Answer: 66–34 Mya

Question: Beginning how many years ago did the amazon rainforest extend 45 degrees south?


Answer: Middle Miocene

Context: Following the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, the extinction of the dinosaurs and the wetter climate may have allowed the tropical rainforest to spread out across the continent. From 66–34 Mya, the rainforest extended as far south as 45°. Climate fluctuations during the last 34 million years have allowed savanna regions to expand into the tropics. During the Oligocene, for example, the rainforest spanned a relatively narrow band. It expanded again during the Middle Miocene, then retracted to a mostly inland formation at the last glacial maximum. However, the rainforest still managed to thrive during these glacial periods, allowing for the survival and evolution of a broad diversity of species.

Question: After the Oligocene period, under what period did the amazon rainforest begin to expand?


Answer: last glacial maximum

Question: The amazon rainforest became a mostly inland forest around which global event?


Answer: 34 million years

Question: Savannah areas expanded over the last how many years?


Answer: During the mid-Eocene, it is believed that the drainage basin of the Amazon was split along the middle of the continent by the Purus Arch.

Context: During the mid-Eocene, it is believed that the drainage basin of the Amazon was split along the middle of the continent by the Purus Arch. Water on the eastern side flowed toward the Atlantic, while to the west water flowed toward the Pacific across the Amazonas Basin. As the Andes Mountains rose, however, a large basin was created that enclosed a lake; now known as the Solimões Basin. Within the last 5–10 million years, this accumulating water broke through the Purus Arch, joining the easterly flow toward the Atlantic.

Question: In which point did the drainage basin of the Amazon split?


Answer: Water on the eastern side flowed toward the Atlantic,

Question: In which direction did the water on the eastern side flow?


Answer: Solimões Basin

Question: What is the name of the basin that was created from a enclosed lake?


Answer: Within the last 5–10 million years

Question: How long ago was it when the water broke through the Purus Arch?


Answer: joining the easterly flow toward the Atlantic.

Question: Where did it join in the direction of its flow?


Answer: During the mid-Eocene

Question: When was the drainage basin of the Amazon believed to have split in the middle of South America?


Answer: the Atlantic

Question: Where did water to the east of the Amazon drainage basin flow towards?


Answer: the Pacific

Question: Where did water to the west of the Amazon drainage basin flow towards?


Answer: Amazonas Basin

Question: What did water that flowed towards the Pacific have to flow across during the mid-Eocene?


Answer: the Solimões Basin

Question: What basin was formed when the Andes Mountains rose?


Answer: the mid-Eocene

Question: During what period the drainage basin of the Amazon likely split?


Answer: Purus Arch

Question: Near where in the continent is it believed that the Amazon basin split?


Answer: the Atlantic

Question: Where did water on the eastern side of the amazon basin travel after the split?


Answer: the Pacific

Question: Where did the water in the Amazon Basin flow towards when moving west?


Answer: Solimões Basin

Question: What is the lake known as which was created by the rise of the Andes Mountains?


Answer: Last Glacial Maximum

Context: There is evidence that there have been significant changes in Amazon rainforest vegetation over the last 21,000 years through the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and subsequent deglaciation. Analyses of sediment deposits from Amazon basin paleolakes and from the Amazon Fan indicate that rainfall in the basin during the LGM was lower than for the present, and this was almost certainly associated with reduced moist tropical vegetation cover in the basin. There is debate, however, over how extensive this reduction was. Some scientists argue that the rainforest was reduced to small, isolated refugia separated by open forest and grassland; other scientists argue that the rainforest remained largely intact but extended less far to the north, south, and east than is seen today. This debate has proved difficult to resolve because the practical limitations of working in the rainforest mean that data sampling is biased away from the center of the Amazon basin, and both explanations are reasonably well supported by the available data.

Question: What does LGM stands for?


Answer: rainfall in the basin during the LGM was lower than for the present

Question: What did the analysis from the sediment deposits indicate?


Answer: the rainforest was reduced to small, isolated refugia separated by open forest and grassland

Question: What are some of scientists arguments?


Answer: This debate has proved difficult

Question: How has this debate been proven?


Answer: explanations are reasonably well supported

Question: How are the explanations supported?


Answer: 21,000

Question: There have been major changes in Amazon rainforest vegetation over the last how many years?


Answer: the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and subsequent deglaciation

Question: What caused changes in the Amazon rainforest vegetation?


Answer: sediment deposits

Question: What has been analyzed to compare Amazon rainfall in the past and present?


Answer: reduced moist tropical vegetation cover in the basin

Question: What has the lower rainfall in the Amazon during the LGM been attributed to?


Answer: 21,000

Question: Many changes in the vegetation of the amazon rainforest took place since the Last Glacial Maximum, which was how many years ago?


Answer: sediment deposits

Question: Analysis of what kind of deposits from the Amazon Fan indicates a change in rainfall in the Amazon basin?


Answer: moist tropical vegetation cover

Question: Changes in rainfall reduced what kind of vegetation cover in the Amazon basin?


Answer: open forest and grassland

Question: Scientists disagree with how the Amazon rainforest changed over time with some arguing that it was reduced to isolated refugia seperated by what?


Answer: data sampling is biased away from the center of the Amazon basin

Question: Why is it difficult to resolve disagreements about the changes in the Amazon rainforest?


Answer: CALIPSO

Context: NASA's CALIPSO satellite has measured the amount of dust transported by wind from the Sahara to the Amazon: an average 182 million tons of dust are windblown out of the Sahara each year, at 15 degrees west longitude, across 1,600 miles (2,600 km) over the Atlantic Ocean (some dust falls into the Atlantic), then at 35 degrees West longitude at the eastern coast of South America, 27.7 million tons (15%) of dust fall over the Amazon basin, 132 million tons of dust remain in the air, 43 million tons of dust are windblown and falls on the Caribbean Sea, past 75 degrees west longitude.

Question: What is the name of the satellite that measured the amount of dust?


Answer: 182 million tons

Question: How many tons of dust are blown from the Sahara each year?


Answer: 1,600 miles

Question: How many miles does the dust travels over the Atlantic Ocean?


Answer: Amazon basin

Question: Which basin does the dust falls over into?


Answer: 132 million tons

Question: How many tons of dust remains in the air?


Answer: NASA's CALIPSO satellite

Question: What tool has measured the amount of dust that travels from the Sahara to the Amazon?


Answer: 182 million tons

Question: How much dust is blown out of the Sahara each year?


Answer: 27.7 million tons

Question: How much Saharan dust falls over the Amazon basin each year?


Answer: 132 million tons

Question: How much Saharan dust remains in the air over the Amazon each year?


Answer: 43 million tons

Question: How much Saharan dust is blown and falls upon the Caribbean Sea each year?


Answer: CALIPSO

Question: A satellite that measured the amount of dust going to the Amazon was named what?


Answer: NASA

Question: What organization runs the satellite that measured dust that landed on the Amazon?


Answer: 182 million tons

Question: How much windblown dust leaves the Sahara each year?


Answer: 1,600 miles

Question: How many miles across the Atlantic Ocean does Saharan dust travel?


Answer: 27.7 million tons

Question: How many tons of Saharan dust falls on the Amazon Basin each year?


Answer: Man and Culture in a Counterfeit Paradise

Context: For a long time, it was thought that the Amazon rainforest was only ever sparsely populated, as it was impossible to sustain a large population through agriculture given the poor soil. Archeologist Betty Meggers was a prominent proponent of this idea, as described in her book Amazonia: Man and Culture in a Counterfeit Paradise. She claimed that a population density of 0.2 inhabitants per square kilometre (0.52/sq mi) is the maximum that can be sustained in the rainforest through hunting, with agriculture needed to host a larger population. However, recent anthropological findings have suggested that the region was actually densely populated. Some 5 million people may have lived in the Amazon region in AD 1500, divided between dense coastal settlements, such as that at Marajó, and inland dwellers. By 1900 the population had fallen to 1 million and by the early 1980s it was less than 200,000.

Question: What is the name of the book written by Archeologist Betty Meggers?


Answer: 0.52/sq mi

Question: What is the maximum square miles did Betty Meggers claim that can be sustained in the rainforest?


Answer: agriculture

Question: What would be needed to host a larger population?


Answer: anthropological

Question: Which findings suggested that the region was densely populated?


Answer: 5 million

Question: How many people may have lived in the Amazon region during AD 1500?


Answer: the poor soil

Question: What feature of the Amazon made people believe it couldn't have many inhabitants?


Answer: Betty Meggers

Question: What well-known archeologist believed the Amazon didn't have many inhabitants?


Answer: 0.2

Question: How many inhabitants did Betty Meggers believe could occupy each square kilometre of the Amazon?


Answer: Amazonia: Man and Culture in a Counterfeit Paradise

Question: In what book did Betty Meggers describe the idea of the Amazon being sparsely populated?


Answer: Betty Meggers

Question: Which archaeologist proposed the idea that the Amazon rainforest couldn't sustain large populations?


Answer: Amazonia: Man and Culture in a Counterfeit Paradise

Question: Which book discussed the theory about low populations in the Amazon rainforest?


Answer: 0.2 inhabitants per square kilometre

Question: What was the theorized maximum population density per square kilometre for the Amazon rainforest?


Answer: 5 million people

Question: In 1500 AD how many people were believed to have lived in the Amazon region?


Answer: 200,000.

Question: In the 1980s what was the population of the amazon region?


Answer: Francisco de Orellana

Context: The first European to travel the length of the Amazon River was Francisco de Orellana in 1542. The BBC's Unnatural Histories presents evidence that Orellana, rather than exaggerating his claims as previously thought, was correct in his observations that a complex civilization was flourishing along the Amazon in the 1540s. It is believed that the civilization was later devastated by the spread of diseases from Europe, such as smallpox. Since the 1970s, numerous geoglyphs have been discovered on deforested land dating between AD 0–1250, furthering claims about Pre-Columbian civilizations. Ondemar Dias is accredited with first discovering the geoglyphs in 1977 and Alceu Ranzi with furthering their discovery after flying over Acre. The BBC's Unnatural Histories presented evidence that the Amazon rainforest, rather than being a pristine wilderness, has been shaped by man for at least 11,000 years through practices such as forest gardening and terra preta.

Question: Who was the first European to travel the Amazon River?


Answer: 1540s

Question: During what time did civilization in the Amazon was flourishing when Orellana made his observations?


