background preloader

Science

Facebook Twitter

Humboldt Current: LME #13. Science and the Sea - Humboldt Current. If you’re not a fan of anchovies, then the Pacific Coast of South America isn’t for you. A large fraction of the world’s anchovies are caught in the cold waters off Peru and Chile. They’re sustained by an ocean current that creates the most productive fisheries in the world. The Humboldt Current flows northward along the Pacific Coast of South America. Credit: Wikipedia. The Humboldt Current flows northward along the continent’s edge. When it runs into the steep continental shelf, it dredges up cold, nutrient-rich water from the ocean floor and brings it to the surface.

Sea turtles, sea lions, and sea birds are common. The most common fish are anchovies, sardines, and mackerel. The fisheries have held up pretty well despite increasing pollution and possible overfishing. The Humboldt Current not only sustains life in the Pacific -- it sustains life in the Andes Mountains as well. National Science Foundation. CSI. Tree of Life Web Project. The Tree of Life Web Project (ToL) is a collaborative effort of biologists and nature enthusiasts from around the world. On more than 10,000 World Wide Web pages, the project provides information about biodiversity, the characteristics of different groups of organisms, and their evolutionary history (phylogeny). Each page contains information about a particular group, e.g., salamanders, segmented worms, phlox flowers, tyrannosaurs, euglenids, Heliconius butterflies, club fungi, or the vampire squid.

ToL pages are linked one to another hierarchically, in the form of the evolutionary tree of life. Starting with the root of all Life on Earth and moving out along diverging branches to individual species, the structure of the ToL project thus illustrates the genetic connections between all living things.

Sci+Politics

Naturalist. Astronomy. Nasa.