Wednesday 22 June 2016

Life Cycle of Butterfly


Well, all butterflies and moths go through the same basic life cycle. They start out as eggs also known as “ova” and when these hatch, they do so as very small caterpillars, properly known as “Larvae”. These then go through several stages or instars each of which is separated by a skin change, known as “molt” or “ecdysis”. When the larva has reached a certain size, it changes into a chrysalis or “pupa”. It stays like this for some time and then emerges as the adult, or “imago”.
Moreover, the various butterfly families use several different methods of egg laying. Sometimes they lay them singly, sometimes in batches, on the underside of a leaf. Others choose to lay their eggs on dead leaves or twigs, or on rocks near their food plant this is usually to avoid the eggs being eaten by other caterpillars or herbivorous animals. Another way to reduce the risk that the eggs will be eaten is to lay them on a part of the plant that is rarely consumed, such as a tendril.
Some plants have evolved a chemical defense system that will kill any eggs laid on its leaves, before they get a chance to hatch. When this is the case, the butterfly has to lay its eggs nearby, rather than directly onto the food plant. Probably the most unusual place used by a butterfly for egg laying is in a cobweb this is done by the Australian Rustic (Cupha prosope), from New Guinea and eastern Australia. This might sound a strange place for egg laying but what safer location could there be for them than within the striking range of a spider? This species of butterfly continues with the safety theme while it’s small larva, as it dangles on the end of a silken thread when it’s not actively feeding. Most larvae get their first meal after hatching by eating the eggshell and this is often a vital source of protein, which is needed for their arduous struggle through the various instars (an ‘instar” is the name given to each stage of the larval development between skin changes).
The reason for the larval skin changes is much the same as when a child outgrows its shoes, and needs to change them for a larger size the caterpillar’s skin won’t stretch anymore, so it’s time for a new one! The larva’s major preoccupation is with feeding; indeed they have been described as “eating machine” which sums up their role very well. They usually increase their weight many thousands of times in a matter of weeks.
The cuticle, from which the skin is mostly constructed, cannot stretch enough for the expansion in body volume due to the massive food intake, so when it’s ready to do so, a hormone is released which triggers the skin to split behind the head; it is then cast off, along with the spiracles, revealing a soft, fresh new one underneath. After a while this hardens up, and the caterpillar wanders off and starts feeding again in some species though, the caterpillar eats the molted skin first.
Furthermore, when the larva changes into a pupa, it does so in order to reaarange its internal structures, so that it can change into a butterfly. This process sometimes known as “metamorphosis”, is one of the great marvels of the natural world, and has been used as a metaphor throughout history. The Greeks thought that a butterfly’s emergence from the pupa was “a personification of the human soul”. A thousand years later, in early Christian teaching, metamorphosis was used as s symbol of resurrection. When the caterpillar is ready to turn into a pupa, it will first find a suitable place for the transformation to take place. With some species this means a short walk to the nearest twig, but with others it may mean a long crawl to a distant location. This is perhaps to minimize the risk of them being found by parasitic wasps, although clearly the farther apart the members of a brood are, the less is the risk of them falling victim to the same predator.
Once the caterpillar has found a site that meets its criteria, it will anchor itself to the plant, tree, or rock. There are several different anchoring methods, but eh most common is the construction of a silken pad, which is glued in some way to the chosen surface. The caterpillar then attaches itself to the pad with a special device called a cremaster, and sometimes also with a “silken girdle”, which is just a thin cord running around its middle, to help to support the weight. The final skin change then takes place, in much the same way as a larval molt, although instead of a fresh skin being underneath, the cuticle hardens into a pupal case. The pupa will then wriggle incessantly to make the shed skin break free and drop to the ground. The reason for this is not proven, although it is highly likely that is to ensure any parasite eggs laid on the skin will be discarded along with it. Also Read Butterfly As Pets
 
