title: "Gonepteryx rhamni" content: from many other species of flowers. Adult food plant availability is another factor that is important for habitat selection. The common brimstone is a univoltine organism, meaning that it lays one generation of eggs each year. There are several ideal characteristics of the particular host plants chosen for oviposition. Adult brimstones lay eggs on the underside of the leaves of the two species of host plants, where they are less conspicuous. The high mobility of "G. rhamni" enables the butterflies to find even the most isolated host plants in an area, which are more ideal for their offspring. Eggs are


title: "Gonepteryx rhamni" content: more likely to be deposited on outlying plants, leading to reduced vulnerability as fewer predators are attracted to these plants. Another factor is damage; undamaged plants indicate the absence of other eggs, as brimstone larvae leave holes in the leaves of the plants on which they feed. Since predators and parasites are attracted to damaged plants through chemical or visual signals, less damage leads to greater offspring survival since eggs are less likely to be detected. Plants exposed to both sunlight and the open lead to reduced chances of predation and parasitism as well, and are more accessible to adult


title: "Gonepteryx rhamni" content: butterflies. Larvae can also benefit from decreased host plant defenses; juvenile plants and plants with late bud-bursts produce fewer toxic defence chemicals, as resources are directed more towards plant growth. The common brimstone is one of the longest-living moths, with a life expectancy ranging from 10 months to a year. Due to its hibernation and life cycle, it has one generation per year. Development from the laid egg to the emergence of the imago is approximately 50 days. However, the adult brimstone spends a large portion of its life in an overwintering state. The brimstone is highly mobile, feeding and


title: "Gonepteryx rhamni" content: travelling to regions ideal for hibernation during the late summer and fall, and returning to regions ideal for mating and egg-laying during the spring. Adult common brimstones lay eggs singly on the underside of buckthorn leaves. The eggs are around 1.3 mm tall, and are spindle-shaped in appearance. The eggs change colour over time, initially having a greenish-white colouration, then progressively darker shades of yellow, and finally brown before hatching. The larvae of the common brimstone undergo five instars, initially having a length of 1.7 mm in the first instar and reaching up to 34.9 mm in length when fully


title: "Gonepteryx rhamni" content: grown. The caterpillars have a green colouration with white hairs and dark tubercules across its length. When they first hatch, they move to the top side of the leaves and eat them, leaving characteristic hole patterns in their host plants. During the day, they feed and then rest in the open, lying still on the midrib of leaves, where their colouration makes them difficult to distinguish. Pupation occurs over approximately two weeks. The pupae are 22.2-23.8 mm in length and have the appearance of a curled leaf, with pointed ends and bulges in the middle. The pupae are secured to


title: "Gonepteryx rhamni" content: stems and leaves using silk; a cremastral hook attaches to a silk padding, and a length of silk secures the pupae around its middle. The pupae have a primarily green colouration, but right before adult emergence for males, the wing areas turn yellow. Adults emerge during the summer, from June to August, and continue to feed until September. The common brimstone hibernates for the next seven months of winter, remaining inactive until April, where they then emerge and proceed to reproduce and lay eggs. Adult brimstones are highly abundant for several months after their emergence from overwintering. The common brimstone


title: "Gonepteryx rhamni" content: has sexual dichromism, with males having a sulphur yellow wing colouration and females having a greenish-white wing colouration. Additionally, males have iridescent dorsal wings that change in colour and appearance under ultraviolet light, while females do not. Both males and females have orange spots in the discoidal cell of each wing, pink head and antennae, and a thorax covered in white hair. The common brimstone undergoes some regional migration between hibernation and breeding areas throughout the year, as seen in the different chemical composition of butterflies across varying seasons and regions. In general, there is movement towards wetlands to reproduce.


title: "Gonepteryx rhamni" content: After the eggs hatch, develop, and pupate, newly hatched adult butterflies emerge and disperse locally into both woodlands and wetlands to overwinter. Butterflies travel to the woodlands for overwintering, and no mating appears to occur within these habitats. Overwintering also occurs in the wetlands, where the host plant alder buckthorn is abundant. After emerging from overwintering, adult brimstones that were previously in the wetlands are joined by those that hibernated in woodlands, and the population breeds and lays eggs. The environmental conditions of a particular year also affect migration, as seen in the elevational migrations of the common brimstone. Uphill


title: "Gonepteryx rhamni" content: migration is potentially influenced by habitat limitations, such as a lack of the forest cover that is required during overwintering. Brimstones travel to higher elevations for greater forest cover and reduced exposure to higher temperatures during their activities. Downhill migration is influenced by the need for larval resources such as host plants during breeding seasons - the butterflies travel to lower elevations in search for regions containing these plants, with adults commonly returning to the areas where they had been bred due to their long lifespan. Like most woodland Lepidoptera, "G. rhamni" is preyed upon by many species of birds


title: "Gonepteryx rhamni" content: and wasps. Both larvae and adult brimstones fall victim to predation and utilize means such as protective colouration and mimicry to avoid this fate. The common brimstone has two recorded species of parasites: the braconids "C. gonopterygis" and "C. risilis". These two species of parasitoid wasps are completely specialized for "G. rhamni", possibly due to the wide distribution of the butterfly and the host plants in its habitats. The broad presence of its host allows the wasps to be host-specific. The wasps are primarily associated with the presence of the food plant "Fragnula alnus" due to its association with their


title: "Gonepteryx rhamni" content: host. Both the larval and adult common brimstone exhibit cryptic colouration, meaning they match the colour of their habitats. Larvae are so difficult to see due to this colouration that they can remain in the open undetected. When not eating, the caterpillars remain still in a position alongside the midrib of leaves, making them even more difficult to spot. Adult brimstones are leaf-mimics, as they share similarities in shape, colour, and pattern to leaves. This allows them to blend in with their surroundings during vulnerable times like diapause (hibernation). When picked up, the butterflies become rigid and hide their legs


title: "Gonepteryx rhamni" content: from view in order to decrease their chances of being recognized. The common brimstone exhibits sexual dichromism in wing iridescence and colour - male dorsal wings are yellow and iridescent, and female wings are white and non-iridescent. Variation in colouration of Lepidoptera wings is caused by different structural and pigment components. These differences cause light to scatter in different ways, leading to the visualization of varying colours. In the common brimstone, wing scales scatter light incoherently due to ovoid-shaped structures called beads that contain pigments. Due to these pigments, the beads absorb short wavelength light and scatter longer wavelengths outside


title: "Gonepteryx rhamni" content: of the pigment absorption spectrum, such as light in the complementary wavelength range. Through chemical extraction and analysis, two possible pigments have been identified that may contribute to the common brimstone's wing colouration. Xanthopterin is responsible for the sulphur yellow colour of the male wings since it absorbs in the violet range. Leucopterin was extracted from the white wings of females. The difference in wing pigmentation contributes to the distinct iridescence patterns of males and females. Iridescence occurs due to visualized changes in colouration from the scattering of ultraviolet light. A male-only pattern of colouration due to this iridescence is


title: "Gonepteryx rhamni" content: seen exclusively under ultraviolet light, since females absorb light on the ultraviolet spectra. The presence of exclusively leucopterin in female wings explains the lack of iridescence in female common brimstones, since leucopterin absorbs only in the ultraviolet range. Therefore, the wings do not reflect and consequently do not scatter any ultraviolet light like male wings do. In males, iridescence is indicated in that the wing-pattern appears to visually change depending on the position of the ultraviolet light shone onto the wing. At some angles, a male pattern is seen, while at other angles, a female lack of pattern is seen.


title: "Gonepteryx rhamni" content: This is referred to as the "gynandromorphic effect." This demonstrates that the pattern appears to be optical, rather than pigmental, as the effect is only seen at certain angles and distances of light and changes with positions. If it were pigmental, these changes would not cause differences in iridescence. The structural colouration of the male dorsal wings is affected by environmental factors. There is an increase in ultraviolet colouration coverage with increasing temperature, increasing precipitation, and decreasing latitude. This has been possibly attributed to several factors, such as the greater abundance and quality of resources in areas with these environmental


title: "Gonepteryx rhamni" content: conditions. Other possibilities include a better ability to assimilate resources as an indication of male mate quality. Because ultraviolet colouration is energetically expensive to develop, it could signal high male quality. After the common brimstone emerges from hibernation, it travels towards habitats that contain larval host plants and mates. The brimstone is primarily monandrous, as demonstrated by the presence of usually only a single spermatophore in females throughout the mating season. Pairs are formed after the butterflies have engaged in a dalliance flight for a period of time. When a pair settles to mate, they do not take flight during


title: "Gonepteryx rhamni" content: copulation and remain paired for a long time of up to forty-eight hours. The common brimstone appears to have an innate preference for certain colours in nectar plants - red and blue inflorescences are common in heavily used nectar sources in some regions. "G. rhamni" also has a stronger reliance on visual indications such as colour compared to other butterfly species, which rely more on odor. The common brimstone has an antennal response to the floral scent compounds of nectar plants, where neural activity in antennal olfactory receptors occurs in the presence of certain compounds. Research suggests that there are


title: "Gonepteryx rhamni" content: antennal olfactory receptors for phenylacetaldehyde and the terpene compounds oxoisophoroneoxide, oxoisophorone, and dihydrooxoisophorone, as these compounds elicited some of the strongest electrophysiological responses whether they were presented in natural or synthetic mixes of floral compounds. Additionally, these two compounds are present in the largest quantities in the nectar plants utilized by the brimstone, indicating that scent detection could be important for detecting food sources. This would contribute to more efficient foraging in adult butterflies, as odour could act as a cue for finding and distinguishing nectar plants, allowing more energy to be utilized for other activities such as reproduction. The


title: "Gonepteryx rhamni" content: adult common brimstone overwinters for seven months, remaining hidden and motionless throughout its hibernation. While both sexes have similar egg to adult development times, they differ in the times that they reach sexual maturity. The reproductive development of males begins just after pupal emergence, and continues during hibernation, which indicates that males may not be able to reproduce until after overwintering. For females, eggs remain undeveloped as the butterflies overwinter, and no reproductive development occurs until after emergence from hibernation. The sexes also differ in times of emergence after overwintering. Emergence is correlated with temperature and hours of sunlight; a


