User:Huatammy/sandbox

Evaluating Wiki-Alligators

Nothing was distracting, everything in the article was strictly talking about alligators. It was very much scientific in the sense that it was just talking about facts about alligators. The article was very neutral, especially when talking about human interactions with alligators. For example this statement "Alligators are generally timid towards humans and tend to walk or swim away if one approaches. This has led some people to the practice of approaching alligators and their nests in a manner that may provoke the animals into attacking. In Florida, feeding wild alligators at any time is illegal. If fed, the alligators will eventually lose their fear of humans and will learn to associate humans with food, thereby becoming both a greater danger to people, and at greater risk from them.". It is very easy to place your own opinions about alligators but the writer remained strictly neutral about the topic. The viewpoints mainly represented in the article is the fact that many alligator species is endangered. The links for the citations do work, and the sources supports the article by linking us to articles that would give us more detail on terms that isn't public knowledge such as "egg tooth". From the references I noticed a lot of scientific journals but also references from reputable news sites, such as the Washington Post. Judging from the topic of the article, there is nothing that could change about alligators such as the fact that they are Crocodilian. Unless there is a huge paradigm shift. The conversations on the Talk page is mostly about fixing up things said within the article such as the "intent" of a statement or fixing up external links provided. Alligators are part of the WikiProject Amphibians and Reptiles. And has been rated a class B. I feel the way we talk about things in class is very "for" saving the environment therefore being fairly biased. The article speaks in a very scientific tone in the sense that they are stating what alligators are about, not about how we should be saving/protecting them.

Jellyfish's Response to Climate Change

We plan to contribute to the existing article Jellyfish, specifically their response to climate change. Our main focus is to use the knowledge we learned from 3BO3 and with additional research and provide a proper section onto the article.

Brainstorm

Notes from the Wiki page:

• can live in oxygen depleted habitats and high nutrients
• therefore where fishes die, the jelly fish can thrive
• plus theres over fishing so less predation
• more nutrients = phytoplankton = food
• can reproduce asexually and sexually
• can revert back to polyps for immortality
• ride the currents

More research:

• Pelagic jellyfish blooms are increasing worldwide as a potential response to climate-change.
• Chronic cold treatment caused body mass loss, but no apparent change in aerobic metabolism.
• Cassiopea sp. medusae seem to acclimate well at 32 °C, gain body mass and reduce the aerobic energy consumption
• Acute cold/heat treatment decreased/increased Cassiopea's bell pulsation rate.

• Overall these results suggest an enhanced growth in response to global warming, whereas low temperatures may set the limits for successful invasion of Cassiopea into colder water bodies.

(Aljbour et al., 2017)

• increased seawater temperature and CO₂ partial pressure (pCO₂) on the photochemistry, bleaching, and early growth of the reef coral
• elevated temperature greatly promoted lateral growth and calcification, while polyp budding exhibited temperature-dependent responses to pCO₂.

• results suggest that increased temperature can mitigate the adverse effects of acidification on the calcification of juvenile P. damicornis, but at a substantial cost to asexual budding

(Jiang et al., 2017)

• Polyp fitness was characterised as asexual reproduction, respiration, feeding, and protein concentrations.
• pre-exposure to elevated temperature and reduced pH in mitigating the potential negative effects of future ocean conditions on polyps of a dangerous Irukandji jellyfish
• Pre-exposure to elevated temperature alone partially mitigated the negative effects of future conditions on polyp fitness, while pre-exposure to reduced pH in isolation completely mitigated the negative effects of future conditions on polyp fitness.
• pre-exposure to the stressors individually may allow Irukandji polyps to acclimate over short timescales, the stressors are unlikely to occur in isolation in the long term, and thus, warming and acidification in parallel may prevent polyp populations from acclimating to future ocean conditions.

