Creative Piece

URL to Prezi: http://prezi.com/4-zmzj3uhosh/untitled-prezi/?kw=view-4-zmzj3uhosh&rc=ref-43897637

Planet Earth: Shallow Seas Documentary

In this Planet Earth documentary put out by the discovery channel, it showed many aspects of the ocean world.  Everything from the smallest creatures to the largest were analyzed as well as many of their habitats and lifestyles/life cycles.  The lives of many marine species were followed and recorded doing things that many people would rarely be able to view like the fishing techniques of dolphins, the attacking methods of seals and sharks, and the rare species that many people have never heard of.  It explained how everything in the oceans ecosystems works together to maintain a balance of marine life and why it is important.  It focused on one species for a little bit of time and moved on to the next explaining many of the species characteristics and how it contributes to the ocean world.  For example, one of the species that was viewed was the dolphin, the footage showed the viewer how these mammals go about attacking their food. 


Brownlow, Mark, prod. "Shallow Seas." Planet Earth. Discovery Channel. DSC, Silver Spring, MD, 8 Apr. 2007. Television.

I thought this documentary was very interesting and it kept me interested throughout the whole thing unlike other documentaries I have viewed before. It showed very cool footage of many species and situations we would never get to view in person, unless we were in the right place at exactly the right time which would be really rare.  It also helped to explain how every species depends on another for survival whether it be for food or protection.  I think that it was a very informational documentary that everyone who enjoys animals and marine species would enjoy watching, since you would rarely get to see these animals in the wild doing the things that were shown in this documentary. 

Web Content #5: Plastic Plague

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdhKl9r_fWY

This video describes the impacts that plastic garbage has had on the ocean and its species, as well as how these plastics effect them.  The main species that this video focuses on is the albatross, a bird that uses the ocean as its provider for its main food sources. Plastic litters many of the beaches and surfaces of our oceans, which many of these animals mistaken as food.  There is a certain area out in the Pacific Ocean that is known as the garbage patch, at this location you can find many plastics and other garbage floating at the surface of the water.  It was found that the albatross flew over that area often and the research linked that to the deaths of many of these animals. When the researchers dissected the dead albatross they found many different types of plastic debris, this plastic debris would never exit their body and also displaces water which results in dehydration.  The garbage patch is a big issue since the plastic that is currently in that area is never going to go away.  

Plastic Plague. YouTube. YouTube, 14 Dec. 2009. Web. 26 Apr. 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdhKl9r_fWY. 

I thought that this video was very informational and can make the viewer have feelings about the issue.  You never realize how much plastic we actually don't discard correctly or the total plastic that gets discarded until some bigger issue results because of it.  Now after watching this video, I finally realize the issue of plastic on the environment because another issue has arose because of the pollution of many different plastics.  

       

Web Content #4: Oceans Overview~National Geographic

Video: http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/places/parks-and-nature-places/oceans/oceans-overview/

In this video put out by National Geographic, it describes the importance of the ocean for all life on earth and describes how pollution and industrial fishing has affected the ocean over the years.  This video described how the ocean is a source for all life because without it the earth would be similar to the moon or mars.  The ocean also absorbs the majority of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and produces about 70% of the oxygen that we all live off of.  It drives weather and regulates temperature, and evaporating water from the ocean gets sent back down as rain and other precipitation. The ocean covers 3/4 of the earths surface and its maximum depth is 7 miles.  97% of the earths water is present in the ocean and that also means that 97% of the living space on earth is held in the ocean.  The ocean is so vast that we have barely touched it with exploration, we have only explored about 5% of the ocean.  The vastness of the ocean had led people to believe that there was an endless abundance of resources and food sources, many fish had been taken from the ocean in industrial fishing decreasing the diversity of those species in the ocean.  Industrial pollution, global warming, human waste, and plastic debris have had huge affects on the ocean, creating many dead zones off the coasts and creating a huge garbage pile in the Pacific Ocean.  

Oceans Overview. Perf. Sylvia Earle. National Geographic. National Geographic, n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2013 http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/places/parks-and-nature-places/oceans/oceans-overview/

This was a very interesting video that described the ocean and its many importances for life on earth.  It was a really good overview of all of the things that the ocean does and all of the things that we have done that have affected it.  I thought it was really intersting that the ocean produces about 70% of the earths oxygen supply, because i normally think of plants on land as producing oxygen for us.  Overall, this video was a good overview of the ocean and how important marine biology is in understanding the oceans.        

Web Content #3: Marines in Captivity

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxoEMK1e-vQ 

This video was originally a news story and talks about the debate on whether or not marine mammals should be kept in captivity.  There are many different reasons why many people disagree with the captivity of marine mammals and their use for our amusement.  One of the major disagreements comes about when people start to discuss the living arrangements of these huge mammals.  Orcas normally travel for many miles at a time in their natural habitats, but when put in small enclosed tanks they can only swim so far until they find themselves at a wall.  Most people who are concerned about the situation would argue that that is an animal rights issue, that the orcas deserve to live in their natural habitat where they can have the freedom to swim as far as they please instead of in circles in a small enclosed tank.  Another issue that was brought up in the video was that many of these marine mammals are at risk of injury.  It was explained that when you house orcas together who aren't familiar with each other it could bring on aggression and injury.  In the wild these mammals pick their pods and when they get captured and put into tanks they are forced to live with others that they are not familiar with.  Another issue that came about in the video was safety for the people who work with these mammals at amusement parks such at Sea World in Orlando, Florida.  (In 2010 a trainer was killed by one of her trained orcas when it pulled her under the water).  Overall, this video showed many different sides of the argument on whether or not marine mammals should be in captivity.     

