Category Science

What is the symbiotic relationship between oxpecker and ant?

Oxpeckers are birds that eat ticks, flies and other insects from cattle and other grazing mammals. The oxpecker receives nourishment, and the animal that it grooms receives pest control. Oxpeckers are birds that are commonly found on the sub-Saharan African savanna. They can often be seen sitting on buffalo, giraffes, impalas, and other large mammals. In addition to parasite and pest removal, oxpeckers will also alert the herd to the presence of predators by giving a loud warning call.
Despite their vampiric tendencies, the oxpecker does have qualities that benefit its mammalian hosts.  As well as eating ticks and other external parasites, the oxpecker acts as a watchman for the mammals on which it happens to be situated. When danger approaches, a hissing call warns its host to a potential and nearby predatory threat thus allowing the host ample opportunity to either fight or flee.

 

 

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What kind of relationship would a sea anemone and a clownfish have?

Clownfish live within the protective tentacles of the sea anemone. In return, the sea anemone receives cleaning and protection.

Sea anemones are attached to rocks in their aquatic habitats and catch prey by stunning them with their poisonous tentacles. Clownfish are immune to the anemone’s poison and actually live within its tentacles. Clownfish clean the anemone’s tentacles keeping them free from parasites. They also act as bait by luring fish and other prey within striking distance of the anemone. The sea anemone provides protection for the clownfish, as potential predators stay away from its stinging tentacles.

 

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What type of symbiotic relationship do the ants and aphids have?

Some ant species herd aphids in order to have a constant supply of honeydew that the aphids produce. In exchange, the aphids are protected by the ants from other insect predators. Some ant species farm aphids and other insects that feed on sap. The ants herd the aphids along the plant, protecting them from potential predators and moving them to prime locations for acquiring sap. The ants then stimulate the aphids to produce honeydew droplets by stroking them with their antennae. In this symbiotic relationship, the ants are provided with a constant food source, while the aphids receive protection, and shelter.

The bullhorn acacia tree that is native to Mexico, has leaves which lack essential bitter compounds that protect a tree from grazing animals or insects. Ants which live within the hollowed-out horns of the tree (called the bullhorn acacia ants) mount a speedy attack against any animal or insect that tries to harm the tree. The ants are rewarded for their services by the tree with food. In such ‘symbiotic’ relationships, two organisms of different species have intertwined lifestyles.

 

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What type of relationship exists between pollinators and plants?

Insects and animals play a vital role in the pollination of flowering plants. While the pollinator receives nectar or fruit from the plant, it also collects and transfers pollen in the process. Flowering plants rely heavily on insects and other animals for pollination. Bees and other insects are lured to plants by the fragrance secreted from their flowers. When the insects collect nectar, they become covered in pollen. As the insects travel from plant to plant, they deposit the pollen from one plant to another. Other animals also participate in a symbolic relationship with plants. Birds and mammals eat fruit and distribute the seeds to other locations where the seeds can germinate.

 

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HOW IS FITNESS MEASURED?

Fitness is the physical condition of an individual. When considered in terms of sports and other physical activity, it is often thought of as having four aspects: endurance, strength, flexibility and speed. Sports differ in the degree to which each of these factors is important. For example, weightlifting requires enormous strength, while a sprinter needs the greatest possible speed. The four aspects of fitness are measured in different ways, but one general way of measuring fitness is to see how the heart responds to physical activity. During exertion, the rate at which the heart beats increases, as it pumps more oxygenated blood around the body. How quickly the heart rate returns to normal after exercise is one way to assess how fit someone is and how exercise is improving their fitness.

Body Composition

Body composition measurement helps you understand how much fat and muscle mass are present in your body. Your height, age, weight, bone structure, and the ratio of fat and lean muscle are all considered to find out your body composition. If you workout at a gym, I am sure your trainer must have asked you to get a body composition analysis (BCA) done so that depending on your goals (weight loss or muscle gain), he/she can help you reach your target. Here’s how body composition is analyzed.

