Science Daily (nov. 3 2010)
This article is about the alternating flows of water in the US. The amount of water in flowing streams and rivers has changed alot. A study by USGS showed that 90 percent of the waters they tested nationwide, the water movement alternated. The alternation of water has been a effect of both land and water management. Activities like drilling for groundwater, wastewater inputs, and impervious surfaces (parking lots) have changed the water movement. This is having a huge impact on the native species that use the water. Some fish have grown dependent on the flow condition of the water and now face danger. Organisms in these waters are facing great challenges. These alternating movements are having fish that prefer fast moving waters in slow moving waters. More studies are being done to find out how much the water has alternated. The USGS erges us to keep a eye on the water movement.
I agree with the USGS. These changes in water movement are our faughlt. This just shows once again how much we are changing our world. Everything humans are doing is impacting the environment and sometimes cause negative effects. We need to stop causing so many water movement alternations. The fish that depend on the water movement are being killed because they cant survive. We should not be doing this to them. As i read this article i thought of the activity we did in class the other day. We measured accurate conditions about a particuler stream everyday at the same time. We would record the results and see the differences over the past days. This is what the USGS did to figure out the changes in water movement. We learned about the changes the water made just like the USGS. I hope that the waters will change back so the fish can survive.
Do you believe the fish will adapt to the new water movements?
Do you think the water movements will ever change back to normal? why or why not?
If the water continues to alternate, what do you believe will happen?
While I agree that it is sad how much our alteration of the environment is negatively impacting wildlife, I also believe that it is an inevitability that our existance will have some effect on the world. I don't think it is possible to restore the flow of water back to normal (at least not quickly) because of the massive amounts of building that we do. Our impact is just to big to stop now, and it is growing every day as more buildings are created and the environment is altered artificially. I think that the best thing we can do is try to leave these animals some safehavens for their sake; maybe then we will still be able to observe these creatures even though our actions have destroyed their habitats.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if, in the future, mother nature will actually be able to adapt to our changes. A perfect example of this is my dog, a small maltese named Sugar. She, like other dogs, has learned to live in a world enclosed by four walls, paved over by asphalt, and populated by concrete structures. Perhaps if these things continue the old animals, those meant to survive on a completely natural Earth, will be replaced by creatures content with one that is ruled by humans. If this happens, then our efforts to return to the past will only result in the deaths of more animals: the ones who have adapted.
I agree with Connor, there is really nothing we can do as long as humans exist. Believe it or not, we are not gonna stop building and paving over land until we are wiped out. The only way I think to stop this from getting worse is to put restrictions on what we can build on the land but people have been trying to do this for years without much sucsess.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that this problem will be solved and many animals will die because of it. This reminded me of the many animals that have gone extinct because of us humans. I think it is just sickening that we can't really do anything about this because many animals will die.
I do believe the fish will adapt though. Over the years, many animals have had to adapt due to humans changing their environment. Fish are no different and to survive they will have to adapt. We can only hope that no species go extinct due to this problem
I agree with the USGS when they say that we need to keep an eye on the flow of water, because that is vital to the wildlife living there. What Connor and Aadit said is true, we aren't going to stop paving and building until something drastic happens. There needs to be a law passed or certain restrictions so we can stop this from gettign out of hand.
ReplyDeleteIt disheartens me to learn that the problem might not get fixed and many animals could die. This whole thing reminds me of the fish being taken over by an invasive species, but in this case we are the invasive species coming to wipe them out. We aren't doing much to help either.
I think the fish will however, adapt. Because everything changes over time and I think they will too. I think some weaker ones could die off, but the stronger ones will learn to adapt and change with the water flow. Many animals have adapted in the past, and I don't think this will be any different.