978. It was at a time when all 7 species of sea turtles were on the Endangered list. Of the 7 species, 5 of the species were found to be frequenting the beaches of the southern coast of Sri Lanka where they beached, to lay their eggs. These eggs were collected by the villagers and sold in the open market.

 

It was about this time when the famous Swedish camera maker Victor Hasselblad whose cameras were the first to be used on the moon, came into the picture. He happened to be a close friend of the highly renowned Sri Lankan bird photographer, Dr Upane de Zylva , and Victor, having similar interests in photography, had made a donation through Dr Zylva to be used in any form of conservation and research, in Sri Lanka.

htrcc.info/

 

Albinism and leucism are two types of color mutations involving color loss producing different phenotypes. There are different definitions of leucism, with some authors referring to it as partial albinism

However, true albinos are easily differentiated, because they lack pigmentation and feature red or pinkish eyes, while leucistic animals have reduced/absent coloration but with normal eye pigmentation (Krecsak 2008; Turner 2011).

 

They referred to this turtle as albino,but I guess this one is rather leucistic than albino as the eyes were dark and not red or pinkish.

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Odonata

Family: Calopterygidae

Genus: Calopteryx

Species: C. virgo

Binomial name

Calopteryx virgo

 

The male usually has much more extensive pigmentation on the wings than other Calopteryx species in its range: in the south east of its range (the Balkans and Turkey) the wings are entirely metallic blue while in other areas, there are clear areas at the base and tip of the wing. Immature insects often have much paler, browner wings. They have metallic blue-green bodies and blue-green eyes.

 

The female has dark brown iridescent wings, a white patch near the tip of the wings (called a pseudopterostigma) and a metallic green body with a bronze tip of the abdomen

 

Females lay up to 300 eggs at a time on emergent or floating plants, often on water-crowfoot. Like the banded demoiselle, they often submerge to do so. The eggs hatch after around 14 days. Again, like the banded demoiselle, the larva is stick-like with long legs and develops over a period of two years in submerged vegetation, plant debris or roots. They usually overwinter in mud or slime.

 

The larvae of the beautiful demoiselle develop over 10 to 12 stages, each of which takes place between a molt. The body length is variable and highly dependent on environmental conditions. The final stage (F-0-stage) larvae are 3.5 to 4.6 millimeters and weigh about 4 milligrams, slightly below the banded demoiselle. Apart from the larvae of the demoiselles are difficult to distinguish from each other, the apparent differences lie mainly in the bristles and the severity of the tracheal gills on their abdomen. Compared to other damselflies demoiselles larvae fall immediately on the other hand, due to their much shorter mean gill lamella.

 

The body of the larvae shows only a relatively small adjustment to the fast-flowing waters of their habitat. The body is not flattened but very slim and turning around, the legs are long and have its end with strong claws, with which it can be stated in the vegetation. Because they reside within the water body, but mainly in the quieter areas, the danger of being swept with the flow, is relatively low. If this happens, they clearly its long body and legs stretched as far as possible to get in touch with the vegetation or the substrate to come.

 

The distribution of the beautiful demoiselle covers all of Europe with the exception of the southwestern Iberian Peninsula, the Balearic Islands and Iceland. In the north it extends to the Arctic polar sea, and thus much further north than that of the banded demoiselle. On the North African Mediterranean coast, its southern populations in Morocco and Algeria can be found.[1] The northern boundary in Asia following the 13-°C July isotherm, it is therefore not in the areas where the average temperature in summer below 13 °C falls, otherwise they are met with in temperate and cool regions in the entire continent with the exception of deserts and the mountains of. The eastern subspecies of C. v. japonica found on the Japanese islands is under debate as to whether it is a separate species. The beautiful demoiselle is mostly found in lowland locations. Regular findings come from areas up to a maximum height of 980 m above sea level. Occasionally they may be found up to 1,200 meters in altitude, such as in the Alps.

 

The blue-winged demoiselle lives mainly near small to medium sized streams and creeks. They prefer a relatively low water temperature and a moderate to fast flow. The water must not be nutrient rich (eutrophic). In the northern part of their range, such as in Norway and Finland, it is also found near medium-sized rivers or even larger streams. The waters are usually in the immediate vicinity of forests.

 

The larvae live in the streams mentioned before and are mainly dependent on the water plants. The larvae need the stems and leaves, especially in areas with stronger currents to hold on. Hence it is extremely rare to find them in barren locations, flat expiring banks, or areas with a smooth stone floor. They also live in small natural lakes or ponds characteristic for limestones bedrock. They live in quieter areas between alluvial leaves or on exposed roots of the vegetation. They can be found on submerged plants such as waterweed (Elodea sp.), floods for water crowfoot (Ranunculus fluitans) or other plants,submerged from a few centimetres to several decimetres. Compared with the larvae of the banded demoiselle the larvae of the blue-wing demoiselle prefer quieter areas of the water, since slower flow causes a more effective absorption of oxygen under water. Only in very rare cases the larvae are present in stagnant water. The substrate of the river has only a very minor importance, because the larvae reside mainly in the vegetation. An important factor for the occurrence of blue-wing demoiselles is the oxygen in the water. The larvae is much more sensitive to oxygen deficiency than the larvae of the banded demoiselle, hence it needs a sufficient oxygen saturation of the water. Waters with high levels of sediment and sludge, which is consumed by bacterial decomposition of oxygen are, accordingly not as a habitat for the larvae. This sensitivity qualifies it in water chemistry as a bioindicator for the assessment of water quality. Thus they will be an indication of value in the saprobic assigned of 1.9, which represents a low to moderately polluted waters type (β-mesosaprob) and a water quality class from I to II does. Another key factor for the occurrence of the larvae of the blue-wing demoiselle is the temperature of the water. This species prefers unlike the banded demoiselle, mainly the cooler and shadier areas of the water. The optimal temperature is a summer average 13 to 18 °C. At temperatures above 22 °C were often injuries of larvae observed and also a reduced hatch ability of eggs. The main reason is the oxygen content under higher temperatures. Individual populations may get used to permanently higher temperatures.

 

The habitat that the adults occupy, corresponds to the nearby larval habitat. Unlike the adults of the banded demoiselle you meet those of the beautiful demoiselle but also in forest clearings, but very rarely on the banks of larger ponds. As resting places, the animals need trees and shrubs, often resting on high herbaceous plants such as the large nettle ( Urtica Dioica ). The breeding habitats are similar to the Larval habitat, these are cool, shady water-courses largely with a more or less strong current and near-natural vegetation and bank structure. This is mostly meadow and pasture streams in the area, they rarely pass through the forest. A distinct riparian vegetation also plays a role as a windbreak. Due to their broad wings the beautiful demoiselle can be blown away by the wind more easily than other species of dragonflies.

 

Males are territorial, perching in bankside plants and trees. They chase passing insects, often returning to the same perch. Males can stray well away from water, females live away from water unless egg-laying or seeking a mate.

 

As with the banded demoiselle is also in the blue wing-demoiselle a pronounced territorial behavior of sexually mature males. These days occupy territories that they defend against other males. The defense consists mostly in threatening gestures. For this they spread their wings and put them on display so clearly visible, there is also Drohflügen and in rare cases to air combat between rival males. Optimal areas correspond to the optimal nesting places for the females and are characterized by a normally increased flow and a suitable oviposition substrate in the potential breeding sites from. The size of the spots and their distance apart is the density of the population dependent as well as the occurrences of the water and may be between several meters and a few decimetres. Males who do not occupy spots can keep themselves in the vegetation on the shore and try to mate with fly to females or to fill vacant spots. Especially when only a few males are present, the territorial defense is very aggressive, with a higher number of competing male aggression but decreases significantly. The males sit in their areas mostly in exposed places in the vegetation, which extends over the water, sometimes on vegetation or rocks cushions amid the waters. This seat is waiting at the same time the center of the district they do their gaze primarily on the aquatic center and will show a behavior that is referred to as "wingclapping" and in which the wings beat quickly down and slowly lifted. It is believed that it is mainly used for communication, it also supports the ventilation in the thorax and accordingly probably also plays a role in thermoregulation of the animals

  

(Middorsal posterior patch fused with lateral pigmentation)

Taken in Battle Ground, Clark Co., WA, USA

Thanks to Frans Janssens for ID.

To see all Ptenothrix collages go to album 'Springtail Representative Collages' album.

 

It started when I was 8 years old. A few spots on my back that my mom chaulked up to a sun burn starting to peel. But when the spots started on my knees and elbows and started to spread, we started looking into things a bit more serious and I was eventually diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called "Vitiligo" - basically what happens is that the melanocytes, the cells responsible for skin pigmentation, are killed by own body. I don't see why we can't all just get along. ;)

 

Over the years I have tried everything possible treatment and disguise I could think of. From tanning booths to wearing two paris of nylons so I could wear shorts on my first day of Grade nine, to spray tans, to phototherapy treatments and to my latest endeavour - tatoos on my shins.

 

For the longest time it was mostly just on my elbows and knees so I could cover it up by wearing pants and long sleeves...but after I had my children, I developed Exema on my hands (most likely due to the hormones) and when that finally subsided, the Vitiligo appeared...and spread quickly. I have always liked my hands as they remind me of my Dad's hands - big and strong - very helpful for all those years I played basketball. But now, being in an industry where I am constantly meeting new people and shaking hands, they have become my biggest insecurity.

 

I have an incredible family and friends who quickly see past this outer shell and always encourage me to do the same. But sometimes it is hard...especially in the summer when no amounts of sunscreen seem to keep my tan at bay which only make my white spots more apparent.

 

I knew that when I signed up for this course that I would have a challenge on my hands (pun intended ;)...by the end of the six weeks I am hoping to be able to capture a picture that will somehow let me see this disease in a different light...perhaps unique, or interesting or maybe just maybe even beautiful.

 

For the most part, I have learned to deal with it and have found ways to camouflage and conceal it. For the other days (like two days ago when I noticed the spots are starting to appear on my face), I focus on the fact that I have legs to run and hands to hold my precious children. At the end of the day, I can always wear two pairs of nylons. ;)

  

This peripherally located adenocarcinoma contains a large area of mostly central scarring with anthracotic pigmentation.

Photos: Anthony Hall

Fig. 8. 13 year old girl with predominantly unilateral severe limbal vernal keratoconjunctivitis. Note the lid swelling, increased skin pigmentation around the lid and the injected conjunctiva. The eye is watering and she looks uncomfortable. The other eye appears by to be relatively normal by comparison.

Fig. 9. This is the same girl as in Fig.8 one month after supratarsal subconjunctival triamcinalone under local anaesthetic drops. She is happy and relaxed. The lid swelling has gone. She can now open her eye which is white and quiet. Her left eye which appeared to be relatively normal before, evidently has moderate vernal keratoconjuctivitis too. The lids are a little swollen and the limbal conjunctiva is injected and thickened. She is so pleased with the response in her right eye she is requesting an injection for her left eye.

Fig. 10. Child with severe limbal VKC. This is a close up of the right eye of the girl in Fig.8. Note the marked conjunctival hyperaemia, Trantas’ dots and invasion of cornea by thickened gelatinous pannus.

Fig. 11. Right eye of child in Figs. 8 and 9 one month after supratarsal subconjunctival triamcinalone under local anaesthetic drops. Note that the conjunctiva hyperaemia has gone. The thickened vascularised gelatinous pannus has resolved leaving a mildly pigmented flat scar. The vascular pannus accompanying the pannus has resolved apart from the one larger nasal feeder vessel. Visual acuity had improved from 6/18 to 6/6.

Published in: Community Eye Health Journal Vol. 18 No. 53 MARCH 2005 www.cehjournal.org

 

The Carolina anole (Anolis carolinensis) is an arboreal lizard found primarily in the southeastern parts of the United States and some Caribbean islands. Common synonyms include the green anole, American anole and red-throated anole. It is sometimes referred to as the American chameleon due to its color-changing abilities; however, it is not a true chameleon.

 

This species is native to North America, where it is found mainly in the southeastern parts of the continent. Anoles are most abundant on the Atlantic Coastal Plains in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and Georgia, and the Gulf Coastal Plain in Texas. The species has been introduced into Hawaii.

 

Anoles are territorial. In fact some have even been witnessed fighting their own reflection in mirrored glass. Stress in an anole can be identified by several symptoms. These symptoms include a constant shade of brown and a persistent black semicircle behind their eyes and chronic lethargy. In a group of one male and several females some aggressive chasing may occur, but the encounters are short lived and less violent than between males.

During shedding an anole may use its mouth to pull the old skin off and will usually eat it. In addition to discarding their tails, anoles will attempt to bite perceived predators if cornered, which can be somewhat painful, but does not cause much harm other than some scratching of the bite area caused by the lizard's teeth.

When an anole is stressed out, or nervous, they will begin to turn a dark brown. Green means that an anole is happy, healthy, or relaxed. Some anoles, when relaxed, on a hot day will turn a soft yellow-green in color. There are many shades of brown and green. The darker the shade of brown, the more stressed, cold, or possibly ill the lizard is.

Anoles are curious creatures. A healthy lizard usually has a good awareness of its surroundings. The males are very territorial and will fight other males to defend its territory.

 

The typical breeding season for green anoles starts from as early as April and ends to as late as August and lasts even occasionally into September. It is during this time that the most brilliant displays of these creatures can be seen, as the males must court the females with their elaborate displays of extending their brightly colored dewlaps while bobbing up and down, almost doing a dance for her while she runs in temptation from the male. The pursuit will continue until the two successfully mate. Usually, when the female is ready to mate, she may let the male simply "catch" her and he will thus grasp a hold of a fold of her skin above her neck area, or she will bow her head before him and simply "let" him take his grasp. At this point, the male will position his tail underneath the female's near her vent and the mating ritual will take place.

 

After a 2–4 week span following mating, the female will lay her first clutch of eggs, usually ranging from 1–2 in the first clutch. She will continue to lay eggs during the season until a total of 10 or so eggs have been produced. When it comes time for her to lay her eggs, she will bury them in the soft soils or compost nearby, and after that she no longer takes any care for it. The egg(s) are left alone to incubate by the light of the sun and if successful will hatch in 30–45 or so days.

The hatchlings must fend for themselves, as anoles are by nature solitary animals since birth and are not cared for by the mother or the father. The young hatchlings must be wary of other adult anoles in the area as well as larger reptiles and mammals who could eat them.

For breeding anoles in captivity, however, for best results the eggs must be taken out of the adults' enclosure and incubated in moist, not wet, vermiculite at a temperature of around 85 degrees Fahrenheit and around 70% humidity. The eggs will hatch within 35–40 or so days.

Once the eggs hatch, the young should be put into their own separate enclosure (separate from the adults), and the enclosure's temps and humidity levels should match that of the adult anoles. Hatchlings can be fed soft-shelled pinhead crickets, small leaf-hoppers, flightless fruit-flies, and other pesticide-free insects that do not exhibit a hard exoskeleton. The same goes true for adults as well. Pesticide-free insects are a must for anoles, so do not go for bugs in the area if you know that pesticides are sprayed or if you live in a rural area with lots of car exhaust and air pollution that can get on the insect.

 

Generally, the typical coloration for a green anole ranges from the richest and brightest of greens to the darkest of browns, with little variation in between. There are a few exceptions, however, which are caused when a lack in one of the pigment genes occurs. There are three layers of pigment cells – chromatophores that make up the green anole color spectrum: the xanthophores, responsible for the yellow pigmentation; cyanophores, responsible for the blue pigmentation, and melanophores, responsible for the brown and black pigmentation. The combination of the xanthophores and cyanophores are what make up the different arrays of green seen in the green anole, whereas the melanophores are responsible for its change to brown when the anole is cold or stressed. When there is a lack of one of these pigments, color mutations, also called "phases," can occur. In particular, this can lead to the incidence of the rare and beautiful blue-phased green anole, which lacks xanthophores, or the yellow pigment that makes up the green hues of the green anole's color spectrum. What results is a blue, often baby or pastel blue, anole. These rare beauties have become a recent popularity in the trade market. When the anole is completely lacking xanthophores, however, it is said to be axanthic. Such individuals are often completely pastel or baby-blue in hue, however are extremely rare -- usually produced in 1 out of every 20,000 individual anoles in the wild. Other color phases can also occur, such as the yellow-phased green anole, which lacks cyanophores, which are responsible for the blue pigment in the green anole color spectrum. However, none are as popular or as brilliant as the blue-phased green anole. Colonies of these rare color-phased anoles have been reported, but anoles with these color mutations rarely live for long, since the green anole relies on its green and brown camouflage to hunt down prey as well as hide from predators.

 

The Brown Anole is a highly invasive lizard in the same genus as the Carolina anole. It is native to Cuba and several other Caribbean islands, but has been introduced in Florida and has spread through the state. It has seriously depleted the population of carolina anoles throughout its range, due to competing with them for food and habitat. Some think that these lizards spread when they laid their eggs in potted plants at nurseries, which were then shipped throughout the state.

 

The information above was gathered from Wikipedia.

Pigmentation In Pregnancy:- When I was pregnant, there were many changes to my body that I was not ready for. But one of the changes that made me feel the most self-conscious was the change that happened to my skin.

 

The pigmentation on my face, especially under the eyes, became really noticeable towards the end of the pregnancy. When I look at the pictures now, that's all I see.

 

It is estimated that up to three quarters of pregnant women have these spots, also known as "pregnancy mask". In women with darker skin, the spots may be lighter than normal.

Pigmentation during pregnancy is linked to increased estrogen levels in a woman, according to dermatologist Dr. Michael Rich.

 

“A physiological increase in pigmentation is observed in all pregnant women,” he explains. "This is most noticeable along the line down the center of the abdomen, called the black line, around the nipples and areolas, and around the genitals and perineum."

