Class Response #2 = Food Chains, Food Webs, Competition

During the study of Ecology, these are three facts I learned in class:

1.) Competition is when animals fight for food, they fight against each other to keep themselves alive.

2.) A food web is a model that represents many overlapping food chains and shows the energy flow to the group of organisms.

3.) A food chain is a diagram that shows energy being passed form one organism to another. For example: Grass -> Zebra -> Lion.

My opinion based on these three facts is that I didn't know the difference between a food chain and a food web before and didn't know that they each gave different pieces of information. I did know about competition and how animals fought each other in order to stay alive. Sometimes I relate competition to how people may fight or argue about who gets the last cookie in the cookie jar, in the same way as animals they are fighting for food and survival. The websites below are examples of food chains and food webs:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/ecosystems/ecosystemsresourcesrev1.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/add_aqa/foodchains/foodchains1.shtml

Class Response!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Three facts learned in class:

1.) There needs to be a balance between predators and prey.

2.) Commensalism is when one organism benefits and the other is not harmed.

3.) Mutualism is when both organisms benefit.

4.) Parasitism is when one organism benefits and the other is harmed.

The topic of the unit we are studying is ecology. My opinion on it is that it is fun to learn about how nature works. I may have known about predators and preys but I didn't know about the need for balance between the two. I also didn't know about the forms of symbiosis, and how many of each kind is around me. Information about the four facts can be found at the two websites below:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/20/AR2008072001591.html?sid=ST2
http://homes.jcu.edu.au/~zljes/bz1002/lecture8.htm

One in Four Mammals at risk of Extinction!!!!

Who: Mammals

What: One in four of the world's 5,487 mammal species going through extinction.

Where: Asia, where developments are being done. Such as population and economy growth.

When: Mammals are going through extinction right now (present day)

Why: The mammals are going through extinction because of many of accidental deaths such as being caught in fishing nets that were meant for other species. Also, Asia, a growing region is causing many habitats to be lost. That is being caused by the the increasing of industrial crops, development of roads, and critical landscaping.

My opinion on this article is that humans aren't the only species on Earth, so they shouldn't only think about themselves. Humans should limit fishing because it's causing mammals to go extinct. If we choose to be less selfish and think about the other species on the planet then maybe we can prevent the greatest of species from going extinct. I really hope that we could all try and not ruin the habitats of the mammals by not making so many drastic changes. Population is growing everywhere and clearly there is nothing that can stop that, but hopefully humans will take the mammal's habitats into consideration when doing any construction work or anything.

I found the article here:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/10/081006-mammals-extinction_2.html

Global Warming Threatens Australia's Iconic Kangaroos!!!!

Many people have heard that global warming is doing bad to the polar bears in the Antarctic,but do they know that it is also affecting the kangaroos in Australia? Some may not know but sadly it's true. The kangaroos may be extinct this century. But why the kangaroos? If there is a change in the temperature by two degrees Celsius then the kangaroos could be in a lot of danger. Because of the changes of temperatures, kangaroos maybe affected very badly and seriously. Surprisingly, even the smallest change of temperature could the shrinking of the kangaroos geographic ranges. Six degrees of temperature rising could cause 98 percent of shrinking in a kangaroos geographic range. Unfortunately, the increasing of temperatures also causes a change in the kangaroos habitats. A very vital way global warming can affect a kangaroos habitat is that kangaroos need water because it may cause starvation, maybe death because of dehydration, or not being able to reproduce. Therefore, if global warming could cause the waterholes to dry up the kangaroos will die. Since kangaroos are only adapted to wet, and tropical climate they wouldn't be able to even create a new habitat and adapt to new vegetation and topography. It's really sad to know that another animal may have to suffer the consequences of extinction due to global warming. What makes this tragic information even more depressing is that the next century's people won't be able to see the iconic Australian kangaroos. Hopefully everyone can help out the environment and stop polluting and cutting down trees so that we can help the kangaroos live just a bit longer.

I found this article on the website below: http://www.brightsurf.com/news/headlines/40939/Global_warming_threatens_Australias_iconic_kangaroos.html

Introduction

Hi my name is cookiemonster this is my science blog!!!!