Yin, Steph. "In the Wild, Goldfish Turn From Pet to Pest." New York Times. N.p., 22 Sept. 2016. Web. 26 Sept. 2016. <http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/23/science/discarded-goldfish-invasive-species.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=9&pgtype=sectionfront>.
The article I choose to review was about how goldfish are becoming an invasive species around the world but especially in Australia. The theory of how they became an invasive species in Australia, given by the researchers at Murdoch University, is that two decades ago some people who were tired of their goldfish threw them away in a creek in southwestern Australia. Since the goldfish were not native to Australia and were domesticated pests, they did not have any predators. In addition, females can produce up to 40,000 eggs each year, which is a much higher number than most freshwater fish. They also have the capability to interbreed with other species of wild carps and since they have no natural predators, a large portion of goldfish offspring survive to reproductive age, which as said in the article, “continues a cycle of rampant overpopulation”. Thus, with all of these factors in place, quite rapidly a feral goldfish invasion started in the creeks and rivers of Australia with the highest density being in the Vasse River. Furthermore, goldfish that have been put back into the wild are not at all like the cute little fish that are seen in aquariums. First of all, they have quite a different size, with some fish growing as long as 16 inches and weighing up to four pounds. They also lose their bright orange coloring, reverting back to their original natural yellow and brown colors. Their effect on ecology has become a nightmare. Since goldfish swim at the bottom of the rivers, they uproot vegetation, but more importantly disturb the sediment, releasing nutrient which in turn triggers excess algal growth. Moreover, they eat a large of food, from algae to small invertebrates and fish eggs. Most importantly, they can transmit exotic diseases and parasites. And to top off their notoriousness, once goldfish are established in a river, eradicating them is a “notoriously difficult undertaking” and biologists are having a hard time trying to come up with solutions to this growing problem.
This information about how dangerous just throwing away goldfish in streams and rivers is very important to the whole world. The Earth is being ripped apart by humans and their actions and this problem is just another example of how if we are not careful about our actions, the consequences might become much more disastrous then expected, and might not be reversible as seen with the invasion of the goldfish. I have never had a fish but I remember that in every children’s book I used to read, the goldfish would be flushed down the toilet. This article shows just how disastrous this action can be and how it can lead to horrible consequences for the environment. I never knew an action that simple could have such a horrible outcome and this article showed me that clearly it can be.
Overall this article was well written and interesting. The author had a thorough explanation of the consequences of the goldfish invasion which was a great asset to the article and made it on the whole very informative. Steph Yin also put in many quotes from different biology professors, expanding from those at Murdoch University, giving the readers many different opinions about this problem, so that they could formulate their own opinion about the topic. However, one weakness of the article is that it focused too much on Australia. Although it did state some other places where the goldfish had also become an invasive specie, it did not elaborate on them. To make this article better I would divide the article better between the different places of the invasion, and would not just talk about Australia. On the whole, this article taught me about something I had no idea about and helped me gain a new perspective on the damage humans can cause to the Earth and its environment.
I commented on Chloe’s review of “In the Wild, Goldfish Turn From Pet to Pest”. Overall, Chloe did a great job reviewing the article. One thing she did well was explain how goldfish, in fact, went from pets to pests. This began when owners did not want their goldfish anymore and released them into a creak in Australia. Since they were not naive to the land, they did not have predators and their populations grew quickly and they ended up uprooting vegetation in the area and spreading diseases. She also did a good job explaining how the goldfish were able to overpopulate so quickly. For example, Chloe said that this is partly due to the fact that females can lay 40,000 eggs each year and there are no natural predators to the goldfish. Finally, I loved how Chloe related to the article personally. She recalls a childhood event that may people such as myself have experienced. She points out that this event, flushing a fish down the toilet, can be what is causing this overpopulation and how an event we think so little of could actually be damaging the environment.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Chloe did a good job reviewing the article, there were some areas she could have improved. For example, she talks about how it is hard to come up with solutions to the problem. I wish that Chloe had given possible solutions, either her own ideas or experts’ ideas. Another thing she could have improved is she could have quoted specific experts from the article. This would make the argument more legitimate and make people more inclined to believe it.