Answer: diseases from Europe

Question: What was believed to be the cause of devastation to the civilization?


Answer: 1970s

Question: How long since it's been that geoglyphs were first discovered on deforested land?


Answer: AD 0–1250

Question: What time period did the geoglyphs date back to?


Answer: Francisco de Orellana

Question: Who was the first European to travel the entire length of the Amazon River?


Answer: 1542

Question: In what year did the first European travel the entire length of the Amazon River?


Answer: AD 0–1250

Question: Geoglyphs dating to what period were found in deforested land along the Amazon River?


Answer: Ondemar Dias

Question: Who is given credit for discovering geoglyphs along the Amazon River?


Answer: 11,000 years

Question: For how many years was evidence shown that humans shaped the the Amazon?


Answer: black earth

Context: Terra preta (black earth), which is distributed over large areas in the Amazon forest, is now widely accepted as a product of indigenous soil management. The development of this fertile soil allowed agriculture and silviculture in the previously hostile environment; meaning that large portions of the Amazon rainforest are probably the result of centuries of human management, rather than naturally occurring as has previously been supposed. In the region of the Xingu tribe, remains of some of these large settlements in the middle of the Amazon forest were found in 2003 by Michael Heckenberger and colleagues of the University of Florida. Among those were evidence of roads, bridges and large plazas.

Question: What is terra preta called?


Answer: large areas

Question: How much is terra preta distributed over the Amazon forest?


Answer: agriculture and silviculture

Question: What did the development of this fertile soil provide in hostile environment?


Answer: Xingu tribe

Question: In which region tribe were large settlements discovered?


Answer: Michael Heckenberger and colleagues of the University of Florida

Question: Who discovered this and where did they come from?


Answer: Terra preta (black earth)

Question: What type of soil is considered a product of soil management by indigenous peoples in the Amazon Forest?


Answer: agriculture and silviculture

Question: The development of Terra Preta allowed for what to happen in the Amazon Forest?


Answer: Xingu tribe

Question: In lands attributed to what tribe are found remains of large settlements?


Answer: Michael Heckenberger and colleagues

Question: Who is credited with finding evidence of large settlements in the Amazon forest?


Answer: roads, bridges and large plazas

Question: Evidence for what types of structures were found in 2003?


Answer: 2.5 million

Context: The region is home to about 2.5 million insect species, tens of thousands of plants, and some 2,000 birds and mammals. To date, at least 40,000 plant species, 2,200 fishes, 1,294 birds, 427 mammals, 428 amphibians, and 378 reptiles have been scientifically classified in the region. One in five of all the bird species in the world live in the rainforests of the Amazon, and one in five of the fish species live in Amazonian rivers and streams. Scientists have described between 96,660 and 128,843 invertebrate species in Brazil alone.

Question: How many species of insects are known in the region?


Answer: One in five

Question: What portion of bird species make up the world's total live in the rainforest?


Answer: 40,000

Question: How many plant species make up the total in the rainforest?


Answer: one in five

Question: What is the total make up of fish species living in the Amazon?


Answer: 96,660 and 128,843

Question: How many invertebrate species are known in Brazil alone?


Answer: 2.5 million

Question: The Amazon region is home to how many species of insect?


Answer: 2,000

Question: How many species of bird and mammals are there in the Amazon region?


Answer: 40,000

Question: How many plant species are estimated to be in the Amazon region?


Answer: 378

Question: How many reptiles have been discovered in the Amazon region?


Answer: One in five

Question: What amount of bird species on earth are found in the Amazon rainforest?


Answer: 62 acres

Context: The biodiversity of plant species is the highest on Earth with one 2001 study finding a quarter square kilometer (62 acres) of Ecuadorian rainforest supports more than 1,100 tree species. A study in 1999 found one square kilometer (247 acres) of Amazon rainforest can contain about 90,790 tonnes of living plants. The average plant biomass is estimated at 356 ± 47 tonnes per hectare. To date, an estimated 438,000 species of plants of economic and social interest have been registered in the region with many more remaining to be discovered or catalogued. The total number of tree species in the region is estimated at 16,000.

Question: How many kilometers of acres of the Ecuadorian rainforest is supported?


Answer: 1,100

Question: How many tree species are in the rainforest?


Answer: 90,790

Question: How many tons of living plants are in the rainforest?


Answer: 356 ± 47 tonnes per hectare

Question: What is the average plant biosmass?


Answer: 438,000

Question: What is the number of plant species in economics and social interest?


Answer: highest on Earth

Question: Where does the Amazon region rate among the entire earth for its amount of biodiversity?


Answer: 1,100

Question: How many tree species were found in one square kilometer of Ecuadorian rainforest in 2001?


Answer: 90,790 tonnes

Question: How many tons of live plants were found to live in one square kilometer of the Amazon rainforest in 1999?


Answer: 356 ± 47 tonnes

Question: What is the average weight of the biomass per hectare in the Amazon?


Answer: 438,000

Question: How many plant species are of interest to society and manufacturers exist in the amazon rainforest?


Answer: electric eels

Context: The rainforest contains several species that can pose a hazard. Among the largest predatory creatures are the black caiman, jaguar, cougar, and anaconda. In the river, electric eels can produce an electric shock that can stun or kill, while piranha are known to bite and injure humans. Various species of poison dart frogs secrete lipophilic alkaloid toxins through their flesh. There are also numerous parasites and disease vectors. Vampire bats dwell in the rainforest and can spread the rabies virus. Malaria, yellow fever and Dengue fever can also be contracted in the Amazon region.

Question: Which animal that lives in the Amazon river may produce a deadly shock?


Answer: black caiman

Question: Large predators of the Amazon rainforest include the jaguar, cougar, and anaconda, what is one other example?


Answer: piranha

Question: What fish living in the Amazon river is known to bit humans?


Answer: lipophilic alkaloid toxins

Question: What are dart frogs are known to secrete?


Answer: Vampire bats

Question: What type of bat that lives in the Amazon rainforest can spread rabies?


Answer: Deforestation

Context: Deforestation is the conversion of forested areas to non-forested areas. The main sources of deforestation in the Amazon are human settlement and development of the land. Prior to the early 1960s, access to the forest's interior was highly restricted, and the forest remained basically intact. Farms established during the 1960s were based on crop cultivation and the slash and burn method. However, the colonists were unable to manage their fields and the crops because of the loss of soil fertility and weed invasion. The soils in the Amazon are productive for just a short period of time, so farmers are constantly moving to new areas and clearing more land. These farming practices led to deforestation and caused extensive environmental damage. Deforestation is considerable, and areas cleared of forest are visible to the naked eye from outer space.

Question: What is the process of removing trees from a forest known as?


Answer: the early 1960s

Question: Acessing the Amazon rainforest was restricted before what era?


Answer: slash and burn method

Question: What method was used to clear forest for crop cultivation in the amazon forest?


Answer: loss of soil fertility and weed invasion

Question: What are two factors that made it difficult for colonists to the Amazon forest to survive?


Answer: areas cleared of forest are visible to the naked eye

Question: What is notable about the Amazon forest when it is seen from space?


Answer: 415,000

Context: Between 1991 and 2000, the total area of forest lost in the Amazon rose from 415,000 to 587,000 square kilometres (160,000 to 227,000 sq mi), with most of the lost forest becoming pasture for cattle. Seventy percent of formerly forested land in the Amazon, and 91% of land deforested since 1970, is used for livestock pasture. Currently, Brazil is the second-largest global producer of soybeans after the United States. New research however, conducted by Leydimere Oliveira et al., has shown that the more rainforest is logged in the Amazon, the less precipitation reaches the area and so the lower the yield per hectare becomes. So despite the popular perception, there has been no economical advantage for Brazil from logging rainforest zones and converting these to pastoral fields.

Question: How many square kilometres of the Amazon forest was lost by 1991?


Answer: 587,000

Question: In the year 2000 how many square kilometres of the Amazon forest had been lost?


Answer: pasture for cattle

Question: What is most of the cleared land in the Amazon region used for?


Answer: second-largest global producer

Question: Where is Brazil ranked globally in soybean production?


Answer: 91%

Question: What percentage of the land cleared in the Amazon is used for growing livestock?


Answer: soy farmers

Context: The needs of soy farmers have been used to justify many of the controversial transportation projects that are currently developing in the Amazon. The first two highways successfully opened up the rainforest and led to increased settlement and deforestation. The mean annual deforestation rate from 2000 to 2005 (22,392 km2 or 8,646 sq mi per year) was 18% higher than in the previous five years (19,018 km2 or 7,343 sq mi per year). Although deforestation has declined significantly in the Brazilian Amazon between 2004 and 2014, there has been an increase to the present day.

Question: Highways built in the Amazon rainforest were built primarily for what kind of farmers?


Answer: increased settlement and deforestation

Question: What did creating highways in the Amazon rainforest lead to?


Answer: 8,646 sq mi

Question: The rate of clearing of forest from 2000 to 2005 was how many square miles per year?


Answer: deforestation has declined

Question: What happened to the rate of deforestation in the Amazon region of Brazil between 2004 and 2014?


Answer: 18% higher

Question: How much higher was the rate of deforestation in 2000, to 2005 compared to 1995 to 2000?


Answer: loss of biodiversity

Context: Environmentalists are concerned about loss of biodiversity that will result from destruction of the forest, and also about the release of the carbon contained within the vegetation, which could accelerate global warming. Amazonian evergreen forests account for about 10% of the world's terrestrial primary productivity and 10% of the carbon stores in ecosystems—of the order of 1.1 × 1011 metric tonnes of carbon. Amazonian forests are estimated to have accumulated 0.62 ± 0.37 tons of carbon per hectare per year between 1975 and 1996.

Question: What are environmentalists concerned about losing in the Amazon forest?


Answer: destruction of the forest

Question: The loss of biodiversity may be the result of what, according to environmentalists?


Answer: carbon contained within the vegetation

Question: What are environmentalists concerned about having released from the Amazon region?


Answer: 10% of the carbon stores

Question: What amount of the worlds carbon is stored in the Amazon forest?


Answer: 1.1 × 1011 metric tonnes

Question: How many metric tons of carbon are believed to be stored in the Amazon forest?


Answer: reduced rainfall and increased temperatures

Context: One computer model of future climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions shows that the Amazon rainforest could become unsustainable under conditions of severely reduced rainfall and increased temperatures, leading to an almost complete loss of rainforest cover in the basin by 2100. However, simulations of Amazon basin climate change across many different models are not consistent in their estimation of any rainfall response, ranging from weak increases to strong decreases. The result indicates that the rainforest could be threatened though the 21st century by climate change in addition to deforestation.

