Amazon Rainforest And Its Impact On The Biome - 1576 Words

What Is Amazon Rainforest, What Are the Human Activities In it and what effects do these activities have on the biome? One of the biome which I found interesting was the Amazon rainforest. The Amazon Rainforest is region which is owned by more than 1 country because of its land mass. It is actually owned by 9 nations. This biome is situated in the amazon basin of South Africa. The Amazon Rainforest covers 5,500,000 km2 (2,123,562 sq mi) of total 7000000 km2 of the Amazon basin. This particular rainforest cover more than 50% of the world rainforest biome. So as to understand this particular rainforest biome better, I am going to talk about the Brazil part of the rainforest as it owns 60% of the rainforest. I found this particular†¦show more content†¦Climate Condition: Amazon rainforest has a tropical climate or also know as the equatorial climate. It is humid throughout the year and has an average temperature of 28 degree celsius. We can not really divide the climate between summer and winter as it has a annual temperature range of 2 degree celsius. The temperature difference between day and night is about 2 to 5 degree celsius. The climate is not as hot as we may except it rarely goes above 30 degree celsius. but the only trouble in the rainforest is the humidity which causes a feeling of lack of air. Due to the humidity we can not really see a dry season in the amazon as it rains thought out the year. We can divide rainfall in Amazon into into two parts rainy and not so rainy. If we look at the above climate table of the amazon basin we can find that the temperature is almost constant throughout the year. But we can kind of divide rainfall in Amazon into rainy and â€Å"not so rainy†. If we have a look at the above table between the months June to September we can call it â€Å"not so rainy† and the rest of the months we can call it rainy. This is between October to May. Flora and Fauna: There are around 40,000 plants species, 427 mammals, 1,300 birds , 378 reptiles and 400 amphibians and 3000 freshwater fishes. These are just the number of some big animals. But in fact if we count the number of smaller life forms it will be way more the above number. There are more that 100,000

