Ecosystems on the Brink
Notes:
- One day in July 2008 a group of scientists and graduate students led by ecologist Stephen Carpenter of the University of Wisconsin–Madison arrived at the lake with some fish. One by one, they dropped 12 largemouth bass into the water. Then they headed for home, leaving behind sensors that could measure water clarity every five minutes, 24 hours a day
-Each time they dropped 15 more bass into the water. Months passed. The lake cycled through the seasons.
- Then, in the sum- mer of 2010, Peter Lake changed dramatically. Before the scien- tists started their experiment, the lake abounded in fathead minnows, pumpkinseeds and other small fish.
- Water fleas and other tiny animals that the small fish once devoured were now free to flourish. And because these diminu- tive animals graze on algae, the lake water became clearer.
- Yet in recent decades food webs across the world have also been flipping, of- ten unexpectedly, on a far greater scale. Jellyfish now dominate the waters off the coast of Namibia. Hungry snails and fungi are overrunning coastal marshes in North Carolina, causing them to disintegrate. In the northwestern Atlantic, lobsters are proliferating while cod have crashed.
-Whether by fishing, converting land into farms and cities, or warming the planet, humanity is putting tremendous stresses on the world’s ecosystems.
- their complexity of- ten turned attempted diagrams into hope- less snarls.
-To make sense of the snarls, ecologists have turned food webs into mathematical models. They write an equation for the growth of one species by linking its repro- duction rate to how much food it can obtain and how often it gets eaten by other species
-Most food webs, for instance, consist of many weak links rather than a few strong ones. Two species are strongly linked if they interact a lot, such as a predator that consis- tently devours huge numbers of a single prey.
- Species that are weakly linked interact occasionally: a predator snacks every now and then on various species. Food webs may be dominated by numerous weak links be- cause that arrangement is more stable over the long term.
- where small changes can lead to big effects throughout entire ecosystems.
- Removing gray wolves from Yellow stone National Park allowed a boom in elk, which dined on aspen leaves, killing many young trees.
-Food webs will continue to flip around the world. Some will do so because of hunt- ing and fishing, but others will be buffeted by other forces.
-some scientists say that preventing food webs from switching is a more effective strategy than trying to restore ones that have flipped. They believe an ounce of ecological prevention may be worth a pound of cure
Summary
This article was about scientist who had arrived at a lake full of fish to study from They would study the environment and how the fish would react to it, they would study them by first throwing a bunch of bass into the lake. they left behind sensors that could measure the water clarity every five minutes 24 hours a day. They would each month throw more in to see the capacity of this lake and measure it. By the year of 2010 the lake had changed dramatically. The lake had abounded in large amounts of different types of fish and all the other small creature has the freedom to flourish as well. The water now became so clear. This creates a difference in many places, for example food chains have changed dramatically through the years. The unexpected animal are the ones that dominate. Many of the ecosystems are being very disrupted, the cause is fishing, converting farms into cities, and the use of bad habits. Many food chains are very sad looking due to many animals disappearing. Many food chains now consist of weak links instead of a few strong ones. Much of the food chains are soon not going to look like food chains. A small change in the food chains can affect a lot so its very important to keep the food chains strong. Many food chains are also not changing because they want to is just that humans allow it to happen through the actions we take. By taking homes, using their resources, killing them , fishing and damaging properties are all actions that affect these food chains.
My opinion
In my opinion food chains are very important. If we did not have these we wouldn't know much about animals and or can do correlations with them. The knowing of the food chains is important because they keep the form of knowing animals and who they interact with helps us see other views. Th importance of the food chains also help us with seeing the importance of the animals such as key stone species. Without the key stone species the food chains and the environments would change completely. It important to have the food chains strong because they are our food source we don't have much but we have the power to change it. If we don't do anythings about it who will all of our food will disappear and that why food chains are important. We would all be able to eat different things and all become vegetarians but having meat is also important. It is important to conserve our foods to help us grow as a society not everything was made to just throw away in a few billion yeas its to go on for some time.
- One day in July 2008 a group of scientists and graduate students led by ecologist Stephen Carpenter of the University of Wisconsin–Madison arrived at the lake with some fish. One by one, they dropped 12 largemouth bass into the water. Then they headed for home, leaving behind sensors that could measure water clarity every five minutes, 24 hours a day
-Each time they dropped 15 more bass into the water. Months passed. The lake cycled through the seasons.