Question: What change in conditions may make the Amazon rainforest unsustainable?


Answer: greenhouse gas emissions

Question: A complete loss of rainforest cover may be caused by what type of emissions?


Answer: 2100

Question: If one computer model turns out correct, by what year would there be a nearly complete loss of rainforest in the Amazon basin?


Answer: though the 21st century

Question: How long may the Amazon rainforest be threatened, according to some computer models?


Answer: climate change in addition to deforestation

Question: What are the main threats facing the Amazon rainforest in the current century?


Answer: indigenous territories

Context: As indigenous territories continue to be destroyed by deforestation and ecocide, such as in the Peruvian Amazon indigenous peoples' rainforest communities continue to disappear, while others, like the Urarina continue to struggle to fight for their cultural survival and the fate of their forested territories. Meanwhile, the relationship between non-human primates in the subsistence and symbolism of indigenous lowland South American peoples has gained increased attention, as have ethno-biology and community-based conservation efforts.

Question: What kind of territories are being destroyed by ecocide in the Amazon?


Answer: community-based conservation

Question: What type of conservation effort is gaining attention in the Amazon?


Answer: deforestation and ecocide

Question: Indigenous territories are largely being destroyed in what two ways?


Answer: Urarina

Question: The Peruvian Amazon indigienous people are one group struggling in the Amazon, what is another group?


Answer: lowland South American

Question: There is growing interest in what indigenous group in the Amazon?


Answer: remote sensing

Context: The use of remote sensing for the conservation of the Amazon is also being used by the indigenous tribes of the basin to protect their tribal lands from commercial interests. Using handheld GPS devices and programs like Google Earth, members of the Trio Tribe, who live in the rainforests of southern Suriname, map out their ancestral lands to help strengthen their territorial claims. Currently, most tribes in the Amazon do not have clearly defined boundaries, making it easier for commercial ventures to target their territories.

Question: What kind of sending technology is being used to protect tribal lands in the Amazon?


Answer: Trio Tribe

Question: What tribe uses GPS devices to map lands?


Answer: southern Suriname

Question: Tribal members living in the rainforests of what region are using Google Earth?


Answer: to help strengthen their territorial claims

Question: What do tribes use Google Earth and GPS for?


Answer: to protect their tribal lands from commercial interests

Question: Why do some tribes use remote sensing technology?


Answer: tree growth

Context: To accurately map the Amazon's biomass and subsequent carbon related emissions, the classification of tree growth stages within different parts of the forest is crucial. In 2006 Tatiana Kuplich organized the trees of the Amazon into four categories: (1) mature forest, (2) regenerating forest [less than three years], (3) regenerating forest [between three and five years of regrowth], and (4) regenerating forest [eleven to eighteen years of continued development]. The researcher used a combination of Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and Thematic Mapper (TM) to accurately place the different portions of the Amazon into one of the four classifications.

Question: Classifying the stages of what is important to mapping aspects of the Amazon?


Answer: carbon related emissions

Question: The classification of aspects of the Amazon forest is important for mapping what type of emission?


Answer: Tatiana Kuplich

Question: Who organized the trees of the Amazon into four categories?


Answer: 2006

Question: In what year did one individual suggest classifying the trees of the Amazon into four categories?


Answer: Synthetic aperture radar (SAR)

Question: What type of radar was used to classify trees into four categories?


Answer: 2005

Context: In 2005, parts of the Amazon basin experienced the worst drought in one hundred years, and there were indications that 2006 could have been a second successive year of drought. A July 23, 2006 article in the UK newspaper The Independent reported Woods Hole Research Center results showing that the forest in its present form could survive only three years of drought. Scientists at the Brazilian National Institute of Amazonian Research argue in the article that this drought response, coupled with the effects of deforestation on regional climate, are pushing the rainforest towards a "tipping point" where it would irreversibly start to die. It concludes that the forest is on the brink of being turned into savanna or desert, with catastrophic consequences for the world's climate.

Question: In what year did the Amazon experience its worst drought of recent history?


Answer: Brazilian National Institute of Amazonian Research

Question: What organization argued that drought, among other effects, could cause the Amazon forest to reach a "tipping point?"


Answer: deforestation

Question: Along with drought, what is one other factor that is pushing the Amazon rainforest towards a tipping point?


Answer: savanna or desert

Question: What might the Amazon forest become if it passes the tipping point and starts to die?


Answer: Woods Hole Research Center

Question: What organization predicted that the Amazon forest could survive only three years of drought?


Answer: 2010

Context: In 2010 the Amazon rainforest experienced another severe drought, in some ways more extreme than the 2005 drought. The affected region was approximate 1,160,000 square miles (3,000,000 km2) of rainforest, compared to 734,000 square miles (1,900,000 km2) in 2005. The 2010 drought had three epicenters where vegetation died off, whereas in 2005 the drought was focused on the southwestern part. The findings were published in the journal Science. In a typical year the Amazon absorbs 1.5 gigatons of carbon dioxide; during 2005 instead 5 gigatons were released and in 2010 8 gigatons were released.

Question: In what year did the Amazon experience a drought that may have been more extreme than in 2005?


Answer: 1,160,000

Question: How many square miles large was the region impacted by the 2010 drought?


Answer: three epicenters

Question: How many areas were impacted by the the death of vegetation in the 2010 drought?


Answer: 2005

Question: The southern part of the Amazon forest was mainly impacted by drought in what year?


Answer: 1.5 gigatons

Question: How many tons of carbon are absorbed the Amazon in a typical year?


Answer: comb jellies

Context: Ctenophora (/tᵻˈnɒfərə/; singular ctenophore, /ˈtɛnəfɔːr/ or /ˈtiːnəfɔːr/; from the Greek κτείς kteis 'comb' and φέρω pherō 'carry'; commonly known as comb jellies) is a phylum of animals that live in marine waters worldwide. Their most distinctive feature is the ‘combs’ – groups of cilia which they use for swimming – they are the largest animals that swim by means of cilia. Adults of various species range from a few millimeters to 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) in size. Like cnidarians, their bodies consist of a mass of jelly, with one layer of cells on the outside and another lining the internal cavity. In ctenophores, these layers are two cells deep, while those in cnidarians are only one cell deep. Some authors combined ctenophores and cnidarians in one phylum, Coelenterata, as both groups rely on water flow through the body cavity for both digestion and respiration. Increasing awareness of the differences persuaded more recent authors to classify them as separate phyla.

Question: What are Ctenophora commonly known as?


Answer: marine waters worldwide.

Question: Where do Ctenophora live?


Answer: a few millimeters to 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) in size.

Question: What size are adult Ctenophora?


Answer: phylum of animals that live in marine waters

Question: What is a ctenophora?


Answer: ‘combs’ – groups of cilia

Question: What does the ctenophora use to swim?


Answer: water flow through the body cavity

Question: What does ctenophora use for digestion and respiration?


Answer: 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in)

Question: How large can ctenophora grow?


Answer: ‘combs’ – groups of cilia

Question: What is the most distinctive feature of ctenophora?


Answer: comb jellies

Question: What are ctenophora commonly known as?


Answer: 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in)

Question: How big can ctenophora grow?


Answer: water flow through the body cavity

Question: What does ctenophora rely on for digestion and respiration?


Answer: κτείς kteis 'comb' and φέρω pherō 'carry'

Question: What does ctenophora mean in Greek?


Answer: marine waters

Question: Where do ctenophora live?


Answer: ten times their own weight

Context: Almost all ctenophores are predators, taking prey ranging from microscopic larvae and rotifers to the adults of small crustaceans; the exceptions are juveniles of two species, which live as parasites on the salps on which adults of their species feed. In favorable circumstances, ctenophores can eat ten times their own weight in a day. Only 100–150 species have been validated, and possibly another 25 have not been fully described and named. The textbook examples are cydippids with egg-shaped bodies and a pair of retractable tentacles fringed with tentilla ("little tentacles") that are covered with colloblasts, sticky cells that capture prey. The phylum has a wide range of body forms, including the flattened, deep-sea platyctenids, in which the adults of most species lack combs, and the coastal beroids, which lack tentacles and prey on other ctenophores by using huge mouths armed with groups of large, stiffened cilia that act as teeth. These variations enable different species to build huge populations in the same area, because they specialize in different types of prey, which they capture by as wide a range of methods as spiders use.

Question: How much can Ctenophores eat in one day?


Answer: 100–150

Question: How many species of Ctenophores have been validated?


Answer: possibly another 25

Question: How many species of Ctenophores have not been fully described or named?


Answer: 100–150 species

Question: How many species of Ctenophora have been validated?


Answer: tentilla

Question: What are the little tentacles that cydippids have called?


Answer: ten times their own weight

Question: How much food does a ctenophora eat in a day?


Answer: tentacles

Question: What do coastal beroids not have that other ctenophora have?


Answer: groups of large, stiffened cilia

Question: What does coastal beriods use as teeth?


Answer: ten times their own weight

Question: How much do ctenophore eat in a day?


Answer: tentilla

Question: What are the small tentacles on Cydippids called?


Answer: groups of large, stiffened cilia

Question: What do Beriods use as teeth?


Answer: colloblasts

Question: What do Cydippids use to capture their prey?


Answer: 100–150 species

Question: How many different species of ctenohore are there?


Answer: Most species are hermaphrodites

Context: Most species are hermaphrodites—a single animal can produce both eggs and sperm, meaning it can fertilize its own egg, not needing a mate. Some are simultaneous hermaphrodites, which can produce both eggs and sperm at the same time. Others are sequential hermaphrodites, in which the eggs and sperm mature at different times. Fertilization is generally external, although platyctenids' eggs are fertilized inside their parents' bodies and kept there until they hatch. The young are generally planktonic and in most species look like miniature cydippids, gradually changing into their adult shapes as they grow. The exceptions are the beroids, whose young are miniature beroids with large mouths and no tentacles, and the platyctenids, whose young live as cydippid-like plankton until they reach near-adult size, but then sink to the bottom and rapidly metamorphose into the adult form. In at least some species, juveniles are capable of reproduction before reaching the adult size and shape. The combination of hermaphroditism and early reproduction enables small populations to grow at an explosive rate.

Question: What gender are most species of Ctenophores?


