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.
Great Job! After reading your article I learned a lot of new things about locusts. One thing I learned was that locusts can consume more than its own weight each day, which I found interesting. Also in the article when it said that locust travel like a carpet over the sand it caught my attention because that sounds like a cool thing to be able to see. Lastly I agree with you that it is a good thing that we are trying to control the number of locusts so that the swarms don’t get out of control.
ReplyDeleteGood job Nicole! I thought your article was very interesting. I had no clue that locust were a problem! It is crazy to think that they move in billions. I do agree that the population is huge and that is bad for many reasons. That could harm other organisms because if there are so many locust the population of what they eat will decrease. But my question is if you know if the insecticide they are using is harmful in anyway. I hope not! Good article Nicole :)
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