The Project
For this project we started by learning all about ecology and used that knowledge to make a game plan to save a species there for saving their environment. The first thing me and my group did to start work on the project was to brainstorm ideas for what animal we would research and how we would work to save that animal. The end product was a presentation and solution for the problem that is damaging the animal population.
Brainstorm
What is your proposed species and ecosystem? Be as specific as possible! Ex beaches in Marin, or Bay Area wetlands.
www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/species-especes/profiles-profils/bluefintuna-thonrouge-eng.html
- Mediterranean Mediterranean ocean
- Atlantic Bluefin Tuna
- Overfishing
- Ocean acidification is cutting down their food supply
- Pollution that harms many species and the biotic factors within the ecosystem
- Illegal fishing
www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/species-especes/profiles-profils/bluefintuna-thonrouge-eng.html
- Description of Atlantic bluefin tuna
- List of environments populated by Atlantic bluefin tuna
- And threats against them
- Describes bluefin tuna
- The threats against them including acidification of the ocean and overfishing
- Gives stats for population decrease
- Explains why they are so valuable
- Describes overfishing and illegal fishing with statistics
- Describes rarity/desirability of tunas
- Physical and dietary description
- Map of range of existence
- Graph of catch totals overtime
- Risk level of oil spills
- Existing conservation and protection laws
- Boycott fish.
- Have the government revoke the fishing permits of accused over fishers or increase the price of fish but decrease the amount for “overfishing” so it an be easier for the fishermen to reach their quota.
- Outlaw eating fish or restrict the amount of fish families can eat.
- Perhaps begin with making sure restaurants source their seafood responsibly from sources that don’t overfish
- Crack down on illegal fishing, it harms many other species including
- Study the migration of tuna even more to find areas where they are overfished to target.
- Begin aquatic “fish police” to make sure no-one tries to overfish these poor tunas.
- Begin government creation of aquaculture facilities to produce fish to reintroduce them to the environment and keep the biodiversity in check
final project/presentaion
Content
- Ecological Organization: Levels of organization in ecology include the population, community, ecosystem, and bioshere. An ecosystem is all the living things in an area interacting with all of the abiotic parts of the environment.
- Throphic Levels: each of several hierarchical levels in an ecosystem, comprising organisms that share the same function in the food chain and the same nutritional relationship to the primary sources of energy.
- Ecological Succession: Is the process of change in the species structure of an ecological community over time. The time scale can be decades (for example, after a wildfire), or even millions of years after a mass extinction.
- abiotic/biotic factors: The living things in an ecosystem are called biotic factors. Living things include plants, animals, bacteria , fungi and more. The non living parts of an ecosystem are called abiotic factors. In an ecosystem some abiotic factors are sunlight, temperature atmospheric gases water and soil.
- 10% Rule: The 10% Rule means that when energy is passed in an ecosystem from one trophic level to the next, only ten percent of the energy will be passed on. A trophic level is the position of an organism in a food chain or energy pyramid.
- Symbiosis: interaction between two different organisms living in close physical association, typically to the advantage of both.
- Carbon Cycle: the series of processes by which carbon compounds are interconverted in the environment, chiefly involving the incorporation of carbon dioxide into living tissue by photosynthesis and its return to the atmosphere through respiration, the decay of dead organisms, and the burning of fossil fuels.
- Nitrogen Cycle: the series of processes by which nitrogen and its compounds are interconverted in the environment and in living organisms, including nitrogen fixation and decomposition.
- Phosphorus Cycle: The phosphorus cycle is the biochemical cycle that describes the movement of phosphorus through the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere. ... Low concentration of phosphorus in soils reduces plant growth, and slows soil microbial growth - as shown in studies of soil microbial biomass.
- Niche: a comfortable or suitable position in life
- Autotroph/heterotroph: Most autotrophes make their "food" through photosynthesis using the energy of the sun. Heterotrophs cannot make their own food, so they must eat or absorb it. Chemosynthesis is used to produce food using the chemical energy stored in inorganic molecules.
- Human Impact: Human impact On the environment or anthropogenic impact on the environment includes changes to biophysical environments and ecosystems, biodiversity, and natural resources caused directly or indirectly by humans including global warming.
- Carrying capacity: The number of people, other living organisms, or crops that a region can support without environmental degradation.
- climate/weather: The difference between Weather and Climate is a measure of time. Weather is what conditions of the atmosphere are over a short period of time, and climate is how the atmosphere "behaves" over relatively long periods of time.
- Population: All the inhabitants of a particular town, area, or country.
- Growth/limiting factors: Limiting factors are resources or other factors in the environment that can lower the population growth rate. Limiting factors include a low food supply and lack of space. Limiting factors can lower birth rates, increase death rates, or lead to emigration.
- Atlantic Bluefin tuna: The Atlantic bluefin tuna is a species of tuna in the family Scombridae. It is variously known as the northern bluefin tuna, giant bluefin tuna and formerly as the tunny.
Reflection
Me and my group worked very well together but I feel like I didn't fully carry my own weight in the group because they had much higher standards than me and every time I did something they corrected it and made me change it. The end product that we ended up with is something that I'm very proud of. A low was when I wasn't able to do much because it would always be shot down. A high was when we finished as a team.