The makers of the Bafta-winning documentary My Octopus Teacher want to preserve the underwater ecosystem it features. The documentary focuses on a film-maker who befriends an octopus – but the unsung star of the show is the kelp forest off the coast of Cape Town. It is one of the richest ecosystems in the world. The makers of the film are part of a campaign to preserve the aquatic forest.
Category Archives: Ecosystems
Antarctic View: Counting ‘Chinstrap Penguins’ On Elephant Island (Video)
After 50 years, scientists return to Elephant Island off the coast of the Antarctic peninsula to do the seemingly impossible; count thousands of penguins.
245 kilometers off the frigid coast of Antarctica is an island where populations of chinstrap penguins live in the thousands. But these penguins are more than just cute, the health of the Antarctic ecosystem relies on their well-being. the scientists in this next documentary count them. Yeah. By hand, in the freezing cold, walking on steep cliffs. It’s been years since this last happened, and the data collected now will inform them of how one of the most remote places on earth is fairing.
The chinstrap penguin is a species of penguin that inhabits a variety of islands and shores in the Southern Pacific and the Antarctic Oceans. Its name stems from the narrow black band under its head, which makes it appear as if it were wearing a black helmet, making it easy to identify.
Economics Of Nature: ‘Mapping The Ecosystems Of Liberia, Africa’ (Video)
NASA is working alongside Conservation International and the Liberian Government through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to pilot an innovative and replicable approach to more accurately map ecosystems to support effective planning and sustainable decision-making. NASA’s satellite data and expert analysis will provide a country-wide picture of Liberia’s hardwood forests, mangroves, and other ecosystems; Conservation International and the Liberian Government through the EPA will augment that data with their expertise in ecosystem accounting, field studies, and local knowledge to quantify the value of the country’s natural resources and related ecosystem services.
Liberia is a country in West Africa, bordering Sierra Leone, Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire. On the Atlantic coast, the capital city of Monrovia is home to the Liberia National Museum, with its exhibits on national culture and history. Around Monrovia are palm-lined beaches like Silver and CeCe. Along the coast, beach towns include the port of Buchanan, as well as laid-back Robertsport, known for its strong surf.
Read more: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/…
Conservation: Protecting Amazonian Rainforests In French Guiana (Video)
In France’s overseas department of French Guiana, the Amazon rainforest covers 90 percent of land. It’s teeming with wildlife, but this unique biodiversity is in danger. Researchers and locals are doing their best to protect it, like in Favard, where the village healer passes on his knowledge to the younger generations and educates tourists on the need to protect the forest. Meanwhile, entomologists list different species of insects, a titanic job as this knowledge is still in its infancy. Finally, researchers are trying to understand what’s driving the decline in sea turtles.
French Guiana is an overseas department of France on the northeast coast of South America, composed mainly of tropical rainforest. The ruins of 17th-century Fort Cépérou overlook the capital, Cayenne, with its colorful Creole houses and street markets. Shops and cafes surround the palm-filled main square, Place des Palmistes. The Rémire-Montjoly suburb is lined with Atlantic coast beaches.
Ecosystems: ‘Scotland’s Rainforest’ (HD Video)
Scotland’s rainforest is one of our most precious habitats. It is as important as tropical rainforest, but even rarer. Yet few people know it exists and fewer still know how globally significant it is. This film was created by the Alliance for Scotland’s Rainforest to inform and inspire better protection for Scotland’s rainforest.
Scotland’s rainforest is made up of the native woodlands found on Scotland’s west coast where consistent levels of rainfall and relatively mild, year-round temperatures provide just the right conditions for some of the world’s rarest mosses, liverworts and lichens.
Ecology: ‘The Great Green Wall’ Of Africa (Video)
Development banks and states pledged a total of $14.32 billion over the next four years to build a “Great Green Wall” to help contain desertification in Africa’s northern Sahel region. But what exactly is it and how much progress has been made?
The Great Green Wall or Great Green Wall of the Sahara and the Sahel is Africa’s flagship initiative to combat the increasing desertification. Led by the African Union, the initiative aims to transform the lives of millions of people by creating a mosaic of green and productive landscapes across North Africa.
Ecology: Benfits Of 50% Of Serengeti Grasslands Burning Each Year (Video)
After receiving twelve hours of solar energy every day, the Serengeti grasslands become a tinderbox, just waiting to be lit.
The vast majority of the African fires currently burning seem to be in grasslands, in exactly the places we expect to see fires at this time of year. These fires are usually lit by cattle farmers as part of their traditional management of the savannahs where their animals graze. Some fires are started to stimulate new growth of nutritious grass for their animals, others are used to control the numbers of parasitic ticks or manage the growth of thorny scrub.
Without fires, many savannahs (and the animals they support) wouldn’t exist, and lighting them is a key management activity in many of the iconic protected areas of Africa. For instance the Serengeti in Tanzania is known worldwide for its safari animals and awe-inspiring wildebeest migration – and our work shows that around half of its grasslands burn each year.
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