Considerable research and development has been done with this important plant. Older cultivars such as 'Vernal' have been the standard for years, but many public and private varieties better adapted to particular climates are available. Private companies release many new varieties each year in the US.
Most varieties go dormant in the fall, with reduced growth in response to low temperatures and shorter days. 'Nondormant' varieties that grow through the winter are planted in long-season environments such as Mexico, Arizona, and Southern California, whereas 'dormant' varieties are planted in the Upper Midwest, Canada, and the Northeast. 'Nondormant' varieties can be higher-yielding, but they are susceptible to winter-kill in cold climates and have poorer persistence.
Most alfalfa cultivars contain genetic material from sickle medick (M. falcata), a crop wild relative of alfalfa that naturally hybridizes with M. sativa to produce sand lucerne (M. sativa ssp. varia). This species may bear either the purple flowers of alfalfa or the yellow of sickle medick, and is so called for its ready growth in sandy soil. Traits for insect resistance have also been introduced from M. glomerata and M. prostrata, members of alfalfa's secondary gene pool.
Most of the improvements in alfalfa over the last decades have consisted of better disease resistance on poorly drained soils in wet years, better ability to overwinter in cold climates, and the production of more leaves. Multileaf alfalfa varieties have more than three leaflets per leaf.
Alfalfa growers or lucerne growers have a suite of varieties or cultivars to choose from in the seed marketplace and base their selection on a number of factors including the dormancy or activity rating, crown height, fit for purpose (i.e., hay production or grazing), disease resistance, insect pest resistance, forage yield, fine leafed varieties and a combination of many favourable attributes. Plant breeding efforts use scientific methodology and technology to strive for new improved varieties.
The L. Teweles Seed Company claimed it created the world's first hybrid alfalfa.
Wisconsin and California and many other states publish alfalfa variety trial data. A complete listing of state variety testing data is provided by the North American Alfalfa Improvement Conference (NAAIC) State Listing, as well as additional detailed alfalfa genetic and variety data published by NAAIC.


The only kingfisher in the majority of its range, the belted kingfisher's breeding habitat is near inland bodies of waters or coasts across most of North America, within Canada, Alaska and the United States. They migrate from the northern parts of its range to the southern United States, Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies in winter.  It is a rare visitor to the northern areas of Colombia, Venezuela, and the Guianas. During migration it may stray far from land; the species is recorded as an accidental visitor on several Pacific islands, such as Cocos Island, Malpelo Island, Hawaii, the Azores, Clarion Island, and has occurred as an extremely rare vagrant in Ecuador, Greenland, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, and the United Kingdom. The southernmost records of M. alcyon are from the Galapagos Archipelago, insular Ecuador, where it occurs as a migrant in small numbers but apparently not every year.
It leaves northern parts of its range when the water freezes; in warmer areas, it is a permanent resident. A few individuals may linger in the north even in the coldest winters except in the Arctic, if there are remaining open bodies of water.


Each ringed kingfisher possesses 10 primaries, 15 secondaries, 3 tertials and 12 rectrices. Wings are rounded, and tail is squared. Subspecies can be found in Texas, Mexico, Central America and South America, due to slight plumage differences. Individuals themselves vary slightly as a result of variable environmental constraints and day-length regimes.


The ringed kingfisher's diet is largely dependent on fish, while sometimes targeting invertebrates, crabs and crustaceans. Fish consumed include several species from the families Characidae and Cichlidae.


Megachile sculpturalis can reach a body length of about 19–22 mm (0.75–0.87 in) in males, while females usually are larger than males, reaching about 21–25 mm (0.83–0.98 in). It is much bigger than most other leafcutting bees. The body is cylindrical, jaws are large and wings are transparent, with a brown color that darkens toward the tips. Head and abdomen are mainly black, the abdomen is rather shiny and without hairs, while thorax is covered with dense yellowish-brown pubescence. In males the abdomen is truncated and squared, while in the females it is almost tapered, and pointed. The female has four dentate mandibles.


Humpback whales are found worldwide, except for some areas at the equator and High Arctic and some enclosed seas. The furthest north they have been recorded is at 81°N around northern Franz Josef Land. They are usually coastal and tend to congregate in waters within continental shelves. Their winter breeding grounds are located around the equator; their summer feeding areas are found in colder waters, including near the polar ice caps. Humpbacks go on vast migrations between their feeding and breeding areas, often crossing the open ocean. The species has been recorded traveling up to 8,000 km (5,000 mi) in one direction. An isolated, non-migratory population feeds and breeds in the northern Indian Ocean, mainly in the Arabian Sea around Oman. This population has also been recorded in the Gulf of Aden, the Persian Gulf, and off the coasts of Pakistan and India.
In the North Atlantic, there are two separate wintering populations, one in the West Indies, from Cuba to northern Venezuela, and the other in the Cape Verde Islands and northwest Africa. During summer, West Indies humpbacks congregate off New England, eastern Canada, and western Greenland, while the Cape Verde population gathers around Iceland and Norway. There is some overlap in the summer ranges of these populations, and West Indies humpbacks have been documented feeding further east. Whale visits into the Gulf of Mexico have been infrequent but have occurred in the gulf historically. They were considered to be uncommon in the Mediterranean Sea, but increased sightings, including re-sightings, indicate that more whales may colonize or recolonize it in the future.
The North Pacific has at least four breeding populations: off Mexico (including Baja California and the Revillagigedos Islands), Central America, the Hawaiian Islands, and both Okinawa and the Philippines. The Mexican population forages from the Aleutian Islands to California, particularly the Bering Sea, northern and western Gulf of Alaska, southern British Columbia to northern Washington State, and Oregon to California. During the summer, Central American humpbacks are found only off Oregon and California. In contrast, Hawaiian humpbacks have a wide feeding range but most travelled to southeast Alaska and northern British Columbia. The wintering grounds of the Okinawa/Philippines population are mainly around the Russian Far East. There is some evidence for a fifth population somewhere in the northwestern Pacific. These whales are recorded to feed off the Aleutians with a breeding area somewhere south of the Bonin Islands.


As of 2018, the IUCN Red List lists the humpback whale as least-concern, with a worldwide population of around 135,000 whales, of which around 84,000 are mature individuals, and an increasing population trend. Prior to 2008, the IUCN listed the species as vulnerable. Regional estimates are around 13,000 in the North Atlantic, 21,000 in the North Pacific, and 80,000 in the southern hemisphere. For the isolated population in the Arabian sea, only around 80 individuals remain and are considered to be endangered. In most areas, humpback whale populations have recovered from historic whaling, particularly in the North Pacific. Such recoveries have led to the downlisting of the species' threatened status in the United States, Canada, and Australia. In Costa Rica, Ballena Marine National Park was established for humpback protection.
Humpbacks still face various other human-made threats, including entanglement by fishing gear, vessel collisions, human-caused noise and traffic disturbance, coastal habitat destruction, and climate change. Like other cetaceans, humpbacks can be injured by excessive noise. In the 19th century, two humpback whales were found dead near repeated oceanic sub-bottom blasting sites, with traumatic injuries and fractures in the ears. Saxitoxin, a paralytic shellfish poisoning from contaminated mackerel, has been implicated in humpback whale deaths. While oil ingestion is a risk for whales, a 2019 study found that oil did not foul baleen and instead was easily rinsed by flowing water.
Whale researchers along the Atlantic Coast report that there have been more stranded whales with signs of vessel strikes and fishing gear entanglement in recent years than ever before. The NOAA recorded 88 stranded humpback whales between January 2016 and February 2019. This is more than double the number of whales stranded between 2013 and 2016. Because of the increase in stranded whales, NOAA declared an unusual mortality event in April 2017. Virginia Beach Aquarium's stranding response coordinator, Alexander Costidis, says the conclusions are that the two causes of these unusual mortality events are vessel interactions and entanglements.


Megarhyssa atrata, also known as the black giant ichneumonid wasp, is a species of large ichneumon wasp. It is known from North America, where it is found from Quebec, Michigan, Ohio and North and South Carolina to Florida.
Adults are on wing from May to July.
The larvae are parasitoids of the larvae of the woodwasp Tremex columba in dead deciduous trees.


The mammoth wasp occurs in southern Europe as far north as the Czech Republic, where it was first recorded in 2013, into Russia, North Africa and the near east. It has been recorded in southern Great Britain but as its prey does not occur in Britain it will be unable to establish there.


Four varieties have been considered. However, recent studies have cast doubt at the distinctiveness of these varieties, and the study recommends no recognition of them. Researchers have suggested the proposed varieties represent adaptations to varying habitats, and are not reproductively isolated.
If recognized, the varieties are:
M. lineare var. americanum - A northern taxon
M. lineare var. latifolium - Native to dry outcrops in the Appalachian Mountains
M. lineare var. lineare - Widespread in the northern United States and in southern Canada
M. lineare var. pectinatum - Native to the eastern Coastal Plain, from Massachusetts to Virginia


Melampyrum nemorosum is an herbaceous flowering plant in the family Orobanchaceae. It is native to Europe. In Sweden it is called natt och dag. (Night and Day) In Russia it is called Ivan-da-Marya. (Ivan and Maria) a Christianisation of the traditional Slavic Kupalo-da-Mavka (Kupalo-and-Mavka).
This is an annual plant. The new leaves are blue, turning green as they mature. They are usually toothed at the bases.
This plant is a host to the rust fungus Coleosporium melampyri  und Cronartium flaccidum with the associated uredium and telium.


The golden-fronted woodpecker (Melanerpes aurifrons) is a North American woodpecker. Its preferred habitat is mesquite, riparian woodlands, and tropical rainforest. It is distributed from Texas and Oklahoma in the United States through Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and northern Nicaragua. Cooke listed this species as an abundant resident of the lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas, in 1884.


The English naturalist Mark Catesby described and illustrated the red-bellied woodpecker in his book The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands which was published between 1729 and 1732. Catesby used the English name "The Red-bellied Wood-pecker" and the Latin Picus ventre rubro. When in 1758 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the tenth edition, he included the red-bellied woodpecker, coined the binomial name Picus carolinus and cited Catesby's book.  Linnaeus specified the type locality as America septentrionali, (North America). The locality is now restricted to South Carolina. The red-bellied woodpecker is one of 24 species now placed in the genus Melanerpes that was introduced by the English ornithologist William John Swainson in 1832. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.