title: "Gonepteryx rhamni" content: certain amount of both is necessary for the butterfly to emerge from hibernation and therefore influences when diapause ends. Males emerge earlier than females, as they are more willing to fly in lower temperatures than females. Since the common brimstone most closely follows monandrous mating patterns, males may emerge earlier to increase the number of mating chances and therefore reproductive success, as older males have had more time to develop and therefore have a greater advantage. In contrast, females emerge late due to the late seasonal development of host plants such as the alder buckthorn, since these plants are necessary


title: "Gonepteryx rhamni" content: for egg-laying. Female emergence is correlated with host plant development. As of 2010, "G. rhamni" does not appear to have a threatened conservation status according to IUCN standards. However, the butterfly has experienced significant population and distribution reduction in areas such as the Netherlands, where its numbers have declined to the point that based on IUCN criterion, it has reached endangered species status. The causes of this population decline are not fully determined, but there are several possible factors. Since the common brimstone is univoltine, it may have difficulties adapting to changing environmental conditions compared to species that have multiple


title: "Gonepteryx rhamni" content: generations a year. For example, there has been a decrease in suitable overwintering environments for the butterflies, with open woodland decreasing in favour of more urban areas. Nitrogen pollution, declining nectar supplies, and rapid ecological changes have also been suggested as other hypothetical factors. Concerns have been raised about the possible future increase of this population decline, but the butterfly mostly does not appear to be a conservation concern due to its widespread and common geographic presence. Gonepteryx rhamni Gonepteryx rhamni (known as the common brimstone) is a butterfly of the family Pieridae. It lives throughout the Palearctic zone, commonly


title: "Bocaue, Bulacan" content: the lives lost, no one has been made accountable for the tragedy. This incident became known as the Bocaue Pagoda Tragedy. Then, on the morning of 31 December 2007, ten fireworks stores burned in Barangay Turo, causing a series of explosions within the area and injuring 7 persons. Bocaue is north-east of Manila if reached via the Gen. Douglas MacArthur Highway and is from Malolos City. It is at the mid-southwestern portion of Bulacan. The town is bounded on the north by the municipality of Balagtas and a portion of the municipality of Santa Maria; by the municipalities of Marilao


title: "Gem 106" content: and would make it more attractive to advertisers. Heart 106 was launched on 29 August 2005. A further, more subtle rebrand was applied in September 2006 which saw the dropping of the frequencies from station names across the Heart Network. On 25 June 2007, Chrysalis announced the sale of Heart, along with its sister stations The Arrow, LBC and Galaxy, for £170 million to Global Radio. Following Global's takeover of GCap Media, the Office of Fair Trading again ordered Global to sell off Heart and four other Midlands stations - BRMB, Mercia FM, Wyvern FM and Beacon Radio. In May


title: "White Whale Records" content: Feigin and Lasseff folded White Whale Records in 1971 and created a new label called Anthem Records (not to be confused with the Canadian label of the same name), which was initially distributed by United Artists. Two White Whale acts were transferred to the new label's roster (Liz Damon's Orient Express and The Dillards), and they are the only artists to have albums issued on the label. The label also provided US distribution for a single by Freddie Mercury under the alias "Larry Lurex". One of Anthem's last signings was the duo of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, whose "Buckingham


title: "Encore (Eminem album)" content: and closes with "Curtains Down", indicative of the end. Simultaneously with the original, a censored version was released, from which most of the profanities, violent and sexual content, as well the drug references had been edited out. "My 1st Single" has a bleep for the word "fuck" instead of a muted part on the hook: "This was supposed to be my first single, but I just fucked that up so... Fuck it let's all have fun let's mingle", the lines: "Smack a bitch and slap a ho" changed to "Grab a chick and Do-si-do". The second and third verses were


title: "Pharmaceutical marketing" content: countries impose limits on pharmaceutical mass marketing that are not placed on the marketing of other products. In some areas it is required that ads for drugs include a list of possible side effects, so that users are informed of both facets of a medicine. Canada's limitations on pharmaceutical advertising ensure that commercials that mention the name of a product cannot in any way describe what it does. Commercials that mention a medical problem cannot also mention the name of the product for sale; at most, they can direct the viewer to a website or telephone number operated by the


title: "USRC Vigilant (1791)" content: the port of New York, the "Vigilant"s homeport. Patrick Dennis was appointed the master of the new revenue cutter on 6 October 1790 and oversaw her construction. He served as her commanding officer until his death, of unknown causes, on 9 February 1798. Little documentation survives regarding her service life but she apparently carried out her assigned duties as described above along the Hudson River as far as Albany, in New York Harbor itself, along the coastline of New York and New Jersey, and "through Hell Gate to Long Island Sound except Sagg harbor." There is some remaining information regarding


title: "Edward Hasted" content: but also omitted many details from the first edition: it had been greatly revised by either one or two unidentified editors, and the extent to which it drew on materials collected by Hasted, or to which he was able to influence the work, remains unclear. A modern reprint of the second edition was published in 1972. Hasted also published a separate "History of the Antient and Metropolitical City of Canterbury Civil and Ecclesiastical" (1799). Edward Hasted Edward Hasted (20 December 1732 OS – 14 January 1812) was an English antiquarian and pioneering historian of his ancestral home county of Kent.


title: "Larix laricina" content: Larix laricina Larix laricina, commonly known as the tamarack, hackmatack, eastern larch, black larch, red larch, or American larch, is a species of larch native to Canada, from eastern Yukon and Inuvik, Northwest Territories east to Newfoundland, and also south into the upper northeastern United States from Minnesota to Cranesville Swamp, Maryland; there is also an isolated population in central Alaska. The word "tamarack" is an Algonquian name for the species and means "wood used for snowshoes". "Larix laricina" is a small to medium-size boreal coniferous and deciduous tree reaching tall, with a trunk up to diameter. Tamaracks and Larches


title: "Larix laricina" content: (Larix species) are deciduous conifers. The bark is tight and flaky, pink, but under flaking bark it can appear reddish. The leaves are needle-like, short, light blue-green, turning bright yellow before they fall in the autumn, leaving the pale pinkish-brown shoots bare until the next spring. The needles are produced spirally on long shoots and in dense clusters on long woody spur shoots. The cones are the smallest of any larch, only long, with 12-25 seed scales; they are bright red, turning brown and opening to release the seeds when mature, 4 to 6 months after pollination. Key characteristics: Tamaracks


title: "Larix laricina" content: are very cold tolerant, able to survive temperatures down to at least , and commonly occurs at the Arctic tree line at the edge of the tundra. Trees in these severe climatic conditions are smaller than farther south, often only tall. They can tolerate a wide range of soil conditions but grow most commonly in swamps, bogs, or muskeg in wet to moist organic soils such as sphagnum peat and woody peat. They are also found on mineral soils that range from heavy clay to coarse sand; thus texture does not seem to be limiting. Although tamarack can grow well


title: "Larix laricina" content: on calcareous soils, it is not abundant on the limestone areas of eastern Ontario. Tamarack is commonly an early invader. Tamarack is generally the first forest tree to invade filled-lake bogs. In the lake states, tamarack may appear first in the sedge mat, sphagnum moss, or not until the bog shrub stage. Farther north, it is the pioneer tree in the bog shrub stage. Tamarack is fairly well adapted to reproduce successfully on burns, so it is one of the common pioneers on sites in the boreal forest immediately after a fire. The central Alaskan population, separated from the eastern


title: "Larix laricina" content: Yukon populations by a gap of about , is treated as a distinct variety "Larix laricina" var. "alaskensis" by some botanists, though others argue that it is not sufficiently distinct to be distinguished. Tamarack forms extensive pure stands in the boreal region of Canada and in northern Minnesota. In the rest of its United States range and in the Maritime Provinces, tamarack is found locally in both pure and mixed stands. It is a major component in the Society of American Foresters (SAF) forest cover types Tamarack and black spruce–tamarack. Black spruce ("Picea mariana") is usually tamarack's main associate in


title: "Larix laricina" content: mixed stands on all sites. The other most common associates include balsam fir ("Abies balsamea"), white spruce ("Picea glauca"), and quaking aspen ("Populus tremuloides") in the boreal region. In the better organic soil sites in the northern forest region, the most common associates are the northern white-cedar ("Thuja occidentalis"), balsam fir, black ash ("Fraxinus nigra"), and red maple ("Acer rubrum"). In Alaska, quaking aspen and tamarack are almost never found together. Additional common associates are American elm ("Ulmus americana"), balsam poplar ("Populus balsamifera"), jack pine ("Pinus banksiana"), paper birch ("Betula papyrifera"), Kenai birch ("B. papyrifera" var. "kenaica"), and yellow birch


title: "Larix laricina" content: ("B. alleghaniensis"). Tamarack stands cast light shade and so usually have a dense undergrowth of shrubs and herbs. Because the tree has an extensive range, a great variety of shrubs is associated with it. Dominant tall shrubs include dwarf and swamp birch ("Betula glandulosa" and "Betula pumila"), willows ("Salix" spp.), speckled alder ("Alnus rugosa"), and red-osier dogwood ("Cornus stolonifera"). Low shrubs include bog Labrador tea ("Ledum groenlandicum"), bog-rosemary ("Andromeda glaucophylla"), leather leaf ("Chamaedaphne calyculata"), and small cranberry ("Vaccinium oxycoccos"). Characteristically the herbaceous cover includes sedges "(Carex" spp.), cottongrass "(Eriophorum" spp.), three-leaved false Solomonseal ("Maianthemum trifolium"), marsh cinquefoil ("Potentilla palustris"), marsh-marigold


title: "Larix laricina" content: ("Caltha palustris"), and bogbean ("Menyanthes trifoliata"). Ground cover is usually composed of sphagnum moss "(Sphagnum" spp.) and other mosses. Tamarack is monoecious. Male and female cones are small, either solitary or in groups of 2 or 3, and appear with the needles. Male cones are yellow and are borne mainly on 1- or 2-year-old branchlets. Female cones resemble tiny roses. They are reddish or maroon, have needles at their base which are shorter and bluer than the other needles on the tree. They are borne most commonly on 2 to 4-year-old branchlets, but may also appear on branchlets 5 or