Answer: miniature cydippids

Question: What do young Ctenophores generaly look like?


Answer: In at least some species, juveniles are capable of reproduction before reaching the adult size

Question: Are juiveniles capable of reproduction?


Answer: can produce both eggs and sperm, meaning it can fertilize its own egg

Question: What is unique about a hermaphrodite?


Answer: can produce both eggs and sperm at the same time

Question: What can a simultaneous hermaphrodite do?


Answer: sequential

Question: What type of hermaphrodite produces egg and sperm at different times?


Answer: platyctenids

Question: Which species eggs are fertilized and kept inside the parents body until hatched?


Answer: hermaphroditism and early reproduction

Question: What causes the population of ctenophora to grow at an explosive rate?


Answer: a single animal can produce both eggs and sperm

Question: What is a hermaphrodite?


Answer: can produce both eggs and sperm at the same time.

Question: What is unique about simultaneous hermaphrodites?


Answer: the eggs and sperm mature at different times

Question: What is a trait of sequential hermaphrodites?


Answer: platyctenids

Question: Which group keep the eggs are fertilized and kept inside the parent's body until they hatch?


Answer: beroids

Question: Which group has young that are born with no tentacles and a large mouth?


Answer: the Black Sea

Context: Ctenophores may be abundant during the summer months in some coastal locations, but in other places they are uncommon and difficult to find. In bays where they occur in very high numbers, predation by ctenophores may control the populations of small zooplanktonic organisms such as copepods, which might otherwise wipe out the phytoplankton (planktonic plants), which are a vital part of marine food chains. One ctenophore, Mnemiopsis, has accidentally been introduced into the Black Sea, where it is blamed for causing fish stocks to collapse by eating both fish larvae and organisms that would otherwise have fed the fish. The situation was aggravated by other factors, such as over-fishing and long-term environmental changes that promoted the growth of the Mnemiopsis population. The later accidental introduction of Beroe helped to mitigate the problem, as Beroe preys on other ctenophores.

Question: What sea were Ctenophores accidently introduced?


Answer: Mnemiopsis

Question: What specific type of Ctenophore was introduced into the Black Sea?


Answer: over-fishing and long-term environmental changes

Question: What promoted the growrth of Mnemiposis in the Black Sea?


Answer: other ctenophores

Question: What does the Beroe eat?


Answer: Mnemiopsis

Question: What was introduces into the Black Sea?


Answer: fish larvae and organisms

Question: What does mnemiopsis eat?


Answer: In bays

Question: Where do ctenophores be found in large numbers?


Answer: In bays

Question: Where can ctenophores be found in large amounts?


Answer: planktonic plants

Question: What are phytoplankton?


Answer: Mnemiopsis

Question: What ctenophore was accidentally introduced into The Black Sea?


Answer: causing fish stocks to collapse

Question: What event was blamed on the introduction of mnemiopsis into The Black Sea?


Answer: introduction of Beroe

Question: What was done to counteract the overpopulation of mnemiopsis in The Black Sea?


Answer: 66 million years ago

Context: Despite their soft, gelatinous bodies, fossils thought to represent ctenophores, apparently with no tentacles but many more comb-rows than modern forms, have been found in lagerstätten as far back as the early Cambrian, about 515 million years ago. The position of the ctenophores in the evolutionary family tree of animals has long been debated, and the majority view at present, based on molecular phylogenetics, is that cnidarians and bilaterians are more closely related to each other than either is to ctenophores. A recent molecular phylogenetics analysis concluded that the common ancestor of all modern ctenophores was cydippid-like, and that all the modern groups appeared relatively recently, probably after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event 66 million years ago. Evidence accumulating since the 1980s indicates that the "cydippids" are not monophyletic, in other words do not include all and only the descendants of a single common ancestor, because all the other traditional ctenophore groups are descendants of various cydippids.

Question: When did the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction happen?


Answer: monophyletic

Question: Evidence indicates that Cydippids are not what?


Answer: 515 million years

Question: How old are the fossils found that represent ctenophhores ?


Answer: tentacles

Question: What were the fossils that were found to represent ctenphores missing that current ctenphora have?


Answer: 515 million years

Question: Fossils found that were believed to be ctenophores were how old?


Answer: Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction

Question: What event happened 66 million years ago?


Answer: monophyletic

Question: Cypiddids are not what?


Answer: tentacles

Question: What do current ctenophores have that fossils found did not have?


Answer: cnidarians

Context: Ctenophores form an animal phylum that is more complex than sponges, about as complex as cnidarians (jellyfish, sea anemones, etc.), and less complex than bilaterians (which include almost all other animals). Unlike sponges, both ctenophores and cnidarians have: cells bound by inter-cell connections and carpet-like basement membranes; muscles; nervous systems; and some have sensory organs. Ctenophores are distinguished from all other animals by having colloblasts, which are sticky and adhere to prey, although a few ctenophore species lack them.

Question: Jellyfish ans sea anemones belong to what phylum?


Answer: by having colloblasts

Question: What makes ctenophores different from all other animals?


Answer: bilaterians

Question: Ctenophora are less complex than which other phylum?


Answer: Ctenophores

Question: Which phylum is more complex than sponges?


Answer: colloblasts

Question: What does ctenophore use to capture prey?


Answer: cnidarians

Question: Jellyfish and sea anemones belong to which group/


Answer: colloblasts

Question: What do ctenophores have that no other animals have?


Answer: colloblasts

Question: What do ctenophore use to capture their prey?


Answer: ctenophores and cnidarians

Question: Which two groups have cells bound by inter-cell connections and membranes, muscles, a nervous system and sensory organs?


Answer: bilaterians

Question: Ctenophores are less complex than what other group?


Answer: mesoglea

Context: Like sponges and cnidarians, ctenophores have two main layers of cells that sandwich a middle layer of jelly-like material, which is called the mesoglea in cnidarians and ctenophores; more complex animals have three main cell layers and no intermediate jelly-like layer. Hence ctenophores and cnidarians have traditionally been labelled diploblastic, along with sponges. Both ctenophores and cnidarians have a type of muscle that, in more complex animals, arises from the middle cell layer, and as a result some recent text books classify ctenophores as triploblastic, while others still regard them as diploblastic.

Question: What is the jelly-like susbtance called?


Answer: diploblastic

Question: Ctenophores and cnidarians are classified as what?


Answer: sponges and cnidarians, ctenophores

Question: Which group has two layers of cells with a middle layer of mesoglea?


Answer: sponges

Question: Ctenophores, cnidarians and what other group are labelled diploblastic?


Answer: cilia

Context: Ranging from about 1 millimeter (0.039 in) to 1.5 meters (4.9 ft) in size, ctenophores are the largest non-colonial animals that use cilia ("hairs") as their main method of locomotion. Most species have eight strips, called comb rows, that run the length of their bodies and bear comb-like bands of cilia, called "ctenes," stacked along the comb rows so that when the cilia beat, those of each comb touch the comb below. The name "ctenophora" means "comb-bearing", from the Greek κτείς (stem-form κτεν-) meaning "comb" and the Greek suffix -φορος meaning "carrying".

Question: What are the hairs on ctenophores called?


Answer: method of locomotion

Question: What are cilia used for?


Answer: ctenes

Question: Comb like bands of cilia are called what?


Answer: comb-bearing

Question: What does ctenophore mean in Greek?


Answer: Pleurobrachia

Context: For a phylum with relatively few species, ctenophores have a wide range of body plans. Coastal species need to be tough enough to withstand waves and swirling sediment particles, while some oceanic species are so fragile that it is very difficult to capture them intact for study. In addition oceanic species do not preserve well, and are known mainly from photographs and from observers' notes. Hence most attention has until recently concentrated on three coastal genera – Pleurobrachia, Beroe and Mnemiopsis. At least two textbooks base their descriptions of ctenophores on the cydippid Pleurobrachia.

Question: Which cidippid is used as a description on ctenophores in most textbooks?


Answer: oceanic species

Question: Which group of ctenophore are are hardest to study?


Answer: to withstand waves and swirling sediment particles

Question: Why are coastal species tough?


Answer: Pleurobrachia, Beroe and Mnemiopsis

Question: Which ctenophora have been studies the most?


Answer: epithelium

Context: The internal cavity forms: a mouth that can usually be closed by muscles; a pharynx ("throat"); a wider area in the center that acts as a stomach; and a system of internal canals. These branch through the mesoglea to the most active parts of the animal: the mouth and pharynx; the roots of the tentacles, if present; all along the underside of each comb row; and four branches round the sensory complex at the far end from the mouth – two of these four branches terminate in anal pores. The inner surface of the cavity is lined with an epithelium, the gastrodermis. The mouth and pharynx have both cilia and well-developed muscles. In other parts of the canal system, the gastrodermis is different on the sides nearest to and furthest from the organ that it supplies. The nearer side is composed of tall nutritive cells that store nutrients in vacuoles (internal compartments), germ cells that produce eggs or sperm, and photocytes that produce bioluminescence. The side furthest from the organ is covered with ciliated cells that circulate water through the canals, punctuated by ciliary rosettes, pores that are surrounded by double whorls of cilia and connect to the mesoglea.

Question: The inside of a ctenophore is lined with what?


Answer: bioluminescence

Question: What do photocytes produce?


Answer: pharynx

Question: What is the throat called?


Answer: a mouth that can usually be closed by muscles; a pharynx ("throat"); a wider area in the center that acts as a stomach; and a system of internal canals.

Question: What does the internal cavity contain?


Answer: the mouth and pharynx;

Question: What are the most active parts of ctenophora?


Answer: swimming-plates

Context: The outer surface bears usually eight comb rows, called swimming-plates, which are used for swimming. The rows are oriented to run from near the mouth (the "oral pole") to the opposite end (the "aboral pole"), and are spaced more or less evenly around the body, although spacing patterns vary by species and in most species the comb rows extend only part of the distance from the aboral pole towards the mouth. The "combs" (also called "ctenes" or "comb plates") run across each row, and each consists of thousands of unusually long cilia, up to 2 millimeters (0.079 in). Unlike conventional cilia and flagella, which has a filament structure arranged in a 9 + 2 pattern, these cilia are arranged in a 9 + 3 pattern, where the extra compact filament is suspected to have a supporting function. These normally beat so that the propulsion stroke is away from the mouth, although they can also reverse direction. Hence ctenophores usually swim in the direction in which the mouth is pointing, unlike jellyfish. When trying to escape predators, one species can accelerate to six times its normal speed; some other species reverse direction as part of their escape behavior, by reversing the power stroke of the comb plate cilia.