In the days leading up to the butterfly’s emergence, the pupa will often change color as the wings become visible through the pupal case. This is often accompanied by a lot “wriggling” around as it undergoes the final changes. There is no one set time when emergence occurs in butterflies, but very often they do so in the morning, so that by the time they start to emerge the sun has warmed the air, and the new butterfly can bask in its warming rays. During the time from emergence to first flight it is extremely vulnerable as it cannot escape should a predator find it. Until its wings have unfurled, it cannot benefit from any chemical defenses it has either as its warming colors are not visible, or so it may be killed before its unpalatability is discovered.
There is still a great deal of mystery about how butterfly wings go through the transition from being soggy wet “buds” to fully expanded dry wings. The mechanical mechanisms of their unfolding are worthy of research, as there are many places where we could benefit from such perfection of design. For instance, if we could copy this process, it would mean bigger solar panels could be constructed for satellites, as they could be made to fold away more efficiently. This would lower costs, and raise efficiency in the future, the signal for your mobile phone, or television may depend on the engineering of a butterfly wing. The marvels of nature’s engineering will still be providing inspiration to mankind for a long time to come!
When the butterfly has dried its wings fully, it will take its first flight. If it’s a male it will spend the first few days of its life as an adult seeking nutrition, looking for flowers rich in nectar from which to extract the all-important sugars that it will use as fuel on its hunt for a mate. This issue is fraught with problems if the male is too young he will not be fully sexually mature and if the female is too old, she will be infertile or will already have mated. This is why males typically emerge about a week before the females. It also means that predation will occur mostly among the more common males in some species the ratio of males to females can be extremely high with in excess of 50 males for every female. It’s therefore important if a butterfly is going to be eaten, that it’s a common male and not a rare female.
Not all butterfly species have male to female ratios this high but, even so it is not surprising that there is a great deal of competition for fertile females. In some butterfly species, the male will find what he considers to be a good patch of territory, and will patrol it, chasing off any other males that try to encroach. This way, he is proving himself fit to the job of defending his territory he would lose out to a stronger male. There are many other ways that females select their mates; for instance, the catch me if you can routine, where she will fly at speed through bushes and trees, and only males that can keep up are considered worthy.
The selection mechanisms and general behavior involved in butterfly reproduction has been the subject of many studies over the years. Some of these have found some very interesting things for instance during the 1960’s. It was discovered by Stewart Swihart when he was working in Trinidad that early in the day individuals of the small postman (Heliconius erato) have their vision enhanced in the yellow part of the spectrum. It’s believed this is because they feed mostly from yellow flowers. Somewhere around mid-morning however, something in the brain switches their sight to being predominantly in the red part of the spectrum. This is because the females have distinctive red marking son their wings, which the males use as signals for courtship begin. They will then inspect anything that is red, and of roughly right size. When a female makes an appearance, she will be pursued by any males within range. Some things don’t change throughout the animal kingdom! Butterfly Classification

Friday 17 June 2016

Daneil Barreto, Ignight, LED’s, Animation, timelapse, Long Exposure Light,



A talented artist Daneil Barreto, made an experimental animation called “Ignight”.  The incredible clip was made with hundreds of long exposure photos of various LED’s akin to a stop motion film or timelapse. However in this, nothing is digital, and we’re sure you’d love the use of color and form, fun stuff.

Ignite from Daniel Barreto on Vimeo.

Wednesday 8 June 2016

Astonishing Drone Footage Shows the Flying Scotsman Steaming Across a Massive Viaduct



One of most amazing drone footage of the Flying Scotsman steaming across a scenic viaduct is an impressive sight and not just for trains-potters. The incredibly beautiful journey was captured by hobby drone operator Neil Fedorowycz, who watched the live action footage through his iPad as he controlled the drone with his wife, Marnie. The viaduct was built in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, in 1923; the Flying Scotsman in 1934 pulled the first train to break the 100mph barrier.

Thus, a cloudy, grey day was brightened up by the iconic locomotive chugging along the tracks of the Harringworth viaduct in Northamptonshire, which is longest masonry viaduct in Britain. The huge numbers of amazed onlookers gathered in the field to see the magnificent train sped down the railway on its journey from London to Yorkshire. Moreover, after steaming through Wellingborough station, the train stopped at Kettering to pick up passengers and fill up with water before thundering on over the viaduct.

The 47 year old Neil Fedorowycz said; I cycle through this countryside very often and this viaduct is remarkable piece of engineering art work. It is really breathtaking when Flying Scotsman steaming across the top of it, really a great opportunity to miss. It is extremely difficult to manage drone battery which lasts only 20 minutes when the drone was up in the air and the train was running about 20 minutes late. 

 In fact, it is incredibly eye-catching moment, when the train fly across just I was changing the battery and I might miss the opportunity. However, I was so luckily to drone up in the air at eleventh hour and capture the entire scenes. I was stunned to saw the locomotive crossing the viaduct due to extremely breathtaking view. Moreover, a huge crowd also gathered there to watch the moment, and everyone love to see this great fun activity. It was two flawless pieces of engineering coming together and getting such a super shot is icing on the cake. 

Monday 6 June 2016

The Rare World’s Ariel Photographs, You’ve Never Seen it Before



The planet earth is extremely beautiful, and by seeing these images, you’d take a long breath and feel you’ve never seen it before. A British pilot exposes, winding rivers, glittering skylines, tall peak under infrared light. The earth is best viewed from above, by taking incredible aerial photographs of majestic landscapes. The British pilot Captain Jon Bowles takes the Dubai’s man-made Palm islands from his cockpit at altitudes of up to 40,000ft. 