The golden-cheeked woodpecker (Melanerpes chrysogenys) is a species of bird in the family Picidae.
It is endemic to Mexico, in the western, and southwestern coastal strip on the Pacific Ocean, and the western bordering regions of mountains of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. They are distributed in the coast from Sinaloa to Colima.
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, and heavily degraded former forest.


The red-headed woodpecker was returned to a designation of least concern on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)'s Red List of Endangered Species in 2018, having been downgraded to near threatened in 2004 after it appeared to have experienced a 65.5% decline in population over 40 years. From 1966 to 2015 there was a greater than 1.5% annual population decline throughout the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys and central Florida. Most of the decline in red-headed Woodpeckers can be attributed to loss of habitat and the competition for nesting cavities with the invasive European starling.
Increased habitat management is claimed to have helped in part in stabilizing its numbers, leading to its down-listing.
The red-headed woodpecker was historically a common species in southern Canada and the east-central United States. Consistent long-term population declines have resulted in red-headed woodpecker's threatened status in Canada and several states in the US. Throughout most of its range, it inhabits areas that have been heavily altered by humans. Factors attributed to the red-headed woodpecker's decline include loss of overall habitat and, within habitats, loss of standing dead wood required for nest sites, limitations in food supply, and possible nest-site competition with other cavity nesters such as European starlings or red-bellied woodpeckers.
Of the 600 Canadian Important Bird Areas, only seven report the red-headed woodpecker in their area: Cabot Head, Ontario, on the Georgian Bay side of the tip of Bruce Peninsula; Carden Plain, Ontario, east of Lake Simcoe; Long Point Peninsula and Marshes, Ontario, along Lake Erie near London, Ontario; Point Abino, Ontario, on Lake Erie near Niagara Falls; Port Franks Forested Dunes, Ontario, northeast of Sarnia on Lake Huron; Kinosota/Leifur, Manitoba, on the northwest side of Lake Manitoba south of The Narrows and east of Riding Mountain National Park; and along the South Saskatchewan River from Empress, Alberta to Lancer Ferry in Saskatchewan.


The acorn woodpecker's habitat is forested areas with oaks in the coastal areas and foothills of Oregon, California, and the southwestern United States, south through Central America to Colombia. This species may occur at low elevations in the north of its range, but rarely below 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in Central America, and it breeds up to the timberline. Nests are excavated in a  cavity in a dead tree or a dead part of a tree.


The red-crowned woodpecker (Melanerpes rubricapillus) is a resident breeding bird from southwestern Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas and Tobago.


The Gila woodpecker (Melanerpes uropygialis) is a medium-sized woodpecker of the desert regions of the southwestern United States and western Mexico. In the U.S., they range through southeastern California, southern Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico.


The black scoter breeds in the far north of North America in Labrador and Newfoundland to the southeast and northwest of Hudson Bay. It also occurs on the Siberian side of the Bering Straits east of the Yana River. It winters farther south in temperate zones, on the coasts of the northern USA and Canada, on the Pacific coast south to the San Francisco Bay region and on the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts, and in Asia as far south as China.
Some birds may over-winter on the Great Lakes. This species is a very rare vagrant to western Europe; only drakes are safely identifiable out of range, so females are likely to be undetected.


The surf scoter (Melanitta perspicillata) is a large sea duck native to North America. Adult males are almost entirely black with characteristic white patches on the forehead and the nape and adult females are slightly smaller and browner. Surf scoters breed in Northern Canada and Alaska and winter along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of North America. Those diving ducks mainly feed on benthic invertebrates, mussels representing an important part of their diet.


Melanodes is a monotypic moth genus in the family Geometridae. Its only species, Melanodes anthracitaria, the black geometrid, is found in Australia, more specifically in southern Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania. The genus and species were described by Achille Guenée in 1857.
Both the larvae and the adults have two forms. The caterpillars can be green or brown. The adults are slate grey with black wavy lines. One form has pale yellow bands on the wings, which are not present on the other form.
The wingspan is about 50 mm for females and 40 mm for males. The moth flies from August to January depending on the location.
The larvae feed on Eucalyptus species.


Melanolestes picipes, known generally as the black corsair or black May beetle-eater, is a species of corsair in the family Reduviidae. It is found in Central America, North America, Oceania, and South America.


Melanoplus femurrubrum, the red-legged grasshopper, is a species of grasshopper belonging to the genus Melanoplus. It is one of the most common grasshoppers found in Mexico, the United States, and Canada. This grasshopper is frequently used as a model organism in scientific studies, due to their abundance throughout North America and behavioral response to changes in climate.


The black-faced grassquit (Melanospiza bicolor) is a small bird. It is recognized as a tanager closely related to Darwin's finches. It breeds in the West Indies except Cuba, on Tobago but not Trinidad, and along the northern coasts of Colombia and Venezuela.


It is found in the SE United States, including Louisiana, Mississippi Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Illinois, as well as in the Caribbean Islands, Mexico (from Tamaulipas to Quintana Roo), Central America and South America, including Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Guianas and northern Brazil.


The wild turkey in the United States in 1957 ranged from Arizona to southeastern Oklahoma and thence through Tennessee, West Virginia, and New York, and south to Florida and Texas. It formerly ranged north to southeastern South Dakota, southern Wisconsin,  Ontario, and southwestern Maine. The A.O.U. Checklist also described Upper Pliocene fossils in Kansas, and Pleistocene fossils widely from New Mexico to Pennsylvania and Florida. The Californian turkey (Meleagris californica) is an extinct species of turkey indigenous to the Pleistocene and early Holocene of California. It became extinct about 10,000 years ago. The present Californian wild turkey population derives from wild birds re-introduced during the 1960s and 70s from other areas by game officials. They proliferated after 2000 to become an everyday sight in the East Bay Area by 2015.
At the beginning of the 20th century the range and numbers of wild turkeys had plummeted due to hunting and loss of habitat. When Europeans arrived in the New World, they were found from Canada to Mexico in the millions. Europeans and their successors knew nothing about the life cycle of the bird and ecology itself as a science would come too late, not even in its infancy until the end of the 19th century whereas heavy hunting began in the 17th century. Deforestation destroyed trees turkeys need to roost in. Destruction of subtypes of environment like prairie grassland in the Midwest, canebrakes in the Southeast, and pine in the desert highlands made them easy prey for predators as there was nowhere to hide or lay eggs.
Game managers estimate that the entire population of wild turkeys in the United States was as low as 30,000 by the late 1930s. By the 1940s, it was almost totally extirpated from Canada and had become localized in pockets in the United States, in the north-east effectively restricted to the Appalachians, only as far north as central Pennsylvania. Early attempts used hand reared birds, a practice that failed miserably as the birds were unable to survive in the wild at all and many had imprinted far too much on people to effectively survive. Game officials later made efforts to protect and encourage the breeding of the surviving wild population. They would wait for numbers to grow, catch the surplus birds with a device that would have a projectile net that would ensnare the creature, move it to another unoccupied territory, and repeat the cycle. Over time this included some in the western states where it was not native. There is evidence that the bird does well when near farmland, which provides grain and also berry-bearing shrubs at its edges. As wild turkey numbers rebounded, hunting became legal in 49 U.S. states (excluding Alaska). In 1973, the total U.S. population was estimated to be 1.3 million, and current estimates place the entire wild turkey population at 7 million individuals. Since the 1980s, "trap and transfer" projects have reintroduced wild turkeys to several provinces of Canada as well, sometimes from across the border in the United States. They appear to be very successful as of 2018 as wild turkeys have multiplied rapidly and flourished in places where they were not expected to survive by Canadian scientists, often quite far north of their original expected range.
Attempts to introduce the wild turkey to Britain as a game bird in the 18th century were not successful. George II is said to have had a flock of a few thousand in Richmond Park near London, but they were too easy for local poachers to destroy, and the fights with poachers became too dangerous for the gamekeepers. They were hunted with dogs and then shot out of trees where they took refuge. Several other populations, introduced or escaped, have survived for periods elsewhere in Britain and Ireland, but seem to have died out, perhaps from a combination of lack of winter feed and poaching. Small populations, probably descended from farm as well as wild stock, in the Czech Republic and Germany have been more successful, and there are wild populations of some size following introductions in Hawaii and New Zealand.


This was the turkey subspecies Europeans first encountered in the wild: by the Puritans, the founders of Jamestown, the Dutch who lived in New York, and by the Acadians. Its range is one of the largest of all subspecies, covering the entire eastern half of the United States from Maine in the north to northern Florida and extending as far west as Minnesota, Illinois, and into Missouri. In Canada, its range extends into Southeastern Manitoba, Ontario, Southwestern Quebec (including Pontiac, Quebec and the lower half of the Western Quebec Seismic Zone), and the Maritime Provinces. They number from 5.1 to 5.3 million birds. They were first named 'forest turkey' in 1817, and can grow up to 4 ft (1.2 m) tall. The upper tail coverts are tipped with chestnut brown. Males can reach 30 lb (14 kg) in weight. The eastern wild turkey is heavily hunted in the Eastern USA and is the most hunted wild turkey subspecies.


The Rio Grande wild turkey ranges through Texas to Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, Colorado, Oregon, Utah, and was introduced to central and western California, as well as parts of a few northeastern states. It was also introduced to Hawaiʻi in the late 1950s. Population estimates for this subspecies are around 1,000,000. This subspecies, native to the central plain states, was first described in 1879, and has relatively long legs, better adapted to a prairie habitat. Its body feathers often have a green-coppery sheen. The tips of the tail and lower back feathers are a buff-to-very light tan color. Its habitats are brush areas next to streams, rivers or mesquite, pine and scrub oak forests. The Rio Grande turkey is gregarious.