Question: What are the eight comb rows on the outer surface called?


Answer: also called "ctenes" or "comb plates

Question: Combs are called what?


Answer: supporting function

Question: What does the 9 +3 pattern of cilia thought to do?


Answer: in the direction in which the mouth is pointing,

Question: What direction do ctenophore swim?


Answer: 2 millimeters (0.079 in)

Question: Cilia can g ow up too what length?


Answer: osmotic pressure

Context: It is uncertain how ctenophores control their buoyancy, but experiments have shown that some species rely on osmotic pressure to adapt to water of different densities. Their body fluids are normally as concentrated as seawater. If they enter less dense brackish water, the ciliary rosettes in the body cavity may pump this into the mesoglea to increase its bulk and decrease its density, to avoid sinking. Conversely if they move from brackish to full-strength seawater, the rosettes may pump water out of the mesoglea to reduce its volume and increase its density.

Question: How do ctenophores control buoyancy?


Answer: the mesoglea

Question: Ciliary rosettes pump water into what to control buoyancy?


Answer: increase its bulk and decrease its density

Question: What does pumping water into the mesoglea do?


Answer: pump water out of the mesoglea

Question: What does the ciliary rosettes do to decease bulk and increase density?


Answer: aboral organ

Context: The largest single sensory feature is the aboral organ (at the opposite end from the mouth). Its main component is a statocyst, a balance sensor consisting of a statolith, a solid particle supported on four bundles of cilia, called "balancers", that sense its orientation. The statocyst is protected by a transparent dome made of long, immobile cilia. A ctenophore does not automatically try to keep the statolith resting equally on all the balancers. Instead its response is determined by the animal's "mood", in other words the overall state of the nervous system. For example, if a ctenophore with trailing tentacles captures prey, it will often put some comb rows into reverse, spinning the mouth towards the prey.

Question: What is the largest sensory feature of the ctenophora?


Answer: at the opposite end from the mouth

Question: Where is the aboral organ located?


Answer: a transparent dome made of long, immobile cilia

Question: What protects the statocyst?


Answer: a statocyst

Question: What is the main component of the aboral organ?


Answer: a balance sensor

Question: What is a statocyst?


Answer: sea gooseberry

Context: Cydippid ctenophores have bodies that are more or less rounded, sometimes nearly spherical and other times more cylindrical or egg-shaped; the common coastal "sea gooseberry," Pleurobrachia, sometimes has an egg-shaped body with the mouth at the narrow end, although some individuals are more uniformly round. From opposite sides of the body extends a pair of long, slender tentacles, each housed in a sheath into which it can be withdrawn. Some species of cydippids have bodies that are flattened to various extents, so that they are wider in the plane of the tentacles.

Question: What is the common coastal pleurobrachia called?


Answer: a pair of long, slender tentacles

Question: What does the pleurobrachia have on opposite sides of its body?


Answer: more or less rounded

Question: Cydippid are typically what shape?


Answer: a sheath

Question: The long tentacles on the pleurbrachia are protected by what?


Answer: at the narrow end

Question: Where is the mouth located on the pleuobrachia located?


Answer: tentilla

Context: The tentacles of cydippid ctenophores are typically fringed with tentilla ("little tentacles"), although a few genera have simple tentacles without these sidebranches. The tentacles and tentilla are densely covered with microscopic colloblasts that capture prey by sticking to it. Colloblasts are specialized mushroom-shaped cells in the outer layer of the epidermis, and have three main components: a domed head with vesicles (chambers) that contain adhesive; a stalk that anchors the cell in the lower layer of the epidermis or in the mesoglea; and a spiral thread that coils round the stalk and is attached to the head and to the root of the stalk. The function of the spiral thread is uncertain, but it may absorb stress when prey tries to escape, and thus prevent the collobast from being torn apart. In addition to colloblasts, members of the genus Haeckelia, which feed mainly on jellyfish, incorporate their victims' stinging nematocytes into their own tentacles – some cnidaria-eating nudibranchs similarly incorporate nematocytes into their bodies for defense. The tentilla of Euplokamis differ significantly from those of other cydippids: they contain striated muscle, a cell type otherwise unknown in the phylum Ctenophora; and they are coiled when relaxed, while the tentilla of all other known ctenophores elongate when relaxed. Euplokamis' tentilla have three types of movement that are used in capturing prey: they may flick out very quickly (in 40 to 60 milliseconds); they can wriggle, which may lure prey by behaving like small planktonic worms; and they coil round prey. The unique flicking is an uncoiling movement powered by contraction of the striated muscle. The wriggling motion is produced by smooth muscles, but of a highly specialized type. Coiling around prey is accomplished largely by the return of the tentilla to their inactive state, but the coils may be tightened by smooth muscle.

Question: What are the tentacles of cydipped ctenophores are usually fringed with?


Answer: specialized mushroom-shaped cells in the outer layer of the epidermis

Question: What are colloblasts?


Answer: they contain striated muscle,

Question: What makes the tentilla of euplokamis different from other cysippids?


Answer: three types of movement

Question: How many types of movements do euplokamis tentilla have?


Answer: capturing prey

Question: What does the euplokamis use the three types of movement for?


Answer: eight rows

Context: There are eight rows of combs that run from near the mouth to the opposite end, and are spaced evenly round the body. The "combs" beat in a metachronal rhythm rather like that of a Mexican wave. From each balancer in the statocyst a ciliary groove runs out under the dome and then splits to connect with two adjacent comb rows, and in some species runs all the way along the comb rows. This forms a mechanical system for transmitting the beat rhythm from the combs to the balancers, via water disturbances created by the cilia.

Question: How many rows of combs are there?


Answer: from near the mouth to the opposite end

Question: Where are the rows of combs located?


Answer: evenly round the body

Question: How are the combs spaced?


Answer: ciliary groove

Question: What runs from the balancer in the statocyst to the comb rows?


Answer: lobes

Context: The Lobata have a pair of lobes, which are muscular, cuplike extensions of the body that project beyond the mouth. Their inconspicuous tentacles originate from the corners of the mouth, running in convoluted grooves and spreading out over the inner surface of the lobes (rather than trailing far behind, as in the Cydippida). Between the lobes on either side of the mouth, many species of lobates have four auricles, gelatinous projections edged with cilia that produce water currents that help direct microscopic prey toward the mouth. This combination of structures enables lobates to feed continuously on suspended planktonic prey.

Question: What does the lobata have pair of?


Answer: gelatinous projections edged with cilia that produce water currents

Question: What are auricles?


Answer: four

Question: How many auricles do most species have?


Answer: help direct microscopic prey toward the mouth

Question: What do the auricles do?


Answer: suspended planktonic prey

Question: What do lobates feed on?


Answer: by clapping their lobes

Context: Lobates have eight comb-rows, originating at the aboral pole and usually not extending beyond the body to the lobes; in species with (four) auricles, the cilia edging the auricles are extensions of cilia in four of the comb rows. Most lobates are quite passive when moving through the water, using the cilia on their comb rows for propulsion, although Leucothea has long and active auricles whose movements also contribute to propulsion. Members of the lobate genera Bathocyroe and Ocyropsis can escape from danger by clapping their lobes, so that the jet of expelled water drives them backwards very quickly. Unlike cydippids, the movements of lobates' combs are coordinated by nerves rather than by water disturbances created by the cilia, yet combs on the same row beat in the same Mexican wave style as the mechanically coordinated comb rows of cydippids and beroids. This may have enabled lobates to grow larger than cydippids and to have shapes that are less egg-like.

Question: What does the bathocyroe and ocyropsis do to escape danger?


Answer: jet of expelled water drives them backwards very quickly.

Question: What happens when bathocyroe and ocyropsis clap their lobes together?


Answer: nerves

Question: The movements of the lobates combs are controlled by what?


Answer: water disturbances created by the cilia

Question: Cydippids combs are controlled by what?


Answer: Nuda

Context: The Beroida, also known as Nuda, have no feeding appendages, but their large pharynx, just inside the large mouth and filling most of the saclike body, bears "macrocilia" at the oral end. These fused bundles of several thousand large cilia are able to "bite" off pieces of prey that are too large to swallow whole – almost always other ctenophores. In front of the field of macrocilia, on the mouth "lips" in some species of Beroe, is a pair of narrow strips of adhesive epithelial cells on the stomach wall that "zip" the mouth shut when the animal is not feeding, by forming intercellular connections with the opposite adhesive strip. This tight closure streamlines the front of the animal when it is pursuing prey.

Question: Beroida are known by what other name?


Answer: The Beroida

Question: What group has no feeding appendages?


Answer: zip" the mouth shut when the animal is not feeding,

Question: Some species of beroe have a pair of strips of adhesive cells on the stomach wall. What does it do?


Answer: "zip" the mouth shut

Question: What does the beroe do when pursuing prey?


Answer: large pharynx

Question: What does the beroida have instead of feeding appendages?


Answer: The Cestida

Context: The Cestida ("belt animals") are ribbon-shaped planktonic animals, with the mouth and aboral organ aligned in the middle of opposite edges of the ribbon. There is a pair of comb-rows along each aboral edge, and tentilla emerging from a groove all along the oral edge, which stream back across most of the wing-like body surface. Cestids can swim by undulating their bodies as well as by the beating of their comb-rows. There are two known species, with worldwide distribution in warm, and warm-temperate waters: Cestum veneris ("Venus' girdle") is among the largest ctenophores – up to 1.5 meters (4.9 ft) long, and can undulate slowly or quite rapidly. Velamen parallelum, which is typically less than 20 centimeters (0.66 ft) long, can move much faster in what has been described as a "darting motion".

Question: Which species are ribbon-shaped planktonic animals?


Answer: Cestum veneris

Question: What is the largest ctenophore?


Answer: belt animals

Question: What are cestida called?


Answer: by undulating their bodies as well as by the beating of their comb-rows.

Question: How do cestids swim?


Answer: Velamen parallelum

Question: Which species moves by a darting motion?


Answer: a pair of tentilla-bearing tentacles

Context: Most Platyctenida have oval bodies that are flattened in the oral-aboral direction, with a pair of tentilla-bearing tentacles on the aboral surface. They cling to and creep on surfaces by everting the pharynx and using it as a muscular "foot". All but one of the known platyctenid species lack comb-rows. Platyctenids are usually cryptically colored, live on rocks, algae, or the body surfaces of other invertebrates, and are often revealed by their long tentacles with many sidebranches, seen streaming off the back of the ctenophore into the current.

