The giant panda is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its bold black-and-white coat and rotund body. The name "giant panda" is sometimes used to distinguish it from the red panda, a neighboring musteloid. Though it belongs to the order Carnivora, the giant panda is a folivore, with bamboo shoots and leaves making up more than 99% of its diet. Giant pandas in the wild occasionally eat other grasses, wild tubers, or even meat in the form of birds, rodents, or carrion. In captivity, they may receive honey, eggs, fish, yams, shrub leaves, oranges, or bananas along with specially prepared food.
Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin and an essential nutrient for humans. It is a group of organic compounds that includes retinol, retinal, retinoic acid, and several provitamin A carotenoids. Vitamin A has multiple functions: it is essential for embryo development and growth, for maintenance of the immune system, and for vision, where it combines with the protein opsin to form rhodopsin – the light-absorbing molecule necessary for both low-light and color vision.
The glaucophytes, also known as glaucocystophytes or glaucocystids, are a small group of unicellular algae found in freshwater and moist terrestrial environments, less common today than they were during the Proterozoic. The stated number of species in the group varies from about 14 to 26. Together with the red algae (Rhodophyta) and the green algae plus land plants, they form the Archaeplastida. However, the relationships among the red algae, green algae and glaucophytes are unclear, in large part due to limited study of the glaucophytes.
Fucus vesiculosus, known by the common names bladder wrack, black tang, rockweed, sea grapes, bladder fucus, sea oak, cut weed, dyers fucus, red fucus and rock wrack, is a seaweed found on the coasts of the North Sea, the western Baltic Sea and the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It was the original source of iodine, discovered in 1811, and was used extensively to treat goitre, a swelling of the thyroid gland related to iodine deficiency.
A nut is a fruit consisting of a hard or tough nutshell protecting a kernel which is usually edible. In general usage and in a culinary sense, a wide variety of dry seeds are called nuts, but in a botanical context "nut" implies that the shell does not open to release the seed (indehiscent).
White rice is milled rice that has had its husk, bran, and germ removed. This alters the flavor, texture and appearance of the rice and helps prevent spoilage, extend its storage life, and makes it easier to digest. After milling (hulling), the rice is polished, resulting in a seed with a bright, white, shiny appearance.
Ulva lactuca, also known by the common name sea lettuce, is an edible green alga in the family Ulvaceae. It is the type species of the genus Ulva. A synonym is U. fenestrata, referring to its "windowed" or "holed" appearance.
Anabaena is a genus of filamentous cyanobacteria that exist as plankton. They are known for nitrogen-fixing abilities, and they form symbiotic relationships with certain plants, such as the mosquito fern. They are one of four genera of cyanobacteria that produce neurotoxins, which are harmful to local wildlife, as well as farm animals and pets. Production of these neurotoxins is assumed to be an input into its symbiotic relationships, protecting the plant from grazing pressure.
Gracilaria is a genus of red algae (Rhodophyta) notable for its economic importance as an agarophyte, as well as its use as a food for humans and various species of shellfish. Various species within the genus are cultivated among Asia, South America, Africa and Oceania.
Porphyra is a genus of coldwater seaweeds that grow in cold, shallow seawater. More specifically, it belongs to red algae phylum of laver species, comprising approximately 70 species. It grows in the intertidal zone, typically between the upper intertidal zone and the splash zone in cold waters of temperate oceans. In East Asia, it is used to produce the sea vegetable products nori and gim. There are considered to be 60 to 70 species of Porphyra worldwide and seven around Britain and Ireland where it has been traditionally used to produce edible sea vegetables on the Irish Sea coast. The species Porphyra purpurea has one of the largest plastid genomes known, with 251 genes.
Navicula is a genus of boat-shaped diatom algae, comprising over 1,200 species. Navicula is Latin for "small ship", and also a term in English for a boat-shaped incense-holder.
AlgaeBase is a global species database of information on all groups of algae, both marine and freshwater, as well as sea-grass.
Auxenochlorella protothecoides, formerly known as Chlorella protothecoides, is a facultative heterotrophic green alga in the family Chlorellaceae. It is known for its potential application in biofuel production. It was first characterized as a distinct algal species in 1965, and has since been regarded as a separate genus from Chlorella due its need for thiamine for growth. Auxenochlorella species have been found in a wide variety of environments from acidic volcanic soil in Italy to the sap of poplar trees in the forests of Germany. Its use in industrial processes has been studied, as the high lipid content of the alga during heterotrophic growth is promising for biodiesel; its use in wastewater treatment has been investigated, as well.
Bryopsis is a genus of marine green algae in the family Bryopsidaceae. It is frequently a pest in aquariums, where it is commonly referred to as hair algae.
Picocystis is a monotypic genus of green algae, the sole species is Picocystis salinarum. It is placed within its own class, Picocystophyceae in the division Chlorophyta.
Chlorococcum amblystomatis, synonym Oophila amblystomatis, commonly known as chlamydomonad algae or salamander algae, is a species of single-celled green algae. When placed in the genus Oophila, it was the only species. The Latin specific name amblystomatis means "loves salamander eggs". It does not occur anywhere in nature other than in the eggs of the spotted salamander, Ambystoma maculatum. The alga can invade and grow in the amphibian's egg capsule. Once inside, it metabolizes the carbon dioxide produced by the embryo and provides it with oxygen and sugar as a result of photosynthesis. This is an example of symbiosis, and the only known example of an intracellular endosymbiont microbe in vertebrates.
The Alpine-steppe is a high altitude natural alpine grassland, which is a part of the Montane grasslands and shrublands biome.
Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes, forming the kingdom Plantae. Most of them are multicellular. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi. All current definitions exclude the fungi and some of the algae. By one definition, plants form the clade Viridiplantae which consists of the green algae and the Embryophyta or land plants. The latter include the hornworts, liverworts, mosses, lycophytes, ferns, conifers and other gymnosperms, and the flowering plants. A definition based on genomes includes the Viridiplantae, along with the red algae and the glaucophytes, in the clade Archaeplastida.
Vetulicola cuneata is a species of extinct animal from the Early Cambrian Chengjiang biota of China. It was described by Xian-guang Hou in 1987 from the Lower Cambrian Chiungchussu Formation, and became the first animal under an eponymous phylum Vetulicolia.
Raphidocelis subcapitata, formerly known as Selenastrum capricornutum and Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata is a microalga. This microalga presents a curved and twisted appearance like a sickle. The cells are normally presented in a solitary form. It has a length between 8 and 14 μm, and a width between 2 and 3 μm. It is commonly used as a bioindicator species to assess the levels of nutrients or toxic substances in freshwater environments. This species is quite sensitive to the presence of toxic substances including metals and has a ubiquitous distribution, so is broadly used in ecotoxicology. This species has been found to be more competitive than Chara vulgaris at low sodium chloride concentrations, but C. vulgaris was more competitive under salt stress.
3. Song, H., Zhang, Y., Leng, X., Zhang, Y., & Yu, Y. (2015). Aconchulinid testate amoebae play an important role in nutrient cycling in freshwater ecosystems. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 82, 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2014.11.009