Marines in Captivity. Prod. Michael Pell. YouTube. YouTube, 05 Oct. 2012. Web. 21 Apr. 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxoEMK1e-vQ.

I think that this is a very interesting debate.  I have been to Sea World in Orlando Florida twice and I enjoyed going to the dolphin and orca shows both times but on the other hand I understand the impact that captivity could have on those mammals.  I think it is a fun experience for everybody to see these animals in captivity since it would be a rare sight to be able to see them in the wild but is it really worth the stress that we put the animal through?  I don't think I could pick a side on this issue, I would probably lean more towards disagreeing with having them in captivity since they deserve to live their full lives out in their natural habitats and not be taken away from it.   

Web Content #2: Sunshine Coast marine biodiversity assessment - short documentary

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48SLP4dCydE

In this short documentary/video produced by Under Sea Productions, they talked about the biodiversity of marine life in the sunshine coast in Australia.  Marine surveys are taken to observe what different kinds of marine life live there, what habitats are present, what different species occupy those habitats and how many of those species and habitats are present in the area.  They use the information that they gather to have information to go off of in the future, to see how much the biodiversity of that area changes over certain periods of time.  Gathering information now can help to determine how the biodiversity of the region reacts to certain environmental impacts such as pollution, fishing, and climate changes.  This research also helps in making conservation decisions of marine life in the area. They also talked about the different types of corals and fish that inhabit coral reefs in that area and mentioned that having large diverse numbers of different fish species makes for a very healthy coral reef.  With having many different species of fish in one area one could only imagine the impact that fishing has on this marine environment, as well as the capture of commercial salt water fish that could potentially become your pet.

Sunshine Coast Marine Biodiversity Assessment - Short Documentary. Prod. Under Sea Productions. YouTube. YouTube, 18 Sept. 2010. Web. 21 Apr. 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48SLP4dCydE.

I thought this was a very interesting and informational video about the research that scientists use to determine the biodiversity of certain areas of the ocean.  I think it was a very good video that told the basic ideas of biodiversity of marine life and how that biodiversity gets affected by many different environmental factors.  I always thought that pollution was a big factor in destroying many different habitats and killing different species of fish but recreational and commercial fishing also puts a big impact on biodiversity. 

Web Content #1: The Unseen Threat of Noise in Our Oceans: Kristin Westdal

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bo_GZ3q_Ays

This video put out by TEDxVancouver, discusses the importance of noise and sound to marine mammals. In this video, Kristin Westdal is a arctic marine biologist who had been studying the impact of human made sounds on these animals and how it affects their sense of surroundings.  She discussed how sound is a very critical sense for marine mammals since they use their sonar for finding food, finding their breathing holes, and finding other members of their pods.  When other human made sounds sounds from ships, icebreakers, and drilling put more sounds into the ocean, these sounds can really disorient marine mammals sense of direction.  She explained how these extra sounds have prevented many whales and their young from leaving parts of the ocean that consistently cover with ice, leaving dozens of whales to use the same breathing hole and mortality rate to increase for those areas.  It is very unusual that those mammals don't leave those areas, but the extra sounds that humans have put into the ocean have confused them and they couldn't pick out their sonar signals from the rest of the noise that was occurring around them.  She used this example to help us to better understand the situation: Imagine that you were driving down the road and an ambulance siren was going off but everyone around you was also honking their horns, it would be pretty difficult for you to locate the direction the sound of the ambulance was coming from with all of the other noises occurring around you. 

YouTube. Prod. TEDx Vancouver. Perf. Kristin Westdal. YouTube. YouTube, 06 Feb. 2013. Web. 19 Apr. 2013.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bo_GZ3q_Ays.

This is a very interesting topic that i have never been aware of.  Kristen Westdal talked about how we can pollute the ocean with chemicals but polluting it with noise and sound could also be just as bad.  Marine mammals need to use their sense of sonar to locate things in their surroundings if they lose that sense they would be like us out in the middle of nowhere without a map or a GPS.  Just like we can't communicate when there is a bunch of background noise in our environment, these mammals can't tell which sound to follow when their sonar signal gets blocked by a bunch of other unnecessary noises that also occupy their surroundings.  I thought that it was really interesting that these animals use their sonar for so many different survival needs, like looking for food, finding their breathing holes in the ice, and finding each other.  If we take away their ability to perform these tasks we would basically be leaving them out there to die.     

Article #9: 10 Animals Most At Risk from Gulf Oil Spill

Back in 2010, the Gulf of Mexico experienced an oil spill that had affected many of the marine species that inhabit the Gulf. The oil spill was caused by the sinking of an oil rig and occurred over a long time span.  The timing of the event couldn't have been worse for the marine species that live in the Gulf of Mexico, that time period was the peak spawning and nesting time for many different species of fish, mammals, turtles and birds. Many of these animals have set breeding areas and they would see no reason to move away, even if they happened to be in danger.  The oil spill had long lasting affects on the animals as well as the people who harvest them.  Some of the different species that were affected during this oil spill were  the north Atlantic blue fin tuna, sea turtles, sharks, marine mammals and brown pelicans.  These are only a few of the animals that were affected, and losing them to this oil spill had affects on us as well.  The north Atlantic blue fin tuna is a very valuable food source for anybody who enjoys sea food, and the Gulf oil spill could have affected their spawning season in 2010 which normally occurs between April and June.  Sea turtles often migrate through the Gulf of Mexico where they will stop to breed, the oil spill put them in danger of losing their breeding and feeding grounds. The oil sitting on top of the water wasn't the only threat to certain marine mammals, it was the toxins that the oil put into the air that the marine mammals would eventually breathe in.  All of the marine mammals in that area of the Gulf were at potential danger of decreasing in number.    