- Then, in the sum- mer of 2010, Peter Lake changed dramatically. Before the scien- tists started their experiment, the lake abounded in fathead minnows, pumpkinseeds and other small fish.
- Water fleas and other tiny animals that the small fish once devoured were now free to flourish. And because these diminu- tive animals graze on algae, the lake water became clearer.
- Yet in recent decades food webs across the world have also been flipping, of- ten unexpectedly, on a far greater scale. Jellyfish now dominate the waters off the coast of Namibia. Hungry snails and fungi are overrunning coastal marshes in North Carolina, causing them to disintegrate. In the northwestern Atlantic, lobsters are proliferating while cod have crashed.
-Whether by fishing, converting land into farms and cities, or warming the planet, humanity is putting tremendous stresses on the world’s ecosystems.
- their complexity of- ten turned attempted diagrams into hope- less snarls.
-To make sense of the snarls, ecologists have turned food webs into mathematical models. They write an equation for the growth of one species by linking its repro- duction rate to how much food it can obtain and how often it gets eaten by other species
-Most food webs, for instance, consist of many weak links rather than a few strong ones. Two species are strongly linked if they interact a lot, such as a predator that consis- tently devours huge numbers of a single prey.
- Species that are weakly linked interact occasionally: a predator snacks every now and then on various species. Food webs may be dominated by numerous weak links be- cause that arrangement is more stable over the long term.
- where small changes can lead to big effects throughout entire ecosystems.
- Removing gray wolves from Yellow stone National Park allowed a boom in elk, which dined on aspen leaves, killing many young trees.
-Food webs will continue to flip around the world. Some will do so because of hunt- ing and fishing, but others will be buffeted by other forces.
-some scientists say that preventing food webs from switching is a more effective strategy than trying to restore ones that have flipped. They believe an ounce of ecological prevention may be worth a pound of cure
Summary
This article was about scientist who had arrived at a lake full of fish to study from They would study the environment and how the fish would react to it, they would study them by first throwing a bunch of bass into the lake. they left behind sensors that could measure the water clarity every five minutes 24 hours a day. They would each month throw more in to see the capacity of this lake and measure it. By the year of 2010 the lake had changed dramatically. The lake had abounded in large amounts of different types of fish and all the other small creature has the freedom to flourish as well. The water now became so clear. This creates a difference in many places, for example food chains have changed dramatically through the years. The unexpected animal are the ones that dominate. Many of the ecosystems are being very disrupted, the cause is fishing, converting farms into cities, and the use of bad habits. Many food chains are very sad looking due to many animals disappearing. Many food chains now consist of weak links instead of a few strong ones. Much of the food chains are soon not going to look like food chains. A small change in the food chains can affect a lot so its very important to keep the food chains strong. Many food chains are also not changing because they want to is just that humans allow it to happen through the actions we take. By taking homes, using their resources, killing them , fishing and damaging properties are all actions that affect these food chains.
My opinion
In my opinion food chains are very important. If we did not have these we wouldn't know much about animals and or can do correlations with them. The knowing of the food chains is important because they keep the form of knowing animals and who they interact with helps us see other views. Th importance of the food chains also help us with seeing the importance of the animals such as key stone species. Without the key stone species the food chains and the environments would change completely. It important to have the food chains strong because they are our food source we don't have much but we have the power to change it. If we don't do anythings about it who will all of our food will disappear and that why food chains are important. We would all be able to eat different things and all become vegetarians but having meat is also important. It is important to conserve our foods to help us grow as a society not everything was made to just throw away in a few billion yeas its to go on for some time.
So what? Says who? What if..?What does this remind me of?
So what?
Food chains are a very important concept of our lives. They keep everything organized. If they are not strengthen we could lose a lot of food resources for a lot of us that could decrease many species. What if? If we all payed attention to the crisis we have now due to animals decrease we wouldn't have this problem of us looking for ways to keep living with the amount of resources we have now. |
Says who?
This problem has been researched by many students if different universities and have been difficult to overcome the weak bonds. This has been said from generations to generations all over news on how animals are going extinct and more. What does this remind me of? This reminds me of the article of the island that we read a long time ago in this class. It reminds me of it because if suddenly we have all the weak bonds then we would eventually start fighting for resources we don't have. |