This article was interesting because it reminded me how little we know about what we are doing to the environment. A simple act, such as flushing a fish down the toilet, can cause serious harm to the world around us. From reading the article and Chloe’s review, I learned that I need to be more careful of my actions and think about all the potential consequences before I complete my actions.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIsabel Caton
ReplyDeleteYin, Steph. "In the Wild, Goldfish Turn From Pet to Pest." New York Times. N.p., 22 Sept. 2016. Web. 26 Sept. 2016.
I read Chloe’s review of “In the Wild, Goldfish Turn From Pet to Pest.” Chloe did a really good job explaining the article and why Goldfish are turning into pests. Goldfish started to become invasive species when families released the fish into the wild or flushed them down the toilet. Since these GOldfish are not native to the area they don't have any natural predators which allows them to interbreed with other species of wild carps. In addition females can produce up to 40,000 eggs a year which is a lot of new fish. With all of these factors the Goldfish are able to reproduce quickly and take over an area. Chloe gave a very good detailed description on why the Goldfish are able to become an invasive species, which allowed me to understand the article better.
One thing I think Chloe could have done better is given her own ideas about what can be done about the situation. It is said that it is hard to come up with a solution to stop the rapid growth of the Goldfish population but I think that she should have included her own ideas on how to stop it. Chloe says that the author Steph Yin included many quotes from different biology professors, I would have like it if she had included those in her review of the article, so I could see what other people think about the Goldfish situation.
Overall I thought this article was very interesting, I learned a lot about Goldfish in the wild and how a simple thing like putting a Goldfish back into a pond could be so harmful to the environment. I really enjoyed how Chloe brought her own life into the article and related it to when she was a child. It was very interesting knowing that the little pet fish we have as kids can turn an ecosystem upside down and disrupt whole areas. We as humans need to be more careful about what we are doing to the environment and think about the consequences before we do something. This article was very interesting and overall Chloe did a really good job reviewing it.
Sarah Billings September 28, 2016
ReplyDeleteCurrent Event 3: comment AP Biology D even
Yin, Steph. "In the Wild, Goldfish Turn From Pet to Pest." New York Times. N.p., 22 Sept. 2016. Web. 26 Sept. 2016. .
I chose to read Chloe’s review of the New York Times article, “In the Wild, Goldfish Turn From Pet to Pest," by Yin Steph. First of all, it was very well written and descriptive, which made the review seem more professional. For example, the last sentence of her summary smoothly intertwined a quote, while also using her own language, to effectively communicate her point. Another aspect that was really well done was her explanation for her second paragraph, which mentioned both a world affect, as well as a personal affect. Most people only include one in their review, so I thought it was really good how she included both parts. Lastly, her main critique - that the article could have mentioned details about places other than Australia - was a really good, specific point. It definitely shows she understand what she was reading and had some good thoughts while reading this article.
While her review was really good, there are a few things she could improve upon. One possible improvement is possibly utilizing quotes from the article more and making sure that the quotes used are effective. The few quotes that she did use didn’t really help to enhance what she was saying and back up her point. Also, while, as I said before, it was good that she included a personal experience, she didn’t really explain how that experience affected her in relation to the topic. I kind of understood where she was going with the experience, but it was a little confusing and could use some further elaboration.
Overall, she did a really good job with her review. I never even knew that goldfish populations were in natural ecosystems, let alone a growing problem of invasive species. Also, the background story about how they first started growing from Australia was really interesting, as I had no idea that was how it started. As a result, I learned a lot about this ongoing situation and enjoyed the review about it.
AP Biology George Daskalakis
ReplyDeleteCurrent Event 3 Comment 9/28/16
Yin, Steph. "In the Wild, Goldfish Turn From Pet to Pest." New York Times. N.p., 22 Sept. 2016.
Web. 26 Sept. 2016.
After reading Chloe’s review of “In the Wild, Goldfish Turn From Pet to Pest”, by Steph Yin, I thought Chloe did a great job reviewing the article. One thing she did well was relating the article to herself personally. She recalls a childhood event that may people such as myself have experienced. She points out that this event, flushing a fish down the toilet, can be what is causing this overpopulation and how an event we think so little of could actually be damaging the environment. When I was two years old I caught a fish at a carnival and the next day flushed it down the toilet. This also happened in Finding Nemo. She also, explained how goldfish went from pets to pests. This began when owners did not want their goldfish anymore and released them into a creak in Australia. Since they were not from such creak in Australia, they did not have predators and their populations grew rapidly and they ended up uprooting vegetation in the area. Finally, Chloe did a great job explaining how the goldfish were able to overpopulate so quickly. For example, Chloe said that this is due to the fact that females can lay 40,000 eggs each year and there are no natural predators to goldfish.
