Wednesday 21 June 2017
The ascidians or sea squirts - Ασκιδιοειδή - Cyprus
Ascidiacea (commonly known as the ascidians or sea squirts) is a paraphyletic class in the subphylum Tunicata of sac-like marine invertebrate filter feeders. Ascidians are characterized by a tough outer "tunic" made of the polysaccharide cellulose.Ascidians are found all over the world, usually in shallow water with salinities over 2.5%. While members of the Thaliacea and Larvacea (Appendicularia) swim freely like plankton, sea squirts are sessile animals: they remain firmly attached to their substratum, such as rocks and shells.
There are 2,300 species of ascidians and three main types: solitary ascidians, social ascidians that form clumped communities by attaching at their bases, and compound ascidians that consist of many small individuals (each individual is called a zooid) forming colonies up to several meters in diameter.
Sea squirts feed by taking in water through a tube, the oral siphon. The water enters the mouth and pharynx, flows through mucus-covered gill slits (also called pharyngeal stigmata) into a water chamber called the atrium, then exits through the atrial siphon.
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascidiacea
Underwater photos at Akrotiri by Kostas Aristeidou
Tuesday 20 June 2017
Sunday 18 June 2017
Friday 16 June 2017
BirdLife Cyprus: Cyprus Bird Report 2013 - Little Bustard (Tetrax tetrax) - Photo by George Konstantinou
The report contains 37 colour photos, the 2013 Systematic List of 293 observed species or recognised forms which was compiled from nearly 65,000 records, the 2013 Ringing report, papers on the first Asian Buff-bellied Pipit in Cyprus, the Southern Grey Shrike species complex, the BirdLife Cyprus 2013 monitoring programmes and Cyprus ringing recoveries updated to 2013. The Report includes species charts and tables and a full Cyprus bird List. The front cover features the Eurasian Griffon Vulture, the subject of a reintroduction project -GYPAS.
Unfortunately though the story doesn't have a happy ending as most of you will now know. On 15th December a photograph of a shot bird was sent to BirdLife Cyprus Chairman Melis Charalambides by someone wanting to know what species their friend had shot. The photograph was of a shot Little Bustard and despite the fact that it is claimed that it had been shot in the area of Potamia, the Geri bird had not been seen since 14th. It is too much of a co-incidence and it can be safely assumed that the shot bird was George's bird.
According to P.Flint and P. Stewart in the second edition of 'The Birds of Cyprus' Little Bustard were seen, before 1946, usually in pairs, most winters especially in the Morphou area. They describe it as 'formerly a scarce to fairly common winter visitor to low ground Nov -- Feb'. They also mention many records of shot birds in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The most recent accepted record of a live Little Bustard on the island is from the Paphos area in December 1979. Tellingly however there are reports of shot birds most years and such a report was received less than a month before the Nicosia bird was found. There are authenticated reports of specimens in taxidermist shops that support this otherwise hearsay evidence.
Little Bustard are the smallest member of the bustard family in Europe and are slightly bigger than a Black Francolin although have a more upright stance than that species. It is listed as Near Threatened by BirdLife International due to reduction in range and numbers -- especially in the west of its range - thought to be mainly due to habitat loss and degradation as well as what they describe as low-level hunting pressure. In the west of Europe it occurs in Spain, Portugal, Italy and France and in the east of its range it occurs in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, north-west China, northern Iran and Turkey. Many overwinter eastwards from Turkey to Azerbaijan.
News of the shooting of this individual shocked all who had seen it and other local birdwatchers but giving its confiding nature some
By Jane Stylianou
BirdLife Cyprus: Cyprus Bird Report 2015 - First Lesser Flamingo in Cyprus and a rare leucistic European stonechat - Photos by George Konstantinou
The Report contains 55 colour photos, the 2015 Systematic List of 301 observed species or recognised forms which was compiled from nearly 66,000 records, the 2015 Ringing report, papers on the first Lesser Flamingo in Cyprus, putting geolocators on Cyprus Wheatears, the BirdLife Cyprus 2015 monitoring programmes, the diet of Red-footed Falcons while in Anarita Park, and autumn bird numbers in Western Paphos.
Thursday 15 June 2017
Wednesday 14 June 2017
Ένα πολύ ενδιαφέρον ντοκιμαντέρ για τον άγριο Ακάμα - City Free press - Sigmalive - 14.06.2017
See also
Ένα πολύ ενδιαφέρον ντοκιμαντέρ για τον άγριο Ακάμα
14.06.2017
Όταν ο παράδεισος είναι μόνο λίγα μέτρα μακριά!
Την μοναδική και πολύ σημαντική βιοποικιλότητα του Ακάμα θέλησε να αναδείξει και να εξηγήσει ο Πρόεδρος του Συνδέσμου προστασίας φυσικής κληρονομιάς και βιοποικιλότητας της Κύπρου Γιώργος Κωνσταντίνου.