Drapkin, Julia K. "10 Animals Most At Risk from Gulf Oil Spill." CBSNews. CBS Interactive. 15 Apr. 2013 http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-20003738-503543.html.

The oil spill that occurred in 2010 was a major event of that year, everyone seemed to be concerned about gas prices but not so much with what it was causing to the ocean.  I think that the affect that the oil spill had on the ocean in that region was a big issue.  Now, after reading this article, I understand some of the many dangers that this oil spill caused to many of its inhabitants.  Since the Gulf of Mexico is a major breeding ground for many different marine species they were all at threat of losing their lives as well as their offspring, which could in a way really affect us as well (regarding sea food). 

Article #10: Marine Mammals in Captivity

This article, put out by the Humane Society of the United States, explains the life of marine mammals in the wild vs. in captivity and explains the many reasons why this act of capturing and presenting these animals for amusement (shows) shouldn’t be allowed. In the wild, marine mammals such as killer whales (orcas) and dolphins have plenty of room to live their lives.  These mammals spend the majority of their time swimming for miles at a time in the wild, but when placed in captivity they are limited to the small, enclosed pool that they are forced to live the rest of their lives in.  In the wild, these animals typically spend 80%-90% of their time underwater only coming up to the surface to breath. In captivity these animals spend the majority of their time at the surface since they don’t have room to dive down and spend their time under the surface.  Spending the majority of their time at the surface is unnatural and can cause many health complications such as skin problems and dorsal fin collapse.  Dorsal fin collapse is a huge problem that occurs to almost all captive orcas.  This condition occurs when the orca spends the majority of their time at the surface allowing gravity to pull the dorsal fin down.  Normally, the fin would be supported by water so it would stand straight up, but since the orca doesn’t spend the majority of its time under the surface dorsal fin collapse occurs. 
The method that these animals are captured with is another issue.  The process of capturing wild marine mammals is violent and disrupts social groups, splits up families, and snatches individual animals from the water.  It can also cause extreme stress to the animal which could potentially lead to death and once in captivity the deaths caused by stress are increased.  Capturing wild orcas and dolphins is the only way that they will be able to be seen in captivity since they don’t breed well in captivity and if they do give birth to offspring the offspring risk a high mortality rate. 

"Marine Mammals in Captivity : The Humane Society of the United States." RSS. The Humane Society of the United States, n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2013 http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/captive_marine/facts/marine_captivity.html


I have never really seen the captivity of marine mammals to be a problem until I read this article.  Now, I understand some of the consequences that the events of capturing and putting these animals in captivity has on the animals health and wellbeing.  I have been to Sea World in Orlando, Florida and have watched the different dolphin, orca, and seal shows and I thought that the shows were really fun to sit and watch.  After reading this article, I can see how watching these shows and the animals in captivity can be fun for us but having the animals suffer for something that we enjoy isn't the nicest thing we could be doing.  I didn't realize how many health problems that these animals can suffer due to being in captivity, its just unnatural for them to be stuck in a small enclosed area when they should be out in the ocean where they belong.  I could understand having animals in captivity if that is where they have lived their entire lives but being taken from thier natural habitat and be thrown into an unknown environment being forced to put on a show isn't right.  If the animal has lived its entire life in captivity thats all it has ever known, it wouldn't know how to live out in its natural habitat. 

Article #8: Cleaning Up the Seas

Pollution has been a serious issue in our environment/society in recent years, affecting many species of animals and habitats both on land and in the ocean. It has been proven that there are over 70,000 substances used by industries that aid in the cause of pollution, and it is said that around 1,000 new chemicals get added to that list each year.  When it comes to marine life there are many pollutants that could cause a decrease in population of both species and habitats, one of those being oil spills.  It’s been estimated that about 25 million barrels of oil enter the ocean each year, causing many fatalities to marine animals.  One of the biggest threats to coastal regions is agricultural runoff of fertilizers, emissions from fossil fuel combustion, various land-use changes, and from the discharge of human and animal wastes.  These pollutants lead to an over-enrichment of certain nutrients in the ocean, one of the big ones being nitrogen. When coastal regions have an over-enrichment of one nutrient or have nutrient imbalances, this will cause the water to have less dissolved oxygen, resulting in higher mortality rates of marine species and decreased biodiversity. This increase in nutrient rich waters has also caused outbreaks in algae blooms and harmful species.  This is a potentially harmful/dangerous situation for both marine life and ourselves, higher marine mortality, human illness, and severe economic loss could result from these outbreaks.  Some of the marine mammals that have been associated with the toxic algae booms include the west Indian manatee, humpback whale, Hawaiian monk seal, and the brown pelican.  All of these marine mammals have had massive mortality rates when toxic algae had been present.

McKay, Bruce, and Kieran Mulvaney. "Cleaning up the Seas." SeaWeb. People & the Planet. 15 Apr. 2013 http://www.seaweb.org/resources/articles/writings/people.php.

I thought this article was interesting, it named numerous ways different pollutants affect the ocean and its inhabitants.  I never would have thought that there would be that many pollutants that we use and put out into the environment. 70,000 pollutants is a huge number and the thought that that number increases by 1,000 each year is insane.  Oil spills would probably be the pollutant that most people can associate with the ocean just because they are a huge concern and a big deal when they occur.  The oil spills also put out a physical and visible sign that the wildlife and the ocean are in trouble which in a way gets people to care more about the situation and may motivate them to jump in and help.  When these other pollutants come into play they don't necessarily show a visual sign that they are hurting marine life, making people care less about the situation.  I think most people need to visibly see the affects pollutants cause and in a  way it need to affect them in order for them to actually care about the situation.        