It also occurs in areas exposed to the sun - “on the face, usually on the cheeks and above the upper lip,” as Dr. Rich points out - because the body can react to sunlight by producing too much melanin, the tanning hormone. which causes dark skinhttps://pigmentation.in/pigmentation-in-pregnancy/

visit this site for more information.

 

Jellyfish, also known sea jellies, are the medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, which is a major part of the phylum Cnidaria.

 

Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animals with umbrella-shaped bells and trailing tentacles, although a few are anchored to the seabed by stalks rather than being mobile. The bell can pulsate to provide propulsion for highly efficient locomotion. The tentacles are armed with stinging cells and may be used to capture prey and defend against predators. Jellyfish have a complex life cycle. The medusa is normally the sexual phase, which produces planula larvae; these then disperse widely and enter a sedentary polyp phase, before reaching sexual maturity.

 

Jellyfish are found all over the world, from surface waters to the deep sea. Scyphozoans (the "true jellyfish") are exclusively marine, but some hydrozoans with a similar appearance live in freshwater. Large, often colorful, jellyfish are common in coastal zones worldwide. The medusae of most species are fast-growing, and mature within a few months then die soon after breeding, but the polyp stage, attached to the seabed, may be much more long-lived. Jellyfish have been in existence for at least 500 million years,[1] and possibly 700 million years or more, making them the oldest multi-organ animal group.[2]

 

Jellyfish are eaten by humans in certain cultures. They are considered a delicacy in some Asian countries, where species in the Rhizostomeae order are pressed and salted to remove excess water. Australian researchers have described them as a "perfect food": sustainable and protein-rich but relatively low in food energy.[3]

 

They are also used in research, where the green fluorescent protein used by some species to cause bioluminescence has been adapted as a fluorescent marker for genes inserted into other cells or organisms.

 

The stinging cells used by jellyfish to subdue their prey can injure humans. Thousands of swimmers worldwide are stung every year, with effects ranging from mild discomfort to serious injury or even death. When conditions are favourable, jellyfish can form vast swarms, which can be responsible for damage to fishing gear by filling fishing nets, and sometimes clog the cooling systems of power and desalination plants which draw their water from the sea.

  

Names

The name jellyfish, in use since 1796,[4] has traditionally been applied to medusae and all similar animals including the comb jellies (ctenophores, another phylum).[5][6] The term jellies or sea jellies is more recent, having been introduced by public aquaria in an effort to avoid use of the word "fish" with its modern connotation of an animal with a backbone, though shellfish, cuttlefish and starfish are not vertebrates either.[7][8] In scientific literature, "jelly" and "jellyfish" have been used interchangeably.[9][10] Many sources refer to only scyphozoans as "true jellyfish".[11]

 

A group of jellyfish is called a "smack"[12] or a "smuck".[13]

 

Mapping to taxonomic groups

 

A purple-striped jellyfish at the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Phylogeny

Definition

The term jellyfish broadly corresponds to medusae,[4] that is, a life-cycle stage in the Medusozoa. The American evolutionary biologist Paulyn Cartwright gives the following general definition:

 

Typically, medusozoan cnidarians have a pelagic, predatory jellyfish stage in their life cycle; staurozoans are the exceptions [as they are stalked].[14]

 

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines jellyfish as follows:

 

A free-swimming marine coelenterate that is the sexually reproducing form of a hydrozoan or scyphozoan and has a nearly transparent saucer-shaped body and extensible marginal tentacles studded with stinging cells.[15]

 

Given that jellyfish is a common name, its mapping to biological groups is inexact. Some authorities have called the comb jellies[16] and certain salps[16] jellyfish, though other authorities state that neither of these are jellyfish, which they consider should be limited to certain groups within the medusozoa.[17][18]

 

The non-medusozoan clades called jellyfish by some but not all authorities (both agreeing and disagreeing citations are given in each case) are indicated with "???" on the following cladogram of the animal kingdom:

 

Animalia

Porifera

 

Ctenophora (comb jellies)[16] ???[17]

 

Cnidaria (includes jellyfish and other jellies)

 

Bilateria

Protostomia

 

Deuterostomia

Ambulacraria

 

Chordata

Tunicata (includes salps)[16] ???[18]

 

Vertebrata

 

Medusozoan jellyfish

Jellyfish are not a clade, as they include most of the Medusozoa, barring some of the Hydrozoa.[19][20] The medusozoan groups included by authorities are indicated on the following phylogenetic tree by the presence of citations. Names of included jellyfish, in English where possible, are shown in boldface; the presence of a named and cited example indicates that at least that species within its group has been called a jellyfish.

 

Cnidaria

Anthozoa (corals)

 

Polypodiozoa and Myxozoa (parasitic cnidarians)

 

Medusozoa

Acraspeda

Staurozoa (stalked jellyfish)[21]

 

Rhopaliophora

Cubozoa (box jellyfish)[16]

 

Scyphozoa

Discomedusae[16]

 

Coronatae (crown jellyfish)[22]

 

(true jellyfish[19])

Hydrozoa

Aplanulata

 

Siphonophorae

 

Some Leptothecata[16] e.g. crystal jelly

 

Filifera[16] e.g. red paper lantern jellyfish[23]

 

Trachylinae

Limnomedusae, e.g. flower hat jelly[16]

 

Narcomedusae, e.g. cosmic jellyfish[24]

 

Taxonomy

The subphylum Medusozoa includes all cnidarians with a medusa stage in their life cycle. The basic cycle is egg, planula larva, polyp, medusa, with the medusa being the sexual stage. The polyp stage is sometimes secondarily lost. The subphylum include the major taxa, Scyphozoa (large jellyfish), Cubozoa (box jellyfish) and Hydrozoa (small jellyfish), and excludes Anthozoa (corals and sea anemones).[25] This suggests that the medusa form evolved after the polyps.[26] Medusozoans have tetramerous symmetry, with parts in fours or multiples of four.[25]

 

The four major classes of medusozoan Cnidaria are:

 

Scyphozoa are sometimes called true jellyfish, though they are no more truly jellyfish than the others listed here. They have tetra-radial symmetry. Most have tentacles around the outer margin of the bowl-shaped bell, and long, oral arms around the mouth in the center of the subumbrella.[25]

Cubozoa (box jellyfish) have a (rounded) box-shaped bell, and their velarium assists them to swim more quickly. Box jellyfish may be related more closely to scyphozoan jellyfish than either are to the Hydrozoa.[26]

Hydrozoa medusae also have tetra-radial symmetry, nearly always have a velum (diaphragm used in swimming) attached just inside the bell margin, do not have oral arms, but a much smaller central stalk-like structure, the manubrium, with terminal mouth opening, and are distinguished by the absence of cells in the mesoglea. Hydrozoa show great diversity of lifestyle; some species maintain the polyp form for their entire life and do not form medusae at all (such as Hydra, which is hence not considered a jellyfish), and a few are entirely medusal and have no polyp form.[25]

Staurozoa (stalked jellyfish) are characterized by a medusa form that is generally sessile, oriented upside down and with a stalk emerging from the apex of the "calyx" (bell), which attaches to the substrate. At least some Staurozoa also have a polyp form that alternates with the medusoid portion of the life cycle. Until recently, Staurozoa were classified within the Scyphozoa.[25]

There are over 200 species of Scyphozoa, about 50 species of Staurozoa, about 50 species of Cubozoa, and the Hydrozoa includes about 1000–1500 species that produce medusae, but many more species that do not.[27][28]

 

Fossil history

 

Fossil jellyfish, Rhizostomites lithographicus, one of the Scypho-medusae, from the Kimmeridgian (late Jurassic, 157 to 152 mya) of Solnhofen, Germany

 

Stranded scyphozoans on a Cambrian tidal flat at Blackberry Hill, Wisconsin

 

The conulariid Conularia milwaukeensis from the Middle Devonian of Wisconsin

Since jellyfish have no hard parts, fossils are rare. The oldest unambiguous fossil of a free-swimming medusa is Burgessomedusa from the mid Cambrian Burgess Shale of Canada, which is likely either a stem group of box jellyfish (Cubozoa) or Acraspeda (the clade including Staurozoa, Cubozoa, and Scyphozoa). Other claimed records from the Cambrian of China and Utah in the United States are uncertain, and possibly represent ctenophores instead.[29]

 

Anatomy

 

Labelled cross section of a jellyfish

The main feature of a true jellyfish is the umbrella-shaped bell. This is a hollow structure consisting of a mass of transparent jelly-like matter known as mesoglea, which forms the hydrostatic skeleton of the animal.[25] 95% or more of the mesogloea consists of water,[30] but it also contains collagen and other fibrous proteins, as well as wandering amoebocytes which can engulf debris and bacteria. The mesogloea is bordered by the epidermis on the outside and the gastrodermis on the inside. The edge of the bell is often divided into rounded lobes known as lappets, which allow the bell to flex. In the gaps or niches between the lappets are dangling rudimentary sense organs known as rhopalia, and the margin of the bell often bears tentacles.[25]

  

Anatomy of a scyphozoan jellyfish

On the underside of the bell is the manubrium, a stalk-like structure hanging down from the centre, with the mouth, which also functions as the anus, at its tip. There are often four oral arms connected to the manubrium, streaming away into the water below.[31] The mouth opens into the gastrovascular cavity, where digestion takes place and nutrients are absorbed. This is subdivided by four thick septa into a central stomach and four gastric pockets. The four pairs of gonads are attached to the septa, and close to them four septal funnels open to the exterior, perhaps supplying good oxygenation to the gonads. Near the free edges of the septa, gastric filaments extend into the gastric cavity; these are armed with nematocysts and enzyme-producing cells and play a role in subduing and digesting the prey. In some scyphozoans, the gastric cavity is joined to radial canals which branch extensively and may join a marginal ring canal. Cilia in these canals circulate the fluid in a regular direction.[25]

  

Discharge mechanism of a nematocyst

The box jellyfish is largely similar in structure. It has a squarish, box-like bell. A short pedalium or stalk hangs from each of the four lower corners. One or more long, slender tentacles are attached to each pedalium.[32] The rim of the bell is folded inwards to form a shelf known as a velarium which restricts the bell's aperture and creates a powerful jet when the bell pulsates, allowing box jellyfish to swim faster than true jellyfish.[25] Hydrozoans are also similar, usually with just four tentacles at the edge of the bell, although many hydrozoans are colonial and may not have a free-living medusal stage. In some species, a non-detachable bud known as a gonophore is formed that contains a gonad but is missing many other medusal features such as tentacles and rhopalia.[25] Stalked jellyfish are attached to a solid surface by a basal disk, and resemble a polyp, the oral end of which has partially developed into a medusa with tentacle-bearing lobes and a central manubrium with four-sided mouth.[25]

 

Most jellyfish do not have specialized systems for osmoregulation, respiration and circulation, and do not have a central nervous system. Nematocysts, which deliver the sting, are located mostly on the tentacles; true jellyfish also have them around the mouth and stomach.[33] Jellyfish do not need a respiratory system because sufficient oxygen diffuses through the epidermis. They have limited control over their movement, but can navigate with the pulsations of the bell-like body; some species are active swimmers most of the time, while others largely drift.[34] The rhopalia contain rudimentary sense organs which are able to detect light, water-borne vibrations, odour and orientation.[25] A loose network of nerves called a "nerve net" is located in the epidermis.[35][36] Although traditionally thought not to have a central nervous system, nerve net concentration and ganglion-like structures could be considered to constitute one in most species.[37] A jellyfish detects stimuli, and transmits impulses both throughout the nerve net and around a circular nerve ring, to other nerve cells. The rhopalial ganglia contain pacemaker neurones which control swimming rate and direction.[25]

 

In many species of jellyfish, the rhopalia include ocelli, light-sensitive organs able to tell light from dark. These are generally pigment spot ocelli, which have some of their cells pigmented. The rhopalia are suspended on stalks with heavy crystals at one end, acting like gyroscopes to orient the eyes skyward. Certain jellyfish look upward at the mangrove canopy while making a daily migration from mangrove swamps into the open lagoon, where they feed, and back again.[2]

 

Box jellyfish have more advanced vision than the other groups. Each individual has 24 eyes, two of which are capable of seeing colour, and four parallel information processing areas that act in competition,[38] supposedly making them one of the few kinds of animal to have a 360-degree view of its environment.[39]

 

Box jellyfish eye

The study of jellyfish eye evolution is an intermediary to a better understanding of how visual systems evolved on Earth.[40] Jellyfish exhibit immense variation in visual systems ranging from photoreceptive cell patches seen in simple photoreceptive systems to more derived complex eyes seen in box jellyfish.[40] Major topics of jellyfish visual system research (with an emphasis on box jellyfish) include: the evolution of jellyfish vision from simple to complex visual systems), the eye morphology and molecular structures of box jellyfish (including comparisons to vertebrate eyes), and various uses of vision including task-guided behaviors and niche specialization.

 

Evolution

Experimental evidence for photosensitivity and photoreception in cnidarians antecedes the mid 1900s, and a rich body of research has since covered evolution of visual systems in jellyfish.[41] Jellyfish visual systems range from simple photoreceptive cells to complex image-forming eyes. More ancestral visual systems incorporate extraocular vision (vision without eyes) that encompass numerous receptors dedicated to single-function behaviors. More derived visual systems comprise perception that is capable of multiple task-guided behaviors.

 

Although they lack a true brain, cnidarian jellyfish have a "ring" nervous system that plays a significant role in motor and sensory activity. This net of nerves is responsible for muscle contraction and movement and culminates the emergence of photosensitive structures.[40] Across Cnidaria, there is large variation in the systems that underlie photosensitivity. Photosensitive structures range from non-specialized groups of cells, to more "conventional" eyes similar to those of vertebrates.[41] The general evolutionary steps to develop complex vision include (from more ancestral to more derived states): non-directional photoreception, directional photoreception, low-resolution vision, and high-resolution vision.[40] Increased habitat and task complexity has favored the high-resolution visual systems common in derived cnidarians such as box jellyfish.[40]

 

Basal visual systems observed in various cnidarians exhibit photosensitivity representative of a single task or behavior. Extraocular photoreception (a form of non-directional photoreception), is the most basic form of light sensitivity and guides a variety of behaviors among cnidarians. It can function to regulate circadian rhythm (as seen in eyeless hydrozoans) and other light-guided behaviors responsive to the intensity and spectrum of light. Extraocular photoreception can function additionally in positive phototaxis (in planula larvae of hydrozoans),[41] as well as in avoiding harmful amounts of UV radiation via negative phototaxis. Directional photoreception (the ability to perceive direction of incoming light) allows for more complex phototactic responses to light, and likely evolved by means of membrane stacking.[40] The resulting behavioral responses can range from guided spawning events timed by moonlight to shadow responses for potential predator avoidance.[41][42] Light-guided behaviors are observed in numerous scyphozoans including the common moon jelly, Aurelia aurita, which migrates in response to changes in ambient light and solar position even though they lack proper eyes.[41]

 

The low-resolution visual system of box jellyfish is more derived than directional photoreception, and thus box jellyfish vision represents the most basic form of true vision in which multiple directional photoreceptors combine to create the first imaging and spatial resolution. This is different from the high-resolution vision that is observed in camera or compound eyes of vertebrates and cephalopods that rely on focusing optics.[41] Critically, the visual systems of box jellyfish are responsible for guiding multiple tasks or behaviors in contrast to less derived visual systems in other jellyfish that guide single behavioral functions. These behaviors include phototaxis based on sunlight (positive) or shadows (negative), obstacle avoidance, and control of swim-pulse rate.[43]

 

Box jellyfish possess "proper eyes" (similar to vertebrates) that allow them to inhabit environments that lesser derived medusae cannot. In fact, they are considered the only class in the clade Medusozoa that have behaviors necessitating spatial resolution and genuine vision.[41] However, the lens in their eyes are more functionally similar to cup-eyes exhibited in low-resolution organisms, and have very little to no focusing capability.[44][43] The lack of the ability to focus is due to the focal length exceeding the distance to the retina, thus generating unfocused images and limiting spatial resolution.[41] The visual system is still sufficient for box jellyfish to produce an image to help with tasks such as object avoidance.

