October 6, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/us/scientists-in-washington-state-adopt-tiny-island-as-climate-change-bellwether.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=earth
Summary
Cathy Pfister and Timothy Wootton regularly travel to the rocky, remote island of Tatoosh off of Washington State's coastline to do ecological studies with their former graduate adviser Robert T. Paine. At first glance, one would think this island was a thriving environment, with otters and seagulls and diverse life. It turns out, it is quite the contrary. Over the past four decades, populations such as gulls have declined sharply, only half of what it was ten years ago. Mussel shells are considerably thinner and are more likely to break off rock when hit by a wave. Scientists believe that the cause of this is the decline of pH of the ocean water due to higher amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere dissolving in the water. Many shellfish, as a result, find it harder to survive in these conditions, which may also contribute to the decline of animals that eat those organisms such as birds. At this island, Dr. Paine developed his "keystone species hypothesis which, describes how top predators dominate an ecosystem, often to the benefit of species diversity." This small island gives scientists ideas about how different factors can affect an ecosystem.
Connection
There are many connections to what we have been learning in bio this year in the article. One example is the carbon cycle. It says the pH change in the ocean affects some species which is a result of carbon dioxide buildup in the atmosphere. Also, there is a huge connection to our ecological unit, including keystone species and declines in populations due to outside forces. It amazed me how many connections could be made to our unit on this one small island.
In the future, do scientists suspect that all the populations will become extinct from the island?
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