Form and Stylistic Characters Free Essays

Form refers to the shape or configuration of a building, it is three dimensional and encloses space (Crisman 2016). Having background knowledge about form and style characteristics from formal lectures, it is easier for one to be able to describe a building in terms of its three dimensionalism and the styles that have been used to give the building character. Going to see the building in person, walking around and in it enabled one to quickly spot these characters of the building just by looking at it. We will write a custom essay sample on Form and Stylistic Characters or any similar topic only for you Order Now There are free forms and geometrical forms (Crisman 2016), in this case when analysing the form of the Johannesburg art gallery (JAG) building it is clear that it is a geometrical form. Geometrical form is basically composed of basic geometrical shapes that are interlinked to form the plan of the JAG building (Ching 1943:36).  As seen in the figures above the floor plan that is encrusted on the floor right in front of the newly pronounced front entrance as well as the floor plan right next to it show different regular shapes such as the circle, square and rectangle interlinked to form the base of the building form. According to design principles the form of a building should relate to its intended function. In the encrusted plan on the JAG grounds it is clear that it was to be a symmetrical form which indicates that it would be used as a formal and orderly building. This suggests to ‘one that form related greatly to the function or the purpose of the building the architect used additive, subtractive and interlinking forms (Ching 1943:197). The architect Sir Edwin Lutyens supplied the plans of the foundations at the time that the laying of the foundation stone had started on 11 0ctober 1911 (Carman 2003:231). The construction was delayed and in 1915 the unfinished building opened for use. At this point the form of the building was incomplete until in 1940 when the side wings which are the east west wings of the building were added according to Lutyens original design. Though it can be argued it is clear to the eye that the stylistic characteristics of the building changed due to the addition by different architects. The building shows clearly with the mid section which was the part built by lutyen that it carried a lot of classical styles to it. Though they were different classical styles mixed together it was quite evident which direction Lutyen wanted to take. The wings that were added however were very modern as opposed to the classical mid section of the building , this clearly shows to those with deeper knowledge in art and architecture that this building was built by different architects using the same plan(Carman 2003:231). Figure1: Janek Szymanowski(photographer), Johannesburg Art Gallery-wiki loves monuments,1988 The JAG building has a variety of styles that were used to design the building. With background knowledge it was identified that the classical, neo classical and baroque styles were used in the South Entrance which was once the main entrance. A writer from Chadwicks â€Å"home of the building Materials†(2016) states that there is one common link between these three styles that allows one to Identify them, the Pediment. In figure 1 above is the south entrance that shows the Pediment. The pediment is found in a lot of Classical Greek architecture like the temples as well as baroque architecture as one of the key elements of the stylistic characterstics e.g The Palace of Versailles. (Chadwicks 2016) Cath everett(photographer), IBTimes-My South African Adventure, 2014 The second style identified in the design of the JAG building is small elements of the Victorian style. There is a hexagonal skylight structure atop the roof that is built like a spherical bay window. Bay windows are a key element in the Victorian building style in architecture. It is very classical but has also been used in today’s morden residential apartments and houses. It can be easily incorporated in a few architecture styles (Chadwicks 2016). The third is the Romanisque style. The key elements identified are the rounded archs found at the North entrance of the building as well as the walls at the south entrance side. There are also repetitive rows of rounded arches which are well found within the Roman built structures. Inside the building there are also columns found in the corners of the exhibition rooms with floral and foliage stone decoration. These stone decorations are strongly identified as the different classes represented by the columns mainly the Doric, Ionic and the Corinthian (Chadwicks 2016). The fourth style identified is the Bauhaus style originally from Germany formed in the 1900’s. The Bauhaus principle of cubic shapes is found in the plan of the building as well as the east and west wing of the building. Other key elements are the open floor plans and the glass curtain walls. the inside of the gallery there are exhibition rooms that are open plan meaning than if any special additions are needed they can be added without a doubt. These rooms can be altered and remodeld if need be. It is also possible to house free standing exhibition stands as the space and the volume allows it. On the lower level of the building in the east and the west wing glass curtains were added but can barely be seen on the outside. These glass curtains allow daylight to come through but not direct sunlight as other parts of the building have stood infront and on a higher level than the position of the glass curtains walls ( Chadwicks 2016). The fourth style is the Neo classical style identified by the Granduer of scale, black walls excessive use of columns, large building and clean lines. This building enormous in size with high volume. Proportion has been used skilfully. The cielings are as high as 4m and very spacious. The architect was able to play around with scale well to emphasize its size. Different order columns are identified within the building as well as the outside. The orders have been mixed where the doric and the corinthian has been mixed together or the ionic and the corinthian together. They are either carved out of the walls at the corners or supporting the pediment on the south entrance as well as the entrances from the courtyard. The fifth is the Renaissance, its key elements are square buildings, flat cielings, classical mortifs arches and domes, Roman columns and an enclosed courtyard. The building is comprised of squares linked together showed on the plans, these squres indicate the rooms that are squares on the inside. There are also a lot of exhibition rooms that are four cornerd with clean lined walls. in some parts it is a generally square building with a little bit of curved walls here and there. In the courtyard as well as the wings of the building there are walls that have flat roofs. Majority of the buildings have flat roofs. The cielings however have decorative elements to them and some with bulk heads very few plain ones in the lower level west and east wings. The courtyard is enclosed but not completely as it has steel frames on the roofing without a solid material that can fully enclose it. The sixth style that dominates half of the building is Mordenism. This is a movement at the turn of the 20th century.an umbrella term for styles such as futurism, post mordenism and new classical. The key elements found in these styles are lack of decorative elements, use of modern materials, interaction of exterior and interior spaces, use of sun and shading( passive design strategies) as well as using glass and natural lighting. The east and the west wing have less decorative elements than the initial part of the building before the extentions,. This building comprises of all these different stylistic characters from from different eras How to cite Form and Stylistic Characters, Papers