title: "Larix laricina" content: more years old. Cones usually are produced on young growth of vigorous trees. On open-grown trees, cones are borne on all parts of the crown. Mature seed cones are brown, oblong-ovoid, and long. The wood is tough and durable, but also flexible in thin strips, and was used by the Algonquian people for making snowshoes and other products where toughness was required. The natural crooks located in the stumps and roots are also preferred for creating knees in wooden boats. Currently, the wood is used principally for pulpwood, but also for posts, poles, rough lumber, and fuelwood; it is not


title: "Larix laricina" content: a major commercial timber species. It is also grown as an ornamental tree in gardens in cold regions. Several dwarf cultivars have been created that are available commercially. Tamarack is commonly used for bonsai. Tamarack poles were used in corduroy roads because of their resistance to rot. Tamarack trees were used before 1917 in Alberta to mark the northeast corner of sections surveyed within townships. They were used by the surveyors because at that time the very rot-resistant wood was readily available in the bush and was light to carry. Their rot resistance was also why they were often used


title: "Larix laricina" content: in early water distribution systems. The aboriginal peoples of Canada's northwest regions used the inner bark as a poultice to treat cuts, infected wounds, frostbite, boils and hemorrhoids. The outer bark and roots are also said to have been used with another plant as a treatment for arthritis, cold and general aches and pains. Wildlife use the tree for food and nesting. Porcupines eat the inner bark, snowshoe hares feeds on tamarack seedlings, and red squirrels eat the seeds. Birds that frequent tamaracks during the summer include the white-throated sparrow, song sparrow, veery, common yellow throat, and Nashville warbler. Tamarack


title: "Larix laricina" content: is very intolerant of shade. Although it can tolerate some shade during the first several years, it must become dominant to survive. When mixed with other species, it must be in the over story. The tree is a good self-pruner, and boles of 25- to 30-year-old trees may be clear for one-half or two-thirds their length. Because tamarack is very shade-intolerant, it does not become established in its own shade. Consequently, the more tolerant black spruce eventually succeeds tamarack on poor bog sites, whereas northern white-cedar, balsam fir, and swamp hardwoods succeed tamarack on good swamp sites. Recurring sawfly outbreaks


title: "Larix laricina" content: throughout the range of tamarack have probably speeded the usual succession to black spruce or other associates. Various tests on planting and natural reproduction indicate that competing vegetation hinders tamarack establishment. The shade-intolerance of tamarack dictates the use of even-aged management. Some adaptation of clear cutting or seed-tree cutting is generally considered the best silvicultural system because tamarack seeds apparently germinate better in the open, and the seedlings require practically full light to survive and grow well. Tamarack is also usually wind-firm enough for the seed-tree system to succeed. Satisfactory reestablishment of tamarack, however, often requires some kind of site


title: "Larix laricina" content: preparation, such as slash disposal and herbicide spraying. The tamarack has thin bark and is therefore highly susceptible to fire damage, except perhaps in older, upland stands. However, the habitat of tamarack, especially south of the boreal forest, is normally wet enough to protect the tree from fire. The tamarack is also susceptible to high winds. Strong winds can uproot large tamarack trees growing in swamps or other wet-land sites where rooting is shallow. It has also been discovered that abnormally high water levels often kill tamarack stands. Those that survive under such conditions usually grow very slowly. Other effects


title: "Larix laricina" content: of high water include dieback and the development of adventitious roots and shoots. Wetland road crossings and beaver damming are the primary causes of flooding. Many insect species are known to be destructive to tamaracks. The larch sawfly is the most destructive. Epidemics occur periodically across Canada and the northern United States and have caused tremendous losses of merchantable tamarack throughout most of the tree's range. Indications are that radial increment declines markedly after 4 to 6 years of outbreak. After 6 to 9 years of moderate to heavy defoliation, the trees die. In southeastern Manitoba and northern Minnesota, however,


title: "Larix laricina" content: imported parasites of the sawfly have become established and should reduce the frequency and duration of future outbreaks. Another serious defoliator is the larch casebearer "Coleophora laricella". The larch casebearer attacks tamarack of all ages, and several severe outbreaks have caused extensive mortality in some areas. Outbreak severity has lessened in recent years, however, probably due to imported parasites of the casebearer that have become widely established. Only a few other insects and related organisms (such as mites) that feed on tamarack are known to sometimes cause serious injury. During an outbreak, the spruce budworm ("Choristoneura fumiferana") can severely damage


title: "Larix laricina" content: tamarack. The larch-bud moth ("Zeiraphera improbana") has had occasional short epidemics, and the spruce spider mite ("Oligonychus ununguis") is occasionally found in large numbers on tamarack. The larch-shoot moth "(Argyresthia laricella)" is widely distributed, but serious injury is unusual. One of the most common bark beetles attacking tamarack is the eastern larch beetle ("Dendroctonus simplex"), but it feeds mainly on weakened, dying, or dead trees. Tamarack is a host to many pathogens, but only one cause diseases serious enough to have an economic impact on its culture, the "Lachnellula willkommii" fungus. It is a relatively new pathogen in Canada, first


title: "Larix laricina" content: recorded in 1980 and originating in Europe. The fungus cause large cankers to form and a disease known as larch canker which is particularly harmful to the tamarack larch, killing both young and mature trees. Apart from this, the only common foliage diseases are rusts, such as the leaf rust in eastern and central North America. However, this rust, caused by the fungus "Melampsora medusae", and other rusts do little damage to tamarack. The needle-cast fungus "Hypodermella laricis" has attacked tamarack in Ontario and has the potential for local damage. Larix laricina Larix laricina, commonly known as the tamarack, hackmatack,


title: "King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery" content: in September 1999. The Glory Film Co. production was produced and directed by Marcus Dillistone, the associate producer was Paul-Anthony Viollet (a former Troop Officer) and the introduction was spoken by Sir John Mills. Music was composed by Julian Scott and performed by The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery The King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery is a ceremonial unit of the British Army, quartered at Woolwich. It is a mounted unit and all of its soldiers are trained to care for and drive teams of six horses pulling each of six First World War-era 13-pounder field guns


title: "Interstate 495 (Capital Beltway)" content: Highway had separate interchanges. As a result, north-south traffic between I-295 and Indian Head Highway was forced to merge onto a congested section of the Beltway for approximately one mile. As a congestion relief measure, I-295 was extended over the Beltway and continued parallel to it so that the two highways were directly connected independent of the beltway. However, these interchanges were redesigned and rebuilt to accommodate the expansion of the Wilson Bridge and the construction of dedicated ramps to National Harbor. In January 2018, Maryland State Democratic Sen. Joanne Benson of Prince George's County proposed legislation (Senate Bill 55)


title: "Ford Aerostar" content: a fashion similar to the Volkswagen Vanagon, the second-row windows slid open. While cupholders were relegated to an optional armrest in the third-row seats, the Aerostar could be specified with up to six ashtrays and two cigar lighters; the interior may have been designed with a smoker in mind. In 1992, coinciding with the exterior updates, the interior also saw a major upgrade. Along with the addition of a driver's side airbag and three-point seatbelts for all six outboard seats, the dashboard was redesigned with improved controls (many shared with the 1992 Econoline) and a new instrument panel. In 1993,


title: "Default (computer science)" content: Default (computer science) A default, in computer science, refers to the preexisting value of a user-configurable setting that is assigned to a software application, computer program or device. Such settings are also called presets or factory presets, especially for electronic devices. The Oxford English Dictionary dates this usage to the mid-1960s, as a variant of the older meaning of "failure in performance". Default values are standard values that are universal to all instances of the device or model and intended to make the device as accessible as possible "out of the box" without necessitating a lengthy configuration process prior to


title: "Warrior-class ironclad" content: than the "Mersey", the longest wooden-hulled ship in the Royal Navy. They had a beam of and a draught of . The ships displaced . The hull was subdivided by watertight transverse bulkheads into 92 compartments and had a double bottom underneath the engine and boiler rooms. Two bilge keels were fitted (the first used by the Royal Navy), which significantly reduced the roll of the ships. Because of their length the ships proved to be very sluggish while manoeuvring, as "Warrior" proved when she collided with in 1868. The "Warrior"-class ships trimmed down by the bow, not least because


title: "Austin Phelps" content: he was pastor of the Pine Street (Congregational) Church in Boston when he met and married in the autumn of that year Elizabeth Stuart (August 13, 1815November 30, 1852). She was the eldest daughter of Moses Stuart, president of Andover Theological Seminary. His wife Elizabeth Stuart, aside from Jacob Abbott, was one of the earliest writers of books for girls, publishing the four volume "Kitty Brown" series of books for girls under the pen name H. Trusta and other books. They had three children, Mary Gray (b. 1844), Moses Stuart (b. 1849) and Amos Lawrence (b. 1852). In the spring


title: "Todd Heap" content: would also prove to be the Ravens best regular season, as they won the AFC North for the second time in franchise history with a record of 13-3. Heap caught 73 passes for 765 yards and six touchdowns. Heap missed 10 games in the 2007 season due to injury, and caught only 23 passes, amassing 239 yards and one touchdown. In 2008, he collected 35 receptions for 403 yards and three touchdowns. The Ravens advanced to the AFC Championship Game for the first time since the 2000 season, but would lose to the Steelers. Heap played through numerous injuries in


title: "Merv Tweed" content: which operates, amongst others, the Port of Churchill. Merv Tweed Mervin C. Tweed, MP (born August 6, 1955 in Medora, Manitoba) is a retired politician in Manitoba, Canada. He represented Brandon—Souris in the House of Commons of Canada from 2004 to August 31, 2013. Prior to that he was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1995 to 2004, representing the constituency of Turtle Mountain. He is currently the president of Omnitrax, the American rail company responsible for the Churchill rail line. Despite under contract for maintenance of the line, the company is attempting to sue the Canadian


