Explain in detail how Christian and Muslim beliefs would affect their behaviour and attitudes towards the use of animals for food, experimentation and sport.

Explain in detail how Christian and Muslim beliefs would affect their behaviour and attitudes towards the use of animals for food, experimentation and sport. The way in which we choose to treat animals may hugely depend upon the significance of animals in religion. According to both Islam and Christianity animals are part of God's creation as humans are. Beliefs and teachings, which we then take from religion, would affect our behaviour and attitudes towards the treatment of animals. Islam has always viewed animals a special part of Allah's creation. The Qur'an and Hadith both contain kindness and compassion towards animals. Muslims hold the strong belief that Allah has given them the role of Khalifah. Therefore they hold it their duty, as Muslims, to protect and cherish Allah's Earth. Muslims believe they have certain responsibility towards the Earth and the creatures on it, including animals, which Allah has given to be used appropriately and wisely. Islam teaches that mercy and compassion should be shown to every living creature that Allah has created. Muslims believe that they will be held accountable for killing unjustly on the day of judgement. The Hadith says that if a human kills anything larger than a sparrow, with unjust cause, that 'sparrow' will cry out on judgement day, saying 'O Lord! That person killed me for nothing, and not for any useful purpose!'

  • Word count: 1922
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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Developing the Amazon.

Introduction: Hello, I am Professor Adams and today we are going to develop the Amazon rain forest. Here is a map, of the area were rainforests are around the Southern Hemisphere: Tropical Rainforests grow in areas close to the equator. In these places the climate is hot and wet. Here is a pie chart explaining where rainforests are around the Southern Hemisphere: Good and Bad points exposed: The Amerindians are not the only people with an interest in the rainforest. Since the 1930's the Brazilian government has encouraged the development of the amazon region. The aim has been to bring wealth to the area by using the natural resources such as mining, power stations new roads and ranching. Here shown are some good and bad points about each of the natural resources: Plantation Forests Good points of Plantation forests Bad points of Plantation forests Plantation forests grow different types of plants they contain 170,000 of the worlds 250,000 known plant species. Plantation forests allow animals to have homes and about 70-90% of the life in the rainforest exists in the trees. Plantation forests allow animals is able to eat. Plantation forests grow all different goods for us to eat. Plantation forests also grow drugs in parts, which we use to survive. Plantation forests allow people to have holidays and to examine and find out about what a Rainforest is all about.

  • Word count: 1522
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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What are the advantages and disadvantages of keeping animals in zoos?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of keeping animals in zoos? By the year 2050 scientists predict that one quarter of Earth's animal species will become extinct. Species are rapidly losing their habitats due to the growth of the human population. This is happening both in the rainforests of South America and even in Britain. Housing development and agricultural growth put pressure on our own native species. Perhaps one of the main reasons for the existence of zoos is to preserve and protect the animals, which are endangered by such human development. Another purpose they serve is to make it possible for people to learn about these animals by making you able to see them in conditions, which are as close as possible to the natural ones without having to travel the world. The question we have to consider is do zoos really achieve these goals? The zoo is a place where you can see all the animals that you wouldn't see in everyday life, with very small risk of being harmed. For example by keeping the lion in a zoo we, as zoo visitors can view it from a closer distance and learn more about it. There is always the chance of young children putting their hands through cages, or of keepers themselves being trampled by an elephant, but in general the risk, although always there, is very small. Zoos usually have high educational levels and even people of old age find it

  • Word count: 814
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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Outline and evaluate two different signalling systems used by non-human animals.

Outline and evaluate two different signalling systems used by non-human animals. Animals used several different methods to communicate with each other. Signals are used by animals for a variety of reason, some of these being danger or the location of food. Among the methods used are visual communication and chemical communication.. Visual signals are performed in many different ways for a variety of reasons. It allows information about a variety of topics to be transmitted quickly and easily. One main reason for this use of signalling is courtship displays, where individuals are able to display themselves on order to attract a mate. This allows the opposite sex to them assess the qualities of this individual, according to the quality of the visual display. This is an effective method of communication as it allows the use of colour among many things, and can also be coupled with the use of auditory signalling. Not only does it allow sexual selection to occur, but it also helps the prevention of crossbreeding as only animals of a same species would respond to the display. In this case visual signalling is effective as it is easily detected by the other sex, making the whole process more efficient. It also requires, in some cases, a vast amount of energy, for example the peacock requires effort to first display the brightly coloured feather, but once this has been done little

  • Word count: 817
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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Influence of land use history on plant species richness

INFLUENCE OF LAND_USE HISTORY ON PLANT SPECIES RICHNESS An examination into how woodland age structure influences the development of plant communities on Southampton Common (September 2003) Introduction Southampton Common has been in public ownership for well over a thousand years. During this time it has accommodated army camps, racecourses, reservoirs, livestock pounds and even a cemetery (Southampton.gov.uk). Originally deemed as a grazing common, Southampton Common is now designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest; since 1993 a conservation management plan has been in implementation. Since 1993 ten Conservation Areas within the 148 hectares of the common have been concentrated upon, these areas cover a diversity of habitats from woodlands to heath. This experiment concentrated on the observations made at two differing woodland sites upon the common. Site 'A', as shown on the map in Appendix 'A', was an old woodland site (approximately two hundred years old), and Site 'B' was a new woodland site that has grown since 1945. The aim of the experiment was to compare the collated data from both sites and establish answers to the following questions: - . How do the new woodland patches differ in structure and composition from the older patches? 2. Does the age of a patch confer any special benefit in conservation terms? The hypothesis for this experiment was

  • Word count: 1987
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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What is a species?