The Merriam's wild turkey ranges through the Rocky Mountains and the neighboring prairies of Wyoming, Montana and South Dakota, as well as much of the high mesa country of New Mexico, Arizona, southern Utah and The Navajo Nation, with number from 334,460 to 344,460 birds. The subspecies has also been introduced into Oregon. The initial releases of Merriam's turkeys in 1961 resulted in establishing a remnant population of Merriam's turkeys along the east-slope of Mt. Hood and natural immigration of turkeys from Idaho has established Merriam's flocks along the eastern border of Oregon. Merriam's wild turkeys live in ponderosa pine and mountainous regions. The subspecies was named in 1900 in honor of Clinton Hart Merriam, the first chief of the U.S. Biological Survey. The tail and lower back feathers have white tips and purple and bronze reflections.


Native from the central valleys to the northern mountains of Mexico and the southernmost parts of Arizona and New Mexico. Gould's wild turkeys are heavily protected and regulated. The subspecies was first described in 1856. They exist in small numbers in the U.S. but are abundant in northwestern portions of Mexico. A small population has been established in southern Arizona. Gould's are the largest of the six subspecies. They have longer legs, larger feet, and longer tail feathers. The main colors of the body feathers are copper and greenish-gold. This subspecies is heavily protected owing to its skittish nature and threatened status.


The south Mexican wild turkey is considered the nominate subspecies, and the only one that is not found in the United States or Canada. In central Mexico, archaeological M. gallopavo bones have been identified at sites dating to 800–100 BC [10], [11]. It is unclear whether these early specimens represent wild or domestic individuals, but domestic turkeys were likely established in central Mexico by the first half of the Classic Period (c. AD 200–1000). Late Preclassic (300 BC–AD 100) turkey remains identified at the archaeological site of El Mirador (Petén, Guatemala) represent the earliest evidence of the export of the south Mexican wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo gallopavo) to the ancient Maya world. The south Mexican wild subspecies, M. g. gallopavo, was domesticated either in Mexico or by Preclassic peoples in Mesoamerica, giving rise to the domestic turkey (M. g. domesticus). The Spaniards brought this tamed subspecies back to Europe with them in the mid-16th century; from Spain it spread to France and later Britain as a farmyard animal, usually becoming the centerpiece of a feast for the well-to-do. By 1620 it was common enough so that Pilgrim settlers of Massachusetts could bring turkeys with them from England, unaware that it had a larger close relative already occupying the forests of Massachusetts. It is one of the smallest subspecies and is best known in Spanish from its Aztec-derived name, guajolote. This wild turkey subspecies is thought to be critically endangered, as of 2010.


Badgers begin to prepare for winter sleep during late summer by accumulating fat reserves, which reach a peak in October. During this period, the sett is cleaned and the nesting chamber is filled with bedding. Upon retiring to sleep, badgers block their sett entrances with dry leaves and earth. They typically stop leaving their setts once snow has fallen. In Russia and the Nordic countries, European badgers retire for winter sleep from late October to mid-November and emerge from their setts in March and early April. In areas such as England and Transcaucasia, where winters are less harsh, badgers either forgo winter sleep entirely or spend long periods underground, emerging in mild spells.


White sweetclover is native to much of Asia and southern Europe, from France and Spain to Kazakhstan and Myanmar, and also northeastern Africa.
M. albus has been introduced from Eurasia into South Africa, North and South America, New Zealand, Australia, and Tasmania, as well as many parts of Europe outside its native range. In the US, the species is considered most common in the upper Midwest and Great Plains regions, including Kentucky, Nebraska, Tennessee and Wisconsin.
White sweetclover was brought to North America as early as 1664 as a forage crop. Since then, it has spread from cultivation and thrives in waste places and roadsides. White sweetclover is found in every state in the United States and all but 2 Canadian provinces. It establishes in aspen woodlands and prairies in Canada and the lower 48 states and riparian communities in Alaska. The early spread of M. albus was probably facilitated by beekeepers and agriculturalists, as it can be an important fodder crop and food source for honey bees, and it was brought to Alaska in 1913 as a potential forage and nitrogen (N) fixing crop.


White sweetclover is listed as an "exotic pest" in Tennessee, "ecologically invasive" in Wisconsin, and a "weed" in Kentucky and Quebec. It has formed large monospecific stands along rivers in the southeast, southcentral, and interior Alaska, and extensive infestations of white sweetclover have been found on the Stikine, Nenana, and Matanuska Rivers. M. albus is typically more problematic or invasive in northern rather than southern temperate US grasslands, notably in the upper Midwest and Great Plains regions.
It is for its high value as a fodder crop that the risk of deliberate introduction to further countries is high. Seeds of M. albus are also sometimes introduced as impurities in seeds of other crops such as lucerne (Medicago sativa). M. albus is highly likely to be transported internationally both accidentally and deliberately, difficult to identify/detect as a commodity contaminant, and its seeds can persist in the ground for several decades and remain viable. Due to the long viability of seeds, sites must be monitored for many years following control actions.
Seefeldt et al. (2010) observed that moose ingest and spread viable seeds of M. albus and suggested that control of new infestations might be best carried out by following moose trails and monitoring for new patches of the weed.


Melissa officinalis is native to Europe, central Asia and Iran, but is now naturalized around the world. It grows easily from seed, preferring rich, moist soil.
Lemon balm seeds require light and a minimum temperature of 20 °C (68 °F) to germinate. The plant grows in clumps and spreads vegetatively (a new plant can grow from a fragment of the parent plant), as well as by seed. In mild temperate zones, the plant stems die off at the start of the winter, but shoot up again in spring. Lemon balm grows vigorously.
As of 1992, Hungary, Egypt, and Italy are the major producing countries of lemon balm. The leaves are harvested by hand in June and August in the northern hemisphere, on a day when the weather is dry, to prevent the crop from turning black if damp.
The cultivars of M. officinalis include:
M. officinalis 'Citronella'
M. officinalis 'Lemonella'
M. officinalis 'Quedlinburger'
M. officinalis 'Lime'
M. officinalis 'Mandarina'
M. officinalis 'Variegata'
M. officinalis 'Aurea'
M. officinalis 'Quedlinburger Niederliegende', an improved variety bred for high essential oil content.


It is native to central and southern Europe from the British Isles + Portugal east to Turkey + Ukraine + Baltic States.


Though a habitat generalist, the song sparrow favors brushland and marshes, including salt marshes across most of Canada and the United States. They also thrive in human dominated areas such as in suburbs, agricultural fields, and along roadsides. Permanent residents of the southern half of their range, northern populations of the song sparrow migrate to the southern United States or Mexico during winter and intermingle with the native, non-migratory population. The song sparrow is a very rare vagrant to western Europe, with a few recorded in Great Britain and Norway.
These birds forage on the ground, in shrubs or in very shallow water. They mainly eat insects and seeds. Birds in salt marshes may also eat small crustaceans. They nest either in a sheltered location on the ground or in trees or shrubs. Song sparrows with areas of shrub cover in their territory, away from the intertidal coastline, have greater over-winter survival, as well higher reproductive success.


Large, dark, diffuse dark streaks. A study of mtDNA allozyme variation of most forms in this group concluded that they are of comparatively recent origin and that island populations are apparently derived independently from each other.
Melospiza melodia maxima Gabrielson & Lincoln, 1951, giant song sparrow. W Aleutian Islands (Attu to Atka Island), resident. The largest subspecies, about the size of the California towhee. Very gray overall, long, diffuse streaks. Bill long and slender.
Melospiza melodia sanaka McGregor, 1901, Aleutian song sparrow. Aleutians from Seguam Island east to Stepovak Bay, Alaska, and islands to the south of Alaskan Peninsula; resident. Similar to maxima; grayer still and bill even more slender. Includes the Semidi song sparrow, M. m. semidiensis Brooks, 1919, which may be a distinct subspecies however. Also includes the population from Amak Island named M. m. amaka Gabrielson & Lincoln, 1951 (Amak song sparrow) which was extirpated due to habitat destruction, apparently disappearing in the weeks around New Year's Eve, 1980/1981 (there were unconfirmed sightings in 1987 and 1988).
Melospiza melodia insignis Baird, 1869, Bischoff song sparrow. Kodiak, Afognak, Sitkalidak, and Raspberry Islands, and Kukak and Katmai on Alaska Peninsula; many migrate south in winter. A darkish gray, medium-sized form.
Melospiza melodia kenaiensis Ridgway, 1900, Kenai song sparrow. Resident; Pacific coast of Kenai Peninsula and Prince William Sound islands; some resident, some migrant. Smaller and browner than insignis.
Melospiza melodia caurina Ridgway, 1899, Yakutat song sparrow. Northern Gulf of Alaska coast, many migrate to Pacific Northwest in winter. A smaller version of kenaiensis.
Melospiza melodia rufina (Bonaparte, 1850), sooty song sparrow. Outer islands of Alexander Archipelago and Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands); most are resident. A very dark, rufous, and small form. Includes M. m. kwaisa Cumming, 1933.
Melospiza melodia morphna Oberholser, 1899. Coastal region of central British Columbia south to NW Oregon; resident. Lighter, more rufous than rufina. Previously M. m. cinerea (non Gmelin) (Audubon, 1839); M. m. phaea Fisher, 1902 are Central Oregon hybrids between this subspecies and M. m. cleonensis.
Melospiza melodia merrilli Brewster, 1896. Occurs between the ranges of morphna and montana south to N Nevada; some migrate south in winter. Includes M. m. ingersolli McGregor, 1899 and M. m. inexspectata Riley, 1911 (Riley song sparrow; inexpectata is a common lapsus). Doubtfully distinct; intermediate between morphna and montana in appearance also and may be hybrid birds.
Melospiza melodia cleonensis McGregor, 1899. SW Oregon west of Cascade Mountains south to NW California. Brownish-buffish, notably on the flanks; no gray on back; underside with somewhat diffuse chestnut streaks.


