Diario de ward123

The ancestors of the genus Veronica, like Veronica serpyllifolia, were perennial plants. Veronica serpyllifolia is most likely a perennial because of its preference for moist environments. However, within the genus, the annual strategy evolved 6 times independently. The evolution of these annuals within this genus is most likely due to the Messinian Crisis, the drying up of the Mediterranean Sea about 6 million years ago. Another cause to the evolution to annual strategies was the onset of summer drought in the Mediterranean climate about 2.8 million years ago. This is because annual plants have an evolutionary advantage to avoid drought stress by producing drought-tolerant seeds.

The Goliath heron (Ardea goliath) is the world's largest heron, with the exception of the extinct Bennu Heron (Ardea bennuides) which could grow up to 2 meters in size. The Goliath heron itself can reach a height of 120-152 cm. The Goliath heron catches fishes of a large size. Goliath herons catch an average of 2.3 fish per day weighing 500-600 g per fish. These large fish are very energy-efficient. Thus, the heron needs to catch only a relatively low number of fish per day.

One of the important questions is why that the Goliath heron is so large. Because of their size body, the Goliath heron can easily catch these large fish. But what has led this heron to start catching these large fish? One possible explanation is interspecific competition. For example, it is not physically possible for small herons to catch large fish. The Goliath heron was able to do so which, over the course of evolution, increased its body size. In this explanation, the Goliath herons were "forced" to hunt larger fish this due to the competition present.

On the other hand, the Goliath heron may also have made the choice on its own to hunt larger fish, this since larger fish are more energy efficient. This made it easier for the heron to meet its energy needs. Finally, their body size helps to ward off kleptoparasitism. Thus, African fish eagles, pelicans and crocodiles will try to steal the heron's prey.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/51457584

Songbirds mainly sing before dawn. There are several hypotheses as to why songbirds prefer the morning. One is that the combination of low light intensity with low temperatures would hamper invertebrate activity, reducing foraging success at dawn. The birds can then make better use of this time for other activities, such as singing.

Males start singing at dawn when increasing light intensity has reached a certain threshold. This threshold value varies from species to species and therefore also causes each species to start singing at a different time. When there is a lot of light pollution, this threshold is reached faster. As a result, birds in places with a lot of street lights start their dawn singing faster. This effect is greatest for species that in natural conditions start singing early, such as the European robin.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/145139569

In 2021, thanks to new research, the Madeiran chaffinch and the Azores chaffinch were finally considered species in their own right. These finches differ from each other mainly in plumage color, and to a lesser extent in morphological characteristics. These differences are thought to be mainly due to sexual selection and genetic drift. I have seen both the Azores chaffinch (Terceira, August 2018) and the Madeiran chaffinch (Madeira, April 2022) when they were still considered subspecies by the majority. Even then I found the phenotypic characteristics so different that I wondered if these could not be separate species. It is noteworthy that the Azores chaffinch was first described as a separate species by Jacques Pucheran in 1859, but was later considered a subspecies of the Eurasian chaffinch.

The finch did originally colonize the atlantic islands from the European mainland. First, the Azores would have been colonized some 0.83 million years ago, here we also find the highest genetic diversity. Next, some 0.77 million years ago, the island of Madeira would have been colonized from the Azores, followed by the Canary Islands some 0.70 million years ago. These colonization times are relatively recent compared to the age of most of the islands. This relatively recent colonization could be explained by the fact that Macaronesian laurel forests did not become established until about 2.6 million years ago.

Madeiran chaffinch => https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/111955857

Azores chaffinch => https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/104884945

The fungi of the genus Laetiporus produce a large amount of metabolites that contain many useful properties. These include metabolites that have antibacterial, antitumor, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and blood-thinning properties. Research showed that an extract of these chemical compounds provides a strong inhibition in the growth of gram-positive bacteria. For example, the extract of n-hexane derived from Laetiporus sulphureus is active against Salmonella thympimurium, the bacterium that causes the disease Salmonella. Interestingly, the compounds from Laetiporus have higher inhibitory activity on fungi than on bacteria. This fungus also contains several compounds that have anti-cancer activity. For example, lectins inhibit protein synthesis in lung and breast cancer cells and (±)-Laetirobin inhibits the division of cancer cells. This shows once again how a wide range of pharmalogical applications we can get from nature.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/116740031

Plants can be broadly divided into two types of life cycles: annual and perennial. Annual plants, such as this Centaurea solstitialis, complete their life cycle within one growing season. Worldwide, about 6% of plants are annuals, but this number varies from region to region. For example, the proportion of annual plants increases in regions with warmer and drier conditions, this mainly when long dry summers occur. In fact, annual plant species have an advantage in that they can survive extreme conditions as seeds. Based on changing climate patterns, the proportion of annual plants is expected to increase in the future.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/181630322