Whale, Whale, Whale what have we done? At the ripe age of 7, when most kids want to be princesses I wanted to be, a whale. Not in like the I want to be a whale (gesture to size of body) but I wanted to be a whale. I found them so fascinating, swimming in and out of the waves, eating all the food they wanted. But the real fascination for me came from their poop. I was obsessed with whale poop, a slightly more interesting form of poop obsession than my 7 year old peers. Okay, I know you think I’m weird right now, but according to my wrist I have exactly 8 minutes to inspire your love for poop too. So today let’s eat some fiber to create a solid understanding of what whaling is, next let’s digest some facts about how whales help the environment,
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To explain where whales fit into a trophic cascade first we have to look at what they eat. Because there are so many different species, what they consume varies from small krill to giant squid. But for most whales krill (a family of small, shrimplike crustaceans) is the main food source. All of the whale’s prey survive off of a single-celled organism called Plankton. Plankton is the base of the oceanic food chain. A whale’s diet depends on these primary producers of the ocean. Trophic cascades show that whales keep their prey alive by reproducing the plankton.
When Antarctica’s great whales were nearly extinct in the 1960s the krill population collapsed by eighty percent. As the number of great whales declined so did the fish and krill. It turns out whales maintain the populations of their prey. This is because Whales not only eat the fish and krill but keep them alive. They help to support the entire ocean system.
Living systems have a far more impact on the planet than we expected. Their all-important purpose boils down to two things; number 1 carcasses and number 2 …show more content…
This plankton not only feeds the mass majority of the ocean but it also absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This absorption takes the harmful gas and stops its circulation much like trees do. In a sense they are key indicators of ecosystem change. For millions of years, the production of harmful and dangerous greenhouses gases was regulated by the natural systems of the planet. John Platt, an American physicist and environmental writer, states that “Carbon dioxide isn't only affecting the atmosphere. It has also made the oceans about 30 percent more acidic, affecting a wide variety of sea organisms. That percentage is also expected to rise in the coming years.” Whales play a very important role in the health of the environment. Over one thousand years of whaling has had negative effects on the ecosystem both in the ocean and on land.
Because whales are the giants of the ocean, scientists have long speculated on the ecological effects of whale carcasses sinking to the deep-ocean floor and washing up on beaches. But recent studies done by Amanda Mascarelli, a scientific journalist says that, “The decimation of whales during the last century also has consequences for an entire community of decomposer animals that live at the bottom of the ocean.” This means
To explain where whales fit into a trophic cascade first we have to look at what they eat. Because there are so many different species, what they consume varies from small krill to giant squid. But for most whales krill (a family of small, shrimplike crustaceans) is the main food source. All of the whale’s prey survive off of a single-celled organism called Plankton. Plankton is the base of the oceanic food chain. A whale’s diet depends on these primary producers of the ocean. Trophic cascades show that whales keep their prey alive by reproducing the plankton.
When Antarctica’s great whales were nearly extinct in the 1960s the krill population collapsed by eighty percent. As the number of great whales declined so did the fish and krill. It turns out whales maintain the populations of their prey. This is because Whales not only eat the fish and krill but keep them alive. They help to support the entire ocean system.
Living systems have a far more impact on the planet than we expected. Their all-important purpose boils down to two things; number 1 carcasses and number 2 …show more content…
This plankton not only feeds the mass majority of the ocean but it also absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This absorption takes the harmful gas and stops its circulation much like trees do. In a sense they are key indicators of ecosystem change. For millions of years, the production of harmful and dangerous greenhouses gases was regulated by the natural systems of the planet. John Platt, an American physicist and environmental writer, states that “Carbon dioxide isn't only affecting the atmosphere. It has also made the oceans about 30 percent more acidic, affecting a wide variety of sea organisms. That percentage is also expected to rise in the coming years.” Whales play a very important role in the health of the environment. Over one thousand years of whaling has had negative effects on the ecosystem both in the ocean and on land.
Because whales are the giants of the ocean, scientists have long speculated on the ecological effects of whale carcasses sinking to the deep-ocean floor and washing up on beaches. But recent studies done by Amanda Mascarelli, a scientific journalist says that, “The decimation of whales during the last century also has consequences for an entire community of decomposer animals that live at the bottom of the ocean.” This means