The California towhee (Melozone crissalis) is a bird of the family Passerellidae, native to the coastal regions of western Oregon and California in the United States and Baja California Sur in Mexico.
The taxonomy of this species has been debated. At the higher level, some authors place the towhees in the family Fringillidae. Within the group, there has been debate about whether the distinction between this species and the similar canyon towhee (Melozone fuscus) should be at the specific or subspecific level. The two species used to be grouped together as the brown towhee, yet today they are identified separately, especially because of their differing feather coloration, and the canyon towhee's dark central breast spot. The two populations are quite isolated from each other, and molecular genetics seems to have settled the matter in favour of two distinct species for the present. On the other hand, there seems to be little distinction between the northern and Baja Californian populations within M. crissalis.  Nowadays, scientists consider the Abert's towhee as the California Towhee's closest relative due to closely aligned dna and patterns.


Mentha canadensis was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. It has been described since under a large number of synonyms, including as varieties or subspecies of M. arvensis, some of which, such as M. arvensis var. sachalinensis Briq., were subsequently raised to the status of a full species. Thus the Flora of China, in a volume published in 1994, lists M. canadensis and M. sachalinensis as separate species, distinguishing them on the basis of features such as degree of branching, hairiness and leaf shape. More recent sources treat M. canadensis as a single variable species with many synonyms and a wide distribution in North America and eastern temperate and tropical Asia.
Mentha canadensis is an amphidiploid with 2n = 96 chromosomes. It is believed to be derived from ancient hybridization between M. arvensis (2n = 72) and M. longifolia (2n = 24).


Mentha canadensis has been found as a native species of mint around the world. Below is a detailed list of countries and states in which Mentha canadensis is considered to be native.
Asia (both temperate and tropical)
East Asia: China; Japan( Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu and Shikoku); Korea
Russian Far East: Russian Federation (Kurile Islands, Khabarovsk, Primorye, Amur and Sakhalin)
Siberia: Russian Federation (Buryatia, Tuva, Yakutia-Sakha, Krasnoyarsk, Chita and Irkutsk)
Indian Subcontinent: India; Nepal; Sri Lanka
Indo-China: Cambodia; Laos; Myanmar; Thailand; Vietnam
Malesia: Indonesia; Malaysia; Philippines
Northern America
Eastern Canada: Canada (Quebec, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Newfoundland)
North-Central U.S.: United States (Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsin)
Northeastern U.S.: United States (Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and West Virginia)
Northwestern U.S.: United States (Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming)
South-Central U.S.: United States (New Mexico and Texas)
Southeastern U.S.: United States (Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia)
Southwestern U.S.: United States (Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah)
Subarctic America: Canada (Northwest Territory and Yukon); United States (Alaska)
Western Canada: Canada (Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba and British Columbia)


Spearmint, also known as garden mint, common mint, lamb mint and mackerel mint, is a species of mint, Mentha spicata, native to Europe and southern temperate Asia, extending from France in the west to southern China in the east. It is naturalized in many other temperate parts of the world, including northern and southern Africa, North America and South America. It is used as a flavouring in food and herbal teas. The aromatic oil, called oil of spearmint, is also used as a flavoring and sometimes as a scent.
The species and its subspecies have many synonyms, including Mentha crispa, Mentha crispata and Mentha viridis.


The plant is a allopolyploid species (2n = 48), which could be a result of hybridization and chromosome doubling. Mentha longifolia and Mentha suaveolens (2n = 24) are likely to be the contributing diploid species.
Mentha spicata hybridizes with other Mentha species, forming hybrids such as:
Mentha × piperita (hybrid with Mentha aquatica), black peppermint, hairy peppermint
Mentha × gracilis (hybrid with Mentha arvensis), Scotch spearmint
Mentha × villosa (hybrid with Mentha suaveolens)
There are other cultivars:
Mentha spicata 'strawberry' - with a distinct strawberry odor.


Spearmint is used for its aromatic oil, called oil of spearmint. The most abundant compound in spearmint oil is R-(–)-carvone, which gives spearmint its distinctive smell. Spearmint oil also contains significant amounts of limonene, dihydrocarvone, and 1,8-cineol. Unlike oil of peppermint, oil of spearmint contains minimal amounts of menthol and menthone. It is used as a flavouring for toothpaste and confectionery, and is sometimes added to shampoos and soaps.


The hooded skunk ranges from the Southwestern United States to Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northwest Costa Rica. It is more abundant in Mexico. These skunks are found to be more than 50% smaller in size in southern Mexico than in the Southwestern United States. It is found in grasslands, deserts, and in the foothills of mountains, avoiding high elevations. It tends to live near a water source, such as a river. The females tend to be 15% smaller in size than the males  and their breeding season is between February and March. The litter size ranges from three to eight.


Hard clams are quite common throughout New England, north into Canada, and all down the Eastern seaboard of the United States to Florida; but they are particularly abundant between Cape Cod and New Jersey, where seeding and harvesting them is an important commercial form of aquaculture. For example, the species is an important member of the suspension-feeding, benthic fauna of the lower Chesapeake Bay.
Rhode Island is situated right in the middle of "quahog country" and has supplied a quarter of the U.S.'s total annual commercial quahog catch. The quahog is the official shellfish of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The species has also been introduced and is farmed on the Pacific coast of North America and in Great Britain and continental Europe. It reproduces sexually by females and males shedding gametes into the water.


The common merganser (North American) or goosander (Eurasian) (Mergus merganser) is a large seaduck of rivers and lakes in forested areas of Europe, Asia, and North America. The common merganser eats mainly fish.  It nests in holes in trees.


This species, like other bee-eaters, is a richly coloured, slender bird. It has brown and yellow upper parts, whilst the wings are green and the beak is black. It can reach a length of 27–29 cm (10.6–11.4 in), including the two elongated central tail feathers. Sexes are alike. Female tends to have greener rather than gold feathers on shoulders. Non-breeding plumage is much duller and with a blue-green back and no elongated central tail feathers. Juvenile resembles a non-breeding adult, but with less variation in the feather colours. Adults begin to moult in June or July and complete the process by August or September. There is a further moult into breeding plumage in winter in Africa.


The blue-cheeked bee-eater (Merops persicus) is a near passerine bird in the bee-eater family, Meropidae. The genus name Merops is Ancient Greek for "bee-eater", and persicus is Latin for "Persian".
It breeds in Northern Africa, and the Middle East from eastern Turkey to Kazakhstan and India. It is generally strongly migratory, wintering in tropical Africa, although some populations breed and live year-round in the Sahel.  This species occurs as a rare vagrant north of its breeding range, with most vagrants occurring in Italy and Greece.


Two subspecies are recognized:
Merops persicus persicus - Breeds in Asia, winters in East and Southern Africa.
Merops persicus chrysocercus - Breeds in North Africa, winters in West Africa.
This species is closely related to blue-tailed bee-eater, M. philippinus of East Asia, and the olive bee-eater of Africa, and has been treated as being the same species (conspecific).


Mertensia paniculata thrives in moist wooded or meadow areas. It is a shade-tolerant species and is present in early and late-seral communities. While it is most common in mid-succession, it has been spotted in areas in Alaska and Canada after events such as fire or logging, as an early successional community. The northern bluebell seems to have the ability to grow once more after said events due to sprouting from buried rhizomes or from vegetative parts from the surface. It can also flourish under soil that is mesic, has a low temperature, and has limited nutrient availability. It is a perennial that, according to studies in the Yukon region, is a dominant species with precipitation of 230 mm annually, with an average temperature of −3° Celsius. The months in which the flowers bloom depend on the area in which it originates, but mainly the flowering dates range from May to September.


This common species is widespread in most of Europe, in the Near East, in the eastern Palearctic realm (Russia, Mongolia, China), and in North Africa.


Mesembrina meridiana can reach a length of 9–13 millimetres (0.35–0.51 in). These medium large flies have a stout body. Thorax and abdomen are shiny black, covered with uniform black hair. Numerous bristles are present on the edge of the scutellum. Occiput has no yellow hairiness. Eyes are bare and the cheeks under the eyes are covered with fine yellow short hairs. Orbits are separated by a wide black space. Antennae and palps are black, but arista is yellow. An orange colouration is present on the base of the wings, on the feet and the face.
This species can be easily confused with Mesembrina resplendens and Mesembrina intermedia.


The green ibis (Mesembrinibis cayennensis), also known as the Cayenne ibis, is a wading bird in the ibis family Threskiornithidae. It is the only member of the genus Mesembrinibis.
This is a resident breeder from Honduras through Nicaragua, Costa Rica and western Panama, and South America to northern Argentina. It undertakes some local seasonal movements in the dry season.


Because of its huge range and large population, the green ibis is rated as a species of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature; however, its numbers do appear to be decreasing. It is at least occasionally hunted (and eaten) by residents of Central and South American countries.
The crested caracara is known to prey on green ibis, with a pair observed chasing and attacking one in flight, driving it to the ground. They killed it by pecking it repeatedly on the head. The green ibis is the type host of a species of bird louse, Plegadiphalus cayennensis.


The red sea urchin (Mesocentrotus franciscanus) is a sea urchin found in the northeastern Pacific Ocean from Alaska to Baja California. It lives in shallow waters from the low-tide line to greater than 280 m (920 ft) deep, and is typically found on rocky shores sheltered from extreme wave action in areas where kelp is available.


Sea urchins are often found living in clumps from five to ten. They have the ability to regenerate lost spines. Lifespan often exceeds 30 years, and scientists have found some specimens to be over 200 years old. Red sea urchins are notoriously ravenous kelp-eaters and are implicated in devastating kelp beds by forming grazing fronts. The intense grazing pressure exerted by urchins is an important link in a trophic cascade often observed along the west coast of North America in which sea otter predation influences urchin abundance, which in turn influences kelp devastation. In contrast to their negatively perceived impact on community structure in open coastal kelp beds, the sedentary behavior and capture of detrital seaweed in the San Juan Islands is hypothesized to create an important habitat and energy source below the photic zone. These diverse ecosystem effects of red urchins highlight their importance as ecosystem engineers in temperate rocky reef ecosystems.
Spawning peaks between June and September. Eggs are fertilized externally while they float in the ocean, and planktonic larvae remain in the water column for about a month before settling on the bottom of the sea floor, where they undergo metamorphosis into juvenile urchins. These juveniles use chemical cues to locate adults. Although juveniles are found almost exclusively under aggregated adults, the adults and juveniles are not directly related.


