Ecosystems on the Brink
Diem Le
Title: Ecosystems on the Brink
Author: Carl Zimmer
A:
-The lake cycled through the seasons and it froze over thawed out and bloomed again with life.
-In summer the Peter Lake changed dramatically.
-Once dominant predators were rare, for the most part eaten by the largemouth bass.
-Water fleas and other tiny animals were now free to flourish.
-These diminutive animals graze on algae, the lake water became clearer.
-Two years later the ecosystem remains in its altered state.
-In recent decades food webs across the world have also been flipping, often unexpectedly, on a far greater scale.
-To alter human activities that are pushing an ecosystem toward a breakdown or would even allow us to pull ecosystems back from the brink.
-After decades of thinking that food webs are structured from the
bottom up, researchers are finding that top predators often control
the chain—directly and indirectly.
-Two species are strongly linked if they interact a lot, such as a predator that consistently devours huge numbers of a single prey.
-Food webs may be dominated by numerous weak links because that arrangement is more stable over the long term.
-If a predator can move on to another species that is easier to find when a prey species becomes rare, the switch allows the original prey to recover.
-Theoreticians proposed that predators at the top of a food web exerted a surprising amount of control over the size of populations of other species- including species they did not directly attack.
-We fished for top predators such as cod on an industrial scale, while on land, we killed off large predators such as wolves.
-Cod are voracious predators, and with their disappearance came a boom in their prey, including sprats, capelins, young lobsters and snow crabs.
-If the fish were left unmolested, they would be able to lay enough eggs and grow fast enough to rebuild their population.
-Adult cod feed on sprats and capelins and other prey known collectively as forage fish.
-After falling to as low as 1% of their precrash levels, the cod have risen in recent years to 30%.
-If cod can return to their former levels, they will be able to keep the populations of forage fish down once more.
-They are eating so many small prey species that ecologists predict they will outcompete and drive down many of the native predators, including sharks.
-Preventing food webs from switching is a more effective strategy than trying to restore ones that have
flipped.
B:
The lake cycled through the seasons and it froze over thawed out and bloomed again with life.After decades of thinking that food webs are structured from the bottom up, researchers are finding that top predators often control the chain—directly and indirectly. Two species are strongly linked if they interact a lot, such as a predator that consistently devours huge numbers of a single prey.Food webs may be dominated by numerous weak links because that arrangement is more stable over the long term.If a predator can move on to another species that is easier to find when a prey species becomes rare, the switch allows the original prey to recover.Cod are voracious predators, and with their disappearance came a boom in their prey, including sprats, capelins, young lobsters and snow crabs.If the fish were left unmolested, they would be able to lay enough eggs and grow fast enough to rebuild their population.Adult cod feed on sprats and capelins and other prey known collectively as forage fish.After falling to as low as 1% of their precrash levels, the cod have risen in recent years to 30%.They are eating so many small prey species that ecologists predict they will outcompete and drive down many of the native predators, including sharks.Preventing food webs from switching is a more effective strategy than trying to restore ones that have flipped.
C:
Providing evidence that pushes governments to do things to protect these magnificent parts of the world.Theoreticians proposed that predators at the top of a food web exerted a surprising amount of control over the size of populations of other species- including species they did not directly attack.We fished for top predators such as cod on an industrial scale, while on land, we killed off large predators such as wolves.n recent decades food webs across the world have also been flipping, often unexpectedly, on a far greater scale.
So What?
Once dominant predators were rare, for the most part eaten by the largemouth bass.Water fleas and other tiny animals were now free to flourish.These diminutive animals graze on algae, the lake water became clearer.
Say Who?
Carl Zimmer
What If...?
What are cod? How did it work?
What does this remind me of?
In summer the Peter Lake changed dramatically.Two years later the ecosystem remains in its altered state.ITo alter human activities that are pushing an ecosystem toward a breakdown or would even allow us to pull ecosystems back from the brink..If cod can return to their former levels, they will be able to keep the populations of forage fish down once more.