Article #7: New Research: Marine Reserves Can Stoke Local Economies

Many people don’t think about marine species as being all that important in our everyday lives but marine life makes a big difference in most people’s lives daily.  Many people who consume fish on a weekly/daily basis would be affected if the biodiversity of the oceans species was altered by just a little bit.  That is just one reason why marine reserves are helpful and that an increase in them would greatly help our economy and help improve the biodiversity of many marine species. In this article, a National Geographic team of researchers went out and analyzed data on whether or not marine reserves are helpful to marine life and to our overall economy.  What they concluded was that “marine reserves are an effective tool for protecting biodiversity locally, with potential economic benefits including enhancement of local fisheries, increased tourism, and maintenance of ecosystem services” (National Geographic).  Their researched helped to prove that there were many benefits for everyone if marine reserves were kept up and utilized.  One of the benefits of the marine reserves was that they provided an area for marine species to increase in population and overflow into non-marine reserve areas which will be beneficial to fishermen.  Tourism also increases in areas with these reserves helping the local towns nearby.  The researchers have concluded that in order for the reserves to be effective they need to be made at two different levels, big reserves run by the government and smaller reserves run by many smaller local communities.  As of now, only about 1.2% of the world’s ocean is protected by marine reserves that are located at many places around the world and the hope is that it will soon rise to 10% by the year 2020.  

Howard, Brian C. "New Research: Marine Reserves Can Stoke Local Economies." News Watch. 3 Apr. 2013. National Geographic. 15 Apr. 2013 http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/04/03/new-research-marine-reserves-can-stoke-local-economies/.

Overall, I think that increasing the quantity of marine reserves would be beneficial, not only for the marine life within the reserve but for our economy as a whole.  I think that the researchers and national geographic have put together a great hypothesis that increasing the number of reserves would help boost our economy and have many benefits to our economy and the marine world, and I think that it is an idea that isn’t that far out of our reach.  Developing more marine reserves, both on the small and large scale, doesn’t seem like it would be that difficult if more communities and governments would be willing to put aside some time and money to develop the reserves.  I think our societies think too much about what would benefit them most at the moment and don’t think enough about what would potentially benefit them in the long run.  Everyone wants change to occur instantly and they don’t want to spend the time to work up to it, but over time our actions to help make that change could benefit us greatly.  These reserves have benefits for everyone/everything involved in the picture, so why not make the step to improve and increase the amount of marine reserves. 

Articles 5 & 6: Endangered Marine Life

Threatened Species: a species that may become extinct if measures aren’t taken to protect it

Endangered Species: a species that has a very small population and at a greater risk of becoming extinct

List of endangered marine mammals: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/esa/mammals.htm

Endangered Marine Species

When people hear the words endangered species there seem to be many different reactions.  Some people think about the situation as “whatever, who cares” and others view it as “we need to do something to prevent the species from becoming extinct”.  When it comes to marine life, many of our actions regarding the environment have a major effect on marine ecosystems, habitats and species.  The ocean is a vast environment with many resources that we have access to and utilize; it never appeared to become vulnerable to overexploitation.  It’s hard for most to understand the effect that human actions have on the environment of the ocean and its inhabitants because many of us don’t have the ability to see these animals on a daily basis so there is no way for us to compare and see the threats that are pointed toward these species.  Many marine species that utilize coastal regions are in danger of getting caught in fishing nets and many that utilize the beaches for laying their eggs (such as turtles) lose them to coastal development. There are many different species of corals and fish that are a big part of many ecosystems and the ecosystems wouldn’t be able to flourish without them.   It is harder for biologists to gather information about these crucial species because they are much smaller and harder to gather data for unlike the larger species, such as whales.  Many species have been slowly vanishing from places that they once greatly inhabited due to our actions, affecting their way of life, their ecosystems, and their habitats.  

" Threatened and Endangered Species - MarineBio.org". MarineBio Conservation Society, 14 Jan. 2013. Web. Monday, April 15, 2013. http://marinebio.org/oceans/threatened-endangered-species.asp.

Science Daily : Marine Species at Risk Unless Drastic Protection Policies Put in Place      

In this article the author focuses on the actions that we must begin to take in order to prevent the loss of many of our endangered marine species.  In the articles, a group of researchers lead by the University of California has concluded that we must begin to enforce better protection policies regarding marine life if we want the ecosystems and species inhabiting them to survive.  One of the major problems that the oceans have been experiencing is a rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels which thermally and chemically impacts the oceans.  These rising temperatures and rising carbon dioxide levels will lead the ocean to increase in its acidity.  “Earlier research has shown that ocean acidification can cause exoskeletal components to decay, retard growth and reproduction, reduce activity and threaten the survival of marine life including coral reefs” (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory).  The protection policies that are currently in place to help prevent marine species from being harmed by ocean acidity are to begin to stabilize and reduce atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide, further evaluate the oceans reaction to the increase in carbon dioxide and by reducing the carbon dioxide threats of many different ecosystems.  Overall, the team hopes that the policy makers will evaluate all of their potential options for marine management and choose new and improved policies to meet the goals of decreasing the carbon dioxide and the acidity of ocean waters.