The Dungeness crab is considered a delicacy in the United States and Canada.  Long before the area was settled by Europeans, Indigenous peoples throughout the crustacean's range had the crab as a traditional part of their diet and harvested them every year at low tide. The flesh has what is considered to be a delicate flavour and slightly sweet taste. Today they are an integral part of the cuisines of California, British Columbia, and the Pacific Northwest and traditionally feature in dishes like Crab Louie  or Cioppino.
About one-quarter of the crab's weight is meat. Dungeness crabs can typically be purchased either live or cooked. Live crabs are cooked simply by dropping them into boiling salt water, waiting for a boil to return, and then allowing it to continue for 15 minutes, after which time the crabs are removed and placed into cold water to cool, and then cleaned. Another method of preparing crab is called half backing. Half backing is done by flipping the crab upside down and chopping it in half (from head to "tail"), after which the guts and gills can be scooped or hosed out. Many consider half backing to be superior to cooking the entire crab, because the meat is not contaminated by the flavor or toxins of the guts. Furthermore, half backed crabs boil faster or can be quickly steamed instead of boiled. Two common tools for removing crab meat from the shell are a crab cracker and a shrimp fork. Sometimes, a cleaver, mallet, or small hammer is used for cracking Dungeness crab, but the use of these devices is not recommended, as the integrity of the meat may be compromised due to the impact.


Micrathena gracilis is native to North and Central America. These spiders tend to wander and rarely ever remain in the same web site for more than week. On average, they spend about 6–7 days on each web site. They are neotropical forest spiders and can be found more easily in hardwood forests that contain Oak and Hickory trees. They tend to like moisture; they are more easily found in woodland forests that are near a lagoon, pond, or other small bodies of water. One study mentioned that these spiders were found in an area that tends to flood during their mating season. M. gracilis may also coexist within and along the edges of colonies of Metepeira incrassata, also known as the colonial orb-weaving spider.


The stripey is found in the Pacific Ocean where it has a disjunct distribution with a northern and a southern population. The northern population is found from Japan and Taiwan to Hawaii and the southern population is found along the east and west coasts of Australia, around Lord Howe Island and off New Caledonia. The Australian distribution runs from central Queensland to southern New South Wales, although it may extend as far as eastern Victoria and the north east of Tasmania, and from Cape Leeuwin to the Exmouth Gulf in Western Australia.


The little pied cormorant, little shag or kawaupaka (Microcarbo melanoleucos) is a common Australasian waterbird, found around the coasts, islands, estuaries, and inland waters of Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Thailand, Myanmar, Singapore, Brunei, Timor Leste, and Indonesia, and around the islands of the south-western Pacific and the subantarctic. It is a small short-billed cormorant usually black above and white below with a yellow bill and small crest, although a mostly black white-throated form predominates in New Zealand. Three subspecies are recognised. Until recently most authorities referred to this species as Phalacrocorax melanoleucos.


The species ranges across New Zealand, from Stewart Island to Northland, and across mainland Australia (although not in the arid interior of the west of the country) and Tasmania and Indonesia. Widespread and common, it lives near bodies of water such as swamps, lakes, lagoons, estuaries and the coastline.


The little cormorant is found across India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and lowland Nepal. It is also found in parts of Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Indonesia. It is not found in the Himalayas, but vagrants have been seen in Ladakh. It inhabits wetlands, ranging from small village ponds to large lakes, and sometimes tidal estuaries.


The pygmy cormorant occupies an area from the south-east of Europe (east of Italy) and the south-west of temperate Asia, east to Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The largest distribution is in south-east Europe, Albania, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, the Balkan countries, Turkey, Cyprus, Iran, Iraq (namely the Tigris–Euphrates river system), Azerbaijan, Israel, Syria.
In Romania, according to studies of Czech ornithologist Robert Ritter von Dombrowski, at the end of the 19th century, the pygmy cormorant was present in large colonies in the Danube Delta, Brăila and Ialomița Pond, on Vederoasa Lake (Constanța County), on certain pools and ponds with reeds and willows in Muntenia. The number of pygmy cormorant pairs was 10,000 without taking in account the breeding population of the Danube Delta. Populations of pygmy cormorant in Romania have dramatically declined, especially in 1960 when, due to the communist agricultural policies, the Great Brăila Island and important parts of Ialomiţa Pond were drained in order to practice agriculture, so the habitats of a great number of aquatic birds were destroyed. The pygmy cormorant can be found in the Danube Delta, Jijia Largă Pond (Iași County), probably on Mața, Rădeanu, Vădeni Ponds (in Galați County), Cârja Pond (Vaslui County), at Vlădești on Prut River (Galați County), on Calinovăț Island from Caraș-Severin County, on Small Brăila Island, on Dunăreni Pond (Mârleanu, Constanța County), in Danubian Plain on Parches Pond-Somova (Tulcea County).
At global scale, it was estimated that the entire population of pygmy cormorants is 85,000-180,000 individuals (a study effectuated by Wetlands International in 2006) and 74-94% of total population lives in Europe. The biggest colony is in the Danube Delta, numbering 4,000 pairs, but this seems certain to plunge due to a massive canalization scheme, which despite the protected status of the delta, commenced in May 2004. According to a study made by BirdLife International in 2004, it was estimated that population of pygmy cormorant in Romania was 11,500-14,000 pairs and during the winter 1,500-4,000 pairs.


Microcrambus biguttellus, the gold-stripe grass-veneer, is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by William Trowbridge Merrifield Forbes in 1920. It is found in North America, where it has been recorded from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Manitoba, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Brunswick, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Nova Scotia, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Quebec, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin. It has also been recorded from Cuba and Puerto Rico.
The length of the forewings is about 8 mm. The forewings are white with angled lines near the costa. There are black dots along the inner margin of the median line. Adults are on wing between May and September in most of the range, but year round in Florida.
The larvae feed on grasses.


The species is found widely across Australia, and is likely the most common species found in both Australia and New Zealand. The species has been established in New Zealand since at least 1869, and has been identified in remote areas of the country, including the Chatham Islands, Auckland Islands, Antipodes Islands and  Kermadec Islands. It has been seen feeding on aphids (especially spruce aphids), and has been found on alfalfa. During the daytime, adults and larvae hide (larvae hiding at the bases of plants in the daytime). The oval-shaped white eggs of the species are often laid on plant hairs and spider webs, close to the species the adults are preying upon.
The species is associated with a wide range of plants and ranges, compared to Micromus bifasciatus, which is typically associated with Podocarpus trees.


NatureServe (2013). "Micropterus dolomieu". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2013: e.T202564A18230216. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T202564A18230216.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2019). "Micropterus dolomieu" in FishBase. December 2019 version.
"Micropterus dolomieu, Smallmouth bass : Fisheries, gamefish, aquarium".
"Micropterus dolomieu, Smallmouth bass : Fisheries, gamefish, aquarium".
"Micropterus dolomieu, Smallmouth bass : Fisheries, gamefish, aquarium".
Vitek, J. (2015, June 18). 10 biggest Smallmouth bass world records of all time. Game & Fish. https://www.gameandfishmag.com/editorial/10-largest-smallmouth-bass-world-records/190547
Wiegmann, D. D., Baylis, J. R., & Hoff, M. H. (1997, January 01). MALE FITNESS, BODY SIZE AND TIMING OF REPRODUCTION IN SMALLMOUTH BASS, MICROPTERUS DOLOMIEUI. Retrieved from https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1890/0012-9658(1997)078[0111:MFBSAT]2.0.CO;2?saml_referrer
Wiegmann, D. D., Baylis, J. R., & Hoff, M. H. (1997, January 01). MALE FITNESS, BODY SIZE AND TIMING OF REPRODUCTION IN SMALLMOUTH BASS, MICROPTERUS DOLOMIEUI. Retrieved from https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1890/0012-9658(1997)078[0111:MFBSAT]2.0.CO;2?saml_referrer
"Micropterus dolomieu, Smallmouth bass : Fisheries, gamefish, aquarium".
Schlosser, Isaac J. “The Role of Predation in Age‐ and Size‐Related Habitat Use by Stream Fishes.” The Ecological Society of America, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 1 June 1987, esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.2307/1938470.
Schlosser, Isaac J. “The Role of Predation in Age‐ and Size‐Related Habitat Use by Stream Fishes.” The Ecological Society of America, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 1 June 1987, esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.2307/1938470.
Schlosser, Isaac J. “The Role of Predation in Age‐ and Size‐Related Habitat Use by Stream Fishes.” The Ecological Society of America, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 1 June 1987, esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.2307/1938470.
University of Missouri-Columbia. (2020, October 19). Management of a popular game fish, the smallmouth bass. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 26, 2021 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201019155920.htm
University of Missouri-Columbia. (2020, October 19). Management of a popular game fish, the smallmouth bass. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 26, 2021 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201019155920.htm
Hanke, Gavin. "Smallmouth Bass." Aliens Among Us. Web. 31 Oct. 2014.
Animal Diversity Web 2008. Micropterus dolomieu: Information. < URL: http://animaldiversity.ummz.
               mich.edu/site/accounts/information/Micropterus_dolomieu.html>.  Accessed 23 April 2021
"Micropterus dolomieu (Bass)".
Paulson, Niclole; Hatch, Jay (October 23, 2002). "Smallmouth Bass". University of Minnesota. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
"Micropterus dolomieu (Bass)".
"Micropterus dolomieu (Bass)".
"Bass biology and identification" see section entitled, "Smallmouth Bass", Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-08-11. Retrieved 2014-07-29.
Ridgway, M., Goff, G., & Miles H. A. Keenleyside. (1989). Courtship and Spawning Behavior in Smallmouth Bass (Micropterus dolomieui). The American Midland Naturalist, 122(2), 209-213. doi:10.2307/2425905
Ridgway, M., Goff, G., & Miles H. A. Keenleyside. (1989). Courtship and Spawning Behavior in Smallmouth Bass (Micropterus dolomieui). The American Midland Naturalist, 122(2), 209-213. doi:10.2307/2425905
Ryan, Will, Smallmouth Strategies for the Fly Rod, Lyons & Burford Publishers (1996)
Waterman, Charles F., Black Bass & the Fly Rod, Stackpole Books (1993)
Waterman, Charles F., Black Bass & the Fly Rod, Stackpole Books (1993).
Murray, Harry, Fly Fishing for Smallmouth Bass, Lyons Press, 1989
Kreh, Lefty, Fly Fishing for Bass, Lyons Press, 2004
Retrieved 2013 - Bass Fishing Information - Smallmouth and Largemouth Specific
Henshall, James (Dr.), Book of the Black Bass (1881)
Arizona Game & Fish Department, Smallmouth Bass Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine
"60 years ago today: World-record smallmouth caught". Bassmaster. 9 July 2015.
IGFA Smallmouth Bass All-Tack World Record - bass, smallmouth (Micropterus dolomieu)


The largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae (sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, but widely introduced elsewhere. It is known by a variety of regional names, such as the widemouth bass, bigmouth bass, black bass, bucketmouth, largies, Potter's fish, Florida bass, Florida largemouth, green bass, bucketmouth bass, Green trout, gilsdorf bass, Oswego bass, LMB, and southern largemouth and northern largemouth. The largemouth bass is the state fish of Georgia and Mississippi, and the state freshwater fish of Florida and Alabama.


