Oil Effects on Endangered Species May Be "Mind-Boggling"

http://www.livescience.com/9935-oil-effects-endangered-species-mind-boggling.html

Summary: This article talks about the oil spill in the gulf of Mexico and how huge an impact it is having on all marine life. Even organisms that don't live in the ocean such as the Louisiana state bird are being effected. The article then talks about an organism that experienced huge immediate effect; the largetooth sawfish. It was listed as an endangered species only three weeks after the oil spill. Not only are big organisms going to be effected, many bottom dwellers will be effected too. The oil spill is limiting the range of habitats of different organisms, and this could lead to a decrease in genetic diversity. The oil is being carried by a loop current, or stream of water that flows near Florida. If this oil continues to flow there, it could threaten many of the native species. Coral reefs are being majorly effected because the oil destroys their ability to reproduce. Many species such as pelicans and whales are dying, and they cannot produce quick enough because of their slow reproductive rate, or late sexual maturity, making them less fit. A recovery time of one hundred years has been set to restore the sawfish, but the oil is destroying their habitat, and they may not have a place to live. The oil spill in the gulf is having a massive effect of all marine life, and everything connected to it.

This article is reliable because one of the people resourced (Gerald Weissman) was the editor-in-chief of articles published by the Federation of the American Societies for Experimental Biology.

Opinion: I think the recovery plans for the organisms effected by this oil spill should be prioritized, because if not, a major extinction in this area could occur. If that happened, it would be very hard to restore life, and the environment would become much less stable than it was before. I know myself that I personally enjoy viewing all of the different marine life when I go to bodies of water, and this would not be possible here. Over time species become more fit through the process of natural selection, and this oil spill is limiting the genetic diversity of the species, so this process is moving backwards now. Without a big recovery plan in order, this habitat could be destroyed forever.

Questions

1. What do you thing of the recovery plan of one-hundred years?

2. How will humans be impacted by this oil spill?

3. What organism do you think will be impacted the most and why?

The Role of Temperature in the spread of lionfish

WRITTEN BY: WAYNE BENNETT SEPTEMBER 2012 0 COMMENTS

Lionfish are voracious predators with few natural enemies and early indications are that they will significantly impact the ecological balance of Florida and Caribbean reefs

The expansion of exotic red lionfish into the western Atlantic may be explained by their tolerance of cooler waters, according to a new study.

The red lionfish, Pterois volitans, is perhaps the best recognised and most notorious group member of scorpion fishes – a large and diverse group that take their name from the potent sting they deliver using a formidable array of venomous spines. Prized by aquarium hobbyists for their showy looks and hardy nature, the fish are a bane to biologists struggling to manage exotic introductions in the Mediterranean and western Atlantic.

The Atlantic introduction is especially troubling as the fish have established persistent populations from North Carolina on the US eastern seaboard, to the Florida reef track, into the Gulf of Mexico and throughout the Caribbean Sea – all in less than 20 years. Lionfish are voracious predators with few natural enemies and early indications are that they will significantly impact the ecological balance of Florida and Caribbean reefs.

Temperature is thought to be an important environmental factor influencing red lionfish ecology in the Atlantic. While surprisingly little is known about their thermal ecology, it is clear that this tropical fish can feed, grow and reproduce in cooler Atlantic waters. In 2012 researchers with Operation Wallacea quantified thermal niche, preferred temperature and metabolic thermal sensitivity of native population of red lionfish from Hoga Island, Indonesia.

The findings indicate that while the red lionfish thermal niche is not notably large, it is shifted towards cooler water temperatures. For example, lionfish could be acclimated to temperatures as low as 12.5°C and exhibited a preferred temperature of 23°C. A similar study on blue-spotted ribbontail stingrays from the same back reef habitat yielded considerably higher acclimation and preferred temperatures of 17.5 and 28.2°C, respectively.

This tropical fish can feed, grow and reproduce in cooler Atlantic waters

Together the results may explain the persistence of lionfish in cool US waters. Metabolic studies revealed that increasing temperature elevates biological rates exponentially, a feature consistent with the current hypothesis that warmer Caribbean Seasummer temperatures relative to the Pacific, have contributed to the rapid reproduction rate and alarming pace of lionfish expansion into the Caribbean.