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. "Marine species at risk unless drastic protection policies put in place." ScienceDaily, 20 Aug. 2012. Web. 15 Apr. 2013. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120821094454.htm

I thought that both of these articles were very informational, many different marine species are affected by different things that cause them to be put onto the endangered species list.  It’s interesting how many different species are actually on the endangered species list most that I have never heard of before.  Our actions are a big factor in the cause of marine animals to become endangered and I think it is because we use more than what’s available and we don’t care about the environment when it comes to pollution.  We tend to use way more than what we have available to us, and we don’t understand what the effects of our actions will be until the consequences are visibly present. I think that overfishing could be a big problem when it comes to endangered animals, and we have a high demand for sea food so nothing would be stopping fisherman from gathering all they can.  Also, our contribution of pollution is greatly affecting those animals, making the ocean water more acidic, and I think if we all tried to help we could find a solution to this problem. 
 

 

Article #2: Marine Biodiversity Strongly Linked to Ocean Temperature

Biodiversity is a word used to describe the variety of life in genes, species and habitats.  Biodiversity can be used to describe any environment, but in terms of marine biology, biodiversity would refer to the variety of species and habitats within the ocean.  This would also include diversity within and between species and ecosystems.
In recent years species diversity has been extremely low and a group of scientists might have found out why.  According to the article “Marine Biodiversity Strongly Linked to Ocean Temperature” put out by Science Daily in July of 2010, a group of scientists have concluded that marine species biodiversity for over 11,000 groups of species could be strongly associated with ocean temperature. The scientists took many samples of species ranging from the smallest species to some of the largest species that inhabit the ocean, they found that corals and coastal fish had a higher diversity off the shores of Asia and open-water fish diversity was broader across the mid-latitude oceans.  They then researched if there was a similar factor contributing to the different diversities, and concluded that the temperature in the ocean could rearrange the diversity of different species of marine life.  Along with that, they found that human impacts on the ocean were found to be in places with high biodiversity which could threaten many of the species in those areas.  Human impacts can really affect marine environments ‘Says co-author Camilo Mora of Dalhousie University, "the combined effects of exploitation, habitat alteration, pollution and climate change are threatening the diversity of life in the global ocean. Our research provides further evidence that limiting ocean warming and other human impacts will be particularly important in securing these hotspots of marine biodiversity into the future."’ (Science Daily). 

Dalhousie University. "Marine biodiversity strongly linked to ocean temperature." ScienceDaily, 29 Jul. 2010. Web. 14 Apr. 2013. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/100728131707.htm

I thought this article was really interesting but I feel like I already knew the information that was presented in it.  Marine biodiversity is important in keeping the ocean at a stable level for all life, there has to be a certain number of every species to make each ecosystem run correctly.  The impact that global warming is having on the biodiversity of different marine species was an interesting aspect of this article.  I think that marine biodiversity is an important part of marine biology because in order to understand life in the ocean you need to have proper levels of each species/ a healthy level of each species that help the ocean thrive with abundance of life.        

Articles 3 & 4: Coral Reef Conservaton

Coral Conservation overview

When it comes to marine conservation, most people start to think about coral reefs as being the biggest ecosystem being affected by pollutants and other human made products/interaction.  Coral reefs are abundant around the world providing marine life with food, places to hide from predators, and areas for reproduction, but they are slowly dying out and it is essential for them to be conserved.  Since corals are slow developing organisms, it is beneficial that they don’t get disturbed by anything such as disease, stress, or storm damage.  Global warming has also contributed greatly to the loss of this marine species/ecosystem.  Global warming has been increasing the earths average temperature resulting in warmer oceanic water, corals are sensitive to changes in water temperature and if  the earth’s temperature increases to much in a little amount of time the coral may not have time to adapt and live in the warmer environment. These little disturbances could contribute to the decrease in abundance of coral reefs and it could take years for them to recover.

"SeaWeb - Coral Conservation." SeaWeb - Coral Conservation. SeaWeb, n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2013. http://www.seaweb.org/markets/coral.php.

   

Article about coral conservation: Improving water quality can help save coral reefs

In this article, research conducted by the University of Southampton and the National Oceanography Center, Southampton concluded that coral reefs could be greatly affected by imbalances of nutrients in ocean waters.  Corals depend on certain algae to maintain life; these algae help the corals with photosynthetic reactions.  If these algae die off because of high toxins, the coral has no way of conducting these photosynthetic reactions resulting in the coral to become white or bleached.  Eventually the bleached coral will die off if its environment doesn’t return to its normal state.  The concluded research states that an increase in nutrient rich water could be the cause of the devastating bleaching effect on corals.  In other words, if the water surrounding the coral is richer in one nutrient than another that could make the algae growth to become unbalanced, for example the research stated that “an increased supply of dissolved nitrogen compounds in combination with a restricted availability of phosphate results in phosphate starvation of the algae. This condition is associated with a reduction in photosynthetic efficiency and increases the susceptibility of corals to temperature and light-induced bleaching” (University of Southampton).  Overall, they concluded that the results of bleached coral may be greatly affected by the deficiency of a certain group of nutrients rather than an overabundance of another.  The solution to this problem, concluded from their research, was to have more coastal management/conservation and to decrease the nutrient input into coastal waters.  The overall solution would be to decrease the warming of the ocean waters to prevent the coral bleaching all together. 

University of Southampton. "Improving water quality can help save coral reefs." ScienceDaily, 16 Aug. 2012. Web. 12 Apr. 2013 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120819153617.htm

 

I think that this article is a very informational article and explains why we need to conserve the coral reefs.  Many different species of fish and sea life utilized these coral reefs as their homes and if their home disappears they might too.  Everything in life is connected somehow, if the coral reefs die out the fish that live there might die out resulting in the loss of a food source for some other species, and the domino affect will continue until eventually we might be out of one of our major food sources. Even though this is a very extreme and unrealistic idea it could occur if the conditions for it to occur became really bad.  I think that the coral reefs should also be conserved because it is a main tourist attraction for many people.  It provides a lot of recreational activities to do when one is on vacation near a coral reef, like snorkeling.  After knowing the effect that our actions are having on the oceans (global warming) it should be a red flag to a lot of people to change some of their actions.  Sadly, I think people, including me, think that this is a small problem that is occurring in the world and could be dealt with later on.  But when is later on? Later on when it’s actually a huge problem and it will be harder to restore and resolve? I think we should start making improving the situation, even if it is only by little steps we can work up to a goal.