Στο πλαίσιο του Περιφερειακού Συνεδρίου «ΕΕ – Κύπρος Αειφόρος Ανάπτυξη – Φυσικοί Πόροι» προβλήθηκε μια ταινία για την βιοποικιλότητα της περιοχής του Ακάμας η οποία αναλύει τη σημαντικότητα της υπάρχουσας χλωρίδας και πανίδας, που φιλοξενείται στην περιοχή.
14.06.2017
Όταν ο παράδεισος είναι μόνο λίγα μέτρα μακριά!
Την μοναδική και πολύ σημαντική βιοποικιλότητα του Ακάμα θέλησε να αναδείξει και να εξηγήσει ο Πρόεδρος του Συνδέσμου προστασίας φυσικής κληρονομιάς και βιοποικιλότητας της Κύπρου Γιώργος Κωνσταντίνου.
Στο πλαίσιο του Περιφερειακού Συνεδρίου «ΕΕ – Κύπρος Αειφόρος Ανάπτυξη – Φυσικοί Πόροι» προβλήθηκε μια ταινία για την βιοποικιλότητα της περιοχής του Ακάμας η οποία αναλύει τη σημαντικότητα της υπάρχουσας χλωρίδας και πανίδας, που φιλοξενείται στην περιοχή.
Tuesday 13 June 2017
Thursday 8 June 2017
Wednesday 7 June 2017
Tuesday 6 June 2017
Monday 5 June 2017
Kermes oak - Quercus coccifera subsp. calliprinos (Webb) Holmboe - Περνιά - Πουρνάρι - Cyprus
Quercus coccifera, the kermes oak, is an oak in the Quercus section Cerris. It is native to the Mediterranean region and Northern African Maghreb, south to north from Morocco to France and west to east from Portugal to Cyprus and Turkey, crossing Spain, Italy, Libya, Balkans, and Greece, including Crete. The Kermes Oak was historically important as the food plant of the Kermes scale insect, from which a red dye called crimson was obtained. The etymology of the specific name 'coccifera' is related to the production of red cochineal (crimson) dye and derived from Latin coccum which was from Greek κὀκκος, the kermes insect. The Latin -fera means 'bearer'
Quercus coccifera is usually a shrub less 2 metres (6.6 ft) tall, rarely a small tree, reaching 1–6 metres (3.3–19.7 ft) tall (a 10 metres (33 ft) specimen recorded in Kouf, Libya) and 50 cm trunk diameter. It is evergreen, with spiny-serrated coriaceous leaves 1.5–4 cm long and 1–3 cm broad. The acorns are 2–3 cm long and 1.5–2 cm diameter when mature about 18 months after pollination. They are held in a cup covered in dense, elongated, reflexed scales.
The kermes oak, Quercus coccifera is a scrub oak closely related to the Palestine oak (Quercus calliprinos) of the eastern Mediterranean, with some botanists including the latter in kermes oak as a subspecies or variety. The Palestine oak is distinguished from it by its larger size (more often a tree, up to 18 m) and larger acorns over 2 cm diameter.
It is associated with several asparagus species, Crataegus monogyna, Mediterranean dwarf palm, ephedra, myrtle, several species of Junipers (Juniperus, sabinas...), Pistacia terebinthus, mastic, wild Olea europea, sarsaparilla, Rhamnus atlantica, Rhamnus lycioides, Rhamnus oleoides, Rhamnus catharticus etc. The communities receiving several characteristic names.
It is indifferent to chemistry of soils, living on calcareous, pebbly, stony and poor soils. A lover of warm weather, it starts to fail from 1000 metres above sea level. It is capable of supporting the continental Mediterranean climate with extreme temperatures and low rainfall, replacing Quercus ilex (holm oak) in drier areas where it excels in drought resistance. It also grows on sea cliffs and in windy areas where other species of Quercus or Pinus cannot resist the harsh weather conditions.
Kermes oak species grow in dry, sunny slopes. Quercus coccifera supports either drought summers and semi-desert climate with rainfall between 400 and 600mm, with a maximum in the fall and spring. In its habitat summers are hot and winters are cold with the dry summer season with more than 35 °C, occasionally reaching over 40 °C. In winter the temperatures often drop below 0 °C. It lives in areas with moisture produced by condensation fogs, many Ground frost on clear nights and sporadic snowfalls.A very hardy species, it grows well in all types of soils as a shrub, withstanding overgrazing.
It blooms from March to May in weather still wet. It is easily propagated by seed, an acorn that lies dormant until germinated by wet weather. This might occur anywhere from late summer to late autumn or early winter (October, November or December) of the following year. The acorns are very bitter, varying greatly in size and shape from one specimen to another and tasting bad. Acorns can germinate even before falling from the plant, but Quercus coccifera is also multiplied by root suckers and layering.