title: "2018 Winter Olympics" content: win a major tournament. The 2018 Winter Olympics saw increasing granularity in official sponsorships for technology vendors; Intel signed with the IOC to become part of its Worldwide Olympic Partner program, to promote 5G wireless technology, as well as broadcasting technology such as 360-degree video and virtual reality. Alibaba Group was also named the official e-commerce and cloud services provider. These categories affected how the vendors were allowed to promote themselves within the context of the Olympics: Samsung could showcase VR experiences but only within the context of its own smartphones due to Intel's sponsorship rights in relation to VR;


title: "Art Monk" content: with the most consecutive games with a catch (183). He was named to the NFL 1980s All-Decade Team. Monk also became the first player in the league to record a touchdown reception in 15 consecutive seasons as well was the first player ever to record at least 35 receptions in 15 consecutive seasons. Through the course of his 14 years with the Redskins, Monk converted nearly two-thirds of his 888 catches into first downs. On August 2, 2008, Monk, along with fellow Washington Redskins teammate Darrell Green, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Upon his induction into


title: "Novaya Gazeta" content: the letter was a prank concocted by "The eXile". In response, Kiriyenko sued "Novaya Gazeta" and Rozhnov for libel, and in passing judgement in favour of Kiriyenko the court ordered "Novaya Gazeta" to retract all publications relating to the accusations and went on to say that the newspaper "is obliged to publish only officially proven information linking Mr Kiriyenko with embezzlement." Journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was critical of Russia's actions in Chechnya, wrote for "Novaya Gazeta" until her assassination on 7 October 2006. Politkovskaya wrote in an essay that the editors received: "Visitors every day in our editorial office who


title: "Liard River" content: turns around Mount Coty of the Franklin Mountains near "Fort Liard Airfield", where it meets the Liard Highway. It receives the waters of the Muskeg River, Rabbit Creek and Flett Creek as it flows east of the Liard Range and Mount Flett. The Liard meanders east of the Sawmill Mountain and receives waters from the Beaver Water Creek, Netla River and Bay Creek. After receiving the waters of South Nahanni River south of Nahanni Butte and east of the Nahanni National Park Reserve, the Liard turns east and north-east, receiving waters from Grainger River, Blackstone River, Dehdjida Creek, Matou River,


title: "Goal difference" content: win would guarantee the title due to a realistically unassailable superior goal difference. If not a win, then City just needed to match United's result at the Stadium of Light against Sunderland. United scored in the 20th minute, winning 1–0. City scored two goals in injury time to come from behind and win 3–2. Arsenal won the league championship on goals-scored, after finishing level on points and goal-difference with Liverpool in the 1988–89 season. Arsenal defeated Liverpool 2–0 in the final game of the season to win the championship. Ahead of the final day of the 2013–14 Nemzeti Bajnokság I


title: Krytron content: the keepalive electrode and the preionization radioactive source. The trigger pulse must be stronger than for a krytron. Sprytrons are able to handle higher currents; krytrons tend to be used for triggering a secondary switch, e.g., a triggered spark gap, while sprytrons are usually connected directly to the load. The trigger pulse has to be much more intense, as there is no preionized gas path for the electric current, and a vacuum arc must form between the cathode and anode. An arc first forms between the cathode and the grid, then a breakdown occurs between the cathode–grid conductive region and


title: "Malayan tapir" content: Malayan tapir The Malayan tapir ("Tapirus indicus"), also called the Asian tapir, is the largest of the five species of tapir and the only one native to Asia. The scientific name refers to the East Indies, the species' natural habitat. In the Malay language, the tapir is commonly referred to as "cipan", "tenuk" or "badak tampung". The animal is easily identified by its markings, most notably the light-colored patch that extends from its shoulders to its rear end. The rest of its hair is black, except for the tips of its ears, which, as with other tapirs, are rimmed with


title: "Malayan tapir" content: white. This pattern is for camouflage; the disrupted coloration makes it more difficult to recognize it as a tapir, and other animals may mistake it for a large rock rather than prey when it is lying down to sleep. Malayan tapirs grow to between in length, not counting a stubby tail of only in length, and stand tall. They typically weigh between , although some adults can weigh up to . The females are usually larger than the males. Like the other types of tapir, they have small, stubby tails and long, flexible proboscises. They have four toes on each


title: "Malayan tapir" content: front foot and three toes on each back foot. The Malayan tapir has rather poor eyesight, but excellent hearing and sense of smell. They have a large sagittal crest, a bone running along the middle of the skull that is necessary for muscle attachment. They also have unusually positioned orbits, an unusually shaped cranium with the frontal bones elevated, and a retracted nasal incision. All of these modifications to the normal mammal skull are, of course, to make room for the proboscis. This proboscis caused a retraction of bones and cartilage in the face during the evolution of the tapir,


title: "Malayan tapir" content: and even caused the loss of some cartilages, facial muscles, and the bony wall of the nasal chamber. Malayan tapirs have very poor eyesight, making them rely greatly on their excellent sense of smell and hearing to go about in their everyday lives. They have small, beady eyes with brown irises on either side of their faces. Their eyes are often covered in a blue haze, which is corneal cloudiness thought to be caused by repetitive exposure to light. Corneal cloudiness is a condition in which the cornea starts to lose its transparency. The cornea is necessary for the transmitting


title: "Malayan tapir" content: and focusing of outside light as it enters the eye, and cloudiness can cause vision loss. This causes the Malayan tapir to have very inadequate vision, both on land and in water, where they spend the majority of their time. Also, as these tapirs are most active at night and since they have poor eyesight, it is harder for them to search for food and avoid predators in the dark. A small number of melanistic (all-black) Malayan tapirs have been observed. In 1924, an all-black tapir was sent to Rotterdam Zoo and was classified as a subspecies called "Tapirus indicus


title: "Malayan tapir" content: brevetianus" after its discoverer, Captain K. Brevet. In 2000, two melanistic tapirs were observed during a study of tigers in the Jerangau Forest Reserve in Malaysia. The cause of this variation may be a genetic abnormality similar to that of black panthers that appear in populations of spotted leopards or spotted jaguars. However, unless, and until, more "T. i. brevetianus" individuals can be studied, the precise explanation for the trait will remain unknown. The gestation period of the Malayan tapir is about 390–395 days, after which a single offspring, weighing around 15 pounds (6.8 kg), is born. Malayan tapirs are


title: "Malayan tapir" content: the largest of the five tapir species at birth and grow more quickly than their congeners. Young tapirs of all species have brown hair with white stripes and spots, a pattern that enables them to hide effectively in the dappled light of the forest. This baby coat fades into adult coloration between four and seven months after birth. Weaning occurs between six and eight months of age, at which time the babies are nearly full-grown, and the animals reach sexual maturity around age three. Breeding typically occurs in April, May or June, and females generally produce one calf every two


title: "Malayan tapir" content: years. Malayan tapirs can live up to 30 years, both in the wild and in captivity. Malayan tapirs are primarily solitary creatures, marking out large tracts of land as their territory, though these areas usually overlap with those of other individuals. Tapirs mark out their territories by spraying urine on plants, and they often follow distinct paths, which they have bulldozed through the undergrowth. Exclusively herbivorous, the animal forages for the tender shoots and leaves of more than 115 species of plants (around 30 are particularly preferred), moving slowly through the forest and pausing often to eat and note the


title: "Malayan tapir" content: scents left behind by other tapirs in the area. However, when threatened or frightened, the tapir can run quickly, despite its considerable bulk, and can also defend itself with its strong jaws and sharp teeth. Malayan tapirs communicate with high-pitched squeaks and whistles. They usually prefer to live near water and often bathe and swim, and they are also able to climb steep slopes. Tapirs are mainly active at night, though they are not exclusively nocturnal. They tend to eat soon after sunset or before sunrise, and they will often nap in the middle of the night. This behavior characterizes


title: "Malayan tapir" content: them as crepuscular animals. The Malayan tapir was once found throughout the tropical lowland rainforests of Southeast Asia, including Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, and Vietnam. However, its numbers have decreased in recent years, and today, like all tapirs, it is in danger of extinction. Because of their size, tapirs have few natural predators, and even reports of killings by tigers are scarce. The main threat to the Malayan tapirs is human activity, including deforestation for agricultural purposes, flooding caused by the damming of rivers for hydroelectric projects, and illegal trade. In Thailand, for instance, capture and sale


title: "Malayan tapir" content: of a young tapir may be worth US$5500.00. In areas such as Sumatra, where the population is predominantly Muslim, tapirs are seldom hunted for food, as their physical similarity to pigs has made tapir meat a taboo, but in some regions they are hunted for sport or shot accidentally when mistaken for other animals. Protected status in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, which seeks to curb deliberate killing of tapirs but does not address the issue of habitat loss, has had limited effect in reviving or maintaining the population. Malayan tapir The Malayan tapir ("Tapirus indicus"), also called the Asian tapir,


title: "NASCAR realignment" content: with the Winter Olympics), preventing major stars from appearing at the race. By returning the race to April, officials are once again hoping for a sellout. Martinsville Speedway has also had attendance issues. However, it maintained two dates for 2011. NASCAR announced on September 29, 2011 that some schedule realigning would take place for the 2012 season. Although the realignment was not as drastic as past years, both of the Kansas races were affected. The spring race, which was added to the schedule for the 2011 campaign, was moved from June to April, and the spring race at Dover International


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: Lovell Telescope The Lovell Telescope is a radio telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory, near Goostrey, Cheshire in the north-west of England. When construction was finished in 1957, the telescope was the largest steerable dish radio telescope in the world at 76.2 m (250 ft) in diameter; it is now the third-largest, after the Green Bank telescope in West Virginia, United States, and the Effelsberg telescope in Germany. It was originally known as the "250 ft telescope" or the Radio Telescope at Jodrell Bank, before becoming the Mark I telescope around 1961 when future telescopes (the Mark II, III, and IV)


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: were being discussed. It was renamed to the "Lovell Telescope" in 1987 after Sir Bernard Lovell, and became a Grade I listed building in 1988. The telescope forms part of the MERLIN and European VLBI Network arrays of radio telescopes. Both Bernard Lovell and Charles Husband were knighted for their roles in creating the telescope. In September 2006, the telescope won the BBC's online competition to find the UK's greatest "Unsung Landmark". 2007 marked the 50th anniversary of the telescope. If the air is clear enough, the Mark I telescope can be seen from high-rise buildings in Manchester such as