Article #1: What is Marine Biology

Marine biology is the study of life and ecosystems in the oceans and other aquatic habitats.  All areas of marine life are studied, from the microscopic species to the largest species that inhabit the oceans as well as all of the ecosystems that help to sustain the life of these species.  The study of marine biology also brings in many key concepts and narrower topics that help people to further understand the broad topic of marine biology.  These topics include astronomy, biological oceanography, cellular biology, chemistry, ecology, geology, meteorology, molecular biology, physical oceanography and zoology. There are many subfields that can be studied regarding marine biology including microbiology, fisheries and aquaculture, environmental marine biology, deep sea ecology, ichthyology, marine mammology, and marine ethology.  All of these fields of marine biology play big roles in helping to improve our understanding of the oceans, animal behavior, animal habitats and some even help improve our technology (sonar).   For example, the study of marine microbiology (microorganisms) can help scientists develop new medicines and find cures to diseases. The study of fisheries and aquaculture is important in sustaining our growing need for fish as a food source, this field of study helps to keep biodiversity in the ocean high.  The main reason that we study marine biology is to better understand the world that we live in and to understand the life cycles/ways of life of all marine species.   

" What is Marine Biology? - MarineBio.org". MarineBio Conservation Society, 14 Jan. 2013. Web. Tuesday, April 16, 2013. http://marinebio.org/oceans/marine-biology.asp.

I think the study of marine biology is really interesting and helps to improve many things in our everyday lives.  Using marine biology to understand more about pollution and global warming and their affects on the ocean, can help us find a solution to the problem.  Also, using marine biology to help develop new medicines is a really interesting aspect of the many things that we can use marine biology for, its not just about what lives in the ocean.  I really enjoy learning about all of the wildlife that inhabits the ocean and how everything coexists together.   Marine biology is interesting in that there are many different subfields in it that all focus on specific aspects of marine biology and each has an influence on our understanding of marine life and potentially the development of new and improved medicines and technology. 

Significant Passage

“In the world I notice persons are nearly always stressed and have no time. Even Grandma often says that, but she and Steppa don't have jobs, so I don't know how persons with jobs do the jobs and all the living as well. In Room me and Ma had time for everything. I guess the time gets spread very thin like butter over all the world, the roads and houses and playgrounds and stores, so there's only a little smear of time on each place, then everyone has to hurry on to the next bit…Also everywhere I'm looking at kids, adults mostly don't seem to like them, not even the parents do. They call the kids gorgeous and so cute, they make the kids do the thing all over again so they can take a photo, but they don't want to actually play with them, they'd rather drink coffee talking to other adults. Sometimes there's a small kid crying and the Ma of it doesn't even hear.”

Donoghue, Emma. Room: A Novel. New York: Little, Brown and, 2010. Print.

The novel “Room” by Emma Donoghue tells the story of an innocent college student who gets abducted by a male stranger.  She is forced to live the next seven years of her life in an eleven by eleven foot shed in his backyard.  During that time she gets pregnant with a son she names Jack, and he lives the first five years of his life with her in what they call “room”.  All Jack knew from the time he was born to the time when the narration of the book takes place was that “room” was all there was, everything else he had heard of as being real was just T.V. and fictional.  The role of environment and setting in this book helps to show how environment/setting can affect a person’s mindset and understanding of everything in the world. Throughout the first part of the book, Jack learns that there is more in the world than just himself, his mother, Old Nick, and “room”, that there is a whole outside world full of amazing things, yet Jack has no indication that there is an outside world that could hold a bigger and better life for both him and his mother.  When Jack and his mom finally decide to do an escape attempt, Jack is the hero and gets both of them away from “room”, which was supposed to be a good thing until Jack realizes it wasn’t everything he wanted.  Jack gets used to it though, and he begins to warm up to his new life in the real world.  He starts to understand the bigger things in life and himself as a person. Being away from the restrictions of room had allowed Jack to explore a whole new setting with all new things.

I think Emma Donoghue did an exceptional job writing this novel. She picked out all of the key ideas that a five year old would have done in the situation and she really knew how to show his reaction to the whole situation.  She also did a great job incorporating how Jack’s environment/setting in both “room” and the real world affected his understanding of himself and how the world functions as a whole.  When Jack was restricted to “room” he wasn’t able to understand everything because he couldn’t physically come in contact with it, all he could understand and view as real was what occurred and lived inside “room”.  Jack’s mindset was set in “room” and only “room” because that was all he ever knew and it allowed Jack to have a very simple life.  Once Jack entered the outside world, Emma Donoghue describes very well how Jack feels uncomfortable and unstable because of such a drastic change in his lifestyle.  Jack has to learn how the world works and how it’s different from his lifestyle in “room”.  My significant quote above describes how Jack reacts to the new things in his life, how he feels like there is less time in the outside world because he always had so much time in “room”. The significance of environment/setting in this quote is shown clearly by how Jack reacts while in “room” and while in the real world.  The environment that an individual grows up in has huge impacts on their understanding and view of the world.              

