The Great Barrier Reef in Trouble?

The Australian coral reef is slowly disintegrating. There are only a few coral reefs left in the world and the Great Barrier Reef is one of the largest. The Great Barrier Reef is the most widely known coral reef in the world, but it might not exist in a of couple decades. If you think that the carbon dioxide in the air has nothing to do with this natural wonder eroding, think again. About half the carbon dioxide produced by humans is immersed by the oceans. Though this sounds like a great happening, its not. Because the Pacific Ocean is left to absorb so much carbon dioxide, the corals and other animal life in the ocean are not able to sustain the rising ocean temperatures. Furthermore, all the recent floods in Australia have had a major impact on the reef. All the freshwater that flooded into the ocean is affecting the coral reef greatly. In order for the reef to survive, it has to have a temperature and a surrounding according to its needs. Considering all the happenings, the coral reef is not meeting its needs and is becoming unhealthy by the minute. This natural phenomenon needs to be protected or one day we will wake up to find it go extinct.

I always thought of the Great Barrier Reef as the strongest of all natural wonders because it could survive all the major disturbances we, humans, are causing. I guess I was wrong. When I read this news, it depressed me greatly. Though I have never personally visited the Great Barrier Reef, it has always been my dream to visit Australia, especially the coral reef. Also, for this to happen, the coral reef has to exist. I would like to say that I'm positive that this beautiful natural wonder will be there when I go to visit, but I'm not sure anymore. As people, it is our duty to protect this delicate ecosystem from becoming damaged any further. To wrap it up, we should all do everything we are capable of to protect natures wonders, because when they go away, they are never coming back.

About the picture: As seen, all the color has left the organisms in the picture. This means that the organisms are most likely deceased.

The picture was retrieved from:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbs_VQpNYxg4N9zsZi9_TNQVPGrtwZlADlbZlfu6wJ7pGXYONuGrAlghiu7AnPUroM_1YV5aqPvZ51d6i7PNaV1LhKa2MDG35lT5PEoYmYQ9fO6Mc2kFUkth8Sunqzrj_9M9IipRc8Nemf/

This information was retrieved from:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2044585,00.html

Kepler-10b

Scientists have recently confirmed the discovery of a rocky world similar to ours. This planet was discovered by Kepler, a space telescope and a NASA mission. Though the light from this planet was first seen in 2009, it wasn't confirmed as a real planet, orbiting a star, until recently. The Kepler telescope was especially designed to detect planets that are similar to ours and orbiting a star that coincides with the sun. Kepler-10b orbits the star Kepler-10, a star almost 3 times as old as our sun with a weak magnetic field. Though Kepler-10b seems as similar to Earth as a planet can get, it cannot sustain life. The planet is too close to its parent star to contain a tolerable temperature. Though it cannot encompass life, the star is one of the major breakthroughs in astronomy that marks our way to even greater discoveries.

The discovery of Kepler-10 and Kepler-10b is one of the most noteworthy discovery to me. It symbolizes that we can achieve anything and everything. It shows that our technology is growing and we can observe and study more and more of the miracles that lie in the dark vastness of our universe. Furthermore, I am really proud and excited by this discovery because if we were to travel outside our solar system one day, maybe we could proceed to this newly found planet and explore it. Though planet Earth is unique, maybe the founding of this planet means that there are more planets similar to Earth orbiting Kepler-10 or any other star. This planet marks a milestone in astronomy history and I hope that scientists continue to make amazing new discoveries.

The above picture was an artist's version of Kepler-10b.

The picture and the information were derived from the following source:

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/509304main_kepler_rocky_planet_full.jpg

All credit goes to NASA.

Website Link

http://www.coastalwetlands.webs.com

The Dead & the Gone

The Dead & the Gone is about the incidents that occur when an asteroid collides with the moon and alters reality. Food and water become scarce, the weather turns exceedingly cold, the sky is forever covered with volcanic ash, all coastal areas are flooded, and nothing but survival and family is important. This is a story of how Alex, a guy alone in New York City, who has to take care of his sisters since there is no sign of his parents. He goes to extremes to feed his sisters and himself and to find them warmth to live in. This book connects to food webs, food chains, and energy pyramids in every aspect.

Since the moon provoked volcanoes to erupt, the sun was blocked by the ash. Without the sun the plants, or the producers, weren't able to grow. Hence, all the first-level consumers died due to lack of food and sunlight. Next, all the second-level consumers died because they weren't able to prey on first-level consumers. This kept going on until all the animals were gone, eaten by humans (omnivores) or dead because of lack of food, water, sunlight, etc. This explains how important sunlight is. Without it, planet Earth would be a graveyard. This also explain how important every animal in the world is. Without one animal the ecosystem would be unbalanced and eventually tip over and make everything thing chaotic. Furthermore, producers are extremely substantial to the biosphere. The lack of producers also means that every animal (including humans) would perish. This book shows why all animals (and plants) are important to have on this Earth.

Picture: http://karinlibrarian.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/the-dead-and-the-gone.jpg

Symbiosis

Now you might be wonder why someone would post a picture of a hand on their science blog. What's a hand got to do with science? However odd this might seem, this hand has everything to do with science. For example: it happens to represent one of the three relationships of symbiosis. Symbiosis is a close relationship between two species that benefits at least one of the species. Furthermore, the three relationships of symbiosis are mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism. Mutualism is when two species benefit from each other because of their relationship. Commensalism is when one of the species benefits from the relationship while the other is neither helped or harmed. Lastly, parasitism is when one organism lives in or on another organism and harms it.

This hand represents mutualism. I claim that there are mites that live on this hand that clean all the dead skin cells away. This process occurs over the whole human body. While the "owner" of the hand receives cleanliness, the mites also benefit. Moreover, the mites have food to eat (dead skin cells), a place to live (the hand), and a purpose to serve (free the hand of dead skin cells). Since both the organisms seem to benefit, this exemplifies that this is a mutualistic relationship.

Picture: Orangemath96.blogspot.com

Source: Classroom

Abiotic and Biotic

These are just a couple of trees in my back yard. They are also a biotic factors. What that simply means is that this is a living factor in the environment that alters the ecosystem. These trees are limiting factors because if they were eliminated: birds, squirrels, and numerous other animals would lose their homes, there would be less carbon dioxide intake, less fruit would be produced, and all animals that live there would lose their food supply (including humans). These, as you can see, limit our environment very much. As you can see these trees are more than just towering statues of green. They serve a valuable place in our ecosystem.

Picture by: Orangemath96.blogspot.com

Source: Classroom!

Website Link

http://tornado-reasearch.webs.com/apps/blog/