Question: What do most platyctenida have on their aboral surface?


Answer: cling to and creep on surfaces

Question: What do platyctenida use their pharynx for?


Answer: comb-rows

Question: What do all but one platycenida species lack?


Answer: on rocks, algae, or the body surfaces of other invertebrates

Question: Where do platycenida live?


Answer: via pores in the epidermis

Context: Almost all species are hermaphrodites, in other words they function as both males and females at the same time – except that in two species of the genus Ocryopsis individuals remain of the same single sex all their lives. The gonads are located in the parts of the internal canal network under the comb rows, and eggs and sperm are released via pores in the epidermis. Fertilization is external in most species, but platyctenids use internal fertilization and keep the eggs in brood chambers until they hatch. Self-fertilization has occasionally been seen in species of the genus Mnemiopsis, and it is thought that most of the hermaphroditic species are self-fertile.

Question: How are eggs and sperm released?


Answer: internal fertilization and keep the eggs in brood chambers until they hatch.

Question: How do platyctenids reproduce?


Answer: Mnemiopsis

Question: What genus has self-fertilization been seen?


Answer: in the parts of the internal canal network under the comb rows

Question: Where are the gonads located?


Answer: external

Question: Is fertilization internal or exeternal in most species?


Answer: tentacles and tentacle sheaths

Context: Development of the fertilized eggs is direct, in other words there is no distinctive larval form, and juveniles of all groups generally resemble miniature cydippid adults. In the genus Beroe the juveniles, like the adults, lack tentacles and tentacle sheaths. In most species the juveniles gradually develop the body forms of their parents. In some groups, such as the flat, bottom-dwelling platyctenids, the juveniles behave more like true larvae, as they live among the plankton and thus occupy a different ecological niche from their parents and attain the adult form by a more radical metamorphosis, after dropping to the sea-floor.

Question: Juvenile and adult beroe lack what?


Answer: among the plankton

Question: Where do juvenile platyctenids live?


Answer: after dropping to the sea-floor

Question: When do juvenile develop into adults?


Answer: more like true larvae

Question: Juvenile platyctenids act like what?


Answer: Beroe

Question: Which genus lack tentacles and sheaths?


Answer: they produce secretions (ink) that luminesce

Context: When some species, including Bathyctena chuni, Euplokamis stationis and Eurhamphaea vexilligera, are disturbed, they produce secretions (ink) that luminesce at much the same wavelengths as their bodies. Juveniles will luminesce more brightly in relation to their body size than adults, whose luminescence is diffused over their bodies. Detailed statistical investigation has not suggested the function of ctenophores' bioluminescence nor produced any correlation between its exact color and any aspect of the animals' environments, such as depth or whether they live in coastal or mid-ocean waters.

Question: What do bathyctena chuni, euplokamis stationis and eurhamphaea vexilligera have in common?


Answer: are disturbed,

Question: When do bathyctena chuni, euplokamis stationis and eurhamphaea vexilligera excrete secretions?


Answer: ink

Question: What are the secretions commonly called?


Answer: Juveniles will luminesce more brightly

Question: Do adults or juveniles secretions luminesce brighter?


Answer: Almost all ctenophores are predators

Context: Almost all ctenophores are predators – there are no vegetarians and only one genus that is partly parasitic. If food is plentiful, they can eat 10 times their own weight per day. While Beroe preys mainly on other ctenophores, other surface-water species prey on zooplankton (planktonic animals) ranging in size from the microscopic, including mollusc and fish larvae, to small adult crustaceans such as copepods, amphipods, and even krill. Members of the genus Haeckelia prey on jellyfish and incorporate their prey's nematocysts (stinging cells) into their own tentacles instead of colloblasts. Ctenophores have been compared to spiders in their wide range of techniques from capturing prey – some hang motionless in the water using their tentacles as "webs", some are ambush predators like Salticid jumping spiders, and some dangle a sticky droplet at the end of a fine thread, as bolas spiders do. This variety explains the wide range of body forms in a phylum with rather few species. The two-tentacled "cydippid" Lampea feeds exclusively on salps, close relatives of sea-squirts that form large chain-like floating colonies, and juveniles of Lampea attach themselves like parasites to salps that are too large for them to swallow. Members of the cydippid genus Pleurobrachia and the lobate Bolinopsis often reach high population densities at the same place and time because they specialize in different types of prey: Pleurobrachia's long tentacles mainly capture relatively strong swimmers such as adult copepods, while Bolinopsis generally feeds on smaller, weaker swimmers such as rotifers and mollusc and crustacean larvae.

Question: Are ctenophores predators, vegetarian or parasitic?


Answer: jellyfish

Question: Haeckelia prey mostly on what animal?


Answer: incorporate their prey's nematocysts (stinging cells) into their own tentacles instead of colloblasts

Question: What happens to the jellyfish nematocysts when they are eaten by the haeckelia?


Answer: smaller, weaker swimmers such as rotifers and mollusc and crustacean larvae.

Question: What does the bolinopsis generally eat?


Answer: Lampea

Question: What is the name of the two-tentacled cydippid that feedsentirely on salps called?


Answer: their low ratio of organic matter to salt and water

Context: Ctenophores used to be regarded as "dead ends" in marine food chains because it was thought their low ratio of organic matter to salt and water made them a poor diet for other animals. It is also often difficult to identify the remains of ctenophores in the guts of possible predators, although the combs sometimes remain intact long enough to provide a clue. Detailed investigation of chum salmon, Oncorhynchus keta, showed that these fish digest ctenophores 20 times as fast as an equal weight of shrimps, and that ctenophores can provide a good diet if there are enough of them around. Beroids prey mainly on other ctenophores. Some jellyfish and turtles eat large quantities of ctenophores, and jellyfish may temporarily wipe out ctenophore populations. Since ctenophores and jellyfish often have large seasonal variations in population, most fish that prey on them are generalists, and may have a greater effect on populations than the specialist jelly-eaters. This is underlined by an observation of herbivorous fishes deliberately feeding on gelatinous zooplankton during blooms in the Red Sea. The larvae of some sea anemones are parasites on ctenophores, as are the larvae of some flatworms that parasitize fish when they reach adulthood.

Question: Why was it thought that ctenophores were a poor diet for other animals?


Answer: chum salmon

Question: What is the oncorhynchus also called?


Answer: ctenophores

Question: What do beroids typically eat?


Answer: the Red Sea

Question: Where have herbivorous fishes been seen feeding on gelatinous zooplankton?


Answer: ctenophores,

Question: Turtles and jellyfish can eat large quantities of what?


Answer: ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi

Context: On the other hand, in the late 1980s the Western Atlantic ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi was accidentally introduced into the Black Sea and Sea of Azov via the ballast tanks of ships, and has been blamed for causing sharp drops in fish catches by eating both fish larvae and small crustaceans that would otherwise feed the adult fish. Mnemiopsis is well equipped to invade new territories (although this was not predicted until after it so successfully colonized the Black Sea), as it can breed very rapidly and tolerate a wide range of water temperatures and salinities. The impact was increased by chronic overfishing, and by eutrophication that gave the entire ecosystem a short-term boost, causing the Mnemiopsis population to increase even faster than normal – and above all by the absence of efficient predators on these introduced ctenophores. Mnemiopsis populations in those areas were eventually brought under control by the accidental introduction of the Mnemiopsis-eating North American ctenophore Beroe ovata, and by a cooling of the local climate from 1991 to 1993, which significantly slowed the animal's metabolism. However the abundance of plankton in the area seems unlikely to be restored to pre-Mnemiopsis levels.

Question: What is blamed for causing the sharp drop in fish catches in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov?


Answer: via the ballast tanks of ships

Question: How was the ctenophore mnemiopsis leidyi introduced into The Black Sea and the Sea of Azov?


Answer: by the accidental introduction of the Mnemiopsis-eating North American ctenophore Beroe ovata,

Question: How was the population of mnemiopsis in The black Sea and the Sea of Azov brought under control?


Answer: in the late 1980s

Question: When was ctenophore mnemiopsis leidyi introduced into The Black Sea and the Sea of Azov?


Answer: significantly slowed the animal's metabolism

Question: How does cooling of the local environment affect the mnemiopsis?


Answer: Because of their soft, gelatinous bodies

Context: Because of their soft, gelatinous bodies, ctenophores are extremely rare as fossils, and fossils that have been interpreted as ctenophores have been found only in lagerstätten, places where the environment was exceptionally suited to preservation of soft tissue. Until the mid-1990s only two specimens good enough for analysis were known, both members of the crown group, from the early Devonian (Emsian) period. Three additional putative species were then found in the Burgess Shale and other Canadian rocks of similar age, about 505 million years ago in the mid-Cambrian period. All three apparently lacked tentacles but had between 24 and 80 comb rows, far more than the 8 typical of living species. They also appear to have had internal organ-like structures unlike anything found in living ctenophores. One of the fossil species first reported in 1996 had a large mouth, apparently surrounded by a folded edge that may have been muscular. Evidence from China a year later suggests that such ctenophores were widespread in the Cambrian, but perhaps very different from modern species – for example one fossil's comb-rows were mounted on prominent vanes. The Ediacaran Eoandromeda could putatively represent a comb jelly.

Question: Why are ctenophores extremely rare as fossils?


Answer: comb jelly.

Question: Ediacaran eoandromeda can be regarded to represent what?


Answer: Cambrian period.

Question: What was the period called that was 505 million years ago?


Answer: Three additional putative species

Question: How many species were found in the Burgess Shale?


Answer: lacked tentacles

Question: What did the fossils found in the Burgess Shale lack?


Answer: 515 million years

Context: The early Cambrian sessile frond-like fossil Stromatoveris, from China's Chengjiang lagerstätte and dated to about 515 million years ago, is very similar to Vendobionta of the preceding Ediacaran period. De-Gan Shu, Simon Conway Morris et al. found on its branches what they considered rows of cilia, used for filter feeding. They suggested that Stromatoveris was an evolutionary "aunt" of ctenophores, and that ctenophores originated from sessile animals whose descendants became swimmers and changed the cilia from a feeding mechanism to a propulsion system.

Question: How old were the fossils found in China?


Answer: Cambrian sessile frond-like fossil Stromatoveris

Question: What type of fossils were found in China?


