Ecosystem On The Brink
A.
- Scientist conducted an experiment that measure the clarity of water
- They dropped bass into the water
- After seasons passed, Peter Lake changed
- Based changed the dynamic of the lake
- Acted as the dominant predator
- Peter Lakes food web changed, the arrangement changed to a new one
- Other food webs have been flipping
- Jellyfish were dominant, snails and fungi were overrunning coastal marshes, and lobsters were proliferating while the cods crashed
- Humans are putting stress on the ecosystem
- More food webs are expected to flip
- Carpenter developed a mathematical model of ecological networks
- Scientists can determine if a food web can remain stable
- Ecologist turned food webs into mathematical models
- They determined key principles operating in food webs
- Forecasting a change in food web will change it
- Scientist say that its better to prevent food webs
B. Within the ecosystem, there are many changes happening. Scientists have noticed that the food webs these organisms that live in the environment have a chance to flip, changing the entire dynamic of their habitat. Because of this change, Stephen Carpenter decided to conduct and experiment to see how one organism can change how a habitat operates. They planted bass into Peter Lake and they were able to see that because of the change that they caused, they determined that the bass completely changed how organisms in the lake operated. The top predator became the bass and the food web changed completely. In other ecosystems, the top predators were the species that were getting wiped out. While not having the same effect, the impact not having top predators is just as important as inserting another top predator.
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C. Before reading this article, I was already aware of how changing a certain aspect of an ecosystem can drastically change the whole dynamic of an ecosystem. After doing assignments in APES, I became more aware of factors like this. I believe that there is a natural order in how food webs can flip and the fact that people are doing this intentionally is very interesting. Their results are very predictable considering they Carpenter decided to add a predator to the lake. Even though these changes are very drastic, they are also necessary because this allows other species to grow in population. I was reminded of our coyote lab that we conducted in my class when reading this article. Seeing how there is such a similar reaction there is to that lab was very interesting to see.
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