Bigger Is Better

People may not think it, but whales are an extremely important organism in the ocean biome. Due to their immense size, the carbon that is stored within them greatly affect their environment. Humans have impacted the ocean biomes by reducing the abundance of several large marine vertebrates. These marine vertebrates consist of whales, sharks, and other large fish. A major consequence of removing these organisms is the inability to store carbon, due to the significant loss of organisms that could store it in their bodies.

Particularly immense whales that most individuals focus on relating to this topic are baleen whales. Whaling is takes a crucial part in reducing the amount of carbon being stores into whales. Humans will kill the baleen whales, while their carcasses will be left untouched and will sink. After whaling occurred, baleen whale populations store 9.1 X 10^6 tons less carbon. This is a significant decrease in carbon storing, hence making it a noticeable matter in the ocean biomes.

There is a beneficial side to organisms in the ocean biome with whaling, however. With the decrease in baleen whales, crustaceans will increase in population. However, since a shift towards smaller animals have occurred with the absence of several larger predators, this could decrease the total community biomass by 30% or more. With whaling occurring currently, carbon spread is decreased throughout the biome. Whales and other large marine animals can spread carbon while they're alive from the surface throughout the biome, due to their immense size. Overall, whaling produces more problems than it does resolutions.  

 http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=human+impact+on+carbon+cycle+article&source=web&cd=5&ved=0CEgQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.plosone.org%2Farticle%2Finfo%253Adoi%252F10.1371%252Fjournal.pone.0012444&ei=18WZUOiAMuuy0AHZ3oHYBg&usg=AFQjCNGHtvhaoGG0uPChzI3epBTe98nvGQ

DDT Is Still Here

For my article I chose an article with the title " High Levels of DDT still present in fish. The chemical DDT was banned because seven though it gets rid of many pests and diseases such as malaria, it is very harmful to us as humans. It can ruin parts of our nervous and reproductive system. 

The reason why this is a big problem is that even though DDT was banned, it is still present in our biosphere today. When the chemical was banned, many companies just dumped it Ito sewers and waste ways, which led it straight into the ocean. Since many fish live in the ocean, they now have very high DDT levels.

This is a very big problem. DDT can be very toxic to some fish and kills a lot of them. When humans eat the fish, we can get very high levels of DDT as well, and according to many studies, cause brain problems and even more serious diseases than it wards off,like cancer in your liver.

This topic relates to our Biology class in particular. We learned about Biomagnification a few weeks ago. This is truly a problem now. Since these fish live in the ocean, there is a very high risk for humans. First, if you go swimming in these parts of the ocean could potentially give you some levels of DDT, but also eating the fish could cause an even more serious problem. This chemical is toxic and will permanently damage most humans.

Another way this topic relates to our Biology class is because we were talking a few weeks ago about the harmful chemicals such as PCBs and DDT being released all over the biosphere. These chemicals have been banned for a long time, but it doesn't mean the problem has gone away.

We, as humans need to be aware of the dangers of these chemicals. They have been banned, but some traces could be still left in the air. We need to be cautious about what we put in our wasteways, because it could potentially come back to us. If people eat the contaminated fish, it will be very damaging to their health and the health of people around them. We should be more aware of how much damaging chemicals are really around us.

http://www.naturalnews.com/021527_DDT_water_pollution.html

Locust Swarms Pose Threat

The article I chose to read is called "On the Horizon, a Dreaded Wave of Locusts", by Emma Bryce. This article was written on November 1st 2012 and it can be found in The New York Times. The article focuses on the large locus swarms in Africa's Sahel region. Swarms of billions of locusts are moving northwards from Africa's Sahel region to countries like Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Mauritania. These swarms of locusts are a great danger to the environment because they can consume more than its own weight each day, posing a threat to harvests and food security. Mr. Keith Cressman who is the senior locust forecasting officer for the F.A.O. states "The situation we face now, it's the most serious since the last regional plague." Even though locusts are a serious environmental issue, there is treatment that is being done to the amount of locusts under control. Teams work to capture young locust that cannot fly yet and spray adult locust with pesticides.

 

This article relates to our biology class because we have learned about insecticides like DDT which is a chemical that bioaccumulates. In the past, I have heard about locusts and that they can grow up to six inches long. From this article, I learned that locusts are a threat to the environment. I think it is good that we are trying to control the number of locusts because it seems like these swarms are getting out of our control. I find it fascinating that locusts travel by the billions and when they fly, they appear as a black mass. Mr. Cressman says "It’s like a moving carpet over the sand in the same direction, like someone’s leading them,”. Hopefully we are able to work together to keep these giant insects under control.

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/01/on-the-horizon-a-dreaded-wave-of-locusts/?ref=earth

Fixing the harm we did 12,000 years ago.

               I read the article "DNA in hair balls could give life to woolly mammoth." By Seth Borenstein, published on The Boston Globe, on November 20, 2008. The article states that Mammoth  hair was find frozen in Siberia, and there is a possibility bringing a Mammoth back to life. 80%of the Mammoth's DNA was available in the hair. The project was said to be very possible and if it is successful, it will happen in about 10 to 20 years. And the article was published in 2008 so that would mean around 2018 to 2028. The article can be found here:http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/11/20/dna_in_hair_balls_could_give_life_to_woolly_mammoth/?camp=pm

              
               Woolly Mammoths are giant creatures that existed during the Ice Age. Since then they have become extinct. A woolly Mammoth weighs 7 to 9 tons, and is about 9 ft. tall. They have to large tusks and a thick layer of shaggy hair.

In my opinion this really cool idea. Bringing back creatures that have been extinct for around 12000 years ago could open so many doors for us. We could breed them with today's Elephants, and possibly restart the Woolly Mammoth species. It would be an extreme accomplishment for mankind. But I think that if a  Mammoth was genetically born it would just be kept and zoo or a lab, and have no real freedom. 

The woman is this very has a very valid point. She says that if a Mammoth was brought to life then it would have no biome to live in. In biology we learned that a biomes are climatically and geographically similar climatic conditions on the Earth, and in every separate biome different biotic and abiotic factors are found. And a Woolly Mammoth live in the Ice Age were basically the whole world was cover in iced. And their biome is gone today, so a Mammoth would have an extremely hard time living in our world. 

This article reminded me of the Lorax because in the movie many of the creatures in the forest left because of the pollution, them leaving represented extinction . And Mammoths were hunted to extinction by Humans about 12,000 years ago and now we are trying to bring them back and fix are harm from way back when. Bringing these Mammoths back could lead to the possibility of re creating a species we destroyed. 

Over all I think the idea of bringing a Mammoth to life would be a good idea, but it still suffers from many flaws. I would give it shot, what do you think? 

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Mi5Wh8zGHU

Picture: http://funtobebad.blogspot.com/2012/08/perfectly-preserved-woolly-mammoth.html

Article: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/11/20/dna_in_hair_balls_could_give_life_to_woolly_mammoth/?camp=pm