Flexibility

Flexibility is the measure of the ability of your muscles to move to their full range of motion. Since most of us lead a sedentary life, the joints become immobile and lose their flexibility. As a result, you feel a sharp pain and tightness in your joints when you are asked to move your body parts to do certain movements. But being flexible will help you prevent joint injuries. Regular exercise, stretching, and yoga are great for increasing flexibility. If your joints are weak, wear joint support. Start slow, but be persistent.

Muscle Strength

Muscle strength is the ability of your muscles to lift weight and exert a force against a resistance. For example, when you lift weights or a heavy box or a child, your muscles have to act against the gravitational pull to be able to lift the weight. The muscles have to contract and relax to complete the range of motion. Unless your muscles are strong and flexible, you will not be able to lift, push, and pull anything. Include strength training in your workout. Lifting weights on a regular basis or even doing bodyweight training will help improve your muscle strength.

Muscle Endurance

Muscle endurance is the measure of the ability of the muscles to perform the same task again and again without getting tired soon. For example, running a marathon is a typical example of muscle endurance power. It also shows how effectively your heart and lung muscles are working to keep your cells oxygenated and prevent fatigue.

Practice your run/jog/planks/push-ups/bicep curls. Do a mixed workout 4-5 days a week. Eat healthily and set new targets for every week. Increase the sets and reps of your exercise over a period.

Other components of Fitness for Athletes

You cannot achieve fitness overnight. You have to work at it consistently to achieve a fitness level and maintain it. Eating healthily, taking rest, and not giving up on your workout routine are the keys to being fit. Also, do a mixed workout – strength training, cardio, a sport, dance, yoga, etc. This will help train your muscles better than just doing one type of workout. If you’d like a more focused and personalized approach, hire a personal trainer to craft and monitor your workouts and a registered dietitian to dial in your nutrition to best complete your workouts. Most importantly, do not judge fitness depending on how you (or anyone else) look(s) and take care of your mental fitness as well. Take care!

For the general population, being healthy and fit is the main target. And health-related fitness aims at improving the overall well-being and functioning of the body. Here are the components of fitness and how to measure them.

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WHAT IS THE SCALE OF A MAP?

Maps are made for many purposes. The details that an airline pilot needs to see, for example, are very different from those needed by a person following a local footpath. In addition to the actual content of the map, it needs to be drawn to an appropriate scale. That means that a distance on the map will need to be multiplied by a certain figure to find the distance on the ground itself. On a scale of 1:10,000, for example, one millimetre on the map will be equivalent to 10,000 millimetres (or 10 metres) in real life. The scale of the map above is shown on the map itself.

The scale of a map is the ratio of a distance on the map to the corresponding distance on the ground. This simple concept is complicated by the curvature of the Earth’s surface, which forces scale to vary across a map. Because of this variation, the concept of scale becomes meaningful in two distinct ways.

The first way is the ratio of the size of the generating globe to the size of the Earth. The generating globe is a conceptual model to which the Earth is shrunk and from which the map is projected. The ratio of the Earth’s size to the generating globe’s size is called the nominal scale (= principal scale = representative fraction). Many maps state the nominal scale and may even display a bar scale (sometimes merely called a ‘scale’) to represent it.

The second distinct concept of scale applies to the variation in scale across a map. It is the ratio of the mapped point’s scale to the nominal scale. In this case ‘scale’ means the scale factor (= point scale = particular scale).

If the region of the map is small enough to ignore Earth’s curvature, such as in a town plan, then a single value can be used as the scale without causing measurement errors. In maps covering larger areas, or the whole Earth, the map’s scale may be less useful or even useless in measuring distances. The map projection becomes critical in understanding how scale varies throughout the map. When scale varies noticeably, it can be accounted for as the scale factor. Tissot’s indicatrix is often used to illustrate the variation of point scale across a map.

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