Title: Ecosystems on the Brink
Author: Carl Zimmer
A:
-The lake cycled through the seasons and it froze over thawed out and bloomed again with life.
-In summer the Peter Lake changed dramatically.
-Once dominant predators were rare, for the most part eaten by the largemouth bass.
-Water fleas and other tiny animals were now free to flourish.
-These diminutive animals graze on algae, the lake water became clearer.
-Two years later the ecosystem remains in its altered state.
-In recent decades food webs across the world have also been flipping, often unexpectedly, on a far greater scale.
-To alter human activities that are pushing an ecosystem toward a breakdown or would even allow us to pull ecosystems back from the brink.
-After decades of thinking that food webs are structured from the
bottom up, researchers are finding that top predators often control
the chain—directly and indirectly.
-Two species are strongly linked if they interact a lot, such as a predator that consistently devours huge numbers of a single prey.
-Food webs may be dominated by numerous weak links because that arrangement is more stable over the long term.
-If a predator can move on to another species that is easier to find when a prey species becomes rare, the switch allows the original prey to recover.
-Theoreticians proposed that predators at the top of a food web exerted a surprising amount of control over the size of populations of other species- including species they did not directly attack.
-We fished for top predators such as cod on an industrial scale, while on land, we killed off large predators such as wolves.
-Cod are voracious predators, and with their disappearance came a boom in their prey, including sprats, capelins, young lobsters and snow crabs.
-If the fish were left unmolested, they would be able to lay enough eggs and grow fast enough to rebuild their population.
-Adult cod feed on sprats and capelins and other prey known collectively as forage fish.
-After falling to as low as 1% of their precrash levels, the cod have risen in recent years to 30%.
-If cod can return to their former levels, they will be able to keep the populations of forage fish down once more.
-They are eating so many small prey species that ecologists predict they will outcompete and drive down many of the native predators, including sharks.
-Preventing food webs from switching is a more effective strategy than trying to restore ones that have
flipped.
B:
The lake cycled through the seasons and it froze over thawed out and bloomed again with life.After decades of thinking that food webs are structured from the bottom up, researchers are finding that top predators often control the chain—directly and indirectly. Two species are strongly linked if they interact a lot, such as a predator that consistently devours huge numbers of a single prey.Food webs may be dominated by numerous weak links because that arrangement is more stable over the long term.If a predator can move on to another species that is easier to find when a prey species becomes rare, the switch allows the original prey to recover.Cod are voracious predators, and with their disappearance came a boom in their prey, including sprats, capelins, young lobsters and snow crabs.If the fish were left unmolested, they would be able to lay enough eggs and grow fast enough to rebuild their population.Adult cod feed on sprats and capelins and other prey known collectively as forage fish.After falling to as low as 1% of their precrash levels, the cod have risen in recent years to 30%.They are eating so many small prey species that ecologists predict they will outcompete and drive down many of the native predators, including sharks.Preventing food webs from switching is a more effective strategy than trying to restore ones that have flipped.
C:
Providing evidence that pushes governments to do things to protect these magnificent parts of the world.Theoreticians proposed that predators at the top of a food web exerted a surprising amount of control over the size of populations of other species- including species they did not directly attack.We fished for top predators such as cod on an industrial scale, while on land, we killed off large predators such as wolves.n recent decades food webs across the world have also been flipping, often unexpectedly, on a far greater scale.
So What?
Once dominant predators were rare, for the most part eaten by the largemouth bass.Water fleas and other tiny animals were now free to flourish.These diminutive animals graze on algae, the lake water became clearer.
Say Who?
Carl Zimmer
What If...?
What are cod? How did it work?
What does this remind me of?
In summer the Peter Lake changed dramatically.Two years later the ecosystem remains in its altered state.ITo alter human activities that are pushing an ecosystem toward a breakdown or would even allow us to pull ecosystems back from the brink..If cod can return to their former levels, they will be able to keep the populations of forage fish down once more.