Largemouth bass usually reach sexual maturity and begin spawning when they are about a year old. Spawning takes place in the spring season when the water temperature first remains continuously above 60 °F (16 °C) for a sufficient period of time. In the northern region of the United States and Canada, this usually occurs anywhere from late April until early July. In the southern states, where the largest and healthiest specimens typically inhabit, this process can begin in March and is usually over by June. Males form nests by moving debris from the bottom of the body of water using their tails. These nests are usually about twice the length of the males, although this can vary. Bass prefer sand, muck, or gravel bottoms, but will also use rocky and weedy bottoms where there is cover for their nest, such as roots or twigs. After finishing the nest, the males swim near the nest looking for a female to mate with. After one is found, the two bass swim around the nest together, turning their bodies so that the eggs and sperm that are being released will come in contact on the way down to the nest. Bass will usually spawn twice per spring, with some spawning three or four times, although this is not as common. The male will then guard the nest until the eggs hatch, which can take about two to four days in the southern US and Northern Mexico, and slightly longer in the northern part of its native range. Finally, depending on the water temperature, the male will stay with the nest until the infant bass are ready to swim out on their own, which can be about two more weeks after they hatch. After this, the male, female, and newborns will switch to more of a summer mode, in which they then focus more on feeding.


Dendroconche scandens, synonym Microsorum scandens, commonly called fragrant fern, is a species of fern within the family Polypodiaceae. This species is native to parts of New Zealand and Australia, as well as some offshore islands (Chatham Island, Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island). It has been introduced to South Africa and Zimbabwe. An example occurrence in New Zealand's North Island is in the Hamilton Ecological District where it is associated with a number of other ferns including Icarus filiforme and Lomaria discolor.


It is native in much of South Asia, East Asia, and parts of Southeast Asia, and has since moved to the United States.
In 2020 it was found in Wisconsin.


Microtheoris ophionalis, the yellow-veined moth, is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by Francis Walker in 1859. It is found from southern Canada, through the United States and Mexico to South America.
The length of the forewings 5.5–7 mm. The wing colour varies from dark ochreous brown, rust brown with a well-defined subterminal line, to pale tan with brown subterminal lines. Adults are on wing from May to October in the northern part of the range.


Microtis unifolia occurs in a wide range of habitats from swamps to rocky outcrops in semi-arid areas. It is common in disturbed areas such as pine plantations, and in New Zealand it grows in lawns in urban areas and even in mossy crevices in old buildings. It is a variable species and similarities with other Microtis species leads to confusion as to its range but it is recognised as occurring in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Victoria as well as on both main islands and many of the smaller islands of New Zealand. Its range also extends to New Caledonia, Polynesia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Japan and China.


M. tener ranges from the southern United States south to northeastern and central Mexico. It inhabits the states of Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas, and the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, Guanajuato, Querétaro and Morelos.


Other nonvenomous snakes resemble the Texas coral snake as a form of Batesian mimicry. In the United States only, all three species of venomous coral snakes (Micruroides euryxanthus, Micrurus fulvius, and Micrurus tener) can be identified by the red rings contacting the yellow rings. A common mnemonic device is "red and yellow, kill a fellow. Red on black, friend of Jack".


It can be found in the northern United States and Canada, and Europe, including Britain but excluding the Mediterranean, east to Siberia and the Himalayas.


This is a bird of savanna, swamps and forest edges. Resident from Costa Rica south through Trinidad and Tobago to northern Argentina (the provinces of Misiones, Chaco, Formosa, Corrientes and Santa Fe), it is typically found from sea level to 1,800 m (5,900 ft), and occasionally to 2,600 m (8,500 ft) above mean sea level. In southern South America, it is replaced by a close relative, the chimango caracara, whose range overlaps with that of the yellow-headed caracara in southern Brazil, northern Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. A larger and stouter paleosubspecies, Milvago chimachima readei, occurred in Florida and possibly elsewhere some tens of thousand years ago, during the Late Pleistocene. According to the Peregrine Fund database, the yellow-headed caracara is expanding its range into Nicaragua.


The chimango caracara (Phalcoboenus chimango) is a species of bird of prey in the family Falconidae. It is found in Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay and south of Brazil. The chimango is found as far south as Tierra del Fuego and is a vagrant to the Islas Malvinas also known as Falkland Islands.


Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, high-altitude shrubland, temperate grassland, Patagonian steppe, and heavily degraded former forest. This bird is typically found at edges of water and near towns and fields, the latter especially if they are newly ploughed. It is the most common raptor in the Argentinean Patagonia and Chile.


The black kite (Milvus migrans) is a medium-sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors. It is thought to be the world's most abundant species of Accipitridae, although some populations have experienced dramatic declines or fluctuations. Current global population estimates run up to 6 million individuals.
Unlike others of the group, black kites are opportunistic hunters and are more likely to scavenge. They spend much time soaring and gliding in thermals in search of food. Their angled wing and distinctive forked tail make them easy to identify. They are also vociferous with a shrill whinnying call.
The black kite is widely distributed through the temperate and tropical parts of Eurasia and parts of Australasia and Oceania, with the temperate region populations tending to be migratory. Several subspecies are recognized and formerly had their own English names. The European populations are small, but the South Asian population is very large.


The breeding season of the black kite in India begins in winter (mainly January and February), the young birds fledging before the monsoons. The nest is a rough platform of twigs and sticks placed in a tree. Nest sites may be reused in subsequent years. European birds breed in summer. Birds in the Italian Alps tended to build their nest close to water in steep cliffs or tall trees. Nest orientation may be related to wind and rainfall. The nests may sometimes be decorated with bright materials such as white plastic and a study in Spain suggests that they may have a role in signalling to keep away other kites.

After pairing, the male frequently copulates with the female. Unguarded females may be approached by other males, and extra pair copulations are frequent. Males returning from a foraging trip will frequently copulate on return, as this increases the chances of his sperm fertilizing the eggs rather than a different male. Both the male and female take part in nest building, incubation and care of chicks.
The typical clutch size is 2 or sometimes 3 eggs. The incubation period varies from 30 to 34 days. Chicks of the Indian population stay at the nest for nearly two months. Chicks hatched later in European populations appear to fledge faster. The care of young by the parents also rapidly decreased with the need for adults to migrate. Siblings show aggression to each other and often the weaker chick may be killed, but parent birds were found to preferentially feed the smaller chicks in experimentally altered nests.
Newly hatched young have down (prepennae) which are sepia on the back and black around the eye and buff on the head, neck and underparts. This is replaced by brownish-gray second down (preplumulae). After 9–12 days, the second down appears on the whole body except the top of the head. Body feathers begin to appear after 18 to 22 days. The feathers on the head become noticeable from the 24th to 29th day. The nestlings initially feed on food fallen at the bottom of the nest and begin to tear flesh after 33–39 days. They are able to stand on their legs after 17–19 days and begin flapping their wings after 27–31 days. After 50 days, they begin to move to branches next to the nest. Birds are able to breed after their second year. Parent birds guard their nest and will dive aggressively at intruders. Humans who intrude the nest appear to be recognized by birds and singled out for dive attacks.


The red kite (Milvus milvus) is a medium-large bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as eagles, buzzards, and harriers. The species currently breeds in the Western Palearctic region of Europe and northwest Africa, though it formerly also occurred in northern Iran. It is resident in the milder parts of its range in western Europe and northwest Africa, but birds from northeastern and Central Europe winter further south and west, reaching south to Turkey. Vagrants have reached north to Finland and south to Israel, Libya and Gambia.


The red kite was described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Falco milvus. The word milvus was the Latin name for the bird. In 1799 the French naturalist Bernard Germain de Lacépède moved the species to the genus Milvus creating the tautonym.
Two subspecies are recognised:
M. m. milvus (Linnaeus, 1758) – Europe and northwest Africa to the Middle East
M. m. fasciicauda Hartert, 1914 – Cape Verde Islands
The subspecies M. m. fasciicauda is almost certainly extinct.
The genus Milvus contains two other species: the black kite (M. migrans) and the yellow-billed kite (M. aegyptius). The red kite has been known to successfully hybridize with the black kite in captivity where both species were kept together, and in the wild on the Cape Verde Islands and infrequently in other places. The red kites on the Cape Verde Islands are (or rather were) quite distinct in morphology, being somewhat intermediate with black kites. The question whether the Cape Verde kite should be considered a distinct species (Milvus fasciicauda) or a red kite subspecies has not been settled. A mitochondrial DNA study on museum specimens suggested that Cape Verde birds did not form a monophyletic lineage among or next to red kites. This interpretation is problematic: mtDNA analysis is susceptible to hybridization events, the evolutionary history of the Cape Verde population is not known, and the genetic relationship of red kites is confusing, with geographical proximity being no indicator of genetic relatedness and the overall genetic similarity high, perhaps indicating a relict species. Given the morphological distinctness of the Cape Verde birds and that the Cape Verde population was isolated from other populations of red kites, it cannot be conclusively resolved as to whether the Cape Verde population was not a distinct subspecies (as M. migrans fasciicauda) or even species that frequently absorbed stragglers from the migrating European populations into its gene pool. The Cape Verde population became effectively extinct since 2000, all surviving birds being hybrids with black kites.
The English word "kite" is from the Old English cyta which is of unknown origin. A kite is mentioned by Geoffrey Chaucer's in his Knight's Tale. The early fifteenth century Hengwrt manuscript contains the lines: "Ther cam a kyte, whil þt they were so wrothe That bar awey the boon bitwix hem bothe." The first recorded use of the word "kite" for a toy that is attached to a length of string and flown in the air dates from the seventeenth century.