 

Utility as a model organism

Box jellyfish eyes are a visual system that is sophisticated in numerous ways. These intricacies include the considerable variation within the morphology of box jellyfishes' eyes (including their task/behavior specification), and the molecular makeup of their eyes including: photoreceptors, opsins, lenses, and synapses.[41] The comparison of these attributes to more derived visual systems can allow for a further understanding of how the evolution of more derived visual systems may have occurred, and puts into perspective how box jellyfish can play the role as an evolutionary/developmental model for all visual systems.[45]

 

Characteristics

Box jellyfish visual systems are both diverse and complex, comprising multiple photosystems.[41] There is likely considerable variation in visual properties between species of box jellyfish given the significant inter-species morphological and physiological variation. Eyes tend to differ in size and shape, along with number of receptors (including opsins), and physiology across species of box jellyfish.[41]

 

Box jellyfish have a series of intricate lensed eyes that are similar to those of more derived multicellular organisms such as vertebrates. Their 24 eyes fit into four different morphological categories.[46] These categories consist of two large, morphologically different medial eyes (a lower and upper lensed eye) containing spherical lenses, a lateral pair of pigment slit eyes, and a lateral pair of pigment pit eyes.[43] The eyes are situated on rhopalia (small sensory structures) which serve sensory functions of the box jellyfish and arise from the cavities of the exumbrella (the surface of the body) on the side of the bells of the jellyfish.[41] The two large eyes are located on the mid-line of the club and are considered complex because they contain lenses. The four remaining eyes lie laterally on either side of each rhopalia and are considered simple. The simple eyes are observed as small invaginated cups of epithelium that have developed pigmentation.[47] The larger of the complex eyes contains a cellular cornea created by a mono ciliated epithelium, cellular lens, homogenous capsule to the lens, vitreous body with prismatic elements, and a retina of pigmented cells. The smaller of the complex eyes is said to be slightly less complex given that it lacks a capsule but otherwise contains the same structure as the larger eye.[47]

 

Box jellyfish have multiple photosystems that comprise different sets of eyes.[41] Evidence includes immunocytochemical and molecular data that show photopigment differences among the different morphological eye types, and physiological experiments done on box jellyfish to suggest behavioral differences among photosystems. Each individual eye type constitutes photosystems that work collectively to control visually guided behaviors.[41]

 

Box jellyfish eyes primarily use c-PRCs (ciliary photoreceptor cells) similar to that of vertebrate eyes. These cells undergo phototransduction cascades (process of light absorption by photoreceptors) that are triggered by c-opsins.[48] Available opsin sequences suggest that there are two types of opsins possessed by all cnidarians including an ancient phylogenetic opsin, and a sister ciliary opsin to the c-opsins group. Box jellyfish could have both ciliary and cnidops (cnidarian opsins), which is something not previously believed to appear in the same retina.[41] Nevertheless, it is not entirely evident whether cnidarians possess multiple opsins that are capable of having distinctive spectral sensitivities.[41]

 

Comparison with other organisms

Comparative research on genetic and molecular makeup of box jellyfishes' eyes versus more derived eyes seen in vertebrates and cephalopods focuses on: lenses and crystallin composition, synapses, and Pax genes and their implied evidence for shared primordial (ancestral) genes in eye evolution.[49]

 

Box jellyfish eyes are said to be an evolutionary/developmental model of all eyes based on their evolutionary recruitment of crystallins and Pax genes.[45] Research done on box jellyfish including Tripedalia cystophora has suggested that they possess a single Pax gene, PaxB. PaxB functions by binding to crystallin promoters and activating them. PaxB in situ hybridization resulted in PaxB expression in the lens, retina, and statocysts.[45] These results and the rejection of the prior hypothesis that Pax6 was an ancestral Pax gene in eyes has led to the conclusion that PaxB was a primordial gene in eye evolution, and that the eyes of all organisms likely share a common ancestor.[45]

 

The lens structure of box jellyfish appears very similar to those of other organisms, but the crystallins are distinct in both function and appearance.[49] Weak reactions were seen within the sera and there were very weak sequence similarities within the crystallins among vertebrate and invertebrate lenses.[49] This is likely due to differences in lower molecular weight proteins and the subsequent lack of immunological reactions with antisera that other organisms' lenses exhibit.[49]

 

All four of the visual systems of box jellyfish species investigated with detail (Carybdea marsupialis, Chiropsalmus quadrumanus, Tamoya haplonema and Tripedalia cystophora) have invaginated synapses, but only in the upper and lower lensed eyes. Different densities were found between the upper and lower lenses, and between species.[46] Four types of chemical synapses have been discovered within the rhopalia which could help in understanding neural organization including: clear unidirectional, dense-core unidirectional, clear bidirectional, and clear and dense-core bidirectional. The synapses of the lensed eyes could be useful as markers to learn more about the neural circuit in box jellyfish retinal areas.[46]

 

Evolution as a response to natural stimuli

The primary adaptive responses to environmental variation observed in box jellyfish eyes include pupillary constriction speeds in response to light environments, as well as photoreceptor tuning and lens adaptations to better respond to shifts between light environments and darkness. Interestingly, some box jellyfish species' eyes appear to have evolved more focused vision in response to their habitat.[50]

 

Pupillary contraction appears to have evolved in response to variation in the light environment across ecological niches across three species of box jellyfish (Chironex fleckeri, Chiropsella bronzie, and Carukia barnesi). Behavioral studies suggest that faster pupil contraction rates allow for greater object avoidance,[50] and in fact, species with more complex habitats exhibit faster rates. Ch. bronzie inhabit shallow beach fronts that have low visibility and very few obstacles, thus, faster pupil contraction in response to objects in their environment is not important. Ca. barnesi and Ch. fleckeri are found in more three-dimensionally complex environments like mangroves with an abundance of natural obstacles, where faster pupil contraction is more adaptive.[50] Behavioral studies support the idea that faster pupillary contraction rates assist with obstacle avoidance as well as depth adjustments in response to differing light intensities.

 

Light/dark adaptation via pupillary light reflexes is an additional form of an evolutionary response to the light environment. This relates to the pupil's response to shifts between light intensity (generally from sunlight to darkness). In the process of light/dark adaptation, the upper and lower lens eyes of different box jellyfish species vary in specific function.[43] The lower lens-eyes contain pigmented photoreceptors and long pigment cells with dark pigments that migrate on light/dark adaptation, while the upper-lens eyes play a concentrated role in light direction and phototaxis given that they face upward towards the water surface (towards the sun or moon).[43] The upper lens of Ch. bronzie does not exhibit any considerable optical power while Tr. cystophora (a box jellyfish species that tends to live in mangroves) does. The ability to use light to visually guide behavior is not of as much importance to Ch. bronzie as it is to species in more obstacle-filled environments.[43] Differences in visually guided behavior serve as evidence that species that share the same number and structure of eyes can exhibit differences in how they control behavior.

 

Largest and smallest

Jellyfish range from about one millimeter in bell height and diameter,[51] to nearly 2 metres (6+1⁄2 ft) in bell height and diameter; the tentacles and mouth parts usually extend beyond this bell dimension.[25]

 

The smallest jellyfish are the peculiar creeping jellyfish in the genera Staurocladia and Eleutheria, which have bell disks from 0.5 millimetres (1⁄32 in) to a few millimeters in diameter, with short tentacles that extend out beyond this, which these jellyfish use to move across the surface of seaweed or the bottoms of rocky pools;[51] many of these tiny creeping jellyfish cannot be seen in the field without a hand lens or microscope. They can reproduce asexually by fission (splitting in half). Other very small jellyfish, which have bells about one millimeter, are the hydromedusae of many species that have just been released from their parent polyps;[52] some of these live only a few minutes before shedding their gametes in the plankton and then dying, while others will grow in the plankton for weeks or months. The hydromedusae Cladonema radiatum and Cladonema californicum are also very small, living for months, yet never growing beyond a few mm in bell height and diameter.[53]

  

The lion's mane jellyfish (Cyanea capillata) is one of the largest species.

The lion's mane jellyfish, Cyanea capillata, was long-cited as the largest jellyfish, and arguably the longest animal in the world, with fine, thread-like tentacles that may extend up to 36.5 m (119 ft 9 in) long (though most are nowhere near that large).[54][55] They have a moderately painful, but rarely fatal, sting.[56] The increasingly common giant Nomura's jellyfish, Nemopilema nomurai, found in some, but not all years in the waters of Japan, Korea and China in summer and autumn is another candidate for "largest jellyfish", in terms of diameter and weight, since the largest Nomura's jellyfish in late autumn can reach 2 m (6 ft 7 in) in bell (body) diameter and about 200 kg (440 lb) in weight, with average specimens frequently reaching 0.9 m (2 ft 11 in) in bell diameter and about 150 kg (330 lb) in weight.[57][58] The large bell mass of the giant Nomura's jellyfish[59] can dwarf a diver and is nearly always much greater than the Lion's Mane, whose bell diameter can reach 1 m (3 ft 3 in).[60]

 

The rarely encountered deep-sea jellyfish Stygiomedusa gigantea is another candidate for "largest jellyfish", with its thick, massive bell up to 100 cm (3 ft 3 in) wide, and four thick, "strap-like" oral arms extending up to 6 m (19+1⁄2 ft) in length, very different from the typical fine, threadlike tentacles that rim the umbrella of more-typical-looking jellyfish, including the Lion's Mane.[61]

 

Desmonema glaciale, which lives in the Antarctic region, can reach a very large size (several meters).[62][63] Purple-striped jelly (Chrysaora colorata) can also be extremely long (up to 15 feet).[64]

 

Life history and behavior

See also: Biological life cycle and Developmental biology

Illustration of two life stages of seven jelly species

The developmental stages of scyphozoan jellyfish's life cycle:

1–3 Larva searches for site

4–8 Polyp grows

9–11 Polyp strobilates

12–14 Medusa grows

Life cycle

Jellyfish have a complex life cycle which includes both sexual and asexual phases, with the medusa being the sexual stage in most instances. Sperm fertilize eggs, which develop into larval planulae, become polyps, bud into ephyrae and then transform into adult medusae. In some species certain stages may be skipped.[65]

 

Upon reaching adult size, jellyfish spawn regularly if there is a sufficient supply of food. In most species, spawning is controlled by light, with all individuals spawning at about the same time of day; in many instances this is at dawn or dusk.[66] Jellyfish are usually either male or female (with occasional hermaphrodites). In most cases, adults release sperm and eggs into the surrounding water, where the unprotected eggs are fertilized and develop into larvae. In a few species, the sperm swim into the female's mouth, fertilizing the eggs within her body, where they remain during early development stages. In moon jellies, the eggs lodge in pits on the oral arms, which form a temporary brood chamber for the developing planula larvae.[67]

 

The planula is a small larva covered with cilia. When sufficiently developed, it settles onto a firm surface and develops into a polyp. The polyp generally consists of a small stalk topped by a mouth that is ringed by upward-facing tentacles. The polyps resemble those of closely related anthozoans, such as sea anemones and corals. The jellyfish polyp may be sessile, living on the bottom, boat hulls or other substrates, or it may be free-floating or attached to tiny bits of free-living plankton[68] or rarely, fish[69][70] or other invertebrates. Polyps may be solitary or colonial.[71] Most polyps are only millimetres in diameter and feed continuously. The polyp stage may last for years.[25]

 

After an interval and stimulated by seasonal or hormonal changes, the polyp may begin reproducing asexually by budding and, in the Scyphozoa, is called a segmenting polyp, or a scyphistoma. Budding produces more scyphistomae and also ephyrae.[25] Budding sites vary by species; from the tentacle bulbs, the manubrium (above the mouth), or the gonads of hydromedusae.[68] In a process known as strobilation, the polyp's tentacles are reabsorbed and the body starts to narrow, forming transverse constrictions, in several places near the upper extremity of the polyp. These deepen as the constriction sites migrate down the body, and separate segments known as ephyra detach. These are free-swimming precursors of the adult medusa stage, which is the life stage that is typically identified as a jellyfish.[25][72] The ephyrae, usually only a millimeter or two across initially, swim away from the polyp and grow. Limnomedusae polyps can asexually produce a creeping frustule larval form, which crawls away before developing into another polyp.[25] A few species can produce new medusae by budding directly from the medusan stage. Some hydromedusae reproduce by fission.[68]

 

Lifespan

Little is known of the life histories of many jellyfish as the places on the seabed where the benthic forms of those species live have not been found. However, an asexually reproducing strobila form can sometimes live for several years, producing new medusae (ephyra larvae) each year.[73]

 

An unusual species, Turritopsis dohrnii, formerly classified as Turritopsis nutricula,[74] might be effectively immortal because of its ability under certain circumstances to transform from medusa back to the polyp stage, thereby escaping the death that typically awaits medusae post-reproduction if they have not otherwise been eaten by some other organism. So far this reversal has been observed only in the laboratory.[75]

 

Locomotion

 

Jellyfish locomotion is highly efficient. Muscles in the jellylike bell contract, setting up a start vortex and propelling the animal. When the contraction ends, the bell recoils elastically, creating a stop vortex with no extra energy input.

Using the moon jelly Aurelia aurita as an example, jellyfish have been shown to be the most energy-efficient swimmers of all animals.[76] They move through the water by radially expanding and contracting their bell-shaped bodies to push water behind them. They pause between the contraction and expansion phases to create two vortex rings. Muscles are used for the contraction of the body, which creates the first vortex and pushes the animal forward, but the mesoglea is so elastic that the expansion is powered exclusively by relaxing the bell, which releases the energy stored from the contraction. Meanwhile, the second vortex ring starts to spin faster, sucking water into the bell and pushing against the centre of the body, giving a secondary and "free" boost forward. The mechanism, called passive energy recapture, only works in relatively small jellyfish moving at low speeds, allowing the animal to travel 30 percent farther on each swimming cycle. Jellyfish achieved a 48 percent lower cost of transport (food and oxygen intake versus energy spent in movement) than other animals in similar studies. One reason for this is that most of the gelatinous tissue of the bell is inactive, using no energy during swimming.[77]

 

Ecology

Diet

Jellyfish are, like other cnidarians, generally carnivorous (or parasitic),[78] feeding on planktonic organisms, crustaceans, small fish, fish eggs and larvae, and other jellyfish, ingesting food and voiding undigested waste through the mouth. They hunt passively using their tentacles as drift lines, or sink through the water with their tentacles spread widely; the tentacles, which contain nematocysts to stun or kill the prey, may then flex to help bring it to the mouth.[25] Their swimming technique also helps them to capture prey; when their bell expands it sucks in water which brings more potential prey within reach of the tentacles.[79]

 

A few species such as Aglaura hemistoma are omnivorous, feeding on microplankton which is a mixture of zooplankton and phytoplankton (microscopic plants) such as dinoflagellates.[80] Others harbour mutualistic algae (Zooxanthellae) in their tissues;[25] the spotted jellyfish (Mastigias papua) is typical of these, deriving part of its nutrition from the products of photosynthesis, and part from captured zooplankton.[81][82] The upside-down jellyfish (Cassiopea andromeda) also has a symbiotic relationship with microalgae, but captures tiny animals to supplement their diet. This is done by releasing tiny balls of living cells composed of mesoglea. These use cilia to drive them through water and stinging cells which stun the prey. The blobs also seems to have digestive capabilities.[83]

 

Predation

Other species of jellyfish are among the most common and important jellyfish predators. Sea anemones may eat jellyfish that drift into their range. Other predators include tunas, sharks, swordfish, sea turtles and penguins.[84][85] Jellyfish washed up on the beach are consumed by foxes, other terrestrial mammals and birds.[86] In general however, few animals prey on jellyfish; they can broadly be considered to be top predators in the food chain. Once jellyfish have become dominant in an ecosystem, for example through overfishing which removes predators of jellyfish larvae, there may be no obvious way for the previous balance to be restored: they eat fish eggs and juvenile fish, and compete with fish for food, preventing fish stocks from recovering.[87]

 

Symbiosis

Some small fish are immune to the stings of the jellyfish and live among the tentacles, serving as bait in a fish trap; they are safe from potential predators and are able to share the fish caught by the jellyfish.[88] The cannonball jellyfish has a symbiotic relationship with ten different species of fish, and with the longnose spider crab, which lives inside the bell, sharing the jellyfish's food and nibbling its tissues.[89]

 

Blooms

Main article: Jellyfish bloom

 

Map of population trends of native and invasive jellyfish.[90]

Circles represent data records; larger circles denote higher certainty of findings.

Increase (high certainty)

Increase (low certainty)

Stable/variable

Decrease

No data

Jellyfish form large masses or blooms in certain environmental conditions of ocean currents, nutrients, sunshine, temperature, season, prey availability, reduced predation and oxygen concentration. Currents collect jellyfish together, especially in years with unusually high populations. Jellyfish can detect marine currents and swim against the current to congregate in blooms.[91][92] Jellyfish are better able to survive in nutrient-rich, oxygen-poor water than competitors, and thus can feast on plankton without competition. Jellyfish may also benefit from saltier waters, as saltier waters contain more iodine, which is necessary for polyps to turn into jellyfish. Rising sea temperatures caused by climate change may also contribute to jellyfish blooms, because many species of jellyfish are able to survive in warmer waters.[93] Increased nutrients from agricultural or urban runoff with nutrients including nitrogen and phosphorus compounds increase the growth of phytoplankton, causing eutrophication and algal blooms. When the phytoplankton die, they may create dead zones, so-called because they are hypoxic (low in oxygen). This in turn kills fish and other animals, but not jellyfish,[94] allowing them to bloom.[95][96] Jellyfish populations may be expanding globally as a result of land runoff and overfishing of their natural predators.[97][98] Jellyfish are well placed to benefit from disturbance of marine ecosystems. They reproduce rapidly; they prey upon many species, while few species prey on them; and they feed via touch rather than visually, so they can feed effectively at night and in turbid waters.[99][100] It may be difficult for fish stocks to re-establish themselves in marine ecosystems once they have become dominated by jellyfish, because jellyfish feed on plankton, which includes fish eggs and larvae.[101][102][96]

  

Moon jellyfishes can live in northern hemisphere seas,[103][104] such as the Baltic Sea.[105][106]

As suspected at the turn of this century, [107][108] jellyfish blooms are increasing in frequency. Between 2013 and 2020 the Mediterranean Science Commission monitored on a weekly basis the frequency of such outbreaks in coastal waters from Morocco to the Black Sea, revealing a relatively high frequency of these blooms nearly all year round, with peaks observed from March to July and often again in the autumn. The blooms are caused by different jellyfish species, depending on their localisation within the Basin: one observes a clear dominance of Pelagia noctiluca and Velella velella outbreaks in the western Mediterranean, of Rhizostoma pulmo and Rhopilema nomadica outbreaks in the eastern Mediterranean, and of Aurelia aurita and Mnemiopsis leidyi outbreaks in the Black Sea.[109]

 

Some jellyfish populations that have shown clear increases in the past few decades are invasive species, newly arrived from other habitats: examples include the Black Sea, Caspian Sea, Baltic Sea, central and eastern Mediterranean, Hawaii, and tropical and subtropical parts of the West Atlantic (including the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and Brazil).[105][106]

 

Jellyfish blooms can have significant impact on community structure. Some carnivorous jellyfish species prey on zooplankton while others graze on primary producers.[110] Reductions in zooplankton and ichthyoplankton due to a jellyfish bloom can ripple through the trophic levels. High-density jellyfish populations can outcompete other predators and reduce fish recruitment.[111] Increased grazing on primary producers by jellyfish can also interrupt energy transfer to higher trophic levels.[112]

 

During blooms, jellyfish significantly alter the nutrient availability in their environment. Blooms require large amounts of available organic nutrients in the water column to grow, limiting availability for other organisms.[113] Some jellyfish have a symbiotic relationship with single-celled dinoflagellates, allowing them to assimilate inorganic carbon, phosphorus, and nitrogen creating competition for phytoplankton.[113] Their large biomass makes them an important source of dissolved and particulate organic matter for microbial communities through excretion, mucus production, and decomposition.[90][114] The microbes break down the organic matter into inorganic ammonium and phosphate. However, the low carbon availability shifts the process from production to respiration creating low oxygen areas making the dissolved inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus largely unavailable for primary production.