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: the Beetham Tower, and from as far away as the Pennines, Winter Hill in Lancashire, Snowdonia, Beeston Castle in Cheshire, and the Peak District. It can also be seen from south-facing windows of the Terminal 1 restaurant area and departure lounges of Manchester Airport. Bernard Lovell built the Transit Telescope at Jodrell Bank in the late 1940s. This was a -diameter radio telescope that could only point directly upwards; the next logical step was to build a telescope that could look at all parts of the sky so that more sources could be observed, as well as for longer integration


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: times. Although the Transit Telescope had been designed and constructed by the astronomers that used it, a fully steerable telescope would need to be professionally designed and constructed; the first challenge was to find an engineer willing to do the job. This turned out to be Charles Husband, whom Lovell first met on 8 September 1949. Two bearing assemblies from 15-inch (38-cm) gun turrets were bought cheaply in 1950; these came from the World War I battleships HMS "Revenge" and "Royal Sovereign", which were being broken up at the time. The bearings became the two main altitude rotator bearings of


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: the telescope, with the appropriate parts of the telescope being designed around them. Husband presented the first drawings of the proposed giant, fully steerable radio telescope in 1950. After refinements, these plans were detailed in a "Blue Book", which was presented to the DSIR on 20 March 1951; the proposal was approved in March 1952. Construction began on 3 September 1952. The foundations for the telescope were completed on 21 May 1953 after being sunk into the ground. it then took until Mid-March 1954 to get the double railway lines completed due to their required accuracy. The central pivot was


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: delivered to the site on 11 May 1954, and the final bogie in mid-April 1955. The telescope bowl was originally going to have a wire mesh surface to observe at wavelengths between 1 and 10 meters (3.2 and 32 feet), so frequencies between 30 and 300 MHz; this was changed to a steel surface so that the telescope could observe at the 21 cm (8 in) hydrogen line, which was discovered in 1951. Also, in February 1954 Lovell and the Air Ministry met to see if funding could be made available for improving the accuracy of the dish so that


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: it could be used on centimetre wavelengths, for research at these wavelengths for the Ministry as well as "other purposes". Although the funding was not ultimately made available from the Air Ministry, the planning process had already progressed too far and so this improvement was made anyway. The telescope was constructed so that the bowl could be completely inverted. Originally, it was intended to use a movable tower at the base of the telescope to change the receivers at the focus. However, the movable tower was never built, due jointly to funding constraints and the fact that much of the


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: receiver equipment was placed at the base of the telescope rather than at the focus. Instead, receivers were mounted on 50-foot (15-m) long steel tubes, which were then inserted by a winch into the top of the aerial tower while the bowl was inverted. The cables from the receivers then ran down the inside of this tube, which could then be connected when the telescope was pointed at the zenith. Associated receiver equipment could then be placed either in the small, swinging laboratory directly underneath the surface; in rooms at the tops of the two towers; at the base girders,


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: or in the control building. The telescope moved for the first time on 3 February 1957: by an inch. It was first moved azimuthally under power on 12 June 1957; the bowl was tilted under power for the first time on 20 June 1957. By the end of July the dish surface was completed, and first light was on 2 August 1957; the telescope did a drift scan across the Milky Way at 160 MHz, with the bowl at the zenith. The telescope was first controlled from the control room on 9 October 1957, by a purpose-built analogue computer. There


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: were large cost overruns with the telescope's construction, mainly due to the steeply rising cost of steel at the time the telescope was constructed. The original grant for the telescope's construction came jointly from the Nuffield Foundation and the government; this amounted to £335,000. The government increased its share of the funding several times as the cost of the telescope rose; other money came from private donations. The final part of the debt from the construction of the telescope, £50,000, was paid off by Lord Nuffield and the Nuffield Foundation on 25 May 1960 (partly due to the telescope's early,


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: very public role in space probe tracking; see below), and Jodrell Bank observatory was renamed to the Nuffield Radio Astronomy Laboratories. The final total cost for the telescope was £700,000. Shortly after the telescope was originally completed, Lovell and Husband started contemplating the idea of upgrading the telescope so that it had a more accurate surface, and was controlled by a digital computer. Plans for this upgrade were created by Husband and Co., and were presented to Lovell in April 1964. Their plans became more urgent when fatigue cracks were discovered in the elevation drive system in September 1967. The


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: telescope was only expected to have an operational lifespan of 10 years, and Husband had been warning about the decay of the telescope since 1963. The appearance of fatigue cracks was the first of these problems that threatened to stop the telescope working; had they not been put right the elevation system could have failed and perhaps jammed. The telescope was therefore repaired and upgraded to become the Mark IA; the £400,000 of funding to do this was announced on 8 July 1968 by the SRC. The upgrade was carried out in three phases, phase 1 lasting between September 1968


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: and February 1969, phase 2 between September and November 1969 and phase 3 between August 1970 and November 1971. The first phase saw the addition of an inner railway track, which was designed to take a third of the weight of the telescope. The outer railway track, which had been decaying and sinking over the previous years, was relaid in the second phase. Four bogies and their steelwork were added on the inner track, and the existing bogies on the outer track were overhauled. The third phase saw the biggest changes; a new, more accurate bowl surface was constructed in


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: front of the old surface, meaning that the telescope could be used on wavelengths as small as 6 cm (5 GHz), and the central "bicycle wheel" support was added. A new computer control system was also installed (reusing the Ferranti Argus 104 computer from the Mark II); fatigue cracks in the cones connecting the bowl to the towers were repaired, and the central antenna was lengthened and strengthened. Tragically, in January 1972 the hoist carrying two engineers to the central antenna broke, gravely injuring two engineers and causing the death of one of them. The Mark IA upgrade was formally


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: completed on 16 July 1974, when the telescope was handed back to the University of Manchester. Due to increases in the cost of steel during the upgrade, the final amount for the upgrade was £664,793.07. The Gale of January 1976 on 2 January, brought winds of around 90 mph (140 km/h) which almost destroyed the telescope. The towers bowed, and one of the bearings connecting the dish to the towers slipped. After an expensive repair, diagonal bracing girders were added to the towers to prevent this happening again. By the 1990s, the telescope surface was becoming badly corroded. In 2001–2003,


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: the telescope was resurfaced, increasing its sensitivity at 5 GHz by a factor of five. A holographic profiling technique was used on the surface, meaning that the surface works optimally at wavelengths of 5 cm (compared to 18 cm on the old surface). A new drive system was installed, which provides a much higher pointing accuracy. The outer track was relaid, and the focal tower was strengthened so that it could support heavier receivers. In 2007 the telescope needed a new drive wheel, as one of the 64 original wheels had cracked; in 2008 another new steel tyre was needed


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: after a second wheel cracked. These are the only two wheel changes needed since the telescope started operation in 1957. The presence (as at 2010) of two breeding pairs of wild peregrine falcons (nesting one in each of the telescope's two support towers) prevents the nuisance of pigeon infestation (by droppings fouling, and their body heat affecting sensitive instrument readings) that some other radio telescopes suffer from. The telescope became operational in the summer of 1957, just in time for the launch of Sputnik 1, the world's first artificial satellite. While the transmissions from Sputnik itself could easily be picked


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: up by a household radio, the Lovell Telescope was the only telescope capable of tracking Sputnik's booster rocket by radar; it first located it just before midnight on 12 October 1957. It also located Sputnik 2's carrier rocket at just after midnight on 16 November 1957. The telescope also took part in some of the early work on satellite communication. In February and March 1963, the telescope transmitted signals via the moon and Echo II, a NASA balloon satellite at 750 km (466 mi) altitude, to the Zimenki Observatory in the USSR. Some signals were also relayed from the USA


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: to the USSR via Jodrell Bank. The Lovell Telescope was used to track both Soviet and American probes aimed at the Moon in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In terms of American space probes, the telescope tracked Pioneer 1 from 11 to 13 November 1958, Pioneer 3 in December 1958, and Pioneer 4 in March 1959. The telescope tracked Pioneer 5 between 11 March and 26 June 1960, and was also used to send commands to the probe, including the one to separate the probe from its carrier rocket and the ones to turn on the more powerful transmitter


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: when the probe was 8 million miles (12.9 million km) away. It also received data from Pioneer 5, and was the only telescope in the world capable of doing so at the time. The last signal was picked up from the probe at a distance of 36.2 million kilometers on the 26 June 1960. The telescope also tracked the Soviet moon probes, including Lunik II from 13 to 14 September 1959 as it hit the moon; this was proven by the telescope by measuring the effect of the moon's gravity on the probe, and Luna 3 around 4 October 1959.