Red kites inhabit broadleaf woodlands, valleys and wetland edges, to 800 metres (2,600 ft). They are native to the western Palearctic, with the European population of 19,000–25,000 pairs encompassing 95% of its global breeding range. It breeds from Spain and Portugal east into central Europe and Ukraine, north to southern Sweden, Latvia and the UK, and south to southern Italy. There is a population in northern Morocco. Northern birds move south in winter, mostly staying in the west of the breeding range, but also to eastern Turkey, northern Tunisia and Algeria. The three largest populations (in Germany, France and Spain, which together hold more than 75% of the global population) declined between 1990 and 2000, and overall the species declined by almost 20% over the ten years. The main threats to red kites are poisoning, through illegal direct poisoning and indirect poisoning from pesticides, particularly in the wintering ranges in France and Spain, and changes in agricultural practices causing a reduction in food resources. Other threats include electrocution, hunting and trapping, deforestation, egg-collection (on a local scale) and possibly competition with the generally more successful black kite M. migrans.


German populations declined by 25%–30% between 1991 and 1997, but have remained stable since. The populations of the northern foothills of the Harz Mountains (the most densely populated part of its range) suffered an estimated 50% decline from 1991 to 2001. In Spain, the species showed an overall decline in breeding population of up to 43% for the period 1994 to 2001–02, and surveys of wintering birds in 2003–04 suggest a similarly large decline in core wintering areas. The Balearic Islands population has declined from 41 to 47 breeding pairs in 1993 to just 10 in 2003. In France, breeding populations have decreased in the northeast, but seem to be stable in southwest and central France and Corsica. Populations elsewhere are stable or undergoing increases. In Sweden, the species has increased from 30 to 50 pairs in the 1970s to 1,200 breeding pairs in 2003. In Switzerland, populations increased during the 1990s, and have stabilised. Red kites are decreasing in their strongholds of Spain, France and Germany, but are increasing in parts of northern Europe, such as Denmark, Sweden and the United Kingdom.


In the United Kingdom, red kites were ubiquitous scavengers that lived on carrion and rubbish. Shakespeare's King Lear describes his daughter Goneril as a detested kite, and he wrote "when the kite builds, look to your lesser linen" in reference to them stealing washing hung out to dry in the nesting season. In the mid-15th century, King James II of Scotland decreed that they should be "killed wherever possible", but they remained protected in England and Wales for the next 100 years as they kept the streets free of carrion and rotting food. Under Tudor "vermin laws" many creatures were seen as competitors for the produce of the countryside and bounties were paid by the parish for their carcasses.
By the 20th century, the breeding population was restricted to a handful of pairs in South Wales, but recently the Welsh population has been supplemented by re-introductions in England and Scotland. In 2004, from 375 occupied territories identified, at least 216 pairs were thought to have hatched eggs and 200 pairs reared at least 286 young. In 1989, six Swedish birds were released at a site in north Scotland and four Swedish and one Welsh bird in Buckinghamshire. Altogether, 93 birds of Swedish and Spanish origin were released at each of the sites. In the second stage of reintroduction in 1995 and 1996, further birds were brought from Germany to populate areas of Dumfries and Galloway. Between 2004 and 2006, 94 birds were brought from the Chilterns and introduced into the Derwent Valley in north East England. In Northern Ireland, 80 birds from wild stock in Wales were released between 2008 and 2010, and the first successful breeding was recorded in 2010. The reintroductions in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty have been a success. Between 1989 and 1993, 90 birds were released there and by 2002, 139 pairs were breeding. They can commonly be seen taking advantage of thermals from the M40 motorway. Another successful reintroduction has been in Northamptonshire, which has become a stronghold for the red kite. Thirty Spanish birds were introduced into Rockingham Forest near Corby in 2000, and by 2010, the RSPB estimated that over 200 chicks had been reared from the initial release. So successful has the reintroduction been that 30 chicks have been transported from Rockingham Forest for release in Cumbria. From the Chilterns they have spread as far east as Essex and can be seen over Harlow.  To the west they have recently (2021) spread along the M4 as far as the Cotswold Edge overlooking the Severn near Bristol.
A sighting of the first red kite in London for 150 years was reported in The Independent newspaper in January 2006 and in June of that year, the UK-based Northern Kites Project reported that kites had bred in the Derwent Valley in and around Rowlands Gill, Tyne and Wear for the first time since the re-introduction.
In 1999, the red kite was named 'Bird of the Century' by the British Trust for Ornithology. According to the Welsh Kite Trust, it has been voted "Wales's favourite bird".
In June 2010, the Forestry Commission North West England announced a three-year project to release 90 red kites in Grizedale Forest, Cumbria under a special licence issued by Natural England. The Grizedale programme was the ninth reintroduction of red kites into different regions of the UK and the final re-introduction phase in England.
The stated aims of the Grizedale project were:
To establish a viable population of red kites in Grizedale, South Cumbria by 2015.
To increase the rate of red kite expansion into North West England and link up with existing populations in Wales, Yorkshire, North East England and South West Scotland and so increase the chances of a continuous geographical range.
To develop community involvement and create educational opportunities arising from the project.
As of July 2011, non-breeding birds are regularly seen in all parts of Britain, and the number of breeding pairs is too large for the RSPB to continue to survey them on an annual basis.


Mimetes cucullatus and Mimetes fimbriifolius differ from all other pagoda species by the gullet-type flower head. It functions in the same way as Acanthus and many Scrophulariaceae and Lamiaceae flowers. The bracts at the side of the stem are smaller, those in sight from the side are enlarged, while the leaf that is subtending the flower head above forms a brightly coloured hood. When the flowers open, the styles grow longer, break free from the perianth, and are pressed in the overhead leaf.
M. fimbriifolius can easily be distinguished from M. cucullatus by its branching, tree-like habit, the fringe of white hairs along the edge of the leaves, and the longer leaves of 4–7 cm long in M. fimbriifolius. M. cucullatus is a shrub with not or shyly branching stems that individually emerge from the ground, and the shorter leaves of 2½–5½ cm long lack a fringe of hairs.


Mimosa pudica (from Latin: pudica "shy, bashful or shrinking"; also called sensitive plant, sleepy plant, action plant, touch-me-not, shameplant) is a creeping annual or perennial flowering plant of the pea/legume family Fabaceae. It is often grown for its curiosity value: the compound leaves fold inward and droop when touched or shaken, defending themselves from harm, and re-open a few minutes later. In the UK it has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
The species is native to the Caribbean and South and Central America, but is now a pantropical weed, and can now be found in the Southern United States, South Asia, East Asia, Micronesia, Australia, South Africa, and West Africa as well. It is not shade-tolerant and is primarily found on soils with low nutrient concentrations.
Mimosa pudica is well known for its rapid plant movement. Like a number of other plant species, it undergoes changes in leaf orientation termed "sleep" or nyctinastic movement. The foliage closes during darkness and reopens in light. This was first studied by French scientist Jean-Jacques d'Ortous de Mairan. Due to Mimosa's unique response to touch, it became an ideal plant for many experiments regarding plant habituation and memory.


Mimosa pudica is native to the tropical Americas. It can also be found in Asian countries such as Singapore, Bangladesh, Thailand, India, Nepal, Indonesia, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Japan, and Sri Lanka. It has been introduced to many other regions and is regarded as an invasive species in Tanzania, South and Southeast Asia, and many Pacific islands. It is regarded as invasive in parts of Australia and is a declared weed in the Northern Territory, and Western Australia although not naturalized there. Control is recommended in Queensland.
It has also been introduced to Uganda, Ghana, Nigeria, Seychelles, Mauritius and East Asia but is not regarded as invasive in those places. In the United States, it grows in Louisiana, Florida, Hawaii, Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, Puerto Rico, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, Georgia, the territory of Guam, and the Virgin Islands.


Mimosa quadrivalvis, known as fourvalve mimosa, sensitive briar and cat's claw, is a trailing vine native to North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. It is known as sensitive briar because the leaves fold when they are touched or disturbed.


The long-tailed mockingbird (Mimus longicaudatus) is a species of bird in the family Mimidae. It is found in Ecuador and Peru.


Northern mockingbirds are famous for their song repertoires. Studies have shown that males sing songs at the beginning of breeding season to attract females. Unmated males sing songs in more directions and sing more bouts than mated males. In addition, unmated males perform more flight displays than mated males. The mockingbirds usually nest several times during one breeding season. Depending on the stage of breeding and the mating status, a male mockingbird will vary his song production. The unmated male keeps close track of this change. He sings in one direction when he perceives a chance to lure a female from the nest of the mated male. Unmated males are also more likely to use elevated perches to make their songs audible farther away. Though the mockingbirds are socially monogamous, mated males have been known to sing to attract additional mates.
An observational study by Logan demonstrates that the female is continuously evaluating the quality of the male and his territory. The assessment is usually triggered by the arrival of a new male in a neighboring territory at the beginning of a new breeding season. In those cases, the mated female is constantly seen flying over both the original and the new male's territory, evaluating the qualities of both territories and exchanging calls with both males. The social mate displays aggressive behaviors towards the female, while the new male shows less aggression and sings softer songs. At the same time, both the mated male and the new male will fly over other territories to attract other females as well. Divorce, mate switching and extra-pair matings do occur in northern mockingbirds.