What is a species? "Species is a Latin word meaning 'kind' or 'appearance.'" (Campbell and Reece, 2005, p.473). However, clarifying what actually constitutes a species is controversial, as Biologists cannot agree on a specific definition of the word. Species is a term used by humans in attempt to place different 'kinds' of organisms into distinct groups using taxonomy - biological classification. A scientific name in the form of a binomial nomenclature is used to describe these groups. It is always written in italics with the capitalised Latin genus name followed by the species name. Species, therefore, is a fundamental category in taxonomy and important in the scientific naming of organisms. It is therefore essential for us to have a proper understanding of species. However, as a consequence of Biologists being divided in opinion on the nature of species, several concepts have been proposed to define the term. Therefore the answer to the question 'what is a species?' differs depending on which species concept is applied. The biological species concept (BSC) is the most frequently used and widely accepted definition of species. This concept was originally proposed in 1942 by biologist Ernst Mayr. Ernst Mayr stated that "species are groups of interbreeding natural populations that are reproductively isolated from other such groups." (Ernst, 1963 cited in Ridley,

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  • Word count: 1480
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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The Inuit society - the cause of change

The Inuit's are a race of people who inhabit the northern provinces of Canada. Both Rasing's article, "Hunting for Identity, Thoughts on The Practice of Hunting and its Significance for Iglulingmiut Identity" and Sears' film, "Between Two Worlds," illustrate and analyze the way the Inuit live. However, they approach this fascinating culture in two completely distinct ways. Rasing produced an article that views the Inuit community as a whole, and portrays the identity of the Inuit's as a function of their community. Sears' film, conversely, takes a much more specific approach based on one main individual, the most well known Inuit of them all, Joseph Idlout. Both these pieces go into detail about the history of the Inuit people, their customs, beliefs, and how their lives have changed forever. The purpose of Rasing's article was, "to explore the nature and forms of settlement-based hunting and assess to what extent this shapes or affects Inuit identity" (Rasing 1999: 81). To further understand the significance of hunting, Rasing felt it was necessary, "to look at the previous era of subsistence hunting and examine the nature and impact of the changes that resulted from contacts with outsiders" (Rasing 1999: 81). Before the Inuit's became dependent on the western world, they lived in an isolated state. They were dependent solely on nature, the animals around them, and

  • Word count: 1627
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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What Type Of Chemicals Can The Free-Living Nematode, Pangrellus Redivius, Sense In Its Environment?

What Type Of Chemicals Can The Free-Living Nematode, Pangrellus Redivius, Sense In Its Environment? Introduction Chemo sensation allows animals to detect food, predators, potential mates, and other key stimuli in their environments. Animals identify chemicals as attractants or repellents and modify their behaviour accordingly. Multi-cellular animals sense chemicals using specialised cells in the nervous system. Free-living Nematodes are sensitive to numerous environmental chemical stimuli, and will chemo tax to an attractive (water soluble or volatile) compound, and avoid noxious compounds. These animals will also modify their movement, egg laying, feeding, defecation, and their developments based on the detected food available. Observations can be made into their actions via the use of a low-powered microscope or by macroscopic visualizations. Results can be recorded in a table format; a conclusion can be made; and evaluated. Nematodes are the most abundant metazoan within soil, and being decomposers are important for the health of the soil community. To determine the main behavioural factors that are affected by structural heterogeneity, consider nematode movement in one experimental situation: a nematode on an agar filled Petri-dish with/without a bacterial attractant and with/without structure. The experiment is interested in the neurological basis of

  • Word count: 3413
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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To what extent are molluscs a group of specialised worms?

Emma Jarvis To what extent are molluscs a group of specialised worms? The huge morphological diversity of molluscs makes it difficult to compare them, as a whole group, to any other group, phyla or even set of characteristics. Worms tend to be described as slender, elongated invertebrate animals, usually with soft moist bodies and inhabiting marine or freshwater, or burrowing in the soil. They can be parasites of humans or other animals, or any insect larva with an elongated body, for example a maggot or grub. Molluscs could have evolved almost anywhere out of the worm line. Many appear to have possible segmentation, and it was thought for a long time that their ancestors were annelids (they also share the same type of trochophore larva as annelids) and that they had lost their segmentation and coelomic body cavity in the evolutionary process. However, whilst some molluscs do have multiple pairs of the same organs (for example monoplacophorans have eight pairs of foot-retractor muscles, six pairs of excretory organs and five or six pairs of gills), but the number of plates is unrelated to the number of gills or kidneys or other multiple organs, indicating that they could not have actually evolved from annelids as they do not show real segmentation. This is quite like the case in pseudometameric animals, which have multiple pairs of organs in a linear arrangement but are

  • Word count: 1767
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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The general consensus in the evolution of humankind is that homo-erectus species were originally from the land of Africa

Question 4 The general consensus in the evolution of humankind is that homo-erectus species were originally from the land of Africa. It was from there that they grew and reproduced and then slowly migrated out of Africa, to other parts of the world like Asia and Europe. There they formed their local populations of homo-erectus and lived. However, when it comes to the evolution of homo- sapiens or modern humans from the homo-erectus species of the world at that time, it is very much debated among paleoanthropologists how it really happened. Two hypothesis or theories of modern human evolution models came out of the various groups of debate and argument. The first is called the multi-regional or regional continuity model. This model holds that the separate and local populations of homo-erectus in different regions all evolved into modern humans at around the same time thus giving rise to the variations of humans in different regions. The second model is the out of Africa or replacement model. This holds that modern humans originated and came from Africa. Through the evolution of homo-erectus to homo-sapiens in Africa, the modern humans migrated out to all other parts of the world with some leaving behind to live. These modern human populations took over the regions that they migrated to from the local populations of homo-erectus which were more or less

  • Word count: 896
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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