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: Also, the telescope tracked Luna 9 in February 1966, the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the Moon. The telescope listened in on its facsimile transmission of photographs from the moon's surface. The photos were sent to the British press – the probe transmitted, likely intentionally to increase chances of reception, in the international format for image transmission by newswire – and published before the Soviets themselves had made the photos public. The telescope tracked Luna 10, a Russian satellite put into orbit around the Moon, in April 1966, and Zond 5 in September 1968, a Russian probe


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: that was launched at the moon, around which it sling-shotted before returning to Earth. The telescope did not track Apollo 11, as it was tracking Luna 15 in July 1969. However, a telescope at Jodrell Bank was used at the same time to track Apollo 11. The telescope possibly detected signals from Venera 1, a Russian satellite en route to Venus, in 19–20 May 1961. However, it was not possible to confirm the origin of the signals. A few years later, in December 1962, the telescope tracked and received data from Mariner 2. On 18 October 1967, the telescope received


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: signals from, and tracked, Venera 4, a Russian probe to Venus. The telescope tracked Mars 1 in 1962–3, and Mars 2 and Mars 3 in 1971 (amidst the upgrade of the telescope to the Mark IA). In more recent years, it has also searched for several lost Mars spacecraft, including NASA's Mars Observer spacecraft in 1993, Mars Polar Lander in 2000, and the Beagle 2 lander on Mars in 2003. However, it did not succeed in locating any of them. As a stopgap measure while RAF Fylingdales was being built, the telescope was on standby for "Project Verify" (also known


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: by the codewords "Lothario" and "Changlin") between April 1962 and September 1963. During strategic alerts, a 'pulse transmitter, receiver and display equipment' could be connected to the telescope to scan known Russian launch sites for indications of launches of ICBMs and/or IRBMs. During the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, the telescope was discreetly turned towards the Iron Curtain to provide a few minutes' warning of any missiles that might have been launched. When the telescope was proposed, a series of objectives for the telescope's observations were set out. These included: However, the actual observations made with the telescope differ


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: from these original objectives, and are outlined in the following sections. In Autumn 1958, the telescope was used to bounce "Hellos" off the Moon for a demonstration in Lovell's third Reith Lecture. The telescope was also used to receive messages bounced off the Moon (a "moonbounce") as part of the 50th anniversary First Move festival. In April 1961, a radar echo from Venus was achieved using the telescope while the planet was at a close approach, confirming measurements of the distance of the planet made by American telescopes. The 21 cm hydrogen line was discovered during the telescope's construction; the


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: telescope was subsequently redesigned so that it could observe at that frequency. Using this line emission, hydrogen clouds both in the Milky Way galaxy and in other galaxies can be observed; for example, the telescope discovered a large cloud around the M81 and M82 galaxies. The motion of these clouds either towards or away from us either redshifts or blueshifts the line, allowing the velocity to the cloud to be measured. This provides a probe of the internal dynamics of galaxies, and can also provide a measurement of the rate of expansion of the universe. In 1963, the telescope discovered


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: OH emissions from star-forming regions and giant stars; the first astronomical masers. OH masers emit on four frequencies around 18 cm (7 in), which are easily observable on the telescope. As part of MERLIN, the telescope is regularly used to construct maps of maser regions. In 1968, the telescope observed the coordinates of the recently discovered pulsar, confirming its existence and investigating the dispersion measure. It was also used to make the first detection of polarization of the pulsar's radiation. This marked the start of a substantial amount of work investigating pulsars at Jodrell, which is still ongoing. In the


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: 30 years following the discovery of pulsars, the telescope discovered over 100 new pulsars (and astronomers at Jodrell Bank discovered around 2/3 of the total number using the Lovell and other telescopes). 300 pulsars are regularly observed using either the Lovell, or a nearby 42-foot (13-m) dish. The telescope was involved in the discovery of millisecond pulsars, and also discovered the first pulsar in a globular cluster in 1986—a millisecond pulsar in the Messier 28 globular cluster. In September 2006, the results of three years of observing a double pulsar, PSR J0737-3039, with the Lovell telescope, as well as with


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: the Parkes and Green Bank Telescopes, were announced — confirming that the general theory of relativity is accurate to 99.5%. Between 1972 and 1973, the telescope was used for "a detailed survey of the radio sources in a limited area of the sky … up to the sensitivity limit of the instrument". Among the objects catalogued was the first gravitational lens, which was confirmed optically in 1979 after its position was found to coincide with a pair of faint blue stars by using the Mark I as an interferometer with the Mark II. The telescope was also involved in the


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: detection of the first Einstein ring in 1998, in conjunction with observations made with the Hubble Space Telescope. The early investigation into the size and nature of quasars drove the development of interferometry techniques in the 1950s; the Lovell telescope had an advantage due to its large collecting area, meaning that high sensitivity interferometer measurements can be made relatively quickly using it. As a result, the telescope featured heavily in the discovery of quasars. Interferometry at Jodrell Bank started before the Lovell telescope was constructed, using the Transit Telescope with a 35 square meter broadside array to determine the size


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: of radio-loud nebulae. Once construction of the Lovell telescope was complete, the broadside array was put on a steerable mount and the pair were used as a tracking radio interferometer. This was then used to determine the 2D shape of quasars on the sky. In the summer of 1961, a 25-foot (8-m) diameter paraboloid telescope was constructed (it was made of aluminium tubing and was mounted on the rotating structure of an old defence radar). This was then used as a steerable interferometer with the Mark I, with a resolution of 0.3 arcseconds, to determine the sizes of some high-redshift


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: (z~0.86) quasars. The Mark II telescope once constructed was also used as an interferometer with the Lovell telescope. This has a baseline of 425 m (1,394 ft) (meaning that it can synthesize a telescope with 425 m diameter), giving it a resolution of around 0.5 arcminutes. This telescope pair has been used to carry out survey work, and to determine the positions of faint radio objects. Also, one of the drivers behind the construction of the Mark III was to use it as an interferometer with the Mark I to carry out a survey of radio sources. The telescope took


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: part in the first transatlantic interferometer experiment in 1968, with other telescopes being those at Algonquin and Penticton in Canada. It was first used as an interferometer with the Arecibo radio telescope in 1969. In 1980, it was used as part of the new MERLIN array with a series of smaller radio telescopes controlled from Jodrell Bank. With baselines of up to 217 km (135 mi), this gave a resolution around 0.05 arcminutes. An upgraded version of this became a national facility in 1992. It has also been used in Very Long Baseline Interferometry, with telescopes across Europe (the European


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: VLBI Network), giving a resolution of around 0.001 arcseconds. Around half of the telescope's observing time is now spent doing interferometry with other telescopes. It is planned that the telescope will work as part of an interferometer with the Radioastron (Russian) and VLBI Space Observatory Programme (Japanese) orbital radio satellites, providing yet larger baselines and higher resolutions. The telescope was used as a follow-up instrument for possible SETI detections made at Arecibo between 1998 and the end of 2003. No signals were detected. In February 2005, astronomers using the Lovell Telescope discovered the galaxy VIRGOHI21 that appears to be made


title: "Lovell Telescope" content: almost entirely of dark matter. In an August 1981 episode of Coronation Street the telescope was seen. Len and Rita Fairclough brought the boy they were fostering to see the telescope. Lovell Telescope The Lovell Telescope is a radio telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory, near Goostrey, Cheshire in the north-west of England. When construction was finished in 1957, the telescope was the largest steerable dish radio telescope in the world at 76.2 m (250 ft) in diameter; it is now the third-largest, after the Green Bank telescope in West Virginia, United States, and the Effelsberg telescope in Germany. It was


title: "Australasian gannet" content: Australasian gannet The Australasian gannet ("Morus serrator"), also known as Australian gannet and tākapu, is a large seabird of the gannet family Sulidae. Adults are mostly white, with black flight feathers at the wingtips and lining the trailing edge of the wing. The central tail feathers are also black. The head is yellow, with a pale blue-grey bill edged in black, and blue-rimmed eyes. Young birds have mottled plumage in their first year, dark above and light below. The head is an intermediate mottled grey, with a dark bill. The birds gradually acquire more white in subsequent seasons until they


title: "Australasian gannet" content: reach maturity after five years. Nesting takes place in colonies along the coastlines of New Zealand, Victoria and Tasmania—mostly on offshore islands, although there are several mainland colonies in both countries. In New Zealand there are large colonies at Three Kings Islands, Whakaari / White Island and Gannet Island. There is a large protected colony on the mainland at Cape Kidnappers. There are also mainland colonies at Muriwai and Farewell Spit, as well as numerous other island colonies. These birds are plunge divers and spectacular fishers, plunging into the ocean at high speed. They mainly eat squid and forage fish


title: "Australasian gannet" content: which school near the surface. It faces few natural or man-made threats, and since its population is growing it is considered to be a least-concern species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Sir Joseph Banks encountered the Australasian gannet in New Zealand waters, shooting three individuals on 24 December 1769 off Three Kings Islands. The birds were cooked in a goose pie, which was enjoyed by the sailors, for Christmas the next day. Daniel Solander wrote a formal description, noting its differences from the familiar northern gannet, initially giving it the name "Pelecanus chrysocephalus" before crossing it


title: "Australasian gannet" content: out and changing it to "Pelecanus sectator". Parkinson illustrated the bird as "P. sectator", which was misread as "P. serrator" by later authorities. The species name has been translated as "sawyer", from "serra" "saw", and linked to the serrated bill. John Gould described specimens from the Derwent River and Actaeon Island in Tasmania as "Sula australis" in 1841. However, the binomial name "Sula australis" had been used by Stephens already for the red-footed booby. English zoologist George Robert Gray wrote of the species in 1843, initially using Gould's name but soon switching to "Sula serrator", based on Parkinson's drawing. Although


title: "Australasian gannet" content: Gould stuck with "S. australis", "S. serrator" became the preferred term over time. "Australasian gannet" has been designated as the official common name for the species by the International Ornithologists' Union (IOC). It is also known as Australian gannet, diver (from its plunge-diving), booby, or solan goose, in Australia, and Pacific gannet, tākapu, takapu, tākupu or takupu in New Zealand. The Sulidae, the gannets and boobies, appeared about 30 million years ago. Early Sulidae fossils most resembled the boobies, although they were more aquatic, with the gannets splitting off later, about 16 million years ago. The gannets evolved in the


title: "Australasian gannet" content: northern hemisphere, later colonising the southern oceans. The most ancient extant species may be the Abbott's booby, possibly the sole survivor of an otherwise extinct separate lineage. A 2011 genetic study of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA suggests that the ancestor of the gannets arose around 2.5 million years ago before splitting into northern and southern lineages. The latter then splitting into the Cape and Australasian gannets around 0.5 million years ago. The three gannets are generally considered to be separate species forming a superspecies, though they have also formerly been classified as subspecies of the northern gannet ("Sula bassanus"). An


title: "Australasian gannet" content: adult Australasian gannet is long, weighs , and has a wingspan. The two sexes are generally of a similar size and appearance, though a 2015 field study at Pope's Eye and Point Danger colonies found females to be 3.1% and 7.3% heavier respectively. Females also had a slightly larger ulna and smaller bill. The plumage is white with black flight feathers on the wings, and central retrices of the tail. Some individuals have more extensive black plumage of their tail feathers. There is a sharp demarcation between light and dark plumage. The head and hindneck are tinged buff-yellow. The colour