The chalk-browed mockingbird (Mimus saturninus) is a bird in the family mimidae. It is found in Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay, Suriname, and Uruguay.


The world population was estimated at 650,000 animals in the mid-1990s, and was estimated in 2005 at between 664,000 and 740,000 animals.
Studies have shown the existence of three geographic subpopulations, one in each of the three oceans.
Tracking studies have indicated the routes traveled by elephant seals, demonstrating their main feeding area is at the edge of the Antarctic continent. While elephant seals may come ashore in Antarctica occasionally to rest or to mate, they gather to breed in subantarctic locations.
The largest subpopulation is in the South Atlantic, with more than 400,000 individuals, including about 113,000 breeding females on South Georgia;
the other breeding colonies of the Atlantic subpopulation are located on the Falkland Islands and Valdes Peninsula in Argentina (the only continental breeding population).
The second subpopulation, in the south Indian Ocean, consists of up to 200,000 individuals, three-quarters of which breed in the Kerguelen Islands and the rest in the Crozet Islands, Marion and Prince Edward Islands, and Heard Island. Some individuals also breed on Amsterdam Island.
The third subpopulation of about 75,000 seals is found in the subantarctic islands of the Pacific Ocean south of Tasmania and New Zealand, mainly Macquarie Island.
Colonies once existed in Tasmania, Saint Helena, and the Juan Fernández Islands off the coast of Chile. Some individuals at the time of moulting have been found in South Africa, Australia or Uruguay. Lost animals have also been reported from time to time on the shores of Mauritius, with two reports from the Río Guayas estuary area in Ecuador and a beach in Lima, Peru. Reality of the creature so called Manatee of Helena had been pointed out as possible misidentification of elephant seals historically present on Saint Helena.
After the end of large-scale seal hunting in the 19th century, the southern elephant seal recovered to a sizable population in the 1950s; since then, an unexplained decline in the subpopulations of the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean has occurred. The population now seems to be stable; the reasons for the fluctuation are unknown. Suggested explanations include a phenomenon of depression following a rapid demographic rebound that depletes vital resources, a change in climate, competition with other species whose numbers also varied, or even an adverse influence of scientific monitoring techniques.


The black-and-white warbler (Mniotilta varia) is a species of New World warbler, and the only member of its genus, Mniotilta.
It breeds in northern and eastern North America and winters in Florida, Central America, and the West Indies down to Peru. This species is a very rare vagrant to western Europe.
Relative to other New World warblers, it is not well studied.


The bronzed cowbird (once known as the red-eyed cowbird, Molothrus aeneus) is a small icterid.
They breed from the U.S. states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana south through Central America to Panama. They tend to be found in farmland, brush, and feedlots. Outside the breeding season, they are found in very open habitats, and roost in thick woods. These birds forage in open areas, often near cattle in pastures. Their diet mostly consists of seeds and insects, along with snails during breeding season for a calcium source.
There are three subspecies:
M. a. loyei  Parkes & Blake, 1965 is found in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico.
M. a. assimilis  (Nelson, 1900) is found in southwestern Mexico.
M. a. aeneus  (Wagler, 1829), the nominate subspecies, is found in South Texas and from eastern Mexico to central Panama
The bronze-brown cowbird, which is restricted to the Caribbean coast of Colombia, was formerly considered to be an isolated population of this species.
The male bronzed cowbird is 20 cm (7.9 in) long and weighs 68 g (2.4 oz), with green-bronze, gloss-black plumage. His eyes are red in breeding season and brown otherwise. The female is 18.5 cm (7.3 in) long and weighs 56 g (2.0 oz). She is a dull black with a brown underbelly, and has brown eyes. Young birds have coloring similar to the females, with the exception of grey feather fringes.
Like all cowbirds, this bird is an obligate brood parasite; it lays its eggs in the nests of other birds. The young cowbird is fed by the host parents at the expense of their own young. Hosts include Prevost's ground-sparrows and white-naped brush finches. They develop rapidly, leaving the nest after 10–12 days.


The brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater) is a small, obligate brood parasitic icterid native to temperate and subtropical North America. It is a permanent resident in the southern parts of its range; northern birds migrate to the southern United States and Mexico in winter, returning to their summer habitat around March or April.


The seeds of Abrus precatorius are much valued in native jewelry for their bright coloration. Most beans are black and red, reminiscent of a ladybug, though other colors exist. Jewelry-making with jequirity seeds is rumoured to be somewhat hazardous.  There are persistent reports that the workers who pierce the seeds in order to thread them can suffer poisoning or even death from a pinprick, but there seems to be little evidence. An online search found 265 scientific papers referring to Abrus precatorius, but not one of them dealt with occupational poisoning.
In Trinidad in the West Indies the brightly colored seeds are strung into bracelets and worn around the wrist or ankle to ward off jumbies or evil spirits and "mal-yeux"—the evil eye. The Tamils use Abrus seeds of different colors. The red variety with black eye is the most common, but there are black, white and green varieties as well.
In March 2012 a recall was issued for bracelets made using Jequirity Beans sold by the Eden Project and other outlets in the UK.


According to the 1898 King's American Dispensatory,
Abrus seeds are the agents by which the Chamàr or "Native Skinner" caste of India carry on the felonious poisoning of cattle for the purpose of securing their hides. This is done by means of small spikes, called sui (needles) or sutari (awls), which are prepared by soaking the awl in a thin paste of the water-soaked, pounded seeds, and then drying the weapon in the sun, after which it is oiled and sharpened upon stone, affixed in a handle, and then used to puncture the skin of the animal.
An 1881 work by the District Superintendent of Police for British-occupied Bengal details the preparation and use of the sutari for the killing of cattle and in at least six murder cases. A native, promised a reduced sentence for the poisoning of a fellow villager's bullock in exchange for his testimony, demonstrated the technique. First the outer shells of red or white seeds were cracked between stones, then the two cotyledons from within thirty or forty seeds were soaked in water for ten minutes. These seeds were ground to a paste and rolled up into six sharp-ended one-inch cones, which were inserted into either end of three pieces of straw and "exposed to the moderate influence of the sun" to dry, whereupon they regained some of the original hardness of the seed. In this account, the sutaries were described as being these cones, entirely made up of the hardened seed paste. The dried cones were checked for sharpness, and if need be, whetted with a brick and re-set. Finally, to prevent softening, they were waterproofed by "burying them for a night in some sort of animal grease." For testing, which Major Ramsay asked to be done exactly like a surreptitious killing, the prisoner set two sutaries into a 1.5-inch wooden handle meant to be held in the hand by pressing them into a rag stretched over sockets in the wood. A wandering "Brahmanee bull" was procured, and the prisoner brought the sutari down in one direction and away in the other, so as to break off the cones inside the animal's flesh behind the horn, then pressed the skin over the broken ends leaving no obvious trace of the injury. This process was repeated with two more cones to the base of the animal's tongue. The bull died after 34.5 hours, leaving no visible trace of the sutaries but a small amount of pus at the wound site, whose swelling had mostly subsided by the time of death.
The 1890 Pharmacographia Indica gives an account, based in part on the above work, describing the sutaris or suis (the terms being equivalent, depending on district, with the former based on the object's resemblance to the point of a cobbler's awl). It describes the sutaris as 3/4 inch long and weighing 1.5 to 2 grains, varying in color from dirty white to black, and describes the handle as 3 to 3.5 inches long and frequently made from two joints of bamboo wood, with sockets 1/4 to 3/8 inch deep and with the cavity exposed at one end for storage of additional sutaris. The weapons were sometimes made with the milky juice of Calotropis gigantea instead of water, which was said to speed the effect, and were sometimes supplemented with metallic mercury, dhatura, aconite, and/or arsenic. It is added that "any attempt to withdraw the sutari by pulling at the pieces sticking out, invariably breaks it, a portion being left in the wound."  One man murdered by a single blow with a pair of sutaris died after three days; another, from whom the material had been successfully excised, died three days later of tetanus. The price of one of these killings was said to total 16.5 rupees; the killers were punished by transportation for life.


A variety of pharmacological effects have been observed in rodents, but have not been demonstrated clinically in humans, including:
An ethanolic extract of Abrus precatorius was found to have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and analgesic potential in rodents.
A methanolic extract of A. precatorius seeds causes reversible alterations in the estrous cycle pattern and completely blocked ovulation in Sprague-Dawley rats.
Studies on aqueous, methanolic and chloroform extracts of Abrus precatorius showed greater inhibitory activity against a number of disease-causing bacteria such as Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhimurium, and Escherichia coli.


The scissortail sergeant or striptailed damselfish (Abudefduf sexfasciatus) is a large damselfish. It earns its name from the black-striped tail and sides, which are reminiscent of the insignia of a military Sergeant, being similar to those of the sergeant major damselfish. It grows to a length of about 16 centimetres (6.3 in).
Scissortail sergeants live on coral reefs at depths of up to 15 metres (49 ft) in tropical reaches, often living in a group surrounding a single head of coral. They are found on reefs in the Indo-Pacific region, including the Red Sea.
The fish feed upon the larvae of invertebrates, zooplankton, smaller fishes, crustaceans, and various species of algae. They are preyed upon by some members of the Labridae and Serranidae families. They lay their eggs in patches on a firm substrate and guard them vigorously till they hatch.


Scissortail sergeants are found in the Indo-Pacific including the Red Sea. Areas scissortail sergeants can be found in around the Indian Ocean include the Red Sea, eastern Africa, Madagascar, Seychelles, the Persian Gulf, India, Sri Lanka, the Bay of Bengal, the Andaman Sea, Indonesia, and Australia. Pacific Ocean populations are found in the Great Barrier Reef around Australia, the Gulf of Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, and various Pacific islands all the way to Hawaii. Adults live in coral reefs while younger individuals live in the open sea. They are found at depths of 1 to 20 metres (3.3 to 65.6 ft).