He has taken some of incredibly photos of K2 peaks, the 2nd highest mountain in the world in Himalayas, Mount Kilimanjaro, Canada's frozen Labrador coast, Great Rift Valley in Africa, Kunlun Mountains in China, Iran's Lake Urmia, Lake Van is the largest lake in Turkey, Padma River in Bangladesh, and the sacred waters of the Ganges Delta and Kunyang Chhish mountain & salt flats of Pakistan. The Bolton based, 55 years old pilot, used a modified Sony Nex 5N camera to capture these breathtaking pictures in a completely different spectrum. His astonishing shooting shows the world in a light impossible for the human eye to detect.



















Friday 13 May 2016

Blueberries The Well-Known Super Fruit



Blueberries are wonderful plants. Not only do they live for decades and bear delicious fruits that need almost o care, but they also are beautiful in themselves, with white, bell like flowers in spring and hand some oval leaves that turn orange scarlet in fall. The berries are pretty, ripening slowly so that clusters are green red and blue all at once. Even the bare reddish stems are eye catching in winter. It often use blueberries in landscaping a home whether the owners want to eat the berries or not if they don’t then certainly the birds will. The plants look good as hedges, at the edge of a pond or even near the house as specimen shrubs. 

There are several different blueberry species. The one most commonly grown for fruit and for ornament is highbush blueberry “Vaccinium corymbosum”. It is the hardiest of the lot and normally grows to about 8 feet tall if unpruned but sometimes twice that. Low bush blueberry “V. angustifolium” stays under 2 feet tall and makes a fine ground cover. Rabbit eye blueberry “V.ashei” is a highbush species that, unlike V. corymbosum, does not need to be thoroughly chilled in winter and will bear well in the south. It does not thrive north of zone 7, however V. ashei is a very tall, vigorous shrub that ripens later than northern blueberries; the fruits are generally not as sweet but are large and good baking. In Connecticut, both highbush and lowbush blueberries grow wild. The wild berries are the best of all if you judge by flavor, even though they are smaller and picking a pie, may take hours. But what better way to spend a few summer hours on a sun baked hillside. The northeastern part of Turkey is one of the key sources of Caucasian whortleberry (V. arctostaphylos), bilberry (V. myrtillus) and bog blueberry, bog whortleberry or bog bilberry (V. uliginosum).

Moreover, choosing a blueberry site by observing the plants in the wild can be misleading. The highbush ones often grow in swamps, and while it may look as if they are growing with their feet in the water, they are actually perched above it, with the ground they grow in soaking up water from below. The lowbush blueberries appear to scramble over bare, rocky mountaintops where there seems to be hardly any soil at all, let alone water. But their long roots are actually snaking down into fissures in the rocks, finding both the roots of both highbush and lowbush blueberries spread vigorously underground. You should give yoru blueberries a site where moisture is ample but doesn’t just sit around the roots. Other important factors are full sun so they’ll ripen and good air circulation to prevent disease.  

Well to select the soil should be loose and light, but the most important factor in growing blueberries is acidity. Blueberries like a pH of about 4.5 and will grow in anything from 3.5 to 5.5. Hence, if you are not sure whether the soil is acid enough in your area or in the spot where you want to grow them, have it tested. If the soil is alkaline you may want to grow something else instead, but if you are hell-bent on blueberries there are ways to make your soil more acid. Moreover you can add aluminum sulfate purchased from a garden center, following in the directions on the package or the recommendations of your soil test, but in most cases you can lower pH simply by digging a lot of acidic organic matter into the soil; rotted leaves, wood chips, peat moss, shredded bark, sawdust any of these will do the trick and will also help the soil to retain the moisture that blueberries need. 

To plant the blueberries, and then buy dormant plants that are two or three years old those any older are difficult to transplant. You can order them by mail or online to pick it. Planting bare root is fine and gives you a chance to see whether the plants have a good healthy, fibrous root system rather than just a few stringy roots. But be sure to keep the roots moist up until the time they go into the ground this is extremely crucial. Well, the ideal weather is to plant blueberries in early spring in cool climates, late fall in mild ones, in holes 18 inches deep and equally wide. Well enriched with organic matter. If the planting area has poor soil, enrich it throughout. Don’t add fertilizer or manure directly to the hole, however, though you may spread some on the soil surface. Moreover highbush berries are best planted at least six feet apart, or even a bit farther specially for rabbit eyes, so the whole bush can be sun ripened, but if you are making a hedge, then three to four feet apart is acceptable. Dwarf highbush varieties can also go this close, or they can be planted in containers. Plant low bush berries about two feet apart. These can be dug from the wild if you have a source, by removing large pieces of sod along with bushes. Therefore, plant blueberries at the same depth at which they were growing previously or an inch or so deeper, spreading the roots out in the soil, firming lightly and watering well. Cut back the tops by half and apply thick mulch six inches is about right of an acidic organic material such as shredded bark. 