Throughout our model capstone project we have been analyzing how environment and setting play a role in one’s life.  Environment can be seen on a large and broader scale as the entire world, an ecosystem, or even just a city, analyzing how these broad differences in setting can affect a person’s life.  But the effects of environment and setting can also be analyzed on a much smaller, microscopic scale, like how it affects one’s health and wellbeing.  The whole idea of the capstone project is to start with a broad topic and link in narrower, yet still very significant topics that relate to the broad topic through articles and novels.  I think doing the model capstone project was affective in helping me understand how to piece different aspects of one broad topic together.  Starting out with the broad topic of environment/setting and gradually building in more narrow topics that connect with the broad topic was a perfect way to analyze and understand all of the things that really make environment/setting what it is.  This model capstone project also helped me to understand how to build in the narrower topics.  For example, I would have never thought of utilizing a text that talked about all of the chemicals in our bodies, because that doesn’t really mean environment and setting to me.  Now, after analyzing the topic of harmful chemicals on our bodies it makes sense that it is a much narrower topic under environment and setting and I understand now that it fits the broader topic perfectly.  Overall, I believe that this project was effective in my understanding of how to put together my own capstone project and putting all of the pieces of the broader topic together. 

 

Slow Death by Rubber Duck: The Secret Danger of Everyday Things

After reading passages from the book “Slow Death by Rubber Duck” by Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie, I realized that there are numerous, and potentially life threatening chemicals in our everyday lives to which most of us pay no attention or try to avoid.  I believe most of us can pick out the more widely talked about chemicals in our everyday lives but there are also numerous chemicals hiding in our clothes, cosmetics, and furniture all around us.  I thought it was very interesting to learn about the many things that most people believe to be “safe” when in reality those things could be causing severe damage to our bodies and health when we have no indication that it’s occurring.  My overall reaction to the passages of the book was that it was interesting and put out a powerful message to the world about the impact that these chemicals could have on everyone’s lives.  There are a lot of chemicals in household appliances, cleaners and furniture that I never realized existed and now knowing what they are capable of causing brings up concern but it really doesn’t make me want to change anything about my lifestyle.  I really don’t think there is any way to avoid most of the chemicals that are in furniture and clothing, and avoiding them would mean changing a lot about one’s lifestyle. When it comes to air and water pollution, there are ways to overcome those issues.  They might not be able to be fixed perfectly but there is a way to lessen the amount of air and water pollution we apply on the environment. 

From what I have found from many other people’s review on the book, you either like it or you don’t.  Some people gave the book five stars and others one.  From one book review off of Amazon.com, the individual gave the book two stars because he believed that the book was poorly put together.  He believed that the authors made excellent points about the products that potentially contain these harmful chemicals and that we come in contact with them on a regular basis, but that they failed to show that information in a more scientific way.  On the other side, one individual gave it five stars and said that it had very insightful information, was put together well and that all of the information was backed up by reliable research.  Another five star review stated that the authors put the book together in a way that showed how many companies tell us that these chemicals are safe and won’t do any harm to our bodies whatsoever.  This individual also explained how companies make this issue all about profit and not about safety, how they promote these products as safe even when the chemicals that they enclose could have long lasting effects on our bodies.  They also say that they agree that the increase in cancer in children and adults is linked to these chemicals that are in our everyday lifestyles.  Overall, some people enjoyed the book and others thought it was a complete waste of time.  This book has many important aspects that reflect on the harmful effects of these chemicals on our bodies but if you don’t believe what these chemicals are capable of, you might disagree and despise this book. 

Chemicals in personal care products-- phthalates--may increase risk of diabetes in women

Brigham and Women's Hospital. "Chemicals in personal care products -- phthalates -- may increase risk of diabetes in women." ScienceDaily, 13 Jul. 2012. Web. 3 Mar. 2013. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120713083103.htm

In this article, the author explains how women with higher levels of the chemical Phthalate in their bodies could potentially lead to a higher risk of getting diabetes. Phthalates are chemicals that once in the body will disrupt the function of the endocrine system.  These phthalates are found in many personal care products that many women use on a daily basis, including nail polish, moisturizers, soaps, hairsprays, and perfumes.  The researchers conducted an experiment on many women, and found that the women with the higher levels of phthalate in their body were at a much higher risk of getting diabetes later in life.  It was determined that certain phthalates were linked to how big of a risk a woman was to have diabetes.  For example, women with mono-benzyl and mono-isobutyl phthalates in their body had a doubled risk of getting diabetes to those women who didn’t have those chemicals present in their body.  This research doesn’t directly link women with these phthalates in their body to diabetes but having those chemicals put them at a higher risk of getting diabetes.

I think this article was really eye opening to some of the possible diseases these types of chemicals can lead to.  It really shows that some of the things that we think are completely harmless and are said to “help our bodies”, such as moisturizers, are really not that helpful at all. This study didn’t directly link this chemical to getting diabetes but an increase in the risk of getting diabetes, so I don’t really think they know for sure if this will cause diabetes in women but it definitely brings up a concern.  If this chemical can increase the risk of diabetes it’s scary to think about what this chemical and others could possibly be capable of. 

Clues to climate cycles dug from South Pole snow pit

University of California - San Diego. "Clues to climate cycles dug from South Pole snow pit." ScienceDaily, 25 Feb. 2013. Web. 27 Feb. 2013 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130225153126.htm.

