Erin Kaye
9/13/19
Biology
Current Event #2
Milius, Susan. “Climate Change May Be Throwing Coral Sex out of Sync.” Science News, 13 Sept. 2019, www.sciencenews.org/article/climate-change-throwing-coral-sex-out-sync.
The article “Climate Change May be Throwing Coral Sex Out of Synce” by Susan Milius, published in the Science News on September 13th, 2019, examines a recent enviormental trend with coral sex. Tom Shlesinger, a marine biologists at Tel Aviv University, conducted a study to test how coral sex has changed. When corals reproduce they all at once let out tiny colorful egg-sperm on the same few nights a year. The sex cells will separate from one another and gain a chance to fertilize. Environmental cues such as “water temperature, sunlight and wind affect the month of the event” and “the phase of the moon matters in determining the night, and local sunset cues the time,” enable the coral spit out the gametes in the same half hour. After four years of monitoring the coral three out of the five species are no longer synchronized. The mini releases do not create a thick enough environment to make fertilization likely or any gametes left over after fish finish eating. This may be due to the fact that water warmed .31 degrees Celsius in the North and pollutants, especially endocrine disrupting ones, have affected the process.
This can have a huge affect on society because if the producers are decreasing that will hurt all the other animals in the ecosystem. This could lead to a decrease in food availability and hurt the economy and local fishermen. It also could hurt tourism in the country if the coral and sea life is disappearing. If the pollution and warming of the planet are causing problems in this area, it could also be a sign of the same problems occurring in other parts of the world. Trump’s weakening of the clean air and water acts could lead to more waste dumping and could have an effect on the sea life surrounding America and the way our own corals’ reproduce.
The article could have been improved by correlating the decrease in coral with a study of a decrease in its consumer. This would have added validation to the negative effects. A weakness in the article is the length of time spent on the study; it would have been stronger if extended a couple of years. A weakness of the study that James Guest, a coral biologist at Newcastle University in England, pointed out in the article is that it is not easy finding old records with comparable methods so older data might have missed on times of un synchronization that showed up in Shlesinger’s study. A strength of the article is that Milius points out the flaws in the study. Milius also does a good job of describing Shlesinger’s study methods and the effects that his findings could have.
Sarah Whitney
ReplyDeleteAP Biology
Current Event #3
September 19, 2019
Milius, Susan. “Climate Change May Be Throwing Coral Sex out of Sync.” Science News, 13 Sept. 2019, www.sciencenews.org/article/climate-change-throwing-coral-sex-out-sync.
Erin, in her review of “Climate Change May Be Throwing Coral Sex out of Sync” by Susan Milius, did many things well. First, her summary was very in-depth and provided the reader with all of the important information needed to understand this study. Second, Erin included many quotes that help the reader understand Milius’ point of view. Third, her relevance paragraph was very detailed and thought out, showing how much she understood this article.
Although Erin did many things well, there were two things in which she could improve upon. First, I wish she would have discussed more about what she liked about this article as she only includes that the author points out flaws, without any specifics. Second, in her criticism, Erin could have included specific ideas with a quote to make her ideas clear.
I found this article very interesting as I was unaware that the sex of corals could be altered due to climate change. Although I understand that climate change has many effects on species and environments, sometimes the public is not made aware to what degree.
Lily Jebejian
ReplyDelete9/26/19
AP Biology
Current Event #3
Milius, Susan. “Climate Change May Be Throwing Coral Sex out of Sync.” Science News, 13 Sept. 2019, www.sciencenews.org/article/climate-change-throwing-coral-sex-out-sync.
Erin does a very nice job in her review of “Climate Change May Be Throwing Coral Sex out of Sync”, by Susan Milius. Her review was very well written, she organized it so the reader was able to understand the article while also capturing all of the topics that were difficult to comprehend. In her summary Erin explains how coral reproduces and how it must be all on the same night, at the same time. This was fascinating to me that such an elaborate event can happen amongst thousands of coral. Next she talks about how the slightest things trigger such an event, such as moon phase and water temperature. Finally, she discusses how this crucial event is in danger because of the planets rising temperature. This was very interesting because even a slight rise in temperature (.31degrees C) can throw off the whole thing.
Although Erin had a very solid summary she has room to improve in a couple places. First of all, she failed to mention where the coral reproduction was occurring, although it was clearly stated in the article that it was happening in the red sea near Jordan and Israel. This is important information to include in the review because it gives context to the reader and the article states how the reproduction in the red sea is different from say the Great Barrier Reef. Finally, I think that she should have mentioned studies that occurred in the past. The article mentions data from the 1980s and compares the numbers to today. This really helps to give the reader an understanding of how dramatic the change is.
Overall, Erin did a good job reviewing the article and it really made me think about how many ways global warming is affecting our earth. The warming of the oceans not only affects the melting icebergs but also the life within the ocean. This is an issue that is being politically debated, and when you read articles such as this one it really puts into perspective how we can sit and talk about climate change but it is happening whether we want it to or not.
Amanda Troy
ReplyDeleteAP Biology
11/4/19
Current Event #7
Milius, Susan. “Climate Change May Be Throwing Coral Sex out of Sync.” Science
News, 13 Sept. 2019,
www.sciencenews.org/article/climate-change-throwing-coral-sex-out-sync.
Erin wrote an excellent summary of the article she read titled, “Climate Change May Be Throwing Coral Sex out of Sync” by Susan Milius. Erin wrote a detailed and easy-to-understand review as she thoroughly explained concepts that are initially difficult to comprehend. First, Erin explains how coral reproduces and how it must occur all on the same night. This information was intriguing to me that such an intricate event can occur amongst thousands of coral. Next, she notes how the smallest things, such as the moonlight or temperature, can trigger this complex event. Lastly, Erin discusses the impact these events will have on society. This is important to note because if the producers are decreasing, that will hurt our environment.
Despite Erin’s excellent review, she still has room for improvement. First, Erin never really discussed her opinions on the article. She only noted the flaws pointed out by the author lacking any specifics. Next, Erin could have included more quotes from the article, particularly in her criticism. This would have produced a more clear and concise review.
I am always intrigued by articles regarding our environment. I am also intrigued by climate change. I was fascinated to learn that climate change could potentially be the cause of the sex change among corals. While climate change is becoming a more prominent topic of conversation each day, we are constantly learning about the catastrophic effects climate change has on our environment and what we can do to help our planet. This article proves, however, that despite all of the talk, climate change is an unfortunate process happening today.