What is the title of your report?
Notable Species Report
Report:
Most Invasive
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Silver Carp were imported to North America in the 1970's to control algae growth in agriculture and municipal wastewater treatment facilities. They escaped from captivity soon after their importation. Which is why they are considered a highly invasive species. By 2003, silver carp spread into Mississippi, Illinois, Ohio and Missouri rivers, the Carp are close to invading the Great Lakes as well.
Silver carps have no stomachs, they are thought to feed more or less constantly. This species consume phytoplankton, zooplankton and detritus. Because of their plankton-feeding habits, there is a concern they will compete with native fishes.
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| Common Name: |
Silver carp |
| Scientific Name: |
Hypophthalmichthys Molitrix |
| Where on Earth is it a problem: |
Silver carp have been found in the Illinois River, which connects the Mississippi River to Lake Michigan. Due to their large size and rapid rate of |
| Where did it come from?: |
A variety of Silver carp native to North and Northeast Asia. They are cultivated in China. It has been spread into connected waterways, at least eighty-eight countries around the world. |
Most Endangered
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The Red Wolf is a candidate to be an endangered species because its species existence was born in the glacial period, survivor of the Late Pleistocene epoch. Based on fossil and archaeological evidence, the original Red Wolf range extended throughout the Southeast, from the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, north to the Ohio river Valley, and Central Pennsylvania, and west to central Texas and southeastern Missouri.
Their historical habitats include forests, swamps, and coastal prairies. By the 1980's, the wild Red Wolf became extinct. However, the world saw a reintroduction in North Carolina through a captive breeding program, Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge.
As their name suggests, the Red Wolves are known for their characteristic reddish color of their fur most apparent behind the ears and along the neck and legs, but are mostly brown and buff colored with some black along their backs. Their litter is averaged to about three pups and has one estrous cycle per year. Red Wolves typically become mature at their second year. As an Apex predator, red wolves have no natural predators.
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| Common Name: |
Red Wolf |
| Scientific Name: |
Canis Rufus |
| Where does it live?: |
Florida, North/South Carolina, Tennessee.
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Favorite Keystone
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The Plateau Pika is a keystone species for biodiversity on the Tibetan Plateau. Because they make burrows that are primary homes for a variety of endemic birds and lizards, the Pika is the primary unit for this family social unit. The Pika also creates microhabitat disturbance that results in an increase in plant species richness.
The pika serves as the principal prey for nearly all the Plateau's predator species, and contributes positively to the ecosystem-level dynamics.
This species is also known as the Black-lipped Pika. They are underground-dwelling relatives of the rabbit that live at high altitudes. They are prodigious feeders, producing a litter every three
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| Common Name: |
Plateau Pika |
| Scientific Name: |
Ochotona Curzoniae |
| Where does it live?: |
Qinghai/Tibetan Plateau of China, Asia, and Himalayas
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Coolest Predator Adaptation
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The leopard has short legs, a long body, with a large skull. Its fur is marked with rosettes that are smaller and more densely packed. A female can give birth any time of the year, most likely with two cubs at a time. A cub will stay with its mother for about two years or until it has learned to hunt by itself. Usually if a leopard does not have cubs of its own, they remain solo animals.
Because of this species adaptability to habitats, its ability to run 36 miles per hour, ability to climb trees, and its stealth skills; leopards remain a predator species. The leopard consumes nearly any animal that it can hunt down and catch. They are able to large prey due to their massive skulls that facilitate powerful jaw muscles. A leopard can reach seven times their natural height in a single jump. When suddenly surrounded by human activity, a leopard will attack humans or most commonly dogs.
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| Common Name: |
Leopard |
| Scientific Name: |
Pathera Pardus |
| Where does it live?: |
The Leopard was once distributed across Eastern and Southern Asia and Africa from Siberia to South Africa. Although, now that this species is near threatened, they are chiefly found Sub-Saharan Africa, Indian Subcontinent, Indochina, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, and China |
Coolest Prey Adaptation
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The Automeris Io is a very colorful North American moth in the Saturniidae family. As a defense mechanism meant to frighten off predators, male have bright yellow forewings, body and legs, and bigger plumose antennae than the female. Females have reddish brown forewings, body and legs. Both have one big black to bluish eyespot with some white in the center.
Adult moths such as these are nocturnal, male use their antennae to track down females, once they find them and mate, females lay eggs then wait to die. Females lay small, white ova in the leaves of host plants. The eggs are usually laid in clusters of more than twenty with large rosettes that turn black as fertile eggs develop. Using the leaves around them, the eggs surround themselves and wrap their cocoons with it. After opening up from the cocoon the inflation process of expanding their wings takes about twenty minutes.
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| Common Name: |
Automeris Io |
| Scientific Name: |
Fabricius |
| Where does it live?: |
Ranges from the Southeast corner of Manitoba and in the Southern extremes of Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick in Canada. In the United States, it is found in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and southern end of Florida.
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