 

These blooms have very real impacts on industries. Jellyfish can outcompete fish by utilizing open niches in over-fished fisheries.[115] Catch of jellyfish can strain fishing gear and lead to expenses relating to damaged gear. Power plants have been shut down due to jellyfish blocking the flow of cooling water.[116] Blooms have also been harmful for tourism, causing a rise in stings and sometimes the closure of beaches.[117]

 

Jellyfish form a component of jelly-falls, events where gelatinous zooplankton fall to the seafloor, providing food for the benthic organisms there.[118] In temperate and subpolar regions, jelly-falls usually follow immediately after a bloom.[119]

 

Habitats

 

A common Scyphozoan jellyfish seen near beaches in the Florida Panhandle

Most jellyfish are marine animals, although a few hydromedusae inhabit freshwater. The best known freshwater example is the cosmopolitan hydrozoan jellyfish, Craspedacusta sowerbii. It is less than an inch (2.5 cm) in diameter, colorless and does not sting.[120] Some jellyfish populations have become restricted to coastal saltwater lakes, such as Jellyfish Lake in Palau.[121] Jellyfish Lake is a marine lake where millions of golden jellyfish (Mastigias spp.) migrate horizontally across the lake daily.[82]

 

Although most jellyfish live well off the ocean floor and form part of the plankton, a few species are closely associated with the bottom for much of their lives and can be considered benthic. The upside-down jellyfish in the genus Cassiopea typically lie on the bottom of shallow lagoons where they sometimes pulsate gently with their umbrella top facing down. Even some deep-sea species of hydromedusae and scyphomedusae are usually collected on or near the bottom. All of the stauromedusae are found attached to either seaweed or rocky or other firm material on the bottom.[122]

 

Some species explicitly adapt to tidal flux. In Roscoe Bay, jellyfish ride the current at ebb tide until they hit a gravel bar, and then descend below the current. They remain in still waters until the tide rises, ascending and allowing it to sweep them back into the bay. They also actively avoid fresh water from mountain snowmelt, diving until they find enough salt.

  

Parasites

Jellyfish are hosts to a wide variety of parasitic organisms. They act as intermediate hosts of endoparasitic helminths, with the infection being transferred to the definitive host fish after predation. Some digenean trematodes, especially species in the family Lepocreadiidae, use jellyfish as their second intermediate hosts. Fish become infected by the trematodes when they feed on infected jellyfish.

 

Relation to humans

Jellyfish have long been eaten in some parts of the world. Fisheries have begun harvesting the American cannonball jellyfish, Stomolophus meleagris, along the southern Atlantic coast of the United States and in the Gulf of Mexico for export to Asia.

 

Jellyfish are also harvested for their collagen, which is being investigated for use in a variety of applications including the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

 

Aquaculture and fisheries of other species often suffer severe losses – and so losses of productivity – due to jellyfish.

 

Products

Main article: Jellyfish as food

In some countries, including China, Japan, and Korea, jellyfish are a delicacy. The jellyfish is dried to prevent spoiling. Only some 12 species of scyphozoan jellyfish belonging to the order Rhizostomeae are harvested for food, mostly in southeast Asia. Rhizostomes, especially Rhopilema esculentum in China (海蜇 hǎizhé, 'sea stingers') and Stomolophus meleagris (cannonball jellyfish) in the United States, are favored because of their larger and more rigid bodies and because their toxins are harmless to humans.

 

Traditional processing methods, carried out by a jellyfish master, involve a 20- to 40-day multi-phase procedure in which, after removing the gonads and mucous membranes, the umbrella and oral arms are treated with a mixture of table salt and alum, and compressed. Processing makes the jellyfish drier and more acidic, producing a crisp texture. Jellyfish prepared this way retain 7–10% of their original weight, and the processed product consists of approximately 94% water and 6% protein. Freshly processed jellyfish has a white, creamy color and turns yellow or brown during prolonged storage.

 

In China, processed jellyfish are desalted by soaking in water overnight and eaten cooked or raw. The dish is often served shredded with a dressing of oil, soy sauce, vinegar and sugar, or as a salad with vegetables. In Japan, cured jellyfish are rinsed, cut into strips and served with vinegar as an appetizer. Desalted, ready-to-eat products are also available.

 

Biotechnology

The hydromedusa Aequorea victoria was the source of green fluorescent protein, studied for its role in bioluminescence and later for use as a marker in genetic engineering.

Pliny the Elder reported in his Natural History that the slime of the jellyfish "Pulmo marinus" produced light when rubbed on a walking stick.

 

In 1961, Osamu Shimomura extracted green fluorescent protein (GFP) and another bioluminescent protein, called aequorin, from the large and abundant hydromedusa Aequorea victoria, while studying photoproteins that cause bioluminescence in this species. Three decades later, Douglas Prasher sequenced and cloned the gene for GFP. Martin Chalfie figured out how to use GFP as a fluorescent marker of genes inserted into other cells or organisms. Roger Tsien later chemically manipulated GFP to produce other fluorescent colors to use as markers. In 2008, Shimomura, Chalfie and Tsien won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work with GFP. Man-made GFP became widely used as a fluorescent tag to show which cells or tissues express specific genes. The genetic engineering technique fuses the gene of interest to the GFP gene. The fused DNA is then put into a cell, to generate either a cell line or (via IVF techniques) an entire animal bearing the gene. In the cell or animal, the artificial gene turns on in the same tissues and the same time as the normal gene, making a fusion of the normal protein with GFP attached to the end, illuminating the animal or cell reveals what tissues express that protein—or at what stage of development. The fluorescence shows where the gene is expressed.

 

Aquarium display

Jellyfish are displayed in many public aquariums. Often the tank's background is blue and the animals are illuminated by side light, increasing the contrast between the animal and the background. In natural conditions, many jellies are so transparent that they are nearly invisible. Jellyfish are not adapted to closed spaces. They depend on currents to transport them from place to place. Professional exhibits as in the Monterey Bay Aquarium feature precise water flows, typically in circular tanks to avoid trapping specimens in corners. The outflow is spread out over a large surface area and the inflow enters as a sheet of water in front of the outflow, so the jellyfish do not get sucked into it. As of 2009, jellyfish were becoming popular in home aquariums, where they require similar equipment.

 

Stings

Jellyfish are armed with nematocysts, a type of specialized stinging cell. Contact with a jellyfish tentacle can trigger millions of nematocysts to pierce the skin and inject venom, but only some species' venom causes an adverse reaction in humans. In a study published in Communications Biology, researchers found a jellyfish species called Cassiopea xamachana which when triggered will release tiny balls of cells that swim around the jellyfish stinging everything in their path. Researchers described these as "self-propelling microscopic grenades" and named them cassiosomes.

 

The effects of stings range from mild discomfort to extreme pain and death. Most jellyfish stings are not deadly, but stings of some box jellyfish (Irukandji jellyfish), such as the sea wasp, can be deadly. Stings may cause anaphylaxis (a form of shock), which can be fatal. Jellyfish kill 20 to 40 people a year in the Philippines alone. In 2006 the Spanish Red Cross treated 19,000 stung swimmers along the Costa Brava.

 

Vinegar (3–10% aqueous acetic acid) may help with box jellyfish stings but not the stings of the Portuguese man o' war. Clearing the area of jelly and tentacles reduces nematocyst firing. Scraping the affected skin, such as with the edge of a credit card, may remove remaining nematocysts. Once the skin has been cleaned of nematocysts, hydrocortisone cream applied locally reduces pain and inflammation. Antihistamines may help to control itching. Immunobased antivenins are used for serious box jellyfish stings.

 

In Elba Island and Corsica dittrichia viscosa is now used by residents and tourists to heal stings from jellyfish, bees and wasps pressing fresh leaves on the skin with quick results.

 

Mechanical issues

Jellyfish in large quantities can fill and split fishing nets and crush captured fish. They can clog cooling equipment, having disabled power stations in several countries; jellyfish caused a cascading blackout in the Philippines in 1999, as well as damaging the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in California in 2008. They can also stop desalination plants and ships' engines.

Enriched with vitamins and fine herbs. Excellent to help hide stretch marks through proper skin pigmentation.

An unusual sight today on my travels through the trails of Nova Scotia. I was watching some black-capped chickadees play in a tree, when this little fellow appeared. I knew he was a chickadee because of his song and behavior, but the colors were all wrong. A different variety perhaps? When I got home I consulted 'Professor Interwebs' and I found a few examples of chickadees with reduced pigmentation (Leucism). In this case, the feet and beak are pink as opposed to black and the 'black cap' is almost completely turned to white.

A shot of a Leucistic Red Kite, taken at the Gigrin Farm Red Kite feeding station in Wales.

There are 2 Leucistic red Kite's at Gigrin and luckily for me, this was the one without the huge wing tags.

 

Apparently Leucism "is a condition characterized by reduced pigmentation in animals. Unlike albinism, it is caused by a reduction in all types of skin pigment, not just melanin".

 

The two Leucistic Red Kite's at Gigrin were really getting a hard time from the other Kite's, so I would surmise that Leucism is a major disadvantage for wild animals.

Their success must have a lot to do with the feeding station, where dinner is served every day of the year.

Thanks for looking, cheers! :-)

Collected this one from leaf litter. After many photos of its face, it appears to me to have only 1 very long unpaired midfacial setae. It has very dark lateral body pigmentation. Looks strange to me, so I collected it and tried to document it. Will probably turn out to be just a Ptenothrix sp.3.

Taken in Battle Ground, Clark Co., WA, USA

From Wikipedia -

 

Strongylodon macrobotrys, commonly known as Jade Vine, Emerald Vine or Turquoise Jade Vine, is a species of leguminous perennial woody vine, native to the tropical forests of the Philippines. Its local name is Tayabak. A member of the Fabaceae (the pea and bean family), it is closely related to beans such as kidney bean and runner bean.

 

Strongylodon macrobotrys is pollinated by bats.

 

The vine can grow up to 18 metres in height. The pale green foliage consists of three leaflets. The claw-shaped flowers are carried in pendent trusses or pseudoracemes of 75 or more flowers and can reach as much as 3 metres long. The turquoise flower color is similar to some forms of the minerals turquoise and jade, varying from blue-green to mint green. The short, oblong, fleshy seed pods are up to 15 cm long and contain up to 12 seeds.

 

The plant grows beside streams in damp forests, or in ravines. The inflorescences are only produced by mature vines. Each individual bloom resembles a stout-bodied butterfly with folded wings - they have evolved certain modifications to allow them to be pollinated by a species of bat that hangs upside down on the inflorescence to drink its nectar. The flowers are also visited by a species of wasp, and are home to a species of butterfly.

 

The characteristic flower coloration has been shown to be an example of copigmentation, a result of the presence of malvin (an anthocyanin) and saponarin (a flavone glucoside) in the ratio 1:9. Under the alkaline conditions (pH 7.9) found in the sap of the epidermal cells, this combination produced a pink pigmentation; the pH of the colorless inner floral tissue was found to be lower, at pH 5.6. Experiments showed that saponarin produced a strong yellow colouring in slightly alkaline conditions, resulting in the greenish tone of the flower.

Homo neanderthalensis

 

Male Neanderthal Reconstruction Based on Shanidar 1 by John Gurche

 

•Nickname: Neanderthal

•Where Lived: Europe and southwestern to central Asia

•When Lived: About 400,000 – 40,000 years ago

 

Neanderthals (the ‘th’ pronounced as ‘t’) are our closest extinct human relative. Some defining features of their skulls include the large middle part of the face, angled cheek bones, and a huge nose for humidifying and warming cold, dry air. Their bodies were shorter and stockier than ours, another adaptation to living in cold environments. But their brains were just as large as ours and often larger—proportional to their brawnier bodies.

 

Neanderthals made and used a diverse set of sophisticated tools, controlled fire, lived in shelters, made and wore clothing, were skilled hunters of large animals and also ate plant foods, and occasionally made symbolic or ornamental objects. There is evidence that Neanderthals deliberately buried their dead and occasionally even marked their graves with offerings, such as flowers. No other primates, and no earlier human species, had ever practiced this sophisticated and symbolic behavior.

 

DNA has been recovered from more than a dozen Neanderthal fossils, all from Europe; the Neanderthal Genome Project is one of the exciting new areas of human origins research.

 

•Year of Discovery: 1829

 

History of Discovery:

 

Neanderthal 1 was the first specimen to be recognized as an early human fossil. When it was discovered in 1856 in Germany, scientists had never seen a specimen like it: the oval shaped skull with a low, receding forehead and distinct browridges, the thick, strong bones. In 1864, it became the first fossil hominin species to be named. Geologist William King suggested the name Homo neanderthalensis (Johanson and Edgar, 2006), after these fossils found in the Feldhofer Cave of the Neander Valley in Germany (tal—a modern form of thal—means “valley” in German). Several years after Neanderthal 1 was discovered, scientists realized that prior fossil discoveries—in 1829 at Engis, Belgium, and in 1848 at Forbes Quarry, Gibraltar—were also Neanderthals. Even though they weren’t recognized at the time, these two earlier discoveries were actually the first early human fossils ever found.

 

•Height:

oMales: average 5 ft 5 in (164 cm)

oFemales: average 5 ft 1 in (155 cm)

•Weight:

oMales: average 143 lbs (65 kg)

oFemales: average 119 lbs (54 kg)

 

We don’t know everything about our early ancestors. But scientists are constantly in the field and the laboratory, excavating new areas and conducting analyses with groundbreaking technology, continually filling in some of the gaps about our understanding of human evolution.

 

Below are some of the still unanswered questions about H. neanderthalensis that may be better answered with future discoveries:

 

1.Will more studies of Neanderthal DNA help us identify what is unique about the modern human genome compared with our closest extinct relatives, the Neanderthals?

2.Is there a close correlation between climate change and the extinction of the Neanderthals, or was competition with modern humans the most important factor?

3.What was the relative contribution of animal and plant sources to the average Neanderthal’s diet?

4.Were Neanderthals routinely symbolic (e.g. making ornamental or decorative objects, burying the dead), or did this just occur in specific populations? If the latter is the case, why did those populations exhibit these behaviors?

5.What was the relationship between Neanderthals and the “Denisovans”, a population of early humans known mainly from DNA, which overlapped with Neanderthals in time and space in Asia?

 

First Paper:

 

•King, W., 1864. The reputed fossil man of the Neanderthal. Quarterly Review of Science 1, 88-97.

 

Other Recommended Readings:

 

•Trinkhaus, E., 1985. Pathology and the posture of the La Chappelle-aux-Saints Neanderthal. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 67, 19-41.

•Trinkaus, E., Shipman, P., 1993. The Neanderthals: Changing the Image of Mankind. Knopf: New York.

•Berger, T., Trinkaus, E., 1995. Patterns of trauma among the Neandertals. Journal of Archaeological Science 22, 841-852.

•Schmitt, D., Churchill, S., 2003. Experimental evidence concerning spear use in Neandertals and early modern humans. Journal of Archaeological Science 30, 103-114.

•Delson, E., Harvati, K., 2006. Return of the last Neanderthal. Nature 443, 762-763.

•Lalueza-Fox, C., Römpler, H., Caramelli, D., Stäubert, C., Catalano, G., Hughes, D., Rohland, N., Pilli, E., Longo, L., Condemi, S., de la Rasilla, M., Fortea, J., Rosas, A., Stoneking, M., Schöneberg, T., Bertranpetit, J., Hofreiter, M., 2007. A Melanocortin 1 Receptor Allele Suggests Varying Pigmentation Among Neanderthals. Science 318, 1453-1455.

•Stringer, C.B., Finlayson, J.C., Barton, R.N.E, Fernández-Jalvo, Y., Cáceres, I., Sabin, R.C., Rhodes, E.J., Currant, A.P., Rodríguez-Vidal, J., Giles-Pacheco, F., Riquelme-Cantal, J.A., 2008. Neanderthal exploitation of marine mammals in Gibraltar. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 105, 14319–14324.

•Shipman, P., 2008. Separating “us” from "them": Neanderthal and modern human behavior. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 105, 14241-14242.

 

How They Survived:

 

Compared to early humans living in tropical Africa, with more abundant edible plant foods available year-round, the number of plant foods Neanderthals could eat would have dropped significantly during the winter of colder climates, forcing Neanderthals to exploit other food options like meat more heavily. There is evidence that Neanderthals were specialized seasonal hunters, eating animals were available at the time (i.e. reindeer in the winter and red deer in the summer). Scientists have clear evidence of Neanderthal hunting from uncovering sharp wooden spears and large numbers of big game animal remains were hunted and butchered by Neanderthals. There is also evidence from Gibraltar that when they lived in coastal areas, they exploited marine resources such as mollusks, seals, dolphins and fish. Isotopic chemical analyses of Neanderthal bones also tell scientists the average Neanderthal’s diet consisted of a lot of meat. Scientists have also found plaque on the remains of molar teeth containing starch grains—concrete evidence that Neanderthals ate plants.

 

The Mousterian stone tool industry of Neanderthals is characterized by sophisticated flake tools that were detached from a prepared stone core. This innovative technique allowed flakes of predetermined shape to be removed and fashioned into tools from a single suitable stone. This technology differs from earlier ‘core tool’ traditions, such as the Acheulean tradition of Homo erectus. Acheulean tools worked from a suitable stone that was chipped down to tool form by the removal of flakes off the surface.