In this article, the author discusses how chemical traces in Antarctic snow are linked to global meteorological events an climate changes.  A research team from the University of California has linked chemical signatures with well-known global events by researching certain chemicals that are contained within Antarctic snow.  They conducted their research near the South Pole where the snow isn’t as compacted as it is in polar ice caps, this would give them better results of the atmospheric chemistry that has occurred.  They had found that the highest levels of sulfates trapped in the Antarctic snow occurred during strong ENSO seasons (El Nino).  ENSO or the El Nino Southern Oscillation is a global event when the trade winds change allowing water from the tropical western Pacific to move towards South America.  (This event affects marine life and leaves some areas of the world with little rainfall).  The warm air above the sea surface lifts the sulfur dioxide high into the atmosphere where it gets carried in the snow and lands on Antarctica.  The sulfur dioxide gets trapped in various layers of this snowfall and the scientists could determine when these meteorological events occurred in past years. 

I thought that this article was very interesting and was really relatable to the article I wrote about before on the Siberian Permafrost.  Both articles explained how different parts of the world can hold certain key secrets in the future and past events of our global environment.  I think that this article helps us better understand past events that have occurred in our environment but cannot really help us determine what might occur in the future.  To me, reading the first article made me think more about changing the actions I make that affect the environment.  The first article made me think more about how our actions now could raise more concern about global warming in the future.  This article just talks about how findings in the Antarctic snow can tell us when certain events in our environment in the past have occurred so its not as scary as the global warming article.   

Article #1: Caves point to thawing of Siberia: Thaw in Siberia's Permafrost may accelerate global warming

University of Oxford. "Caves point to thawing of Siberia: Thaw in Siberia's permafrost may accelerate global warming." ScienceDaily, 21 Feb. 2013. Web. 21 Feb. 2013.

In this article, the author focuses on the environmental issue of global warming and the effects it has on Siberian permafrost. From research that was conducted on some of Siberia’s southern caves, scientists have evidence that if the earth’s global temperature rises 1.5 degrees Celsius there is a possibility that massive areas of Siberia could thaw out.  This evidence was found by research conducted on the caves stalagmites and stalactites.  Since stalagmites and stalactites only form by the melting of snow/dripping of water in caves, scientists can use these formations to learn about other periods in history that had these same events occurring.  After conducting their research, they had found that there was only one other time in history when events like we are seeing today have occurred.  (This time in history was 400,000 years ago).  From this study, they have concluded that if the temperature rises 1.5 degrees Celsius, parts of Siberia could see massive thawing in its permafrost.

I think this is a very interesting article about global warming and it gives its readers a better idea of other areas in the world that are being affected by this environmental issue.    This article is pretty similar to the events occurring to the arctic ice caps but I think that the stalagmites and the stalactites in the caves in Siberia could better show how high our temperatures have risen and how much more they have to rise to cause more problems in the environment. If these formations in the caves in Siberia can show what the temperature was 400,000 years ago, and they show that the environment then is like it is today, then isn’t this little increase in temperature normal? This rise in temperature has occurred before so it’s not totally out of the ordinary, but I guess if you look at what happened to all other living things during that time because of the rise in temperature it could bring up concern.  When you think about it, there was nothing 400,000 years ago that could cause what we are calling global warming today.  Nowadays, our cars and pollution are putting high amounts of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, but what would have done these things 400,000 years ago to this extent? If you really think about it, these events are somewhat natural if they have occurred before without human impacts, so the events occurring today could be occurring naturally with extra help from our higher carbon dioxide emissions. 

Views on Environmental Issues



Polar bears are one of many species being affected by global warming

Throughout the past couple of years, many environmental issues have become growing concerns throughout the world.  The issue of global warming and the threat it has to all living species is an issue that is currently and will continue to affect us all if we don’t make a change. Throughout the past couple of years this issue has risen as a widely talked about topic, yet some people are skeptical on whether or not this idea of the world's global temperatures increasing is really that big of a threat.  I understand that pollution and carbon dioxide emissions have caused our atmosphere to hold in more heat than it has in the past, but if global warming were occurring on a severe level wouldn't we be experiencing warmer winters and extremely hot summers? To me it doesn't seem like an incredibly big issue if our climate hasn’t changed dramatically, but I understand the many downsides that this little change in temperature is having on habitats and ecosystems around the world.  Under the issue of global warming, I think we should be most concerned about the loss of many species that inhabit the environments being affected by this issue.  If we start to lose one species, we will begin to lose or have an overpopulated number of another species.  Each species relies on another species in some way or another, whether it’s as a food source or to just keep our ecosystems at proper levels/populations to maintain life.   Take the polar bear for example (since that’s a well-known species related to this issue).  One of the polar bears main food sources are seals, if we lose the polar bear to global warming that could potentially make the seal population rise to an unhealthy level.  This would then lead to an overpopulated population of seals, and with a higher population of seals they are going to need a higher population of their food source which may or may not be enough.  The loss of one of our species in an ecosystem could start a chain reaction to all of the other species throughout the world.  This issue has to continue to be noticed and something has to change or this issue could potentially change the world.  The thought that our actions are causing this increase in temperature and the threat of potentially losing some of our earths many species should be an issue everyone would want to change. 

Under the thought of helping to improve the environment, many options have arisen that have allowed us to lessen our carbon dioxide emissions and use renewable energy.  Some of these options would include wind turbines, solar energy, geothermal energy, hydro energy, and electric cars. Though many of these options would help to decrease the negative impacts we apply to the environment they all have their disadvantages.  First off, they are all fairly expensive and some only work under certain circumstances.  For example, solar energy will only be effective during the day and wind turbines will only be effective when it’s windy.  If these alternative energy sources weren’t as expensive as they are and if more people knew the benefits to utilizing them I think more people would begin to use them (on a smaller scale, like on individual houses). If we begin to use more renewable energy sources, renewable energy could help to save the environment one step at a time.