title: "Australasian gannet" content: is more pronounced on the head and during breeding season. The eyes have a light grey iris surrounded by a pale blue eye ring, and bare black skin on the face which merges into the bill. In adults, the bill is pearly grey with dark grey or black edges, and a black groove running down the length of the upper mandible. The four-toed feet are dark grey, and joined by a membrane of similar colour. There are light green lines running along the ridges of the toes that continue along up the front of the legs. Fledglings are brownish-grey speckled


title: "Australasian gannet" content: with white overall. They have dark brown bills, bare facial skin and eyes, and dark grey legs and feet. Australasian gannets take 2-5 years to gain adult plumage. Over this period, the upperparts and underparts gradually whiten and the crown and nape become buff-coloured. However, there is great variation in the age that mature plumage is seen. This species is distinctive, and only likely to be confused with species that do not generally share its range. The Cape gannet is a rare vagrant to Australasian waters and has an all-black tail, while the masked and red-footed boobies are generally restricted


title: "Australasian gannet" content: to tropical waters. Although both have mostly white plumage, they lack the buff colouring of the head and have whilte tails. The masked booby has a blue-black face and less black on the wing, while the red-footed booby has red feet. The Australasian gannet is generally silent at sea and loud and vocal at the colony in the day and at times overnight during the breeding season. Its typical call is a harsh "arrah-arrah" or "urrah-urrah", which is emitted upon approaching or arriving at the colony or as a threat. The calls can vary between individuals, and the female's call


title: "Australasian gannet" content: is lower pitched than the male's. The Australasian gannet is found from Steep Point in Western Australia, along the southern and eastern Australian coastline to the vicinity of Rockhampton in Queensland, as well as the North and South Islands of New Zealand, Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands. At sea, it is generally restricted to waters over the continental shelf, and may enter harbours, bays and estuaries, particularly in stormy weather. Breeding colonies are mostly on offshore islands, though several mainland colonies exist in Australia and New Zealand. Numbers of Australasian gannet have been increasing since 1950, although some colonies have


title: "Australasian gannet" content: disappeared and others have decreased in size. Between 1980 and 2000, the population in Australian waters increased from approximately 6,600 to 20,000 breeding pairs. The most recent comprehensive New Zealand census was in 1981, yielding an estimate of 46,600 pairs, estimated to have increased to around 55,000 pairs in 2006. In Victoria, there are colonies at Lawrence Rocks near Portland, and Pope's Eye and Wedge Light in Port Phillip near Melbourne. The colony on Lawrence Rocks increased from 200 pairs in 1873 to around 3,100 pairs in 1996–97, by which time all available space on the island had been filled.


title: "Australasian gannet" content: Gannets began roosting at Point Danger—the closest point on the mainland itself—in 1995, and began nesting the following year after a fox-proof fence was erected around the site. The only nesting locale on mainland Australia itself, the Point Danger colony, has increased steadily, reaching 660 pairs in 1999–2000. Located northeast of Portsea, Pope's Eye is a low artificial semicircular stone breakwater. Gannets began breeding on manmade structures in Port Phillip in 1966, with three pairs at Wedge Light. By the 1999–2000 season, there were 507 pairs there, and on seven other artificial structures around the bay. In Tasmania, there are


title: "Australasian gannet" content: colonies at Eddystone Rock and Pedra Branca off the south coast, and in Bass Strait at Cat Island off Flinders Island, and Black Pyramid Rock off the northwest coast. The colony on Black Pyramid grew from 500 pairs in 1961 to 12,300 pairs in 1998. Eddystone Rock increased from 20 pairs in 1947 to 189 pairs in 1998, and Pedra Branca grew from 1000 pairs in 1939 to 3,300 pairs by 1995, but both these sites have little or no room for expansion. Conversely, the colony at Cat island fell from an estimated 5–10,000 pairs in 1908 to negligible numbers


title: "Australasian gannet" content: by the turn of the millennium due to predation. In New Zealand, almost all breeding colonies are on or around the North Island. Gannet Island, 19 kilometres offshore from Kawhia, was named by Captain James Cook in January 1770 for the gannets seen there and 8,003 pairs were counted in a 1981 census. Three Kings Islands, 55 kilometres north-west of Cape Reinga, contained New Zealand's largest offshore gannet colonies, with 9,855 pairs across five smaller colonies in 1981. However, an aerial survey in 2014–15 found that it had shrunk to 6,402 pairs. Whakaari / White Island, 48 kilometres offshore in


title: "Australasian gannet" content: the Bay of Plenty and comprising five smaller colonies, also saw a reduction in numbers, from 6,662 pairs in 1980–81 to 5,306 pairs in 2014–15. The colony at Cape Kidnappers in Hawke's Bay is thought to have been settled around 1850, with 100 pairs reported in 1885. It had 5,186 pairs counted in a 1981 census. Muriwai, near Auckland, comprises a mainland colony on Okatamiro Point, estimated at 1,385 pairs in 2016, while nearby Motutara (Pillar Rock) had 187 pairs. Gannets established a colony on Tikitiki Rock (Nine Pin Rock) in the outer Bay of Islands in 2007, which had


title: "Australasian gannet" content: around 70 pairs by 2017. On the South Island, gannets began breeding at the end of Farewell Spit in 1983, in an area known as Shellbanks—a 2 m (7 ft) high area of shells and driftwood interspersed with low vegetation: marram ("Ammophila arenaria"), sea rocket ("Cakile edentula"), velvety nightshade ("Solanum chenopodioides") and sowthistle ("Sonchus oleraceus"). Strong winds allow gannets to take off vertically most of the time, and the decline in commercial fishing in nearby Golden and Tasman Bays is thought to have increased food supply. The breeding area is cut off from the mainland by high tides, but can


title: "Australasian gannet" content: be badly impacted by storms. It grew by around 11% per year, reaching an estimated 3,900 pairs in 2011. Little Solander Island in Foveaux Strait hosts the southernmost gannet colony; around 20 pairs recorded on most visits between 1948 and 1986, with one count of 62 pairs in 1984 possibly anomalous. Over May and June, young Australasian gannets from New Zealand colonies disperse to the north and west, mainly flying north around the North Island and (to a lesser extent) via the Cook Strait. They generally reach as far as southeastern Queensland and Rottnest Island in Western Australia. Far-wandering gannets


title: "Australasian gannet" content: are occasional visitors to Marion Island and the Crozet Islands. Some immature gannets spend 3 to 4 years in Australian waters before returning to New Zealand, while others remain in New Zealand waters. The Australasian gannet is generally solitary when out at sea, though once a bird has found fish to hunt, other gannets may notice and join it. It is gregarious on land, nesting in colonies. Non-breeding gannets often form groups on the outskirts of the colony. Small numbers of gannets may remain around the colony site outside of the breeding season, using it as a roosting site. Gannet


title: "Australasian gannet" content: pairs may remain together over several seasons, until one member dies, though have been known to separate. The preferred nesting sites are on flat or gently sloping ground or broad, flat ledges, on offshore islands, stacks or elevated areas on mainland such as cliff-tops, generally between above sea level. The ground may be bare or bear low shrubs such as "Coprosma", "Mesembryanthemum", "Bulbine" or grasses. The nests themselves are cup-shaped mounds high with a deep basin, made from seaweed, plants, earth and debris from the sea. The males usually collect the materials and give to the females, who construct the


title: "Australasian gannet" content: nests. One egg is laid that can weigh anywhere from , with an average of . Matt pale blue and with an elongated egg shape, it measures long by wide. The egg surface fades to a chalky white. Generally only one brood takes place each season, though eggs and chicks up to eight days old will be replaced if lost. Incubation takes 37–50 days and is done mainly by the female, keeping the eggs warm with its webbed feet. Newly hatched chicks are featherless and have black skin, their eyes opening at 2–3 days of age. They are covered with


title: "Australasian gannet" content: white down by two weeks old. The first proper feathers to appear are the primaries and retrices, which appear between days 43 and 47. The chick becomes half-covered by feathers by 9 weeks of age. Young chicks are fed regurgitated semi-digested fish by their parents, who open their mouths wide for their young to fetch the food from the back of their throats. The young birds fledge 95–109 days after hatching, before heading to a nearby clifftop and remaining there for anywhere from 6 hours to 3 days before flying. Weighing on average when born, they reach —exceeding that of


title: "Australasian gannet" content: adult birds—by day 50 and by day 90. Young individuals return to the colonies when they are three years old, and begin breeding between four and seven years of age. The typical lifespan is estimated to be around 20 years. The maximum age recorded from banding has been 30 years 8.2 months; a bird tagged at Cape Kidnappers in January 1955 was found dead some away at Tangalooma in Moreton Bay, Queensland in September 1985. The longest distance travelled is ; a bird tagged at Lawrence Rocks was found washed ashore dead on the southeast coast of Mauritius. These birds


title: "Australasian gannet" content: are plunge divers and spectacular fishers, plunging from heights of up to 20 m (65 ft) into the ocean at high speed. They may dive from 1–2 m (3-7 ft) above the surface at an angle in water less than 3 m (10 ft) deep or in rough weather. They mainly eat forage fish which school near the surface, as well as cephalopods. Some local differences have been recorded: Australasian gannets at Farewell Spit mainly forage on coastal fish in water depths of less than , while those at Cape Kidnappers hunt more oceanic fish at water depths exceeding that.


