biology

Jamaican wood rail

Jamaican wood rail is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Jamaican wood rail rather than just read about it. In short: The Jamaican wood rail (Amaurolimnas concolor concolor), also called the Jamaican uniform rail, is an extinct subspecies of the uniform crake found on Jamaica. Extinct since 1881, it is the nominate subspecies of the bird.

Key takeaways

Jamaican wood rail belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Jamaican wood rail to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Jamaican wood rail from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Jamaican wood rail (Amaurolimnas concolor concolor), also called the Jamaican uniform rail, is an extinct subspecies of the uniform crake found on Jamaica. Extinct since 1881, it is the nominate subspecies of the bird.

Appearance The Jamaican wood rail was a reddish-brown bird some 10 inches in length.

Ecology Although capable of flight, the wood rail was primarily a terrestrial bird, preferring to run to escape predators. It was originally widespread on the island, inhabiting swamps, jungle undergrowth and streambeds, to fairly high altitudes.

Extinction Already rare and threatened by rats and cats, the Jamaican wood rail was ultimately driven to extinction shortly after the introduction of small Indian mongooses to Jamaica in 1872. The last specimens of the bird were collected in 1881.

References

External links The Jamaican uniform rail at AviBase

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Jamaican wood rail

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Jamaican wood rail claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Jamaican wood rail before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Jamaican wood rail ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Jamaican wood rail

In research: Jamaican wood rail appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Jamaican wood rail in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Jamaican wood rail is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Birds described in 1847, Endemic birds of Jamaica, Extinct animals of Jamaica, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Jamaican wood rail outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Jamaican wood rail in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Jamaican wood rail means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Jamaican wood rail out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Jamaican wood rail in simple terms?

Why does Jamaican wood rail matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Jamaican wood rail?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Jamaican wood rail.