Kermes oaks have become scarce, due to their replacement in wet zones by larger species such as Holm oak. It has also suffered from extensive culling for use as charcoal. It is the only food and shelter for wildlife in some areas, such as the Ebro valley and other dry areas where chaparral replaces oaks due to low rainfall.
Populations typically occur in desert regions without any inhabited nucleus because crops are not economically profitable and the climate becomes progressively more continental and drier and therefore end in extreme temperatures accompanied by slow-growing dwarf juniper species. It is the last Quercus genus species to disappear when rainfall is lacking. Their ecological importance is as a habitat and food source in these areas (they have edible acorns, although with a very bitter taste) for nesting birds, foxes, rodents and wild boars. It forms thickets, thorny and dense, some recorded as tall as five meters. It is sometimes accompanied by other plant species of the same size and climber plants such as asparagus or zarzaparrilla.
It is an important Mediterranean bush or dwarf vegetation, where the biome it dominates often bears its name (maquis, coscojar, garrigue, carrascal, chaparral, etc.). Q. coccifera form monospecific communities or communities integrated with Pinus, mediterranean buckthorns, Myrtus, Arecaceae, junipers, Pistacia, Rosmarinus, Thymus, etc.It is located throughout the region around the Mediterranean Sea, especially in central southern and eastern halves, but is almost always missing from elevated and inland areas, with the exception of the semi-arid interior of the Ebro Valley (200 m above sea level) where it is the dominant species. It is similarly found on islands in the Mediterranean, from the Balearic Islands to Cyprus. It is common in Crete and can survive heavy sheep and goat grazing for long periods as a ground cover a few centimeters high. The same is true in Mallorca, Ibiza and the Iberian peninsula.
It is included as an endangered species in the Red Book of Bulgaria.
It is called "chêne des garrigues" (garrigue oak) in French. The term "garrigue" comes from Catalan or Occitan "garric" (meaning "twisted") the name for Q. coccifera in those languages.
The common Spanish name of Q. coccifera is chaparro, which refers to its small size, a feature it shares with other oak species in similar habitats in other parts of the world, such as the chaparral communities from various parts of the Americas. The word chaparro comes from the Basque txapar meaning "little thicket"
Tree of the year 2014 in Cyprus
The Cyprus Government has declared Quercus coccifera as the tree of the year 2014. A four-page leaflet has been published (www.moa.gov.cy/forest) with the code P.I.O. 212/2013, printed by the Government Printing Office. The name of the tree in Greek is Prinos or Pournari (Πουρνάρι).
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quercus_coccifera
Photos Euretou 17/11/2014 by George Konstantinou
Ornithogalum chionophilum Holmboe - Ορνιθόγαλον το χιονόφιλο - Endemic to Cyprus
See also - Λίστα Ενδημικών Φυτών της Κύπρου - List of Endemics plants of Cyprus
Endemic to CyprusAltitudinal range
Endemic to the Troodos range, fairly common in moist sites (alt. 900 - 1.950m).
Saturday 3 June 2017
Friday 2 June 2017
Tuesday 23 May 2017
Monday 22 May 2017
Saturday 20 May 2017
Hermit crab - Clibanarius erythropus (Latreille, 1818) - Cyprus
Clibanarius erythropus is a species of hermit crab that lives in rockpools and sublittoral waters. It is found in the Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea and eastern Atlantic Ocean from the Azores to Brittany, the Channel Islands and as far north as the south Cornwall coast. Individuals may grow up to a carapace length of 15 millimetres (0.6 in)A variety of different gastropod shells are used by C. erythropus, the most frequent being Littorina striata, Mitra, Nassarius incrassatus and Stramonita haemastoma, which collectively account for 85% of all the individuals studied in the Azores; in the Mediterranean, shells of Cerithium, Alvania montagui and Pisania maculosa are most used by C. erythropus.
Like other hermit crabs, C. erythropus feeds on "organic debris, decayed and fresh macro-algae with associated fauna and epiphytic algal flora, small invertebrates, and macroscopic pieces of dead and live animal tissues". It has been shown that C. erythropus individuals select substrates where they can cover large distances, and that globose shells allow them greater mobility than elongate ones
In 2016 the BBC Springwatch programme highlighted C. erythropus and ran a competition to provide a vernacular name. The winning name was St Piran's crab, a process supported by National Trust West Cornwall and the Cornwall Wildlife Trust. St Piran is generally regarded as the patron saint of Cornwall, and was a hermit who survived being thrown into the sea.
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clibanarius_erythropus
Underwater photos by Costas Constantinou
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