The current plan is to repeat these studies with a Caribbean lionfish population at the Operation Wallacea site in Honduras. The potential exists to see significant changes in thermal tolerance characteristics between the two sites, owing to the small founding population in the Atlantic. Insights gained from these comparative studies will provide a better understanding of red lionfish thermal ecology between the two regions and how global climate change may effect lionfish distribution of both areas.

• Wayne Bennett, Professor of Physiology, University of West Florida

Summary: 

                The exotic Red Lionfish has a tolerance for cooler water temperatures and is expanding quickly. It is a member of the scorpion group and it gets its name from its bite and it venomous spikes on its body. They are predators with vary few enemies. The temperatures in the pacific are contributing to the fast reproduction and expansion of lionfish. They want to repeat these studies with the Caribbean lionfish in Honduras. The data from both of these studies will provide a better understanding of the lionfish species.

Questions:

1.Do you think the expansion and reproduction of Red Lionfish is bad or good? Why?

2. Is it important to understand more of this species?

3. If it was up to you, Would you make them nonexistent?

thermal pollution

Summary: This article, called thermal pollution was posted january4, 2007, and by an unknown author. The article is reliable hence the fact it was posted on a professional website and it give facts on what thermal pollution is doing to the environment and the problems that it is causing. It is also a topic that is still currently happening and not getting any better in our modern society.

The article starts of by giving a definition of what thermal pollution is, and that is the degradation of water quality by any process that changes ambient water temperature. It also talks about what bodies of water it is normally associated with such as streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans. The article also tells about how thermal pollution often happens when humans are producing electricity, but it can also be from the removal of vegetation.

The article goes into deep detail about what causes thermal pollution and how it happens. It talks about how energy can come from two sources, a direct source, which would be the burning of wood in a fireplace or it can be from the conversion of heat from a heat engine such as turbines and steam engines. It also talks about how much energy is tuned to fuel or a fuel source (30-40% of energy) and what happens to what is left over. Afterwards it tells you about how water is transported to facilities that use water as a coolant and gives a specific example, The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station between Los Angeles and San Diego, California, and how much water is consumed and transported (2,400 million gallons per day and830, 000 gallons per minute). There is also a good graphic of how the water temperature is distributed.

Next it talks about the effects it has on the environment. A primary effect that was stated in the article would be direct thermal shock. Some others are changes in dissolved oxygen and redistribution of organisms in a local community. The article say that they are trying to stop fish and other aquatic organisms from getting stuck and killed in the pipes by gradually increasing to temperature of the water of the heat treatment. Although they are trying to stop the wildlife from getting killed, their plan, ironically, is causing more problems. That is because those changes in temperature change the reproduction of the organisms making them more susceptible to disease. The article also states how if the water is colder it can then brake down organic material faster and therefore reduce oxygen levels. So that gives the problem of not solving thermal pollution by adding cold water to the mix. The article also stated how some good came out of thermal pollution, believe it or not. Some organisms like coral adapted to have a higher thermo tolerance.

Finally the article talks about the abatement of organisms that is caused by thermal pollution. So far the only immediate effects seen are the mortality of plankton. Some other possible abatement can be caused by nuclear power plants and their steam towers, which can cause meteorological changes.

Opinion: I think that thermal pollution can be a serious problem when in local area, especially one were a lot of endangered species live or a habitat that select organisms need to live and survive. It can also cause other local issues but it can also help organisms and commercial companies by increasing reproductive rates of certain fish and increase thermo tolerance for other organisms. On a world wide scale I do not think that thermo pollution will be a problem unless we make so many energy plants that it will happen everywhere. I, myself have no personal connection to this topic but I’m sure others will, especially those who specialize on this topic.

1-Should we try to dump the hot water to where commercial fisheries fish to help with a supply of food?

2- If more people move up north, should we limit the amount of people who can live up there so electrical plants aren’t numerous and start pumping hot water into the cold?

3- Should we try to use hot water treatments on aquatic organisms in labs to get the same thermo tolerance seen in coral and then try to breed them as a new species for commercial gain?