Although Chloe did some great things while reviewing the article, there were some parts that she could have improved upon. For example, she could have quoted specific experts from the article. This would make the argument more legitimate and made it much more believable. Also, she talks about how it is hard to come up with solutions to the problem regarding the goldfish. I wish that possible solutions had been given in the, either her own ideas or experts’ ideas.
This article was intriguing because it reminded me how when I was young I knew nothing about what I was doing to the environment and the effects a simple act, such as flushing a fish down the toilet, can cause serious harm to the world around us. From reading the article and Chloe’s review, I learned that I need to be more careful of my actions regarding the environment and make sure I am not harming any ecosystems.
I read Chloe’s review of “In the Wild, Goldfish Turn From Pet to Pest”, by Steph Yin, and found she did an excellent job in her review. The summary she provided gave a lot of detail and I felt I really understand the topic she was discussing and the extent of the issue. Another aspect I found particularly impressive was the way she related the article both locally and globally. She discussed the personal example of flushing a goldfish down the toilet which related to me and our community on a smaller scale. However she also went on to explain the effect on the world or ecosystems as whole as she says "The Earth is being ripped apart by humans and their actions and this problem is just another example of how if we are not careful about our actions, the consequences might become much more disastrous then expected, and might not be reversible as seen with the invasion of the goldfish." Finally I felt that Chloe did a good job at really noticing what the articles flaws were. This shows she tok the time to carefully read the piece and determine what could be improved upon.
ReplyDeleteWhile Chloe's review was overall well done, there are still a few thing she could work on. First off, I felt some her sentences were run ons and there were some grammatical errors. If she went back and fixed a few of these mistakes it might make some of her thoughts more clear and concise. I also felt she could have tried quoting some of the experts or referring to direct information from the articles. This would increase the legitimacy of her review and give the reader an example of the writing style of the author.
I was really intrigued by this review and learned a lot while reading it. Prior to seeing Chloe's work I had no idea that goldfish were having such a dramatic effect. I was very surprised to read that these seemingly harmless creatures could be so detrimental to an ecosystem.
Yin, Steph. "In the Wild, Goldfish Turn From Pet to Pest." New York Times. N.p., 22 Sept. 2016. Web. 26 Sept. 2016. .
ReplyDeleteI think that Chloe did a good job reviewing the article that she chose. The first aspect that I liked about her review is overall just the article that she chose. No one would think of goldfish as an invasive species. Most people see them as pets that live in an a aquarium with maybe two or three other fish but not as a whole community. I thought that that was very interesting. I also think that it was good that she used the same words in her first paragraph, the summary, as in the article. The way that she used them, she put them in quotes, helped see a more professional aspect of the summary instead of it being like a student summarizing an advance article. She says, ‘They also have the capability to interbreed with other species of wild carps and since they have no natural predators, a large portion of goldfish offspring survive to reproductive age, which as said in the article, “continues a cycle of rampant overpopulation”’. Using exact words from the article help her summary. And the last thing that I liked was the language that she used in her second paragraph. When she was describing how this problem can impact the future I like how she tried not to hold back her feelings. She seemed in a way passionate about the article. Chloe states, “The Earth is being ripped apart by humans and their actions…”. The words that she chose, “ripped apart” really show how drastic these problems are.
Although I enjoyed Chloe’s review very much, there are things that she could have done better. In the first few sentences I noticed some missing words and grammar errors. Although they aren't much of a big deal and didn't really bother me with my comprehension of her review, it would just have made it cleaner and made it flow more nicely. Something else that I think she could improve on is making her sentences less choppy near the end of the review where she talks about the pros and cons. I had no difficulty understanding it but I think that the review could have been even better if she did that.
I was able to learn a lot from Chloe’s review. I had not clue that goldfish could become an invasive species. I also did not know and learned from her review that there are different sorts of goldfish and they don't all look like the ones we see in aquariums. I hope that this problem in Australia gets sorted out as soon as it can.