(Klein et al., 2017)

Edits for Draft

• The drastic rise in these blooms are particularly found in warmer, acidic and oxygen depleted environments. The ocean’s response to climate change is creating the ideal environment for jellyfish to thrive. Studies suggest that with a more positive North Atlantic Oscillation, their population is expected to increase over the next 100 years.
• Eutrophication is when a water body is highly concentrated in nutrients and minerals that prohibits the development of plants, algae, as there is a decreased oxygen supply. This process is one of many anthropogenic causes that contributes to ocean acidification. Consequently, increasing the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere lead to warmer temperatures in the oceans. This creates unfavourable conditions for other marine animals as it heavily hinders their metabolism and growth. In contrast, the changes in ocean chemistry are advantageous to jellyfish blooms as incremental changes in salinity resulted in a 28% increase of benthic polyps. Particularly, Cassiopea sp. medusae gains body mass and reduced aerobic energy consumption at 32ºC [5]. Studies show that the polyps (also known as the benthic stage or immature jellyfish) also had higher survivorship in hypoxic conditions.[6]
• This large scale ecosystem change can greatly benefit the predation for jellyfish to feed on the abundance of plants and algae. The use of dams and other hydrological controls can locally affect ocean salinity that contributes to a drastic rise in population. This heavily impacts power plants and diamond mining operations by blocking water intakes (ref) as well as clogging pipes in Monterey Bay in California (ref). Jellyfish blooms have also been in abundance on coastal lagoons along Mediterranean coasts of Spain and France since the 1990s
• Jellyfish can positively affect the biosphere as their large population serves an opportunistic species for an alternative food source[7]. A study on St. George Island off the coast of Alaska in the eastern Bering Sea found that jellyfish blooms provided a "jellyfish buffet" for diving seabirds[8].This lead to a 20% increase in feeding events for the seabirds.

Another service jellyfish provide includes transporting carbon and nutrients to deep oceans through their carcasses and their sloppy feeding habits[9].

• An abundance of jellyfish will shift the geochemical carbon cycle to be stored at the bottom of the ocean through carcasses. In terms of the hydrosphere, their movement contributes to ocean mixing by the expansion and contraction of their bell-shaped bodies.
• Another method in determining the rise in jellyfish is to see their effect towards humans. Jellyfish blooms are dangerous to humans as their sting can cause swelling, burning, and various other effects therefore negatively affecting the tourism industries[10]
• Jellyfish also cost fishing industries by clogging nets due to their large size of up to 6.7 feet or 2 metres, and indirectly costing fisheries by killing off fish [3].
• Future development near coastal regions and aquaculture will provide opportunities for polyps and in turn provide food for commercially important species such as sea turtles [3]. Jellyfish is an alternative for fertilizers for agriculture and aquaculture feeds (ref)
• To control the influx of jellyfish, a strategy would include using jellyfish for food and medicine [3].
• The GoJelly project funded by the European Union have decided to control the amount of jellyfish by using their biomass to create biofilters.Studies have shown that mucus of jellyfish can bind microplastic and would be ideal to use in sewage treatment plants.

Jellyfish's Response to Climate Change Final Draft

The survival rate of marine organisms due to climate change has raised many questions on a global scale. The significance of jellyfish on Earth’s hydrosphere and atmosphere provide insightful knowledge on their adaptation in regards to ocean acidification, anoxic environments and rising water temperatures. These conditions lead to jellyfish blooms which are an abundance of jellyfish known to correlate with a 20 year rise and fall cycle that has remained consistent since 1984 with evidence from 10 years of datasets found in 37 records . Jellyfish are not only an indicator species of changes in ocean chemistry but also alter the ecosystem and food chain. Jellyfish blooms have been in abundance on coastal lagoons along Mediterranean coasts of Spain and France since the 1990s . Recently, jellyfish have seen a drastic rise in population, that are clogging pipes in Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey Bay, California . The drastic rise in these blooms are particularly found in warmer, acidic and oxygen depleted environments. The ocean’s response to climate change is creating the ideal environment for jellyfish to thrive. A study suggests that with a more positive North Atlantic Oscillation, their population is expected to increase over the next 100 years .

Eutrophication is when a water body is highly concentrated in nutrients and minerals that prohibits the development of plants, algae, as there is a decreased oxygen supply. Eutrophication provides an abundance of phytoplankton, a food source for jellyfish. This process is one of many anthropogenic causes that contributes to ocean acidification. Ocean acidification occurs from rising CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere. The increase in acidity is attributed to atmospheric carbon dioxide dissociating water to form carbonic acid. Consequently, increasing the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere lead to warmer temperatures in the oceans. This creates unfavourable conditions for other marine animals as it heavily hinders their metabolism, ability to reproduce, calcification and growth . In contrast, the changes in ocean chemistry are advantageous to jellyfish blooms as incremental changes in salinity resulted in a 28% increase of benthic polyps. Particularly, Cassiopea sp. medusae gains body mass and reduced aerobic energy consumption at 32ºC . Another study shows that the polyps also had higher survivorship in hypoxic conditions.

Eutrophication, hypoxia, and overfishing is increasing due to anthropogenic forcing, therefore exacerbating the ocean conditions. The use of dams and other hydrological controls, can affect ocean salinity therefore benefiting jellyfish. Saltier water provides iodine, which is used by polyps to develop into jellyfish .This large scale ecosystem change can greatly benefit the predation for jellyfish to feed on the abundance of plants and algae.

Earth Systems

Jellyfish can positively affect the biosphere as their large population serves an opportunistic species for an alternative food source . A study on St. George Island off the coast of Alaska in the eastern Bering Sea found that jellyfish blooms provided a "jellyfish buffet" for diving seabirds. This leads to a 20% increase in feeding events for the seabirds. Another service jellyfish provide includes transporting carbon and nutrients to deep oceans through their carcasses and their sloppy feeding habits. An abundance of jellyfish will shift the geochemical carbon cycle to be stored at the bottom of the ocean through carcasses. In terms of the hydrosphere, their movement contribute to ocean mixing by the expansion and contraction of their bell-shaped bodies. Another method in determining the rise in jellyfish is to see their effect towards humans. Jellyfish blooms are dangerous to humans as their sting can cause swelling, burning, and various other effects therefore negatively affecting the tourism industries . Jellyfish also impact fishing industries by clogging nets due to their large size of up to 6.7 feet or 2 metres, and indirectly costing fisheries by killing off fish through by-catch . Future development near coastal regions and aquaculture will provide opportunities for polyps and in turn provide food for commercially important species such as sea turtles . Jellyfish is an alternative for fertilizers for agriculture and aquaculture feeds . To control the influx of jellyfish, a strategy would include using jellyfish for food and medicine . The GoJelly project funded by the European Union have decided to control the amount of jellyfish by using their biomass to create biofilters . A study has shown that mucus of jellyfish can bind microplastic and would be ideal to use in sewage treatment plants .

Geochemical Cycle

Jellyfish reside in the euphotic zone and receive carbon mainly from organic matter found in the seafloor. DOM (Dissolved organic matter) and other inorganic nutrients are excreted through mucus from jellyfish which is also called “jelly-C” or ”jelly-DOM”. These materials are consumed by secondary producers which are benthic and bacterial community as it affects their C metabolism. Although some copepods are benthic, they are also primary producers consuming carbon from the jellyfish from 27% to 242%. Carbon uptake is less prominent in bacterial populations as results show that jelly-C is rapidly used, increases their respiration but becomes an unfeasible transfer of C in the microbial loop. For benthic communities, such as the phytodetritus, carbon is sequestered. However, there are limitations as the C is not available to predators in the higher trophic-level which can be a major problem to fisheries. Therefore, jellyfish have a vital role in the biogeochemical cycle in coastal and estuaries ecosystems by transporting and modifying carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous fluxes. Climate change is an environmental forcing factor that increases surface water temperatures that causes an abundance of jellyfish blooms such as the Mnemiopsis. This in turn increases the residence time of C in the gelatinous biomass that ultimately affects the food chain of primary and secondary production.