 

Neanderthals used tools for activities like hunting and sewing. Left-right arm asymmetry indicates that they hunted with thrusting (rather than throwing) spears that allowed them to kill large animals from a safe distance. Neanderthal bones have a high frequency of fractures, which (along with their distribution) are similar to injuries among professional rodeo riders who regularly interact with large, dangerous animals. Scientists have also recovered scrapers and awls (larger stone or bone versions of the sewing needle that modern humans use today) associated with animal bones at Neanderthal sites. A Neanderthal would probably have used a scraper to first clean the animal hide, and then used an awl to poke holes in it, and finally use strips of animal tissue to lace together a loose-fitting garment. Neanderthals were the first early humans to wear clothing, but it is only with modern humans that scientists find evidence of the manufacture and use of bone sewing needles to sew together tighter fitting clothing.

 

Neanderthals also controlled fire, lived in shelters, and occasionally made symbolic or ornamental objects. There is evidence that Neanderthals deliberately buried their dead and occasionally even marked their graves with offerings, such as flowers. No other primates, and no earlier human species, had ever practiced this sophisticated and symbolic behavior. This may be one of the reasons that the Neanderthal fossil record is so rich compared to some earlier human species; being buried greatly increases the chance of becoming a fossil!

 

Evolutionary Tree Information:

 

Both fossil and genetic evidence indicate that Neanderthals and modern humans (Homo sapiens) evolved from a common ancestor between 500,000 and 200,000 years ago. Neanderthals and modern humans belong to the same genus (Homo) and inhabited the same geographic areas in Asia for 30,000–50,000 years; genetic evidence indicate while they may have interbred with non-African modern humans, they are separate branches of the human family tree (separate species).

 

In fact, Neanderthals and modern humans may have had little direct interaction for tens of thousands of years until during one very cold period, modern humans spread across Europe. Their presence may have prevented Neanderthals from expanding back into areas they once favored and served as a catalyst for the Neanderthal’s impending extinction. Over just a few thousand years after modern humans moved into Europe, Neanderthal numbers dwindled to the point of extinction. All traces of Neanderthals disappeared by about 40,000 years ago. The most recently dated Neanderthal fossils come from western Europe, which was likely where the last population of this early human species existed.

Beautiful Freckles young woman close up portrait. Attractive model with beautiful blue eyes and ginger curly hair

Nala is part of Inamorata Vitiligo collection that celebrates the beauty of this unique type of pigmentation. The collection consists of three dolls in Chocolate resin: Nyah (Nnaji sculpt), Nala (Nnaji sculpt) and Imani (Nubia sculpt).

 

Nala has brown eyes, nude lips and no makeup fresh faced faceup with natural lashes of half white half black echoing the pattern of her special pigmentation. The lingerie is from Inamorata Cherub LE30 from 2013.

 

The jewellery and dolls are available for sale in my shop at emiliacouture.com/shop/

A 38 year old man presented with dark bluish discoloration on the left side of his forehead that progressed to involve the right side. There was pigmentation of the sclera of both eyes. The histopathological picture was compatible with nevus of Ota by presence of elongated dendritic melanocytes scattered with collagen bundles extending around the hair follicles.

 

Contributed by Dr. Asmaa Gaber Abdou, Menoufiya University, Egypt.

From Wikipedia -

 

Strongylodon macrobotrys, commonly known as Jade Vine, Emerald Vine or Turquoise Jade Vine, is a species of leguminous perennial woody vine, native to the tropical forests of the Philippines. Its local name is Tayabak. A member of the Fabaceae (the pea and bean family), it is closely related to beans such as kidney bean and runner bean.

 

Strongylodon macrobotrys is pollinated by bats.

 

The vine can grow up to 18 metres in height. The pale green foliage consists of three leaflets. The claw-shaped flowers are carried in pendent trusses or pseudoracemes of 75 or more flowers and can reach as much as 3 metres long. The turquoise flower color is similar to some forms of the minerals turquoise and jade, varying from blue-green to mint green. The short, oblong, fleshy seed pods are up to 15 cm long and contain up to 12 seeds.

 

The plant grows beside streams in damp forests, or in ravines. The inflorescences are only produced by mature vines. Each individual bloom resembles a stout-bodied butterfly with folded wings - they have evolved certain modifications to allow them to be pollinated by a species of bat that hangs upside down on the inflorescence to drink its nectar. The flowers are also visited by a species of wasp, and are home to a species of butterfly.

 

The characteristic flower coloration has been shown to be an example of copigmentation, a result of the presence of malvin (an anthocyanin) and saponarin (a flavone glucoside) in the ratio 1:9. Under the alkaline conditions (pH 7.9) found in the sap of the epidermal cells, this combination produced a pink pigmentation; the pH of the colorless inner floral tissue was found to be lower, at pH 5.6. Experiments showed that saponarin produced a strong yellow colouring in slightly alkaline conditions, resulting in the greenish tone of the flower.

[order] CICONIIFORMES | [family] Ardeidae | [latin] Nycticorax nycticorax | [UK] Black-crowned Night-Heron | [FR] Bihoreau gris | [DE] Nachtreiher | [ES] Martinete Comun | [NL] Kwak

 

Measurements

spanwidth min.: 98 cm

spanwidth max.: 110 cm

size min.: 58 cm

size max.: 65 cm

Breeding

incubation min.: 21 days

incubation max.: 22 days

fledging min.: 40 days

fledging max.: 22 days

broods 1

eggs min.: 2

eggs max.: 7

 

Genus description

 

Ixobrychus is a genus of bitterns, a group of wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae. It has a single representative species in each of North America, South America, Eurasia and Australasia. The tropical species are largely resident, but the two northern species are partially migratory, with many birds moving south to warmer areas in winter. The Ixobrychus bitterns are all small species, their four larger relatives being in the genus Botaurus. They breed in large reedbeds, and can often be difficult to observe except for occasional flight views due to their secretive behaviour.

  

Physical characteristics

 

The adult has distinctive coloring, with black cap, upper back and scapulars; gray wings, rump and tail; and white to pale gray underparts. The bill is stout and black, and the eyes are red. For most of the year, the legs of the adult are yellow-green, but by the height of the breeding season, they have turned pink. The eyes of the juvenile black-crowned night heron are yellowish or amber, and the dull gray legs lack the colorful pigmentation of those of the adult. The juvenile has a brown head, neck, chest and belly streaked with buff and white. The wings and back are darker brown, though the tips of the feathers have large white spots. These spots are particularly large on the greater secondary coverts. The young do not acquire full adult plumage until the third year.

 

Habitat

 

Fresh, salt or brackish water, areas with aquatic vegetation or on forested margins of shallow rivers, streams, pools, ponds, lakes, swamps and mangroves. Feeding in dry land and along marine coasts. Roosts in leafy trees: pine, oak, mangroves, etc, or bamboo.

 

Feeding

 

The black-crowned night heron is an opportunistic feeder. Its diet consists mainly of fish, though it is frequently rounded out by other items such as leeches, earthworms, aquatic and terrestrial insects. It also eats crayfish, mussels, squid, amphibians, lizards, snakes, rodents, birds, eggs, carrion, plant materials, and garbage and refuse at landfills. It is usually a solitary forager, and it strongly defends its feeding territory. The night heron prefers to feed in shallow waters, where it grasps its prey with its bill instead of stabbing it. A technique called 'bill vibrating'--which is opening and closing the bill rapidly in water--creates a disturbance which may lure prey. Evening to early morning are the usual times it feeds, but when food is in high demand, such as during the breeding season, it will feed at any time of the day.

 

Breeding

 

Black-crowned night herons are presumed to be monogamous. Pair formations are signaled by males becoming aggressive and performing snap displays, in which they walk around in a crouched position, head lowered, snapping their mandibles together or grasping a twig. The snap display is followed by the advertisement display to attract females. In this display a male stretches his neck out and bobs his head, and when his head is level with his feet, he gives a snap-hiss vocalization. Twig-shaking and preening may be occur between songs. It has been suggested that these displays provide social stimulus to other birds, prompting them to display. This stimultion in colonial species may be crucial for successful reproduction. Females that come near the displaying male are rejected at first, but eventually a female is allowed to enter his territory. The newly-formed pair then allopreens (cleaning each other) and engages in mutual billing. At the time of pair formation, the legs of both sexes turn pink. Copulation usually takes place on or near the nest, and begins the first or second day after the pair is formed.

There is one brood per season. Black-crowned night herons nest colonially, and often there can be more than a dozen nests in one tree. The nest is built near the trunk of a tree or in the fork of branches, either in the open or deep in foliage. The male initiates nest building by beginning to build a new nest or refurbishing an old one. The nest is usually a platform lined with roots and grass. During and after pair formation, the male collects sticks and presents them to the female, who works them into the nest. The male's twig ceremony gradually changes to nest building.

The eggs are laid at 2 day intervals, beginning 4-5 days after pair formation. Incubation, which lasts 24-26 days, is carried out by both adults. The clutch size is 3-5 eggs. The eggs are greenest on the first day and fade to pale blue or green after that. On hot days, the parents wet their feathers, perhaps to keep the eggs cool. Both parents brood the young. After 2 weeks, the young leave the nest, although they don't go far. By 3 weeks, they can be found clustered at the tops of trees if they are disturbed. By Week 6-7 they fly well and depart for the feeding grounds. Adult black-crowned night herons do not recognize their own young and will accept and brood young from other nests. The young have a tendancy to regurgitate their food onto intruders when disturbed.

 

Migration

 

Migratory and dispersive. In July-August juveniles disperse in all directions, mostly north and west of colonies. This dispersal merges into autumn migration which in Europe lasts through September and October; some linger into December in North Africa. Overwhelming majority of west Palearctic birds winter in tropical Africa where southern limits unknown as resident breeding population present. Rather early return to west Palearctic colonies, from mid-March with most back by mid-April.

 

A fungus (pl.: fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one of the traditional eukaryotic kingdoms, along with Animalia, Plantae and either Protista or Protozoa and Chromista.

 

A characteristic that places fungi in a different kingdom from plants, bacteria, and some protists is chitin in their cell walls. Fungi, like animals, are heterotrophs; they acquire their food by absorbing dissolved molecules, typically by secreting digestive enzymes into their environment. Fungi do not photosynthesize. Growth is their means of mobility, except for spores (a few of which are flagellated), which may travel through the air or water. Fungi are the principal decomposers in ecological systems. These and other differences place fungi in a single group of related organisms, named the Eumycota (true fungi or Eumycetes), that share a common ancestor (i.e. they form a monophyletic group), an interpretation that is also strongly supported by molecular phylogenetics. This fungal group is distinct from the structurally similar myxomycetes (slime molds) and oomycetes (water molds). The discipline of biology devoted to the study of fungi is known as mycology (from the Greek μύκης mykes, mushroom). In the past mycology was regarded as a branch of botany, although it is now known that fungi are genetically more closely related to animals than to plants.

 

Abundant worldwide, most fungi are inconspicuous because of the small size of their structures, and their cryptic lifestyles in soil or on dead matter. Fungi include symbionts of plants, animals, or other fungi and also parasites. They may become noticeable when fruiting, either as mushrooms or as molds. Fungi perform an essential role in the decomposition of organic matter and have fundamental roles in nutrient cycling and exchange in the environment. They have long been used as a direct source of human food, in the form of mushrooms and truffles; as a leavening agent for bread; and in the fermentation of various food products, such as wine, beer, and soy sauce. Since the 1940s, fungi have been used for the production of antibiotics, and, more recently, various enzymes produced by fungi are used industrially and in detergents. Fungi are also used as biological pesticides to control weeds, plant diseases, and insect pests. Many species produce bioactive compounds called mycotoxins, such as alkaloids and polyketides, that are toxic to animals, including humans. The fruiting structures of a few species contain psychotropic compounds and are consumed recreationally or in traditional spiritual ceremonies. Fungi can break down manufactured materials and buildings, and become significant pathogens of humans and other animals. Losses of crops due to fungal diseases (e.g., rice blast disease) or food spoilage can have a large impact on human food supplies and local economies.

 

The fungus kingdom encompasses an enormous diversity of taxa with varied ecologies, life cycle strategies, and morphologies ranging from unicellular aquatic chytrids to large mushrooms. However, little is known of the true biodiversity of the fungus kingdom, which has been estimated at 2.2 million to 3.8 million species. Of these, only about 148,000 have been described, with over 8,000 species known to be detrimental to plants and at least 300 that can be pathogenic to humans. Ever since the pioneering 18th and 19th century taxonomical works of Carl Linnaeus, Christiaan Hendrik Persoon, and Elias Magnus Fries, fungi have been classified according to their morphology (e.g., characteristics such as spore color or microscopic features) or physiology. Advances in molecular genetics have opened the way for DNA analysis to be incorporated into taxonomy, which has sometimes challenged the historical groupings based on morphology and other traits. Phylogenetic studies published in the first decade of the 21st century have helped reshape the classification within the fungi kingdom, which is divided into one subkingdom, seven phyla, and ten subphyla.

 

Etymology

The English word fungus is directly adopted from the Latin fungus (mushroom), used in the writings of Horace and Pliny. This in turn is derived from the Greek word sphongos (σφόγγος 'sponge'), which refers to the macroscopic structures and morphology of mushrooms and molds; the root is also used in other languages, such as the German Schwamm ('sponge') and Schimmel ('mold').

 

The word mycology is derived from the Greek mykes (μύκης 'mushroom') and logos (λόγος 'discourse'). It denotes the scientific study of fungi. The Latin adjectival form of "mycology" (mycologicæ) appeared as early as 1796 in a book on the subject by Christiaan Hendrik Persoon. The word appeared in English as early as 1824 in a book by Robert Kaye Greville. In 1836 the English naturalist Miles Joseph Berkeley's publication The English Flora of Sir James Edward Smith, Vol. 5. also refers to mycology as the study of fungi.

 

A group of all the fungi present in a particular region is known as mycobiota (plural noun, no singular). The term mycota is often used for this purpose, but many authors use it as a synonym of Fungi. The word funga has been proposed as a less ambiguous term morphologically similar to fauna and flora. The Species Survival Commission (SSC) of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in August 2021 asked that the phrase fauna and flora be replaced by fauna, flora, and funga.

 

Characteristics

 

Fungal hyphae cells

Hyphal wall

Septum

Mitochondrion

Vacuole

Ergosterol crystal

Ribosome

Nucleus

Endoplasmic reticulum

Lipid body

Plasma membrane

Spitzenkörper

Golgi apparatus

 

Fungal cell cycle showing Dikaryons typical of Higher Fungi

Before the introduction of molecular methods for phylogenetic analysis, taxonomists considered fungi to be members of the plant kingdom because of similarities in lifestyle: both fungi and plants are mainly immobile, and have similarities in general morphology and growth habitat. Although inaccurate, the common misconception that fungi are plants persists among the general public due to their historical classification, as well as several similarities. Like plants, fungi often grow in soil and, in the case of mushrooms, form conspicuous fruit bodies, which sometimes resemble plants such as mosses. The fungi are now considered a separate kingdom, distinct from both plants and animals, from which they appear to have diverged around one billion years ago (around the start of the Neoproterozoic Era). Some morphological, biochemical, and genetic features are shared with other organisms, while others are unique to the fungi, clearly separating them from the other kingdoms:

 

With other eukaryotes: Fungal cells contain membrane-bound nuclei with chromosomes that contain DNA with noncoding regions called introns and coding regions called exons. Fungi have membrane-bound cytoplasmic organelles such as mitochondria, sterol-containing membranes, and ribosomes of the 80S type. They have a characteristic range of soluble carbohydrates and storage compounds, including sugar alcohols (e.g., mannitol), disaccharides, (e.g., trehalose), and polysaccharides (e.g., glycogen, which is also found in animals).

With animals: Fungi lack chloroplasts and are heterotrophic organisms and so require preformed organic compounds as energy sources.

With plants: Fungi have a cell wall and vacuoles. They reproduce by both sexual and asexual means, and like basal plant groups (such as ferns and mosses) produce spores. Similar to mosses and algae, fungi typically have haploid nuclei.

With euglenoids and bacteria: Higher fungi, euglenoids, and some bacteria produce the amino acid L-lysine in specific biosynthesis steps, called the α-aminoadipate pathway.

The cells of most fungi grow as tubular, elongated, and thread-like (filamentous) structures called hyphae, which may contain multiple nuclei and extend by growing at their tips. Each tip contains a set of aggregated vesicles—cellular structures consisting of proteins, lipids, and other organic molecules—called the Spitzenkörper. Both fungi and oomycetes grow as filamentous hyphal cells. In contrast, similar-looking organisms, such as filamentous green algae, grow by repeated cell division within a chain of cells. There are also single-celled fungi (yeasts) that do not form hyphae, and some fungi have both hyphal and yeast forms.

In common with some plant and animal species, more than one hundred fungal species display bioluminescence.

Unique features:

 

Some species grow as unicellular yeasts that reproduce by budding or fission. Dimorphic fungi can switch between a yeast phase and a hyphal phase in response to environmental conditions.

The fungal cell wall is made of a chitin-glucan complex; while glucans are also found in plants and chitin in the exoskeleton of arthropods, fungi are the only organisms that combine these two structural molecules in their cell wall. Unlike those of plants and oomycetes, fungal cell walls do not contain cellulose.

A whitish fan or funnel-shaped mushroom growing at the base of a tree.

Omphalotus nidiformis, a bioluminescent mushroom

Most fungi lack an efficient system for the long-distance transport of water and nutrients, such as the xylem and phloem in many plants. To overcome this limitation, some fungi, such as Armillaria, form rhizomorphs, which resemble and perform functions similar to the roots of plants. As eukaryotes, fungi possess a biosynthetic pathway for producing terpenes that uses mevalonic acid and pyrophosphate as chemical building blocks. Plants and some other organisms have an additional terpene biosynthesis pathway in their chloroplasts, a structure that fungi and animals do not have. Fungi produce several secondary metabolites that are similar or identical in structure to those made by plants. Many of the plant and fungal enzymes that make these compounds differ from each other in sequence and other characteristics, which indicates separate origins and convergent evolution of these enzymes in the fungi and plants.

 

Diversity

Fungi have a worldwide distribution, and grow in a wide range of habitats, including extreme environments such as deserts or areas with high salt concentrations or ionizing radiation, as well as in deep sea sediments. Some can survive the intense UV and cosmic radiation encountered during space travel. Most grow in terrestrial environments, though several species live partly or solely in aquatic habitats, such as the chytrid fungi Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis and B. salamandrivorans, parasites that have been responsible for a worldwide decline in amphibian populations. These organisms spend part of their life cycle as a motile zoospore, enabling them to propel itself through water and enter their amphibian host. Other examples of aquatic fungi include those living in hydrothermal areas of the ocean.

 

As of 2020, around 148,000 species of fungi have been described by taxonomists, but the global biodiversity of the fungus kingdom is not fully understood. A 2017 estimate suggests there may be between 2.2 and 3.8 million species The number of new fungi species discovered yearly has increased from 1,000 to 1,500 per year about 10 years ago, to about 2000 with a peak of more than 2,500 species in 2016. In the year 2019, 1882 new species of fungi were described, and it was estimated that more than 90% of fungi remain unknown The following year, 2905 new species were described—the highest annual record of new fungus names. In mycology, species have historically been distinguished by a variety of methods and concepts. Classification based on morphological characteristics, such as the size and shape of spores or fruiting structures, has traditionally dominated fungal taxonomy. Species may also be distinguished by their biochemical and physiological characteristics, such as their ability to metabolize certain biochemicals, or their reaction to chemical tests. The biological species concept discriminates species based on their ability to mate. The application of molecular tools, such as DNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis, to study diversity has greatly enhanced the resolution and added robustness to estimates of genetic diversity within various taxonomic groups.

 

Mycology

Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the systematic study of fungi, including their genetic and biochemical properties, their taxonomy, and their use to humans as a source of medicine, food, and psychotropic substances consumed for religious purposes, as well as their dangers, such as poisoning or infection. The field of phytopathology, the study of plant diseases, is closely related because many plant pathogens are fungi.

 

The use of fungi by humans dates back to prehistory; Ötzi the Iceman, a well-preserved mummy of a 5,300-year-old Neolithic man found frozen in the Austrian Alps, carried two species of polypore mushrooms that may have been used as tinder (Fomes fomentarius), or for medicinal purposes (Piptoporus betulinus). Ancient peoples have used fungi as food sources—often unknowingly—for millennia, in the preparation of leavened bread and fermented juices. Some of the oldest written records contain references to the destruction of crops that were probably caused by pathogenic fungi.

 

History

Mycology became a systematic science after the development of the microscope in the 17th century. Although fungal spores were first observed by Giambattista della Porta in 1588, the seminal work in the development of mycology is considered to be the publication of Pier Antonio Micheli's 1729 work Nova plantarum genera. Micheli not only observed spores but also showed that, under the proper conditions, they could be induced into growing into the same species of fungi from which they originated. Extending the use of the binomial system of nomenclature introduced by Carl Linnaeus in his Species plantarum (1753), the Dutch Christiaan Hendrik Persoon (1761–1836) established the first classification of mushrooms with such skill as to be considered a founder of modern mycology. Later, Elias Magnus Fries (1794–1878) further elaborated the classification of fungi, using spore color and microscopic characteristics, methods still used by taxonomists today. Other notable early contributors to mycology in the 17th–19th and early 20th centuries include Miles Joseph Berkeley, August Carl Joseph Corda, Anton de Bary, the brothers Louis René and Charles Tulasne, Arthur H. R. Buller, Curtis G. Lloyd, and Pier Andrea Saccardo. In the 20th and 21st centuries, advances in biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, biotechnology, DNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis has provided new insights into fungal relationships and biodiversity, and has challenged traditional morphology-based groupings in fungal taxonomy.

 

Morphology

Microscopic structures

Monochrome micrograph showing Penicillium hyphae as long, transparent, tube-like structures a few micrometres across. Conidiophores branch out laterally from the hyphae, terminating in bundles of phialides on which spherical condidiophores are arranged like beads on a string. Septa are faintly visible as dark lines crossing the hyphae.

An environmental isolate of Penicillium

Hypha

Conidiophore

Phialide

Conidia

Septa

Most fungi grow as hyphae, which are cylindrical, thread-like structures 2–10 µm in diameter and up to several centimeters in length. Hyphae grow at their tips (apices); new hyphae are typically formed by emergence of new tips along existing hyphae by a process called branching, or occasionally growing hyphal tips fork, giving rise to two parallel-growing hyphae. Hyphae also sometimes fuse when they come into contact, a process called hyphal fusion (or anastomosis). These growth processes lead to the development of a mycelium, an interconnected network of hyphae. Hyphae can be either septate or coenocytic. Septate hyphae are divided into compartments separated by cross walls (internal cell walls, called septa, that are formed at right angles to the cell wall giving the hypha its shape), with each compartment containing one or more nuclei; coenocytic hyphae are not compartmentalized. Septa have pores that allow cytoplasm, organelles, and sometimes nuclei to pass through; an example is the dolipore septum in fungi of the phylum Basidiomycota. Coenocytic hyphae are in essence multinucleate supercells.

 

Many species have developed specialized hyphal structures for nutrient uptake from living hosts; examples include haustoria in plant-parasitic species of most fungal phyla,[63] and arbuscules of several mycorrhizal fungi, which penetrate into the host cells to consume nutrients.

 

Although fungi are opisthokonts—a grouping of evolutionarily related organisms broadly characterized by a single posterior flagellum—all phyla except for the chytrids have lost their posterior flagella. Fungi are unusual among the eukaryotes in having a cell wall that, in addition to glucans (e.g., β-1,3-glucan) and other typical components, also contains the biopolymer chitin.

 

Macroscopic structures

Fungal mycelia can become visible to the naked eye, for example, on various surfaces and substrates, such as damp walls and spoiled food, where they are commonly called molds. Mycelia grown on solid agar media in laboratory petri dishes are usually referred to as colonies. These colonies can exhibit growth shapes and colors (due to spores or pigmentation) that can be used as diagnostic features in the identification of species or groups. Some individual fungal colonies can reach extraordinary dimensions and ages as in the case of a clonal colony of Armillaria solidipes, which extends over an area of more than 900 ha (3.5 square miles), with an estimated age of nearly 9,000 years.

 

The apothecium—a specialized structure important in sexual reproduction in the ascomycetes—is a cup-shaped fruit body that is often macroscopic and holds the hymenium, a layer of tissue containing the spore-bearing cells. The fruit bodies of the basidiomycetes (basidiocarps) and some ascomycetes can sometimes grow very large, and many are well known as mushrooms.

 

Growth and physiology

Time-lapse photography sequence of a peach becoming progressively discolored and disfigured

Mold growth covering a decaying peach. The frames were taken approximately 12 hours apart over a period of six days.

The growth of fungi as hyphae on or in solid substrates or as single cells in aquatic environments is adapted for the efficient extraction of nutrients, because these growth forms have high surface area to volume ratios. Hyphae are specifically adapted for growth on solid surfaces, and to invade substrates and tissues. They can exert large penetrative mechanical forces; for example, many plant pathogens, including Magnaporthe grisea, form a structure called an appressorium that evolved to puncture plant tissues.[71] The pressure generated by the appressorium, directed against the plant epidermis, can exceed 8 megapascals (1,200 psi).[71] The filamentous fungus Paecilomyces lilacinus uses a similar structure to penetrate the eggs of nematodes.

 

The mechanical pressure exerted by the appressorium is generated from physiological processes that increase intracellular turgor by producing osmolytes such as glycerol. Adaptations such as these are complemented by hydrolytic enzymes secreted into the environment to digest large organic molecules—such as polysaccharides, proteins, and lipids—into smaller molecules that may then be absorbed as nutrients. The vast majority of filamentous fungi grow in a polar fashion (extending in one direction) by elongation at the tip (apex) of the hypha. Other forms of fungal growth include intercalary extension (longitudinal expansion of hyphal compartments that are below the apex) as in the case of some endophytic fungi, or growth by volume expansion during the development of mushroom stipes and other large organs. Growth of fungi as multicellular structures consisting of somatic and reproductive cells—a feature independently evolved in animals and plants—has several functions, including the development of fruit bodies for dissemination of sexual spores (see above) and biofilms for substrate colonization and intercellular communication.

 

Fungi are traditionally considered heterotrophs, organisms that rely solely on carbon fixed by other organisms for metabolism. Fungi have evolved a high degree of metabolic versatility that allows them to use a diverse range of organic substrates for growth, including simple compounds such as nitrate, ammonia, acetate, or ethanol. In some species the pigment melanin may play a role in extracting energy from ionizing radiation, such as gamma radiation. This form of "radiotrophic" growth has been described for only a few species, the effects on growth rates are small, and the underlying biophysical and biochemical processes are not well known. This process might bear similarity to CO2 fixation via visible light, but instead uses ionizing radiation as a source of energy.

 

Reproduction

Two thickly stemmed brownish mushrooms with scales on the upper surface, growing out of a tree trunk

Polyporus squamosus

Fungal reproduction is complex, reflecting the differences in lifestyles and genetic makeup within this diverse kingdom of organisms. It is estimated that a third of all fungi reproduce using more than one method of propagation; for example, reproduction may occur in two well-differentiated stages within the life cycle of a species, the teleomorph (sexual reproduction) and the anamorph (asexual reproduction). Environmental conditions trigger genetically determined developmental states that lead to the creation of specialized structures for sexual or asexual reproduction. These structures aid reproduction by efficiently dispersing spores or spore-containing propagules.

 

Asexual reproduction

Asexual reproduction occurs via vegetative spores (conidia) or through mycelial fragmentation. Mycelial fragmentation occurs when a fungal mycelium separates into pieces, and each component grows into a separate mycelium. Mycelial fragmentation and vegetative spores maintain clonal populations adapted to a specific niche, and allow more rapid dispersal than sexual reproduction. The "Fungi imperfecti" (fungi lacking the perfect or sexual stage) or Deuteromycota comprise all the species that lack an observable sexual cycle. Deuteromycota (alternatively known as Deuteromycetes, conidial fungi, or mitosporic fungi) is not an accepted taxonomic clade and is now taken to mean simply fungi that lack a known sexual stage.

 

Sexual reproduction

See also: Mating in fungi and Sexual selection in fungi

Sexual reproduction with meiosis has been directly observed in all fungal phyla except Glomeromycota (genetic analysis suggests meiosis in Glomeromycota as well). It differs in many aspects from sexual reproduction in animals or plants. Differences also exist between fungal groups and can be used to discriminate species by morphological differences in sexual structures and reproductive strategies. Mating experiments between fungal isolates may identify species on the basis of biological species concepts. The major fungal groupings have initially been delineated based on the morphology of their sexual structures and spores; for example, the spore-containing structures, asci and basidia, can be used in the identification of ascomycetes and basidiomycetes, respectively. Fungi employ two mating systems: heterothallic species allow mating only between individuals of the opposite mating type, whereas homothallic species can mate, and sexually reproduce, with any other individual or itself.

 

Most fungi have both a haploid and a diploid stage in their life cycles. In sexually reproducing fungi, compatible individuals may combine by fusing their hyphae together into an interconnected network; this process, anastomosis, is required for the initiation of the sexual cycle. Many ascomycetes and basidiomycetes go through a dikaryotic stage, in which the nuclei inherited from the two parents do not combine immediately after cell fusion, but remain separate in the hyphal cells (see heterokaryosis).

 

In ascomycetes, dikaryotic hyphae of the hymenium (the spore-bearing tissue layer) form a characteristic hook (crozier) at the hyphal septum. During cell division, the formation of the hook ensures proper distribution of the newly divided nuclei into the apical and basal hyphal compartments. An ascus (plural asci) is then formed, in which karyogamy (nuclear fusion) occurs. Asci are embedded in an ascocarp, or fruiting body. Karyogamy in the asci is followed immediately by meiosis and the production of ascospores. After dispersal, the ascospores may germinate and form a new haploid mycelium.

 

Sexual reproduction in basidiomycetes is similar to that of the ascomycetes. Compatible haploid hyphae fuse to produce a dikaryotic mycelium. However, the dikaryotic phase is more extensive in the basidiomycetes, often also present in the vegetatively growing mycelium. A specialized anatomical structure, called a clamp connection, is formed at each hyphal septum. As with the structurally similar hook in the ascomycetes, the clamp connection in the basidiomycetes is required for controlled transfer of nuclei during cell division, to maintain the dikaryotic stage with two genetically different nuclei in each hyphal compartment. A basidiocarp is formed in which club-like structures known as basidia generate haploid basidiospores after karyogamy and meiosis. The most commonly known basidiocarps are mushrooms, but they may also take other forms (see Morphology section).

 

In fungi formerly classified as Zygomycota, haploid hyphae of two individuals fuse, forming a gametangium, a specialized cell structure that becomes a fertile gamete-producing cell. The gametangium develops into a zygospore, a thick-walled spore formed by the union of gametes. When the zygospore germinates, it undergoes meiosis, generating new haploid hyphae, which may then form asexual sporangiospores. These sporangiospores allow the fungus to rapidly disperse and germinate into new genetically identical haploid fungal mycelia.

 

Spore dispersal

The spores of most of the researched species of fungi are transported by wind. Such species often produce dry or hydrophobic spores that do not absorb water and are readily scattered by raindrops, for example. In other species, both asexual and sexual spores or sporangiospores are often actively dispersed by forcible ejection from their reproductive structures. This ejection ensures exit of the spores from the reproductive structures as well as traveling through the air over long distances.

 

Specialized mechanical and physiological mechanisms, as well as spore surface structures (such as hydrophobins), enable efficient spore ejection. For example, the structure of the spore-bearing cells in some ascomycete species is such that the buildup of substances affecting cell volume and fluid balance enables the explosive discharge of spores into the air. The forcible discharge of single spores termed ballistospores involves formation of a small drop of water (Buller's drop), which upon contact with the spore leads to its projectile release with an initial acceleration of more than 10,000 g; the net result is that the spore is ejected 0.01–0.02 cm, sufficient distance for it to fall through the gills or pores into the air below. Other fungi, like the puffballs, rely on alternative mechanisms for spore release, such as external mechanical forces. The hydnoid fungi (tooth fungi) produce spores on pendant, tooth-like or spine-like projections. The bird's nest fungi use the force of falling water drops to liberate the spores from cup-shaped fruiting bodies. Another strategy is seen in the stinkhorns, a group of fungi with lively colors and putrid odor that attract insects to disperse their spores.

 

Homothallism

In homothallic sexual reproduction, two haploid nuclei derived from the same individual fuse to form a zygote that can then undergo meiosis. Homothallic fungi include species with an Aspergillus-like asexual stage (anamorphs) occurring in numerous different genera, several species of the ascomycete genus Cochliobolus, and the ascomycete Pneumocystis jirovecii. The earliest mode of sexual reproduction among eukaryotes was likely homothallism, that is, self-fertile unisexual reproduction.

 

Other sexual processes

Besides regular sexual reproduction with meiosis, certain fungi, such as those in the genera Penicillium and Aspergillus, may exchange genetic material via parasexual processes, initiated by anastomosis between hyphae and plasmogamy of fungal cells. The frequency and relative importance of parasexual events is unclear and may be lower than other sexual processes. It is known to play a role in intraspecific hybridization and is likely required for hybridization between species, which has been associated with major events in fungal evolution.

 

Evolution

In contrast to plants and animals, the early fossil record of the fungi is meager. Factors that likely contribute to the under-representation of fungal species among fossils include the nature of fungal fruiting bodies, which are soft, fleshy, and easily degradable tissues and the microscopic dimensions of most fungal structures, which therefore are not readily evident. Fungal fossils are difficult to distinguish from those of other microbes, and are most easily identified when they resemble extant fungi. Often recovered from a permineralized plant or animal host, these samples are typically studied by making thin-section preparations that can be examined with light microscopy or transmission electron microscopy. Researchers study compression fossils by dissolving the surrounding matrix with acid and then using light or scanning electron microscopy to examine surface details.

 

The earliest fossils possessing features typical of fungi date to the Paleoproterozoic era, some 2,400 million years ago (Ma); these multicellular benthic organisms had filamentous structures capable of anastomosis. Other studies (2009) estimate the arrival of fungal organisms at about 760–1060 Ma on the basis of comparisons of the rate of evolution in closely related groups. The oldest fossilizied mycelium to be identified from its molecular composition is between 715 and 810 million years old. For much of the Paleozoic Era (542–251 Ma), the fungi appear to have been aquatic and consisted of organisms similar to the extant chytrids in having flagellum-bearing spores. The evolutionary adaptation from an aquatic to a terrestrial lifestyle necessitated a diversification of ecological strategies for obtaining nutrients, including parasitism, saprobism, and the development of mutualistic relationships such as mycorrhiza and lichenization. Studies suggest that the ancestral ecological state of the Ascomycota was saprobism, and that independent lichenization events have occurred multiple times.