title: "Australasian gannet" content: The pilchard ("Sardinops sagax") is a popular prey item; Australasian gannets switched to anchovy ("Engraulis australis") at Farewell Spit in 1996 and barracouta ("Thyrsites atun") in Port Phillip Bay in 1998 after pilchard mass mortality events. Other fish species reported eaten include kahawai ("Arripis trutta"), yellow-eye mullet ("Aldrichetta forsteri"), western Australian salmon ("Arripis truttaceus"), cape bonnetmouth ("Emmelichthys nitidus"), greenback horse mackerel ("Trachurus declivis"), yellowtail horse mackerel ("Trachurus novaezelandiae"), striped trumpeter ("Latris lineata"), New Zealand blueback sprat ("Sprattus antipodum") and flyingfish of the genera "Cheilopogon" and "Hirundichthys". Squid of the genus "Nototodarus" are among cephalopods eaten. The Australasian gannet is highly


title: "Australasian gannet" content: territorial when nesting, engaging in agonistic displays to mark their ground against neighbours and interlopers. In the bowing display, the male's head and beak points down, and its wings are held up and away from the body, yet folded backwards. It moves his head from side to side before bowing forwards. The male may escalate by lunging at an interloper, either with a closed or open bill, or proceed to locking bills and wrestling for an extended period. Fights can be fatal on occasion. A bird may engage in an appeasement display to calm an attacker by lowering its head


title: "Australasian gannet" content: and tucking its bill in its chest. Mated pairs engage in a fencing display when the male arrives back at the nest. The two birds stand breast to breast with wings spread and bills extended vertically. They fence and scissor with their bills rapidly, calling loudly at the same time. Fencing is interspersed with bill bowing. The birds generally follow this exchange with allopreening. Mated pairs also engage in "sky-pointing", where a bird paces slowly with its neck and bill vertical and its wings partly raised. Copulation takes place after allopreening, the female shaking her head vigorously and the male


title: "Australasian gannet" content: biting her neck and climbing on her back and waving his wings before joining their cloacae. Afterwards the female preens the male, who slides off his partner and reciprocates preening. The southern giant petrel ("Macronectes giganteus") has been recorded preying on an adult Australasian gannet by holding it underwater and drowning it. Eggs and chicks can fall victim to the kelp gull ("Larus dominicanus") and Pacific gull ("Larus pacificus"), particularly if parent birds have been disturbed. External parasites include the feather mite species "Morinyssus simplex"—collected from a museum skin of Australasian gannet–the bird louse species "Pectinopygus bassani", and the tick


title: "Australasian gannet" content: species "Ixodes eudyptidis", the widespread "Ixodes uriae" and "Carios capensis". The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the Australasian gannet as a species of least concern, as the population is large and appears to be growing. It is likely impacted by various forms of commercial fishing, though this is probably low compared with other seabirds. Gannets established a mainland colony on Young Nick's Head near Gisborne, after decoys of nesting birds and pre-recorded calls were broadcast to passing gannets in September 2008. Successful breeding was recorded at the site from the 2010–11 breeding season onwards. A similar


title: "Australasian gannet" content: effort to establish a colony on Mana Island led to the arrival of a single gannet, dubbed Nigel "no mates", who lived alone among the 80 decoys for several years until he was found dead in February 2018. However, in summer 2018, three more gannets arrived at the site. Gannets have been enticed to established breeding colonies by decoys at reserves on Motuora Island. The Maori were reported to have harvested young gannets for food, visiting Gannet Island in March. Australasian gannet The Australasian gannet ("Morus serrator"), also known as Australian gannet and tākapu, is a large seabird of the


title: "Ancient warfare" content: their service, the veterans were allowed retirement to these estates. Generals could become quite influential at the court, but unlike other feudal states, the Egyptian military was completely controlled by the king. Foreign mercenaries were also recruited; first Nubians (Medjay), and later also Libyans and Sherdens in the New Kingdom. By the Persian period Greek mercenaries entered service into the armies of the rebellious pharaohs. The Jewish mercenaries at Elephantine served the Persian overlords of Egypt in the 5th century BC. Although, they might also have served the Egyptian Pharaohs of the 6th century BC. As far as had been


title: "Viviparous lizard" content: Viviparous lizard The viviparous lizard or common lizard, Zootoca vivipara (formerly "Lacerta vivipara"), is a Eurasian lizard. It lives farther north than any other species of non-marine reptile, and most populations are viviparous (giving birth to live young), rather than laying eggs as most other lizards do. It is the only species in the monotypic genus Zootoca. Both ""Zootoca"" and ""vivipara"" mean "live birth," in Greek and Latin respectively. It was called "Lacerta vivipara" until the genus "Lacerta" was split into nine genera in 2007 by , Arribas & Carranza. "Zootoca vivipara" can be seen in a variety of different


title: "Viviparous lizard" content: colors. Female "Zootoca vivipara" undergo color polymorphism more commonly than males. A female lizard's display differs in ventral coloration, ranging from pale yellow to bright orange and a mixed coloration. There have been many hypothesis for the genetic cause of this polymorphic coloration. These hypothesis test for coloration due to thermoregulation, predator avoidance, and social cues, specifically sexual reproduction. Through an experiment conducted by Vercken et al., color polymorphism in viviparous lizard is caused by social cues, rather than the other hypotheses. More specifically, the ventral coloration that is seen in female lizards is associated with patterns of sexual reproduction


title: "Viviparous lizard" content: and sex allocation. The length of the body is less than (excluding the tail). The tail is up to twice as long as the body, although it is often partially or wholly lost. The limbs are short, and the head is rather round. Males have more slender bodies than females. The neck and the tail are thick. The collar and other scales seem jagged. The color and patterning of this species is variable. The main color is typically medium brown, but it can be also grey, olive brown or black. Females may have dark stripes on their flanks and down


title: "Viviparous lizard" content: the middle of their backs. Sometimes females also have light-colored stripes, or dark and light spots along the sides of their backs. Most males and some females have dark spots in their undersides. Males have brightly colored undersides – typically yellow or orange, but more rarely red. Females have paler, whitish underparts. The throat is white, sometimes blue. The viviparous lizard is widely distributed throughout Europe and Asia. Its range extends to the north of the Arctic Circle. It ranges from Ireland to Hokkaido and Sakhalin. It is absent from most of the Mediterranean area, although it occurs in northern


title: "Viviparous lizard" content: Spain, Northern Italy, Serbia, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria. It is also absent from the area surrounding the Black Sea. In the southern parts of its distribution range, the species lives at high elevations, occurring as high as above sea level in the Alps. In these areas, the viviparous lizard lives in damp locations, often near water, including meadows, swamps, rice fields, by brooks and in damp forests. In the northern part of the range, the species is also found in lowlands, where it occurs in drier environments, including open woodland, meadows, moorland, heathland, fens, dunes, rocks, roadsides, hedgerows


title: "Viviparous lizard" content: and gardens. It lives mainly on the ground, although it may climb onto rocks, logs and low-growing vegetation. The viviparous lizard feeds on invertebrates, mostly small insects and spiders. It shakes larger prey in its jaws before chewing it and swallowing it whole. In early spring, late autumn, and cool summer days, it basks in the sun to reach its optimum body temperature, which is about . These lizards mate in April or May. Males take females in their jaws before mating – if the female is not interested, she will bite the male fiercely. The offspring develops inside the


title: "Viviparous lizard" content: female for about three months. The name of the species is derived from its ability to give birth to live young, an adaptation to a cool climate, but some southern populations are oviparous (egg-laying). The three to ten young (or eggs) are usually produced in July. The blackish young measure about , and when first born are surrounded by egg membrane, from which they break free after about a day. Males reach sexual maturity at the age of two years, females at the age of three years. Individuals from viviparous and oviparous populations may be hybridized, but with significant embryonic


title: "Viviparous lizard" content: malformation. Viviparous "Z. vivipara" do develop placentae to facilitate pregnancy but there is no substantial transport of nutrients as seen in some other species of viviparous reptiles (e.g. the southern grass skink). Due to the cool climate, in northern regions, viviparous lizards begin hibernation in September or October, underground or in log piles. Hibernation ends about mid-February. Further south, the species is active throughout the year. The color polymorphism of female "Zootoca vivipara" has not been thoroughly studied in past years, regardless of the extensive research done on the species itself. Female lizards exhibit three types of body coloration within


title: "Viviparous lizard" content: a population: yellow, orange, and mixture of the two. These discrete traits are inherited maternally and exist throughout the individual’s lifetime. The organism's color morphs are determined by their genotype as well as their environment. The frequency of multiple morphs occurring in a population varies with the level of population density and frequency-dependent environments. These factors cause the lizards to vary in terms of their fitness (clutch size, sex ratio, hatching success). In lower density populations, color polymorphism is more prevalent. This is because viviparous lizards thrive in environments where intraspecific competition is low. Increased competition among individuals results in


title: "Viviparous lizard" content: lower survival rates of lizards. Additionally, female lizards disperse through habitats based on the frequency of color types that are already present in the population. Their reproductive abilities vary according to this frequency-dependent environment. The number of offspring that they produce correlates with the color morph: yellow females produce the fewest offspring, while orange females produce more than yellow, but fewer than mixed females, which produce the most offspring. The amount of offspring produced varies in regards to color frequencies in the population; for example, if yellow females have higher density within the population, the clutch size for orange lizards


title: "Viviparous lizard" content: is usually lower. Orange females are more sensitive to intraspecific and color-specific competition. They have smaller clutch sizes when the density of the population is high, or when the number of yellow females in the population is high. This could be due to their need to conserve energy for survival and reproductive events. Their color morph remains in the population due to the trade-off between the size of offspring and the clutch size. Offspring born in smaller clutches are often larger and thus have a higher survival likelihood. Natural selection will favor individuals with larger size because of their advantage


title: "Viviparous lizard" content: in physical competition with others. Yellow females have larger clutch sizes early in their life, but their hatch success decreases as the female ages. Their reproductive viability decreases, resulting in fewer offspring throughout their lifetime. Yellow morphs remain in the population due to their large clutch size, which causes an increased frequency of those females. Selection favors the yellow morph because of the ability to produce large clutch sizes, which increases the female's fitness. In mixed-colored females, reproductive success is less sensitive to competition and frequency-dependent environments. Since these lizards show a mixture of yellow and orange coloration, they adopt


title: "Viviparous lizard" content: benefits from both of the morphs. As a result, they can maintain high reproductive success and hatching success with large clutch sizes. Their color morph remains in the population due to its high fitness, which selection will favor. All three colors have evolutionary advantages in different ways. While yellow females have higher fitness due to their large clutch sizes, orange females enjoy high fitness due to their large body size and increase competitive advantages. Mixed females exhibit both of these advantages. Viviparous lizard The viviparous lizard or common lizard, Zootoca vivipara (formerly "Lacerta vivipara"), is a Eurasian lizard. It lives