this post was submitted on 25 Dec 2024
51 points (96.4% liked)

Biodiversity

1475 readers
1 users here now

Welcome to c/Biodiversity @ Mander.xyz!

A community about the variety of life on Earth at all levels; including plants, animals, bacteria, and fungi.

Notice Board

This is a work in progress, please don't mind the mess.

2023-06-16: We invite our users to contribute resources for the sidebar.

2023-06-15: Looking for mods!

About

Biodiversity is a term used to describe the enormous variety of life on Earth. It can be used more specifically to refer to all of the species in one region or ecosystem. Biodiversity refers to every living thing, including plants, bacteria, animals, and humans. Scientists have estimated that there are around 8.7 million species of plants and animals in existence. However, only around 1.2 million species have been identified and described so far, most of which are insects. This means that millions of other organisms remain a complete mystery.

Over generations, all of the species that are currently alive today have evolved unique traits that make them distinct from other species. These differences are what scientists use to tell one species from another. Organisms that have evolved to be so different from one another that they can no longer reproduce with each other are considered different species. All organisms that can reproduce with each other fall into one species. Read more...

Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Be kind and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.

Quick Links

Resources

Bypass Paywalls

Similar Communities

Sister Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Plants & Gardening

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Memes

Find us on Reddit!

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
51
Researchers discover new ocean predator in the Atacama Trench (phys.org)
submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
2 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Cross-posted from "Researchers discover new ocean predator in the Atacama Trench" by @[email protected] in [email protected]

Characterized by darkness and intense pressure, the ocean's hadal zone seems uninhabitable, yet dozens of unique organisms call it home. Each species discovered there adds a crucial piece to the puzzle of how life has evolved and even thrives in one of Earth's most extreme environments.

A new study published in Systematics and Biodiversity highlights one of those species—the newly named Dulcibella camanchaca. This crustacean is the first large, active predatory amphipod from these extreme depths. The species was discovered by scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and Instituto Milenio de Oceanografía (IMO) based at the Universidad de Concepción, Chile.

"Dulcibella camanchaca is a fast-swimming predator that we named after 'darkness' in the languages of the peoples from the Andes region to signify the deep, dark ocean from where it predates," explained the study's co-lead author, Dr. Johanna Weston, a hadal ecologist at WHOI.

At nearly 4 centimeters in length, this crustacean uses specialized raptorial appendages to capture and prey upon smaller amphipod species in the Atacama (Peru-Chile) Trench's food-limited realm. The trench stretches along the eastern South Pacific Ocean, plunging to depths exceeding 8,000 meters off the coast of northern Chile, and has long fascinated scientists.

top 2 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

Crustaceans are so interesting

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

What a primitive - it doesn't even look like a crab! You're late on the carcinisation game, Dulcibella camanchaca!

we named after ‘darkness’ in the languages of the peoples from the Andes

To be more specific, the word is from Aymara. I'm kind of surprised at the choice - typically people forget that Aymara exists in Chile, as if the only Amerindian language there was Mapuche.