 

In May 2019, scientists reported the discovery of a fossilized fungus, named Ourasphaira giraldae, in the Canadian Arctic, that may have grown on land a billion years ago, well before plants were living on land. Pyritized fungus-like microfossils preserved in the basal Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation (~635 Ma) have been reported in South China. Earlier, it had been presumed that the fungi colonized the land during the Cambrian (542–488.3 Ma), also long before land plants. Fossilized hyphae and spores recovered from the Ordovician of Wisconsin (460 Ma) resemble modern-day Glomerales, and existed at a time when the land flora likely consisted of only non-vascular bryophyte-like plants. Prototaxites, which was probably a fungus or lichen, would have been the tallest organism of the late Silurian and early Devonian. Fungal fossils do not become common and uncontroversial until the early Devonian (416–359.2 Ma), when they occur abundantly in the Rhynie chert, mostly as Zygomycota and Chytridiomycota. At about this same time, approximately 400 Ma, the Ascomycota and Basidiomycota diverged, and all modern classes of fungi were present by the Late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian, 318.1–299 Ma).

 

Lichens formed a component of the early terrestrial ecosystems, and the estimated age of the oldest terrestrial lichen fossil is 415 Ma; this date roughly corresponds to the age of the oldest known sporocarp fossil, a Paleopyrenomycites species found in the Rhynie Chert. The oldest fossil with microscopic features resembling modern-day basidiomycetes is Palaeoancistrus, found permineralized with a fern from the Pennsylvanian. Rare in the fossil record are the Homobasidiomycetes (a taxon roughly equivalent to the mushroom-producing species of the Agaricomycetes). Two amber-preserved specimens provide evidence that the earliest known mushroom-forming fungi (the extinct species Archaeomarasmius leggetti) appeared during the late Cretaceous, 90 Ma.

 

Some time after the Permian–Triassic extinction event (251.4 Ma), a fungal spike (originally thought to be an extraordinary abundance of fungal spores in sediments) formed, suggesting that fungi were the dominant life form at this time, representing nearly 100% of the available fossil record for this period. However, the relative proportion of fungal spores relative to spores formed by algal species is difficult to assess, the spike did not appear worldwide, and in many places it did not fall on the Permian–Triassic boundary.

 

Sixty-five million years ago, immediately after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event that famously killed off most dinosaurs, there was a dramatic increase in evidence of fungi; apparently the death of most plant and animal species led to a huge fungal bloom like "a massive compost heap".

 

Taxonomy

Although commonly included in botany curricula and textbooks, fungi are more closely related to animals than to plants and are placed with the animals in the monophyletic group of opisthokonts. Analyses using molecular phylogenetics support a monophyletic origin of fungi. The taxonomy of fungi is in a state of constant flux, especially due to research based on DNA comparisons. These current phylogenetic analyses often overturn classifications based on older and sometimes less discriminative methods based on morphological features and biological species concepts obtained from experimental matings.

 

There is no unique generally accepted system at the higher taxonomic levels and there are frequent name changes at every level, from species upwards. Efforts among researchers are now underway to establish and encourage usage of a unified and more consistent nomenclature. Until relatively recent (2012) changes to the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants, fungal species could also have multiple scientific names depending on their life cycle and mode (sexual or asexual) of reproduction. Web sites such as Index Fungorum and MycoBank are officially recognized nomenclatural repositories and list current names of fungal species (with cross-references to older synonyms).

 

The 2007 classification of Kingdom Fungi is the result of a large-scale collaborative research effort involving dozens of mycologists and other scientists working on fungal taxonomy. It recognizes seven phyla, two of which—the Ascomycota and the Basidiomycota—are contained within a branch representing subkingdom Dikarya, the most species rich and familiar group, including all the mushrooms, most food-spoilage molds, most plant pathogenic fungi, and the beer, wine, and bread yeasts. The accompanying cladogram depicts the major fungal taxa and their relationship to opisthokont and unikont organisms, based on the work of Philippe Silar, "The Mycota: A Comprehensive Treatise on Fungi as Experimental Systems for Basic and Applied Research" and Tedersoo et al. 2018. The lengths of the branches are not proportional to evolutionary distances.

 

The major phyla (sometimes called divisions) of fungi have been classified mainly on the basis of characteristics of their sexual reproductive structures. As of 2019, nine major lineages have been identified: Opisthosporidia, Chytridiomycota, Neocallimastigomycota, Blastocladiomycota, Zoopagomycotina, Mucoromycota, Glomeromycota, Ascomycota and Basidiomycota.

 

Phylogenetic analysis has demonstrated that the Microsporidia, unicellular parasites of animals and protists, are fairly recent and highly derived endobiotic fungi (living within the tissue of another species). Previously considered to be "primitive" protozoa, they are now thought to be either a basal branch of the Fungi, or a sister group–each other's closest evolutionary relative.

 

The Chytridiomycota are commonly known as chytrids. These fungi are distributed worldwide. Chytrids and their close relatives Neocallimastigomycota and Blastocladiomycota (below) are the only fungi with active motility, producing zoospores that are capable of active movement through aqueous phases with a single flagellum, leading early taxonomists to classify them as protists. Molecular phylogenies, inferred from rRNA sequences in ribosomes, suggest that the Chytrids are a basal group divergent from the other fungal phyla, consisting of four major clades with suggestive evidence for paraphyly or possibly polyphyly.

 

The Blastocladiomycota were previously considered a taxonomic clade within the Chytridiomycota. Molecular data and ultrastructural characteristics, however, place the Blastocladiomycota as a sister clade to the Zygomycota, Glomeromycota, and Dikarya (Ascomycota and Basidiomycota). The blastocladiomycetes are saprotrophs, feeding on decomposing organic matter, and they are parasites of all eukaryotic groups. Unlike their close relatives, the chytrids, most of which exhibit zygotic meiosis, the blastocladiomycetes undergo sporic meiosis.

 

The Neocallimastigomycota were earlier placed in the phylum Chytridiomycota. Members of this small phylum are anaerobic organisms, living in the digestive system of larger herbivorous mammals and in other terrestrial and aquatic environments enriched in cellulose (e.g., domestic waste landfill sites). They lack mitochondria but contain hydrogenosomes of mitochondrial origin. As in the related chrytrids, neocallimastigomycetes form zoospores that are posteriorly uniflagellate or polyflagellate.

 

Microscopic view of a layer of translucent grayish cells, some containing small dark-color spheres

Arbuscular mycorrhiza seen under microscope. Flax root cortical cells containing paired arbuscules.

Cross-section of a cup-shaped structure showing locations of developing meiotic asci (upper edge of cup, left side, arrows pointing to two gray cells containing four and two small circles), sterile hyphae (upper edge of cup, right side, arrows pointing to white cells with a single small circle in them), and mature asci (upper edge of cup, pointing to two gray cells with eight small circles in them)

Diagram of an apothecium (the typical cup-like reproductive structure of Ascomycetes) showing sterile tissues as well as developing and mature asci.

Members of the Glomeromycota form arbuscular mycorrhizae, a form of mutualist symbiosis wherein fungal hyphae invade plant root cells and both species benefit from the resulting increased supply of nutrients. All known Glomeromycota species reproduce asexually. The symbiotic association between the Glomeromycota and plants is ancient, with evidence dating to 400 million years ago. Formerly part of the Zygomycota (commonly known as 'sugar' and 'pin' molds), the Glomeromycota were elevated to phylum status in 2001 and now replace the older phylum Zygomycota. Fungi that were placed in the Zygomycota are now being reassigned to the Glomeromycota, or the subphyla incertae sedis Mucoromycotina, Kickxellomycotina, the Zoopagomycotina and the Entomophthoromycotina. Some well-known examples of fungi formerly in the Zygomycota include black bread mold (Rhizopus stolonifer), and Pilobolus species, capable of ejecting spores several meters through the air. Medically relevant genera include Mucor, Rhizomucor, and Rhizopus.

 

The Ascomycota, commonly known as sac fungi or ascomycetes, constitute the largest taxonomic group within the Eumycota. These fungi form meiotic spores called ascospores, which are enclosed in a special sac-like structure called an ascus. This phylum includes morels, a few mushrooms and truffles, unicellular yeasts (e.g., of the genera Saccharomyces, Kluyveromyces, Pichia, and Candida), and many filamentous fungi living as saprotrophs, parasites, and mutualistic symbionts (e.g. lichens). Prominent and important genera of filamentous ascomycetes include Aspergillus, Penicillium, Fusarium, and Claviceps. Many ascomycete species have only been observed undergoing asexual reproduction (called anamorphic species), but analysis of molecular data has often been able to identify their closest teleomorphs in the Ascomycota. Because the products of meiosis are retained within the sac-like ascus, ascomycetes have been used for elucidating principles of genetics and heredity (e.g., Neurospora crassa).

 

Members of the Basidiomycota, commonly known as the club fungi or basidiomycetes, produce meiospores called basidiospores on club-like stalks called basidia. Most common mushrooms belong to this group, as well as rust and smut fungi, which are major pathogens of grains. Other important basidiomycetes include the maize pathogen Ustilago maydis, human commensal species of the genus Malassezia, and the opportunistic human pathogen, Cryptococcus neoformans.

 

Fungus-like organisms

Because of similarities in morphology and lifestyle, the slime molds (mycetozoans, plasmodiophorids, acrasids, Fonticula and labyrinthulids, now in Amoebozoa, Rhizaria, Excavata, Opisthokonta and Stramenopiles, respectively), water molds (oomycetes) and hyphochytrids (both Stramenopiles) were formerly classified in the kingdom Fungi, in groups like Mastigomycotina, Gymnomycota and Phycomycetes. The slime molds were studied also as protozoans, leading to an ambiregnal, duplicated taxonomy.

 

Unlike true fungi, the cell walls of oomycetes contain cellulose and lack chitin. Hyphochytrids have both chitin and cellulose. Slime molds lack a cell wall during the assimilative phase (except labyrinthulids, which have a wall of scales), and take in nutrients by ingestion (phagocytosis, except labyrinthulids) rather than absorption (osmotrophy, as fungi, labyrinthulids, oomycetes and hyphochytrids). Neither water molds nor slime molds are closely related to the true fungi, and, therefore, taxonomists no longer group them in the kingdom Fungi. Nonetheless, studies of the oomycetes and myxomycetes are still often included in mycology textbooks and primary research literature.

 

The Eccrinales and Amoebidiales are opisthokont protists, previously thought to be zygomycete fungi. Other groups now in Opisthokonta (e.g., Corallochytrium, Ichthyosporea) were also at given time classified as fungi. The genus Blastocystis, now in Stramenopiles, was originally classified as a yeast. Ellobiopsis, now in Alveolata, was considered a chytrid. The bacteria were also included in fungi in some classifications, as the group Schizomycetes.

 

The Rozellida clade, including the "ex-chytrid" Rozella, is a genetically disparate group known mostly from environmental DNA sequences that is a sister group to fungi. Members of the group that have been isolated lack the chitinous cell wall that is characteristic of fungi. Alternatively, Rozella can be classified as a basal fungal group.

 

The nucleariids may be the next sister group to the eumycete clade, and as such could be included in an expanded fungal kingdom. Many Actinomycetales (Actinomycetota), a group with many filamentous bacteria, were also long believed to be fungi.

 

Ecology

Although often inconspicuous, fungi occur in every environment on Earth and play very important roles in most ecosystems. Along with bacteria, fungi are the major decomposers in most terrestrial (and some aquatic) ecosystems, and therefore play a critical role in biogeochemical cycles and in many food webs. As decomposers, they play an essential role in nutrient cycling, especially as saprotrophs and symbionts, degrading organic matter to inorganic molecules, which can then re-enter anabolic metabolic pathways in plants or other organisms.

 

Symbiosis

Many fungi have important symbiotic relationships with organisms from most if not all kingdoms. These interactions can be mutualistic or antagonistic in nature, or in the case of commensal fungi are of no apparent benefit or detriment to the host.

 

With plants

Mycorrhizal symbiosis between plants and fungi is one of the most well-known plant–fungus associations and is of significant importance for plant growth and persistence in many ecosystems; over 90% of all plant species engage in mycorrhizal relationships with fungi and are dependent upon this relationship for survival.

 

A microscopic view of blue-stained cells, some with dark wavy lines in them

The dark filaments are hyphae of the endophytic fungus Epichloë coenophiala in the intercellular spaces of tall fescue leaf sheath tissue

The mycorrhizal symbiosis is ancient, dating back to at least 400 million years. It often increases the plant's uptake of inorganic compounds, such as nitrate and phosphate from soils having low concentrations of these key plant nutrients. The fungal partners may also mediate plant-to-plant transfer of carbohydrates and other nutrients. Such mycorrhizal communities are called "common mycorrhizal networks". A special case of mycorrhiza is myco-heterotrophy, whereby the plant parasitizes the fungus, obtaining all of its nutrients from its fungal symbiont. Some fungal species inhabit the tissues inside roots, stems, and leaves, in which case they are called endophytes. Similar to mycorrhiza, endophytic colonization by fungi may benefit both symbionts; for example, endophytes of grasses impart to their host increased resistance to herbivores and other environmental stresses and receive food and shelter from the plant in return.

 

With algae and cyanobacteria

A green, leaf-like structure attached to a tree, with a pattern of ridges and depression on the bottom surface

The lichen Lobaria pulmonaria, a symbiosis of fungal, algal, and cyanobacterial species

Lichens are a symbiotic relationship between fungi and photosynthetic algae or cyanobacteria. The photosynthetic partner in the relationship is referred to in lichen terminology as a "photobiont". The fungal part of the relationship is composed mostly of various species of ascomycetes and a few basidiomycetes. Lichens occur in every ecosystem on all continents, play a key role in soil formation and the initiation of biological succession, and are prominent in some extreme environments, including polar, alpine, and semiarid desert regions. They are able to grow on inhospitable surfaces, including bare soil, rocks, tree bark, wood, shells, barnacles and leaves. As in mycorrhizas, the photobiont provides sugars and other carbohydrates via photosynthesis to the fungus, while the fungus provides minerals and water to the photobiont. The functions of both symbiotic organisms are so closely intertwined that they function almost as a single organism; in most cases the resulting organism differs greatly from the individual components. Lichenization is a common mode of nutrition for fungi; around 27% of known fungi—more than 19,400 species—are lichenized. Characteristics common to most lichens include obtaining organic carbon by photosynthesis, slow growth, small size, long life, long-lasting (seasonal) vegetative reproductive structures, mineral nutrition obtained largely from airborne sources, and greater tolerance of desiccation than most other photosynthetic organisms in the same habitat.

 

With insects

Many insects also engage in mutualistic relationships with fungi. Several groups of ants cultivate fungi in the order Chaetothyriales for several purposes: as a food source, as a structural component of their nests, and as a part of an ant/plant symbiosis in the domatia (tiny chambers in plants that house arthropods). Ambrosia beetles cultivate various species of fungi in the bark of trees that they infest. Likewise, females of several wood wasp species (genus Sirex) inject their eggs together with spores of the wood-rotting fungus Amylostereum areolatum into the sapwood of pine trees; the growth of the fungus provides ideal nutritional conditions for the development of the wasp larvae. At least one species of stingless bee has a relationship with a fungus in the genus Monascus, where the larvae consume and depend on fungus transferred from old to new nests. Termites on the African savannah are also known to cultivate fungi, and yeasts of the genera Candida and Lachancea inhabit the gut of a wide range of insects, including neuropterans, beetles, and cockroaches; it is not known whether these fungi benefit their hosts. Fungi growing in dead wood are essential for xylophagous insects (e.g. woodboring beetles). They deliver nutrients needed by xylophages to nutritionally scarce dead wood. Thanks to this nutritional enrichment the larvae of the woodboring insect is able to grow and develop to adulthood. The larvae of many families of fungicolous flies, particularly those within the superfamily Sciaroidea such as the Mycetophilidae and some Keroplatidae feed on fungal fruiting bodies and sterile mycorrhizae.

 

A thin brown stick positioned horizontally with roughly two dozen clustered orange-red leaves originating from a single point in the middle of the stick. These orange leaves are three to four times larger than the few other green leaves growing out of the stick, and are covered on the lower leaf surface with hundreds of tiny bumps. The background shows the green leaves and branches of neighboring shrubs.

The plant pathogen Puccinia magellanicum (calafate rust) causes the defect known as witch's broom, seen here on a barberry shrub in Chile.

 

Gram stain of Candida albicans from a vaginal swab from a woman with candidiasis, showing hyphae, and chlamydospores, which are 2–4 µm in diameter.

Many fungi are parasites on plants, animals (including humans), and other fungi. Serious pathogens of many cultivated plants causing extensive damage and losses to agriculture and forestry include the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae, tree pathogens such as Ophiostoma ulmi and Ophiostoma novo-ulmi causing Dutch elm disease, Cryphonectria parasitica responsible for chestnut blight, and Phymatotrichopsis omnivora causing Texas Root Rot, and plant pathogens in the genera Fusarium, Ustilago, Alternaria, and Cochliobolus. Some carnivorous fungi, like Paecilomyces lilacinus, are predators of nematodes, which they capture using an array of specialized structures such as constricting rings or adhesive nets. Many fungi that are plant pathogens, such as Magnaporthe oryzae, can switch from being biotrophic (parasitic on living plants) to being necrotrophic (feeding on the dead tissues of plants they have killed). This same principle is applied to fungi-feeding parasites, including Asterotremella albida, which feeds on the fruit bodies of other fungi both while they are living and after they are dead.

 

Some fungi can cause serious diseases in humans, several of which may be fatal if untreated. These include aspergillosis, candidiasis, coccidioidomycosis, cryptococcosis, histoplasmosis, mycetomas, and paracoccidioidomycosis. Furthermore, persons with immuno-deficiencies are particularly susceptible to disease by genera such as Aspergillus, Candida, Cryptoccocus, Histoplasma, and Pneumocystis. Other fungi can attack eyes, nails, hair, and especially skin, the so-called dermatophytic and keratinophilic fungi, and cause local infections such as ringworm and athlete's foot. Fungal spores are also a cause of allergies, and fungi from different taxonomic groups can evoke allergic reactions.

