Prelims Focus – 16th May 2024

Baobab Forests of Madagascar

In News: Recently, Madagascar’s baobab forests are being restored with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI) using satellite footage, algorithms and remote sensings.

• • Madagascar Baobab is a small to large tree species (six of the sector’s 8 baobab species are indigenous to Madagascar) acknowledged for their massive trunks and long lifespan.
  • It takes place in Mahajanga and Antsiranana provinces of Madagascar, an island nation off the southeast coast of Africa.
  • It grows in dense dry deciduous forests on limestone, sandstone and gneiss and in sub or coastal wet forests on sandy or chalky soil.
  • It can live for over 1000 years, and has traditionally grown in big forests across the island.
  • IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Least Concern

• Threats

• • Every year, 4,000 hectares of baobab wooded area in Madagascar are destroyed due to cut-and-burn agriculture.
  • Slash and burn practice involves clearing land with hearth to plant plants, pushed by using the acute poverty of some groups.
  • Baobab Forests are also facing the lack of massive-bodied animals consisting of massive lemurs or giant tortoises, which have become extinct about 500 years in the past, that played a vital role in spreading the seeds of baobab trees of their dung.
  • Climate exchange has exacerbated the scenario by increasing dryness and abnormal weather patterns negatively affecting the growth and survival of baobab bushes.

Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs)

In News: A powerful solar storm impacted the earth triggered by the series of X-class flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs).

• The outer solar atmosphere, called the corona, is based on strong magnetic fields.
• They are huge expulsions of plasma and magnetic fields(frozen in flux) from the Sun’s corona.
• These are stronger than the background solar wind interplanetary magnetic power.
• The ejected material can travel at a speed of a million miles per hour or greater.
• They can journey in any random course and cut via solar winds, and they may be every now and then associated with flares but can arise independently.
• CMEs are capable of driving the Space Weather in near-Earth space.
• If CMEs are Earth-directed, they could cause excessive implications.

Sariska Tiger Reserve

In News: Sariska Tiger Reserve, one of the first 12 reserves in India, still does not have proper ownership of its land in the state’s revenue records, even 46 years after being designated as a reserve.

• Sariska, located in Rajasthan’s Alwar district, is nestled in the Aravali Hills and covers 800 sq km. 
• It was the first reserve in the world to successfully relocate tigers. The area is also known for its temples, palaces, and lakes. 
• The topography consists of rocky landscapes, scrub thorn forests, hilly cliffs, and semi deciduous wood. 
• The vegetation includes Northern Tropical Dry Deciduous Forests and Northern Tropical Thorn Forest. 
• The sanctuary is mostly covered with dhok trees, with other species like salar, kadaya, and bamboo also present. In addition to tigers, Sariska is home to a variety of other wildlife including leopards, sambhar, and wild bears.

GPT-4o

In News: OpenAI’s latest model, GPT-4o, harnesses the advanced capabilities of GPT-4.

• GPT-4o offers advanced intelligence at GPT-4 level and is faster, improving capabilities in text, vision, and audio interactions. 
• It enhances human-to-machine interaction, has efficient voice recognition, and integrates transcription, intelligence, and text-to-speech seamlessly. 
• It includes a vision feature for uploading photos and documents, a Memory feature for real-time information retrieval, and improved quality and speed in 50 languages. 
• It can detect emotions and adjust conversation styles accordingly, as well as analyse user emotions through facial expressions in real-time.

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