Answer: Stromatoveris

Question: Which genus is considered the "aunt" of ctenophores?


Answer: Vendobionta

Question: Stromatoveris is similair to which genus?


Answer: Ediacaran period

Question: Vendobionta lived during which period?


Answer: all other animals

Context: The relationship of ctenophores to the rest of Metazoa is very important to our understanding of the early evolution of animals and the origin of multicellularity. It has been the focus of debate for many years. Ctenophores have been purported to be the sister lineage to the Bilateria, sister to the Cnidaria, sister to Cnidaria, Placozoa and Bilateria, and sister to all other animal phyla. A series of studies that looked at the presence and absence of members of gene families and signalling pathways (e.g., homeoboxes, nuclear receptors, the Wnt signaling pathway, and sodium channels) showed evidence congruent with the latter two scenarios, that ctenophores are either sister to Cnidaria, Placozoa and Bilateria or sister to all other animal phyla. Several more recent studies comparing complete sequenced genomes of ctenophores with other sequenced animal genomes have also supported ctenophores as the sister lineage to all other animals. This position would suggest that neural and muscle cell types were either lost in major animal lineages (e.g., Porifera) or that they evolved independently in the ctenophore lineage. However, other researchers have argued that the placement of Ctenophora as sister to all other animals is a statistical anomaly caused by the high rate of evolution in ctenophore genomes, and that Porifera (sponges) is the earliest-diverging animal phylum instead. Ctenophores and sponges are also the only known animal phyla that lack any true hox genes.

Question: Recent studies believe that ctenophores are the sister lineage to what?


Answer: Porifera

Question: What do some researchers believe is the earliest-diverging animal phylum is?


Answer: beroids

Context: Since all modern ctenophores except the beroids have cydippid-like larvae, it has widely been assumed that their last common ancestor also resembled cydippids, having an egg-shaped body and a pair of retractable tentacles. Richard Harbison's purely morphological analysis in 1985 concluded that the cydippids are not monophyletic, in other words do not contain all and only the descendants of a single common ancestor that was itself a cydippid. Instead he found that various cydippid families were more similar to members of other ctenophore orders than to other cydippids. He also suggested that the last common ancestor of modern ctenophores was either cydippid-like or beroid-like. A molecular phylogeny analysis in 2001, using 26 species, including 4 recently discovered ones, confirmed that the cydippids are not monophyletic and concluded that the last common ancestor of modern ctenophores was cydippid-like. It also found that the genetic differences between these species were very small – so small that the relationships between the Lobata, Cestida and Thalassocalycida remained uncertain. This suggests that the last common ancestor of modern ctenophores was relatively recent, and perhaps was lucky enough to survive the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event 65.5 million years ago while other lineages perished. When the analysis was broadened to include representatives of other phyla, it concluded that cnidarians are probably more closely related to bilaterians than either group is to ctenophores but that this diagnosis is uncertain.

Question: Which genus of ctenophores does not have cydipped-like larvae?


Answer: monophyletic

Question: A molecular phylogeny analysis confirmed that cydippid are not what?


Answer: 65.5 million years ago

Question: When was the Cretaceous-Paleogen extinction occur?


Answer: Richard Harbison

Question: Who did a morphologically analysis in 1985 that concluded cydippids are not monophyletic?


Answer: Fresno

Context: Fresno (/ˈfrɛznoʊ/ FREZ-noh), the county seat of Fresno County, is a city in the U.S. state of California. As of 2015, the city's population was 520,159, making it the fifth-largest city in California, the largest inland city in California and the 34th-largest in the nation. Fresno is in the center of the San Joaquin Valley and is the largest city in the Central Valley, which contains the San Joaquin Valley. It is approximately 220 miles (350 km) northwest of Los Angeles, 170 miles (270 km) south of the state capital, Sacramento, or 185 miles (300 km) south of San Francisco. The name Fresno means "ash tree" in Spanish, and an ash leaf is featured on the city's flag.

Question: Which city is the fifth-largest city in California?


Answer: 220 miles (350 km)

Question: How far is Fresno from Los Angeles?


Answer: ash tree

Question: What does the name Fresno mean in Spanish?


Answer: ash leaf

Question: What is featured on the city of Fresno's city flag?


Answer: (/ˈfrɛznoʊ/ FREZ-noh)

Question: How do you pronounce Fresno?


Answer: 1872

Context: In 1872, the Central Pacific Railroad established a station near Easterby's—by now a hugely productive wheat farm—for its new Southern Pacific line. Soon there was a store around the station and the store grew the town of Fresno Station, later called Fresno. Many Millerton residents, drawn by the convenience of the railroad and worried about flooding, moved to the new community. Fresno became an incorporated city in 1885. By 1931 the Fresno Traction Company operated 47 streetcars over 49 miles of track.

Question: The Central Pacific Railroad established a station for its new line in what year?


Answer: the convenience of the railroad and worried about flooding

Question: What were the reasons why residents moved to the town of Fresno Station?


Answer: 1885

Question: In what year did Fresno become an incorporated city?


Answer: 47 streetcars

Question: How many streetcars did the Fresno Traction Company operate in 1931?


Answer: store

Question: What entity sparked the growth of Fresno Station?


Answer: 2.7%

Context: Before World War II, Fresno had many ethnic neighborhoods, including Little Armenia, German Town, Little Italy, and Chinatown. In 1940, the Census Bureau reported Fresno's population as 94.0% white, 3.3% black and 2.7% Asian. (Incongruously, Chinatown was primarily a Japanese neighborhood and today Japanese-American businesses still remain). During 1942, Pinedale, in what is now North Fresno, was the site of the Pinedale Assembly Center, an interim facility for the relocation of Fresno area Japanese Americans to internment camps. The Fresno Fairgrounds was also utilized as an assembly center.

Question: In 1940, what percentage of the population in Fresno was Asian?


Answer: Chinatown

Question: What ethnic neighborhood in Fresno had primarily Japanese residents in 1940?


Answer: Pinedale

Question: In 1942, what was North Fresno previously called?


Answer: an interim facility for the relocation of Fresno area Japanese Americans to internment camps

Question: What was the Pinedale Assembly Center?


Answer: an assembly center

Question: What was the Fresno Fairgrounds used as?


Answer: BankAmericard

Context: In September 1958, Bank of America launched a new product called BankAmericard in Fresno. After a troubled gestation during which its creator resigned, BankAmericard went on to become the first successful credit card; that is, a financial instrument that was usable across a large number of merchants and also allowed cardholders to revolve a balance (earlier financial products could do one or the other but not both). In 1976, BankAmericard was renamed and spun off into a separate company known today as Visa Inc.

Question: What new product did Bank of America introduce in 1958?


Answer: BankAmericard

Question: What was the name of the first successful credit card?


Answer: to revolve a balance

Question: What did the BankAmericard allow customers do to that they couldn't do with previous financial instruments?


Answer: 1976

Question: In what year did BankAmericard change its name?


Answer: Visa Inc.

Question: What present-day company did BankAmericard turn into?


Answer: Bill Aken

Context: In the 1970s, the city was the subject of a song, "Walking Into Fresno", written by Hall Of Fame guitarist Bill Aken and recorded by Bob Gallion of the world-famous "WWVA Jamboree" radio and television show in Wheeling, West Virginia. Aken, adopted by Mexican movie actress Lupe Mayorga, grew up in the neighboring town of Madera and his song chronicled the hardships faced by the migrant farm workers he saw as a child. Aken also made his first TV appearance playing guitar on the old country-western show at The Fresno Barn.

Question: Who wrote "Walking in Fresno?"


Answer: Bob Gallion

Question: Who recorded "Walking in Fresno?"


Answer: Madera

Question: In what town did Bill Aiken grow up?


Answer: The Fresno Barn

Question: On what show did Bill Aiken make is television debut?


Answer: Lupe Mayorga

Question: Who was Bill Aiken's adopted mother?


Answer: three

Context: Fresno has three large public parks, two in the city limits and one in county land to the southwest. Woodward Park, which features the Shinzen Japanese Gardens, numerous picnic areas and several miles of trails, is in North Fresno and is adjacent to the San Joaquin River Parkway. Roeding Park, near Downtown Fresno, is home to the Fresno Chaffee Zoo, and Rotary Storyland and Playland. Kearney Park is the largest of the Fresno region's park system and is home to historic Kearney Mansion and plays host to the annual Civil War Revisited, the largest reenactment of the Civil War in the west coast of the U.S.

Question: How many large public parks does Fresno have?


Answer: Roeding Park

Question: Which park is home to the Fresno Chafffee Zoo?


Answer: Kearney Park

Question: Which park is home to the Kearney Mansion?


Answer: Shinzen Japanese Gardens

Question: Which is one of the park features located in North Fresno?


Answer: Kearney Park

Question: Which park hosts the largest Civil War reenactment on the west coast?


Answer: Between the 1880s and World War II

Context: Between the 1880s and World War II, Downtown Fresno flourished, filled with electric Street Cars, and contained some of the San Joaquin Valley's most beautiful architectural buildings. Among them, the original Fresno County Courthouse (demolished), the Fresno Carnegie Public Library (demolished), the Fresno Water Tower, the Bank of Italy Building, the Pacific Southwest Building, the San Joaquin Light & Power Building (currently known as the Grand 1401), and the Hughes Hotel (burned down), to name a few.

Question: During what period did downtown Fresno thrive?


Answer: Fresno County Courthouse (demolished), the Fresno Carnegie Public Library

Question: What were two of Fresno's most beautiful architectural buildings that are now demolished?


Answer: San Joaquin Light & Power Building

Question: What former building is currently known as Grand 1401?


Answer: Hughes Hotel

Question: Which one of Fresno's hotels burned down?


Answer: 1964

Context: Fulton Street in Downtown Fresno was Fresno's main financial and commercial district before being converted into one of the nation's first pedestrian malls in 1964. Renamed the Fulton Mall, the area contains the densest collection of historic buildings in Fresno. While the Fulton Mall corridor has suffered a sharp decline from its heyday, the Mall includes some of the finest public art pieces in the country, including the only Pierre-Auguste Renoir piece in the world that one can walk up to and touch. Current plans call for the reopening of the Fulton Mall to automobile traffic. The public art pieces will be restored and placed near their current locations and will feature wide sidewalks (up to 28' on the east side of the street) to continue with the pedestrian friendly environment of the district.

Question: In what year did Fresno get its first pedestrian mall?