Honeybees As A Resource Essay Example For Students

Honeybees As A Resource Essay Honeybees as a Resource Honeybees are very useful to humans. As their name suggests, they make the sweet, delicious treat known as honey that we enjoy. They also make beeswax from which we make many useful items. But the most important thing bees do for us is to pollinate the plants. The honeybee visits flowers which secrete a sweet liquid called nectar. This water-like nectar is sipped from the blossoms by the bee and carried to the beehive. The raw nectar goes into the cells in almost the same condition as it was when the bee sipped it from the flowers. It is inside the hive that house bees evaporate the nectar down to the thick consistency which is what we know as commercial honey. We usually think of the main use of honey as a spread on bread, pancakes or biscuits. However, honey has a large use in cooking; such as pastries, canned foods, milk drinks, desserts, frostings, syrups, and salad dressings. Honey contains simple sugars and does not require digestion like regular sugar, so it is useful for quick energy pick up and even for diabetic people. Most honey is sold as extracted honey but it is also sold on the honeycomb which is the wax chambers the bees make in the hive in which to store the honey. The wax comes from a worker bees belly when she is fourteen to twenty-one days old. The wax chambers are just big enough for a bee to crawl inside. Sometimes people like to eat honeycomb. It can be eaten on toast or as is; then the wax becomes like a chewing gum, but like chewing gum it should not be swallowed. In recent years a new process called the Dyce process has made it possible to make a very nice granulated honey called creamed honey which is gaining in popularity. However, granulated honey is not used much commercially because it is still an almost unknown honey product. Beeswax is the second most important product produced by the honeybees. Beeswax, the earliest of waxes, has been used in the form of candles for lighting. This is today the second largest use of beeswax. The Roman Catholic Church used to require that pure beeswax candles be used in church but as the numbers of churches grew there wasnt enough beeswax available so that now the Catholic Church requires that candles are at least 51 percent beeswax. The reason the church requires beeswax candles is because the candles do not smoke. Probably the largest user of beeswax today is the cosmetic industry. Beeswax is used as the emulsifying agent in face creams, lipsticks, lotions and rouges. It is also used in shoe polish, sporting goods and military hardware. The beekeeper himself is the third largest user of beeswax which he gives to the bees as the base of their new comb. There are 70 or more commercial uses of beeswax today. Each year in the United States some 200 million pounds of honey and four to six million pounds of beeswax are produced. Honeybees are not the only insect that pollinates plants, but they are the best. A lot of our food, such as corn, tomatoes, peas, squash, strawberries, apples, pears, and watermelon would not continue without this pollination. During the last three weeks of a worker bees life, they fly out of the hives as a forager. The bees take pollen and nectar to the hive and deposit it into cells. During a foraging trip each individual bee will collect pollen from just one kind of plant. By doing this, each bee helps pollinate the blossoms. When the bee crawls around on the blossom, the pollen (containing male plant reproductive cells) clings to fine hairs located on the bees legs. The pollen is carried from one blossom to another blossom of the same kind of plant, where it sticks to the female part of the flower. .u615b0a9b1df85f13eee5f0be13a5e35b , .u615b0a9b1df85f13eee5f0be13a5e35b .postImageUrl , .u615b0a9b1df85f13eee5f0be13a5e35b .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u615b0a9b1df85f13eee5f0be13a5e35b , .u615b0a9b1df85f13eee5f0be13a5e35b:hover , .u615b0a9b1df85f13eee5f0be13a5e35b:visited , .u615b0a9b1df85f13eee5f0be13a5e35b:active { border:0!important; } .u615b0a9b1df85f13eee5f0be13a5e35b .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u615b0a9b1df85f13eee5f0be13a5e35b { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u615b0a9b1df85f13eee5f0be13a5e35b:active , .u615b0a9b1df85f13eee5f0be13a5e35b:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u615b0a9b1df85f13eee5f0be13a5e35b .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u615b0a9b1df85f13eee5f0be13a5e35b .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u615b0a9b1df85f13eee5f0be13a5e35b .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u615b0a9b1df85f13eee5f0be13a5e35b .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u615b0a9b1df85f13eee5f0be13a5e35b:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u615b0a9b1df85f13eee5f0be13a5e35b .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u615b0a9b1df85f13eee5f0be13a5e35b .u615b0a9b1df85f13eee5f0be13a5e35b-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u615b0a9b1df85f13eee5f0be13a5e35b:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: International relations EssayWithout pollination plants would not produce fruit or seeds. Without seeds now new plants could grow. Pollen is carried in small pollen baskets on the outer sides of the bees legs. In order to fill the baskets with pollen, the bee uses her mouth parts and scrapes the pollen from the blossoms and hairs on