Today we focused on the chemical composition of seas water, climate change, tides, currents, and waves. I think that this lesson is one of the most important lessons of all when discussing marine ecosystems because it truly ties in to the ecological aspect of the ocean seeing as all the factors above directly affect marine life. When thinking about BVI, these factors would help determine why there was the sudden explosion of lionfish amongst other invasive species in general. While not really a chemistry guy, I found the chemical component to be quite interesting; I’ve seen shows where they talk about the nutrients that are brought up but I never knew which nutrients they were. Also, the simple statement of pH = potential of hydrogen would’ve made my life easier back when I first learned about pH.
Talking about all of this today made me think about Al Gore’s movie about climate change (before it was mentioned) and how I felt about the movie. I had mixed feelings because while I agree with Al Gore about Climate Change I found his sense of urgency was un-found. Climate change is a big deal, yes, but at the same time I believe it’s a natural cycle that humans have simply accelerated therefore why should we fear it? Also, even though we accelerated the process I don’t think we’re all going to die in 2050 which is what I got from his movie. I think that we should move past all the skeptics, critics, and non-believers and just try to reduce our negative influence over the Earth instead of worrying whether or not Climate Change is real or the politics of the matter. Regardless of Climate Change being real our Earth is in a bad state. That’s undeniable.
I liked the first article that we went over, the one about the Cod and the Shark that can survive in hypoxic and anoxic conditions. Being able to control your body’s processes is truly amazing and an incredible adaptation and it’s difficult to fathom. I think it would be interesting to compare the brain activity of the cod or the shark to that of a bear or turtle during hibernation. Just a thought. Linking today’s lesson with yesterday’s, it would be interesting to find out all of the factors mentioned above in waters of the past. It would immensely help us understand past/prehistoric/paleozoic ecosystems, not to mention simply awesome (I think there is a possibility we already know those but I’m not sure).
Finally the EAC was mentioned today and as such I think it is appropriate to post this:
