Word: ecosystems
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Sharks play a crucial role in keeping aquatic wildlife in balance. Scientists now understand that the ocean ecosystem has been evolving over hundreds of millions of years as an integrated whole--a biological machine in which each component has a vital function. For most sharks, that function is to serve as what biologists call an apex predator, the ocean equivalent of a lion or tiger or bear. Not only do they keep prey populations in check, but they also tend to eat the slowest, weakest and least wily individuals. In so doing, they improve the target species' gene pool, leaving...
These exterminators, however, face some stiff opposition. In recent years, prairie dogs have enlisted formidable allies. Scientists call prairie dogs a "keystone" of the Great Plains ecosystem because their dens serve as motels for many other mammals, insects and even birds. Researchers are beginning to discover how their barks and squeaks constitute one of the most complex languages in the animal kingdom. Animal-rights advocates defend the winsome fur balls: they are, in the words of a Hutchinson member of the Doris Day Animal League, "delightful to watch, even if they are of the rodent form...
...there wasn't a whole lot to do down here except drink until you heave. But now, in recognition of the fact that red-blooded spring breakers need a more stand-up form of entertainment, the U.S. military plans to start test-launching ballistic missiles from our fabled ecosystem. On your next vacation visit, you'll be able to watch 12-ton Hera rockets blast out of the wetlands and get shot down in a blaze of glory by Patriot-type missiles launched from Eglin Air Force Base, about 700 miles away. Our new slogan is "See the Lower Keys...
...1980s as new techniques for locating pay dirt suddenly turned old claims on Henderson into a $1 billion lode of extractable ore. The glitch was that the peak is a scant 2.5 miles upstream from Yellowstone National Park. Environmental groups, warning that a megamine would poison the park's ecosystem, threatened massive lawsuits against Crown Butte, the company planning a round-the-clock extraction effort. Then the Administration stepped in, and after months of secret talks, Crown Butte agreed to swap the mine for $65 million worth of government holdings elsewhere. Clinton was able to upstage the first...
...cannot let the Internet become a planned ecosystem, economy or market," McNealy said...