Michael Grieco
AP Biology
Current Event 18 - Review
March 11, 2019
Gupta, Sujata. “Human encroachment threatens chimpanzee culture.” Science News, Society for
Science & the Public, 7 Mar. 2019,
e>.
Sujata Gupta’s article encompasses a recent study regarding Chimpanzee culture in Africa, and
how their cultural behaviors can tell us something about human disturbances. She first describes what
prompted the study ― when cameras caught male chimpanzees throwing rocks at trees. This
behavior is considered rare because only a few select populations perform it. This relates to the
current population dynamics of the chimp populations. Even if they are declining, we still see new
evidence of mutated genes that leads to a new behavior in animals and as a result, more cultural
diversity. Gupta states that the study was testing the disturbance hypothesis, which says that
“disturbances, including population loss, resource depletion and habitat fragmentation, break down
the opportunities needed for social learning to occur.” Researchers at the Max Planck institute
recorded and analyzed millions of short clips of chimpanzee behavior using cameras placed in
chimpanzee sites. Their results from this part was that they found 144 different communities and 31
cultural behaviors ― behaviors unique to a number of communities. The next part of the study was
mapping out the areas in order to compare the locations of chimp communities to human
infrastructure. And what they found is that those 31 unique behaviors occurred in the areas affected
by human activities 88% more than areas not affected. The researchers hope this study and its result
will shed some light on conservation based on culture. They believe that by preserving their habitats,
we can preserve these behaviors and from that, genetic diversity.
This research is very important to ecology conservation because we may have found a new way
to preserve genetic diversity in species. Knowing how to do this could help us prevent endangered
species from going extinct. From this article, it is evident that habitat destruction is the largest threat
to ecological communities, and in this case, it is associated with decreasing genetic diversity in a
species.
This article was very thorough in describing the study and what it means to the scientific
community. It shows why the results are important and significant, and incorporating several
hypotheses and other statistics helped them come to a conclusion. The one thing this article could
improve on is explaining more about why the behaviors happen. If they indicate it is socially learned
or an innate behavior, we could understand the article and the study and its results in relation to the
underlying purpose.
Ellyn Paris
ReplyDeleteAP Biology
Mr. Ipppolito
September 9, 2019
Greico wrote a very well organized review of this writing piece. He wrote the review in an order that effectively represents the problem discussed in Gupta's article, by first stating what the study discussed is about. He then explained how the study was conducted, the results gained from it, and its purpose and importance. Lastly, he inputed his opinion on the article. By presenting his review in this order, the reader easily understands what the article is about and its importance. Another aspect of the review that was well presented was the way Greico states his opinion, in a non-critical and concise manner. Furthermore, he connected the study and its importance to a broader theme of habitat destruction and the impacts it has on genetic diversity. The review could be improved by explaining why a decrease in genetic diversity is a problem, as well as discussing what the results of the study signify. Before reading this review, I was not aware that some chimpanzee behaviors are unique to certain communities.