 

As targets of mycoparasites

Organisms that parasitize fungi are known as mycoparasitic organisms. About 300 species of fungi and fungus-like organisms, belonging to 13 classes and 113 genera, are used as biocontrol agents against plant fungal diseases. Fungi can also act as mycoparasites or antagonists of other fungi, such as Hypomyces chrysospermus, which grows on bolete mushrooms. Fungi can also become the target of infection by mycoviruses.

 

Communication

Main article: Mycorrhizal networks

There appears to be electrical communication between fungi in word-like components according to spiking characteristics.

 

Possible impact on climate

According to a study published in the academic journal Current Biology, fungi can soak from the atmosphere around 36% of global fossil fuel greenhouse gas emissions.

 

Mycotoxins

(6aR,9R)-N-((2R,5S,10aS,10bS)-5-benzyl-10b-hydroxy-2-methyl-3,6-dioxooctahydro-2H-oxazolo[3,2-a] pyrrolo[2,1-c]pyrazin-2-yl)-7-methyl-4,6,6a,7,8,9-hexahydroindolo[4,3-fg] quinoline-9-carboxamide

Ergotamine, a major mycotoxin produced by Claviceps species, which if ingested can cause gangrene, convulsions, and hallucinations

Many fungi produce biologically active compounds, several of which are toxic to animals or plants and are therefore called mycotoxins. Of particular relevance to humans are mycotoxins produced by molds causing food spoilage, and poisonous mushrooms (see above). Particularly infamous are the lethal amatoxins in some Amanita mushrooms, and ergot alkaloids, which have a long history of causing serious epidemics of ergotism (St Anthony's Fire) in people consuming rye or related cereals contaminated with sclerotia of the ergot fungus, Claviceps purpurea. Other notable mycotoxins include the aflatoxins, which are insidious liver toxins and highly carcinogenic metabolites produced by certain Aspergillus species often growing in or on grains and nuts consumed by humans, ochratoxins, patulin, and trichothecenes (e.g., T-2 mycotoxin) and fumonisins, which have significant impact on human food supplies or animal livestock.

 

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites (or natural products), and research has established the existence of biochemical pathways solely for the purpose of producing mycotoxins and other natural products in fungi. Mycotoxins may provide fitness benefits in terms of physiological adaptation, competition with other microbes and fungi, and protection from consumption (fungivory). Many fungal secondary metabolites (or derivatives) are used medically, as described under Human use below.

 

Pathogenic mechanisms

Ustilago maydis is a pathogenic plant fungus that causes smut disease in maize and teosinte. Plants have evolved efficient defense systems against pathogenic microbes such as U. maydis. A rapid defense reaction after pathogen attack is the oxidative burst where the plant produces reactive oxygen species at the site of the attempted invasion. U. maydis can respond to the oxidative burst with an oxidative stress response, regulated by the gene YAP1. The response protects U. maydis from the host defense, and is necessary for the pathogen's virulence. Furthermore, U. maydis has a well-established recombinational DNA repair system which acts during mitosis and meiosis. The system may assist the pathogen in surviving DNA damage arising from the host plant's oxidative defensive response to infection.

 

Cryptococcus neoformans is an encapsulated yeast that can live in both plants and animals. C. neoformans usually infects the lungs, where it is phagocytosed by alveolar macrophages. Some C. neoformans can survive inside macrophages, which appears to be the basis for latency, disseminated disease, and resistance to antifungal agents. One mechanism by which C. neoformans survives the hostile macrophage environment is by up-regulating the expression of genes involved in the oxidative stress response. Another mechanism involves meiosis. The majority of C. neoformans are mating "type a". Filaments of mating "type a" ordinarily have haploid nuclei, but they can become diploid (perhaps by endoduplication or by stimulated nuclear fusion) to form blastospores. The diploid nuclei of blastospores can undergo meiosis, including recombination, to form haploid basidiospores that can be dispersed. This process is referred to as monokaryotic fruiting. This process requires a gene called DMC1, which is a conserved homologue of genes recA in bacteria and RAD51 in eukaryotes, that mediates homologous chromosome pairing during meiosis and repair of DNA double-strand breaks. Thus, C. neoformans can undergo a meiosis, monokaryotic fruiting, that promotes recombinational repair in the oxidative, DNA damaging environment of the host macrophage, and the repair capability may contribute to its virulence.

 

Human use

See also: Human interactions with fungi

Microscopic view of five spherical structures; one of the spheres is considerably smaller than the rest and attached to one of the larger spheres

Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells shown with DIC microscopy

The human use of fungi for food preparation or preservation and other purposes is extensive and has a long history. Mushroom farming and mushroom gathering are large industries in many countries. The study of the historical uses and sociological impact of fungi is known as ethnomycology. Because of the capacity of this group to produce an enormous range of natural products with antimicrobial or other biological activities, many species have long been used or are being developed for industrial production of antibiotics, vitamins, and anti-cancer and cholesterol-lowering drugs. Methods have been developed for genetic engineering of fungi, enabling metabolic engineering of fungal species. For example, genetic modification of yeast species—which are easy to grow at fast rates in large fermentation vessels—has opened up ways of pharmaceutical production that are potentially more efficient than production by the original source organisms. Fungi-based industries are sometimes considered to be a major part of a growing bioeconomy, with applications under research and development including use for textiles, meat substitution and general fungal biotechnology.

 

Therapeutic uses

Modern chemotherapeutics

Many species produce metabolites that are major sources of pharmacologically active drugs.

 

Antibiotics

Particularly important are the antibiotics, including the penicillins, a structurally related group of β-lactam antibiotics that are synthesized from small peptides. Although naturally occurring penicillins such as penicillin G (produced by Penicillium chrysogenum) have a relatively narrow spectrum of biological activity, a wide range of other penicillins can be produced by chemical modification of the natural penicillins. Modern penicillins are semisynthetic compounds, obtained initially from fermentation cultures, but then structurally altered for specific desirable properties. Other antibiotics produced by fungi include: ciclosporin, commonly used as an immunosuppressant during transplant surgery; and fusidic acid, used to help control infection from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. Widespread use of antibiotics for the treatment of bacterial diseases, such as tuberculosis, syphilis, leprosy, and others began in the early 20th century and continues to date. In nature, antibiotics of fungal or bacterial origin appear to play a dual role: at high concentrations they act as chemical defense against competition with other microorganisms in species-rich environments, such as the rhizosphere, and at low concentrations as quorum-sensing molecules for intra- or interspecies signaling.

 

Other

Other drugs produced by fungi include griseofulvin isolated from Penicillium griseofulvum, used to treat fungal infections, and statins (HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors), used to inhibit cholesterol synthesis. Examples of statins found in fungi include mevastatin from Penicillium citrinum and lovastatin from Aspergillus terreus and the oyster mushroom. Psilocybin from fungi is investigated for therapeutic use and appears to cause global increases in brain network integration. Fungi produce compounds that inhibit viruses and cancer cells. Specific metabolites, such as polysaccharide-K, ergotamine, and β-lactam antibiotics, are routinely used in clinical medicine. The shiitake mushroom is a source of lentinan, a clinical drug approved for use in cancer treatments in several countries, including Japan. In Europe and Japan, polysaccharide-K (brand name Krestin), a chemical derived from Trametes versicolor, is an approved adjuvant for cancer therapy.

 

Traditional medicine

Upper surface view of a kidney-shaped fungus, brownish-red with a lighter yellow-brown margin, and a somewhat varnished or shiny appearance

Two dried yellow-orange caterpillars, one with a curly grayish fungus growing out of one of its ends. The grayish fungus is roughly equal to or slightly greater in length than the caterpillar, and tapers in thickness to a narrow end.

The fungi Ganoderma lucidum (left) and Ophiocordyceps sinensis (right) are used in traditional medicine practices

Certain mushrooms are used as supposed therapeutics in folk medicine practices, such as traditional Chinese medicine. Mushrooms with a history of such use include Agaricus subrufescens, Ganoderma lucidum, and Ophiocordyceps sinensis.

 

Cultured foods

Baker's yeast or Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a unicellular fungus, is used to make bread and other wheat-based products, such as pizza dough and dumplings. Yeast species of the genus Saccharomyces are also used to produce alcoholic beverages through fermentation. Shoyu koji mold (Aspergillus oryzae) is an essential ingredient in brewing Shoyu (soy sauce) and sake, and the preparation of miso while Rhizopus species are used for making tempeh. Several of these fungi are domesticated species that were bred or selected according to their capacity to ferment food without producing harmful mycotoxins (see below), which are produced by very closely related Aspergilli. Quorn, a meat substitute, is made from Fusarium venenatum.

Combination Treatment Thermage + IPL by Flor Mayoral, M.D.

Laser toning treatment not only helps to deliver an instant glow but also treats all your pigmentation issues and skin discoloration.

 

With the use of the latest technology and experienced hands of Dr. Shilpi Bhadani, one of the best Cosmetic Surgeons in India, you can restore the brightness and rejuvenate your skin by eradicating skin blemishes and fine lines.

 

Laser toning improves the color and the texture of the skin. Laser toning literally means the evening out of facial or body pigmentations leading to a more uniform less pigmented skin.

 

It is carried out to correct facial pigmentations that can arise from melasma, sun-spots, open pores, tanning and in general instant brightening of the facial skin and other body parts resulting from the treatment.

 

This procedure has minimal or no downtime associated with it. It can help correct stubborn pigmentary changes.

 

Done regularly it also promotes the dermal collagen production and helps fight the early signs of aging and delays it.

 

A lot of bleaching agents have been used in the past to eliminate the pigmentary disorders that cause a lot of distress in people concerned about getting a healthier looking clearer skin.

 

Lasers are an advancement in cosmetology where they are precise and work gently in a targeted manner to achieve the result with precision without having the side effects of long-term steroids or bleaching agents.

 

They are increasingly being resorted to by Plastic Surgeons and dermatologists to give the radiant pigment-free skin to their patients.

 

To read more about Laser Toning, visit: www.drshilpibhadani.com/laser...

 

To Book an Appointment: www.drshilpibhadani.com/book-...

Minocycline is a tetracycline derivative antibiotic commonly prescribed for acne, rosacea, and other inflammatory skin disorders. Minocycline turns black when oxidized, leading to discoloration of the skin and nails. Pigmentation may also involve the bulbar conjunctiva, oral mucosa, teeth, bones, and thyroid gland. Pigmentation has been reported after long-term minocycline therapy with at least 100 mg/day.

 

Cutaneous minocycline hyperpigmentation is divided into 3 types; see last image. Type I is thought to be related to an iron chelate of minocycline Type II is probably secondary to a drug metabolite protein complex chelated with iron and calcium In Type III pigmentation is probably related to a photo drug induced dermatitis and melanin drop down from the basal layer

 

Images and text for 2nd paragraph contributed by Dr. Silvija Gottesman - @SGottesmanMD

  

A 9mm juvenile flatfish seen under a binocular microscope. The muscle fibres refract the light into different colours as they contract and relax.

The skin showed some signs of pigmentation in the form of brown and orange spots so this could be a plaice.

 

The fish is alive and was released back to the sea.

Leucistic bald eagel, Washington State. Feb 2014.

 

Confirmed with a biologist in Yakima...

 

"Yes, that definitely looks like a Bald Eagle. It also looks like it is leucistic, a genetic condition where pigmentation is reduced, and not just melanin. Brown or black feathers are often faded out or yellowish looking.

 

Very cool picture and a great find! I’ve never seen this in a Bald Eagle.

 

Jeff Kozma

 

TFW Wildlife Biologist

 

Yakama Nation Fisheries Resource Management"

  

www.mooneyimages.com

Garden (Alt. 800m)

"Just about everything squids do is interesting, but the way they can change their pattern of pigmentation with respect to the substratum is particularly striking. When on a light background, a squid tends to contract its pigment-containing cells so that the pigment becomes concentrated in tiny, widely spaced flecks; the body as a whole thus becomes lighter. On a dark background, the pigment cells expand, diffusing the pigment over a larger area and making the body darker."

 

Editor's note: Also, the magic pink bits.

 

[ From Seashore Life of the Northern Pacific Coast, by Eugene N. Kozloff ]

Where Soul Meets Body

New Works by Janet Aly

& Carey Shaw

 

Opening Reception Saturday, November 10,

6:00-9:00 PM

 

Archival Framing

1709 Del Paso Blvd

Sacramento, CA 95815

916.923.6204

 

Exhibition runs November 8, 2007 through December 1, 2007

 

Opening Reception Entertainment includes:

•Temporary Henna Tattoos by Jacqueline Robbins of Harmony Henna

•Refreshments and Desserts donated by the Mediterranean Grocery on Fulton Ave.

•Middle Eastern Dancing by Shayla of Sacramento, CA

 

For more information visit our website www.archivalframe.com

Or contact Janet Aly: info@archivalframe.com, or www.myspace.com/janet_aly_art

 

About the Artists:

 

Janet Aly graduated Magna Cum Laude from CSUS in 2004, has participated in various local gallery exhibitions, and is included in the International Muslim Artists Exhibition at the New Orleans African American Museum of Art, Culture and History in Louisiana. Janet Aly’s paintings consist of intricate overlapping layers of pattern and texture using uniquely Islamic designs. Traditional Middle Eastern geometric patterns, and Southeast Asian vegetal motifs, weave their way through her paintings.

 

Carey Shaw received the College of Arts and Letters Dean’s Award upon graduation from CSUS in May of 2007. She is currently studying at the Pont-Aven School of Contemporary Art in France. Carey Shaw’s hand-dyed and stitched papers developed out of her love for nature and the earth. She is inspired by the vibrant living colors and natural resources available to her, and utilizes the natural pigmentation found in vegetables, spices, and herbs. Carey Shaw’s current work explores purity of color, natural hues, and the delicate simplicity of beauty.

 

This is a traditionally inspired design using antique Yemen silver plaques and amulet combined with modern amber resin beads. The valuable antique Yemen silver plaques and amulet lay in my collection as orphan pieces separated for decades from their original piece of jewelry. The old silver was made by Jewish Yemeni silversmiths in the early decades of the 1900s, before they left Yemen for their new home in the new nation of Israel.

 

I knew that in order to make these valuable cultural relics at home in a new necklace that they would need to be combined with either strands of small thin tubular silver beads, amber beads or coral beads. Yemen style agate, bone or horn beads might be added, perhaps even lapis, carnelian or obsidian but beyond those choices, the piece would lose its Middle Eastern ethnicity. I chose to do what the modern Yemenis often do: find modern amber substitutes in various shades. The small red separator beads are carnelian and there are two Yemen metal separator beads on the outside string. The chain is antiqued silver plate of a later date than the old silver.

 

The irregular barrel shaped amber resin beads on the outside strand are from North Africa, made from synthesized resin with amber pigmentation added. This method has been used in bead-making since at least the early 1900s when it was invented in France and introduced into North Africa. There are literally tons of such amber beads in old ethnic jewelry throughout North Africa and Yemen.

 

This piece is made in the tradition of the lazem or kirdan necklace worn by the Yemeni bride as part of her wedding dowry. The amulet represented the blessedness of her new situation in life. It was part of her religious tradition of sacramentalizing marriage in the ornaments worn by the bride, as well as furnishing her with items of value. These items of value she would be able to use to trade for necessities in the market place.

 

The silver has acquired the patina that comes from being worn for a long time under fairly harsh conditions. This characteristic of old jewelry is known as human sweat patina and I find it very appealing. I am sure that when you wear this necklace, you will cause ooooooh!s and ahhhhhhhh!s all around you. I have worn similar items from my own jewelry chest and that has been my experience. I think you will enjoy wearing a cultural relic as much as I do.

 

Measurements:

Necklace = 25.5 inches (63.75 cm)long

Central Plaque and amulet = 3.5 inches (8.75 cm)high x 2 inches (5 cm) wide

Laguna Colorada (Red Lagoon) is a shallow salt lake in the southwest of the altiplano of Bolivia, within Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve and close to the border with Chile.

 

The reddish color of its waters, which is caused by red sediments and pigmentation of some algae.

 

The birds which can be seen in some of the pictures are flamingos.

Found this one in the hallway of the house. We have a ton of scorpions that get inside.

This is the same one that I caught inside the house.

One of the more interesting vaejovids, both ecologically and taxonomically, is Pseudouroctonus reddelli (Gertsch & Soleglad 1972), a relatively large, dark-colored species distributed throughout much of central Texas (Gertsch & Soleglad 1972 ; Stockwell 1986). As with other vaejovids, individuals may be found under surface debris such as rocks or logs. However, P. reddelli is unusual in that it is troglophilic, with the majority of specimens having been captured from caves (Gertsch & Soleglad 1972; Stockwell 1986) despite the lack of any obvious adaptations for cave dwelling (such as lack of eyes or pigmentation, or elongated appendages) as seen in troglobitic scorpions. (Brown 1997)

Range "Texas: In caves and canyons/grottoes of the Balcones Escarpment, Hill Country, from Georgetown to Austin to San Antonio to Del Rio. Commonly found under limestone rocks that are in shade of oaks." - Kari J McWest

Simply put, Kumlien's Gulls are most similar to Iceland Gulls, with variable pigmentation in the primaries (and tail in immatures). The body can appear a little more bulky, head shape may be less rounded in a few birds, the bill can be slightly heavier (but still obviously short and small compared to e.g. American Herring Gull), and the wing projection may appear a little shorter at times (though the long primary projection is always quite obvious).

 

The Canadian race of Iceland Gull is known as "Kumlien's Gull" it is one of the most variable of all gulls in plumage characters, and no two seem to have the same amount of dark on the wingtips. It is also thought that these birds of the race 'Kumlieni' are basically a hybrid population between the Iceland Gull and the Thayers Gull. The taxonomy of various species of gulls is difficult and a lot more knowledge of these birds is required to see if they are actually seperate species. This is an adult winter bird. Taken at Cuskinny Marsh, Cobh this afternoon.