THE EXTINCTION CRISIS

It’s frightening but true: Our planet is now in the midst of its sixth mass extinction of plants and animals — the sixth wave of extinctions in the past half-billion years. We’re currently experiencing the worst spate of species die-offs since the loss of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Although extinction is a natural phenomenon, it occurs at a natural “background” rate of about one to five species per year. Scientists estimate we’re now losing species at 1,000 to 10,000 times the background rate, with literally dozens going extinct every day . It could be a scary future indeed, with as many as 30 to 50 percent of all species possibly heading toward extinction by mid-century 

Autotrophs and Heterotrophs

Organisms are divided into autotrophs and heterotrophs according to their energy pathways. Autotrophs are those organisms that are able to make energy-containing organic molecules from inorganic raw material by using basic energy sources such as sunlight. Plants are the prime example of autotrophs, using photosyntesis. All other organisms must make use of food that comes from other organisms in the form of fats, carbohydrates and proteins. These organisms which feed on others are called heterotrophs

Trophic Levels

The amount of energy at each trophic level decreases as it moves through an ecosystem. As little as 10 percent of the energy at any trophic level is transferred to the next level; the rest is lost largely through metabolic processes as heat. If a grassland ecosystem has 10,000 kilocalories (kcal) of energy concentrated in vegetation, only about 1,000 kcal will be transferred to primary consumers, and very little (only 10 kcal) will make it to the tertiary level. 

Energy pyramids such as this help to explain the trophic structure of an ecosystem: the number of consumer trophic levels that can be supported is dependent on the size and energy richness of the producer level.

1^st Law of Thermodynamics
The 1^st Law of Thermodyamics simply states that energy can be neither created nor destroyed (conservation of energy). Thus power generation processes and energy sources actually involve conversion of energy from one form to another, rather than creation of energy from nothing.


“Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another.”

― Albert Einstein 

The Rainbow Eucalyptus tree (Eucalyptus deglupta),

The Rainbow Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus deglupta) or 'MINDANAO GUM' looks almost like it's been spray painted, but the up to 70-m tall tree is colored this way completely naturally. Its bark can take on a yellow, green, orange and even purple shading.

We have to start taking actions 

Biological Organization

• Multicellular Organism: Living things composed of many cells. 
• Organ System: Two or more organs working.
• Organ: A structure usually composed of several tissue types.
• Tissue: A group of similar cells het perform a specific function.
• Cell: The smallest unit of life
• Organelle: A structure within a cell that performs an especific function
• Molecule: A combination of atoms
• Atoms: The smallest particle of an element
• Subatomic Particle: Particles that make up an atom