It is very imperative to keep the plants moist the first year they are growing and any time that fruit is forming. They should be fed fairly heavily each year at blossom time by top dressing with acidic compost, well-rotted manure, or a commercial fertilizer designed for acid loving plants such as azaleas. You can also use cottonseed meal, blood meal, fish meal, ammonium sulfate, rock phosphate, bone meal or just about anything else you like except materials such as wood ashes or lime, that will raise the pH. But make sure don’t fertilizer excessively with nitrogen or you may get vigorous plants with sparse fruit. You can feed again as fruits are forming, but don’t feed past June in climates where late new growth may be winterkilled. Don’t try to dig fertilizers into the soil since the plants are shallow rooted; just remove the mulch, apply nutrients to the soil surface, water well, and replace the mulch. The mulch will break down and do its part in acidifying and lightening the soil add some more each year.
Further, blueberries, especially highbush species, benefit from pruning to keep the plants a size you can pick easily, to let sun into the bush to ripen fruits and to keep a good supply of fresh new growth coming along. Berried develop on fruiting spurs produced the previous season on side branches of old main stems. You may won’t have to start pruning until bushes are three to four years old, but then start thinning them once a year while they are dormant. Just when they are about to leaf out is a good time because you can then remove any winterkilled wood. Thin out old, gray canes with lots of little twigs that have grown beyond bearing age and have no fruiting buds visible, cutting them at the base of the plant. Favor the newer, redder canes, keeping 6 to 8 good bearing canes on the bush. Tall, straggly canes can be headed back,  and weak short, twiggy growth can be removed from tips. Note, while pruning, that fruiting buds are fatter than leaf buds; avoid removing twigs with a lot of these. 

Therefore, if you buy healthy bushes and take good care of them, you will perhaps have very little trouble with blueberries. There are some diseases, but most modern cultivars have been bred for resistance. If you live an area where the berries are more disease prone, then apply fresh mulch each year, prune out debris promptly disinfecting your clippers between cuts and go easy on the fertilizer. If bushes succumb to botrytis in wet weather the berries shrivel and the tips die or stunt disease which are spread by leafhoppers and stunt the plants. Then destroy them and start over in a new place. They might occasionally get yellows disease if drainage is poor and the pH too high. Mummy berry, a fungus that makes the berries shrivel and harden, is often caused by wet weather a poor air circulation. Remove all debris, especially dead berries, hold off on fertilizer, and turn over or replace the mulch in early spring. Hence the most troublesome pests of blueberries you will have to deal with will be birds. You will perhaps have to cover the bushes with plastic netting or cheesecloth extending clear down to the ground to avoid losing much of your crop. Spreading the netting on the light-weight metal or wooden framework with a flap you can lift to enter the cage will make picking easier. Other pests include blueberry maggot the larva of the blueberry fruit fly, which enters the fruit and rots it. Clean up dropped barriers and fight the critter by catching it in the fly stage with yellow sticky taps or by using rotenone. If blueberries stem borers get into the stems in early summer, causing them to wilt, remove the stems and burn them. Pick off Japanese beetles or use milky spore disease. 

Though blueberries were usually hand-picked with berry-picking rakes, but modern farmers are using machine harvesters that shake the fruit off the bush of cultivated highbush blueberries, while new machines are being developed for wild. If you are bringing yourself to do it, you should rub off developing berries on young plants until they are 3 to 4 years old, to let the bush put its energy into growth. You will start to get abundant crops when the bushes are about 5 years old, perhaps about 6 quarts per bush. You should pick at least twice a week just rubbing your thumb over the berry cluster and letting the ripe berries fall into your hand or a container held under them. Picking this way is important because berries that look blue are not always ripe. They should really sit on the bush for a week after they are blue, until they fall off easily. The fact that the clusters ripen a little at a time means that you can pick from a single cluster for up to a month and enjoy the berries over a long period. If you plant early, middle and late varieties you can harvest berries from June to September.  

Most blueberry varieties do not self-pollinate well, so it is best to plant several. Popular early varieties include “Earliblue” the short growing “Northland” and “Collins”, which bears in long, uniformly ripening clusters. For mild season grown “Blueray” “Bluecrop” and Berkeley all of which bear abundant crops of large berries. For later berries grow “Jersey” the shrub is especially handsome, the sweet dark “Herbert” and to wind up the season, “Coville”, good varieties for the north are Northland, “Earliblue”, “Blueray”, the early Patriot, the late bearing Elliott and “Northblue”,  which is a self-fertile dwarf variety “Tophat” is a hardy dwarf that can be grown in tubs. For rabbit eye varieties the standard favorite is “Tifblue”, a vigorous, upright bush that bears fairly late. For an early one try Climax or the lower growing Wood ward. For midseason try out compact “Southland” and for late season the sweet tasting “Delite”.