Answer: Fulton Mall

Question: What was the pedestrian mall renamed?


Answer: Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Question: Which artist has a piece of his artwork located at the Fulton Mall?


Answer: near their current locations

Question: After reopening, where will the art pieces be located after restoration?


Answer: wide sidewalks

Question: What feature will enrich the the pedestrian friendly environment after restoration?


Answer: Fresno's far southeast side

Context: The neighborhood of Sunnyside is on Fresno's far southeast side, bounded by Chestnut Avenue to the West. Its major thoroughfares are Kings Canyon Avenue and Clovis Avenue. Although parts of Sunnyside are within the City of Fresno, much of the neighborhood is a "county island" within Fresno County. Largely developed in the 1950s through the 1970s, it has recently experienced a surge in new home construction. It is also the home of the Sunnyside Country Club, which maintains a golf course designed by William P. Bell.

Question: Where is the neighborhood of Sunnyside located in Fresno?


Answer: Kings Canyon Avenue and Clovis Avenue

Question: What are the two major thoroughfares of Sunnyside?


Answer: 1950s through the 1970s

Question: When was most of Sunnside developed?


Answer: Sunnyside

Question: Where is the home of the Sunnyside Country Club?


Answer: William P. Bell

Question: Who designed the golf course located at the Sunnyside Country Club?


Answer: Tower Theatre

Context: The popular neighborhood known as the Tower District is centered around the historic Tower Theatre, which is included on the National List of Historic Places. The theater was built in 1939 and is at Olive and Wishon Avenues in the heart of the Tower District. (The name of the theater refers to a well-known landmark water tower, which is actually in another nearby area). The Tower District neighborhood is just north of downtown Fresno proper, and one-half mile south of Fresno City College. Although the neighborhood was known as a residential area prior, the early commercial establishments of the Tower District began with small shops and services that flocked to the area shortly after World War II. The character of small local businesses largely remains today. To some extent, the businesses of the Tower District were developed due to the proximity of the original Fresno Normal School, (later renamed California State University at Fresno). In 1916 the college moved to what is now the site of Fresno City College one-half mile north of the Tower District.

Question: The Tower District is centered around which historic theatre?


Answer: 1939

Question: When was the Tower Theatre built?


Answer: water tower

Question: From what landmark within Fresno does the Tower Theatre get its name?


Answer: Fresno Normal School

Question: What was the original name of California State University at Fresno?


Answer: one-half mile

Question: How far is Fresno City College from the Tower District?


Answer: late 1970s

Context: This vibrant and culturally diverse area of retail businesses and residences experienced a renewal after a significant decline in the late 1960s and 1970s.[citation needed] After decades of neglect and suburban flight, the neighborhood revival followed the re-opening of the Tower Theatre in the late 1970s, which at that time showed second and third run movies, along with classic films. Roger Rocka's Dinner Theater & Good Company Players also opened nearby in 1978,[citation needed] at Olive and Wishon Avenues. Fresno native Audra McDonald performed in the leading roles of Evita and The Wiz at the theater while she was a high school student. McDonald subsequently became a leading performer on Broadway in New York City and a Tony award winning actress. Also in the Tower District is Good Company Players' 2nd Space Theatre.

Question: During what period did the Tower Theatre re-open?


Answer: second and third run movies, along with classic films

Question: After its re-opening, which types of movies did the Tower Theatre show?


Answer: 1978

Question: In what year did Roger Rocka's Dinner Theater & Good Company Players open?


Answer: Fresno

Question: Where is Audra McDonald from?


Answer: Evita and The Wiz

Question: Which two leading roles did Audra McDonald perform when she was in high school?


Answer: live theater

Context: The neighborhood features restaurants, live theater and nightclubs, as well as several independent shops and bookstores, currently operating on or near Olive Avenue, and all within a few hundred feet of each other. Since renewal, the Tower District has become an attractive area for restaurant and other local businesses. Today, the Tower District is also known as the center of Fresno's LGBT and hipster Communities.; Additionally, Tower District is also known as the center of Fresno's local punk/goth/deathrock and heavy metal community.[citation needed]

Question: What type of theater do the neighborhoods feature?


Answer: all within a few hundred feet of each other

Question: How far apart are some of the neighborhood's features?


Answer: Tower District

Question: What area has become attractive for restaurants?


Answer: Tower District

Question: Which Fresno district is the center for the LGBT community?


Answer: Tower District

Question: Which district in Fresno is known as the center for the heavy metal community?


Answer: early twentieth century homes

Context: The area is also known for its early twentieth century homes, many of which have been restored in recent decades. The area includes many California Bungalow and American Craftsman style homes, Spanish Colonial Revival Style architecture, Mediterranean Revival Style architecture, Mission Revival Style architecture, and many Storybook houses designed by Fresno architects, Hilliard, Taylor & Wheeler. The residential architecture of the Tower District contrasts with the newer areas of tract homes urban sprawl in north and east areas of Fresno.

Question: What type of homes is Fresno known for?


Answer: Storybook houses

Question: What types of houses are designed by Fresno architects?


Answer: contrasts

Question: Does the residential architecture of the Tower District compare or contrast with other part of Fresno?


Answer: in recent decades

Question: How recently has the homes in Fresno been restored?


Answer: Huntington Boulevard

Context: Homes from the early 20th century line this boulevard in the heart of the historic Alta Vista Tract. The section of Huntington Boulevard between First Street on the west to Cedar Avenue on the east is the home to many large, stately homes. The original development of this area began circa 1910, on 190 acres of what had been an alfalfa field. The Alta Vista Tract, as the land would become known, was mapped by William Stranahan for the Pacific Improvement Corporation, and was officially platted in 1911. The tract's boundaries were Balch Avenue on the south, Cedar Avenue on the east, the rear property line of Platt Avenue (east of Sixth Street) and Platt Avenue (west of Sixth Street) on the north, and First Street on the west. The subdivision was annexed to the City in January 1912, in an election that was the first in which women voted in the community. At the time of its admission to the City, the Alta Vista Tract was uninhabited but landscaped, although the trees had to be watered by tank wagon. In 1914 developers Billings & Meyering acquired the tract, completed street development, provided the last of the necessary municipal improvements including water service, and began marketing the property with fervor. A mere half decade later the tract had 267 homes. This rapid development was no doubt hastened by the Fresno Traction Company right-of-way along Huntington Boulevard, which provided streetcar connections between downtown and the County Hospital.

Question: Which boulevard can you find many majestic homes in the area?


Answer: William Stranahan

Question: Who mapped the Alta Vista Tract?


Answer: 1914

Question: In what year did developers Billings & Meyering acquire the Alta Vista Tract?


Answer: 267

Question: How many homes did the Alta Vista Tract have five years after Billings & Meyering acquired it?


Answer: Fresno Traction Company

Question: Which company provided streetcar connections between downtown and the hospital?


Answer: "Southwest Fresno"

Context: The "West Side" of Fresno, also often called "Southwest Fresno", is one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city. The neighborhood lies southwest of the 99 freeway (which divides it from Downtown Fresno), west of the 41 freeway and south of Nielsen Ave (or the newly constructed 180 Freeway), and extends to the city limits to the west and south. The neighborhood is traditionally considered to be the center of Fresno's African-American community. It is culturally diverse and also includes significant Mexican-American and Asian-American (principally Hmong or Laotian) populations.

Question: What is another name for the west side of Fresno?


Answer: southwest

Question: In which direction does the west side of Fresno neighborhood lie to the 99 freeway?


Answer: African-American

Question: The west side of Fresno is the center of which ethnic community?


Answer: Hmong or Laotian

Question: What are the two principal Asian-American groups living in the west side neighborhood of Fresno?


Answer: "West Side"

Question: Which neighborhood lies west of the 41 freeway?


Answer: M. Theo Kearney

Context: The neighborhood includes Kearney Boulevard, named after early 20th century entrepreneur and millionaire M. Theo Kearney, which extends from Fresno Street in Southwest Fresno about 20 mi (32 km) west to Kerman, California. A small, two-lane rural road for most of its length, Kearney Boulevard is lined with tall palm trees. The roughly half-mile stretch of Kearney Boulevard between Fresno Street and Thorne Ave was at one time the preferred neighborhood for Fresno's elite African-American families. Another section, Brookhaven, on the southern edge of the West Side south of Jensen and west of Elm, was given the name by the Fresno City Council in an effort to revitalize the neighborhood's image. The isolated subdivision was for years known as the "Dogg Pound" in reference to a local gang, and as of late 2008 was still known for high levels of violent crime.

Question: Who is Kearney Boulevard named after?


Answer: tall palm trees

Question: What kinds of trees is Kearney Boulevard lined with?


Answer: Fresno Street and Thorne Ave

Question: Between which two streets along Kearney Boulevard were wealthy African-Americans at one time residing?


Answer: Brookhaven

Question: What was the name given to a section of Kearney Boulevard in efforts to change the areas image?


Answer: The isolated subdivision

Question: What area of Brookhaven is still known for its high levels of crime?


Answer: between the 1960s and 1990s

Context: While many homes in the neighborhood date back to the 1930s or before, the neighborhood is also home to several public housing developments built between the 1960s and 1990s by the Fresno Housing Authority. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development has also built small subdivisions of single-family homes in the area for purchase by low-income working families. There have been numerous attempts to revitalize the neighborhood, including the construction of a modern shopping center on the corner of Fresno and B streets, an aborted attempt to build luxury homes and a golf course on the western edge of the neighborhood, and some new section 8 apartments have been built along Church Ave west of Elm St. Cargill Meat Solutions and Foster Farms both have large processing facilities in the neighborhood, and the stench from these (and other small industrial facilities) has long plagued area residents. The Fresno Chandler Executive Airport is also on the West Side. Due to its position on the edge of the city and years of neglect by developers, is not a true "inner-city" neighborhood, and there are many vacant lots, strawberry fields and vineyards throughout the neighborhood. The neighborhood has very little retail activity, aside from the area near Fresno Street and State Route 99 Freeway (Kearney Palm Shopping Center, built in the late 1990s) and small corner markets scattered throughout.

Question: When were the public housing developments built in the neighborhood?


Answer: Fresno and B streets

Question: On which corner is the shopping center located?


Answer: Cargill Meat Solutions and Foster Farms

Question: What are the two processing facilities in the neighborhood?


Answer: the West Side

Question: Where is the airport located?


Answer: very little

Question: How much retail activity does the neighborhood have?