In the article "Then and now: The burning issue of wildfires", the wildfires are not only destroying environments but are also the cause of many deaths of people. With this being said, these fires may have a good side to them. I actually had visited Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming during the last week of June and I was surprised to see many fallen and burnt/dead trees around the park. Thinking a national park would do its best to preserve the trees, I realized that they encouraged this to happen since some trees needed fire to grow and produce, as stated in the article. This would keep the future generations of trees growing and able to carry on to survive. The certain type of plant affected by this was the serotinous cone from a lodgepole pine tree which was mentioned during one of my drives through the park. Still, the wildfires are being managed, so when they get excessive and pose a threat to the visitors, the department is the first to stop or control them. Unfortunately these beneficial fires weren't the only cause of the destruction of trees in Yellowstone. There was a certain type of pine beetle that is a contributing factor towards the bountiful number of dead trees but is still a significant part in the ecosystem. Forests and certain areas of the park are highly maintained and are under watch for this but the beetle kill and natural fires are the two main reasons explaining the excessive amount of fallen trees. Now, going back to New South Wales and Australia, the wildfires there are far from safe and are a new epitome of destruction. Global warming is a big factor in this but also human activity "either accidentally or intentionally". Many people and the reducing number in trees is becoming evident and a well known reminder on how much humans impact the environment. Not only are the trees going down but many species and wildlife that survive within forests don't have a habitat anymore causing the death of them too. One event causes the destruction of many which is a chain reaction. Hopefully in the future, humans realize the danger coming from our activity and wildfires may cease to exist.
This week, I decided to read "Then and now: The burning issue of wildfires" by Mark Kinver. Global Warming has been an ongoing conflict for many decades and scientists presume that climate change at this rate may cause a doomsday for our planet in about 20 years or so. In addition, the fatal fires that are striking around the world (more specifically in California & Australia) are costing the lives of billions of innocent creatures and some are predicted to be extinct if this accelerating trend is continuous. However, one thing that I wasn't really aware of was the POSITIVE impacts these fires have on some species' habitats and the trees themselves. They are the phenomenons that build up the forest and produce some of the goods that nature has to offer. Nonetheless, there has to be another way without causing a great deal of chaos in the world. Because of the ash produced by these fires, clouds are arising and generating lightning (a form of plasma), causing even more fires, thus, killing more species. In the present day, it is quite evident that every time precipitation occurs (more specifically rain), lightning is visible. Another way to observe this is by conducting a short experiment with assistance from local forecast charts. As you can see within the next 5 consecutive days, rain is supposed to fall right here in Monroe Township. Out of those 5 days, try to notice the lightning that generates from the clouds and keep track of how many days this happens. This doesn't necessarily mean a fire will emerge, but, it will give you an idea of the impacts climate change has on life. Despite whether or not lightning is discernable, it is crucial to reduce our own carbon footprints and make sure we don't consume unnecessary energy that hurts our environment... because who knows, one person's actions can change our entire planet's perspective on the current circumstances ongoing in the world.
I decided to read this article because of the amount of wildfires I hear about on the news. I found it very alarming that, "Australia's Black Summer... killed at least 34 people, an estimated three billion animals, and scorched 46 million acres." I now saw how little I knew about this topic and as I read further, I learned that fires are not all unfavorable. Some trees depend on fire to germinate, such as a species of eucalyptus tree that has seeds coated in resin. I also discovered that one factor of the increased wildfires, "is the emergence of new pests and diseases that cause widespread dieback of plants and trees." This adds fuel for the wildfires. In addition, I found it disturbing that most fires are started by people "either accidentally or intentionally." I do not understand why any individual would start a wildfire on purpose while knowing the amount of casualties it causes. After reading all of this, I truly believe that people should be educated on the topic of wildfires and how to reduce the risk of having them.
The article I read was "Venom Contributed to the Extraordinary Species Diversity of Fish and Insects." I already am very interested in animals so this was a very interesting article to read. While I was reading about how venom causes more diversity in species, it reminded me of how viruses are kind of able to do the same thing.Viruses can find ways to become stronger and make things like vaccines or medicines less effective. By having venom diversify species of fish and insects, it can almost do the same thing. These animals can become more effective at getting rid of predetors or capturing prey. Not only are the venemous species evolving, but the things that hunt them or are hunted by them evolve as well. This constant back and forth of evolution is fascinating, and I never put much thought into it before, but it is super important for diversity and nature. Even seeing that some species started to evolve during the eocene period was fascinating. Those creatures may have needed to evolve because of threats to their habitat of lck of resources. I definietly want to know some other important driving factors in evolution.
The article, “Then and now: burning issue of wildfires” was extremely unfortunate, yet not quite surprising. Back then, wildfires had been occurring for a while and had been beneficial to the landscape, as it mentions, “However, it is worth noting that wildfires have long been part of the natural cycle in many habitats”. Unlike back then, wildfires are increasing and getting worse nowadays due to global warming/climate change being the primary component. They are putting homes on fire, resulting in injuries/deaths to human beings around the world. While wildfires in itself may not have been a new term, it was surprising that wildfires were beneficial in maintaining the environment in the forest. Fires are a necessity for seeds to be exposed, or to allow ‘species to thrive’. Those are the simplistic differences between the wildfires in the past and the present. Back then, it aided the organisms who thrived in that forest environment where small fires would occur. Now, it is in fact getting larger and worse by hurting a myriad of species (including humans), along with their homes. The bushfires creating their own weather was extremely fascinating, along with the remaining wood that lead to the ignition of larger fires. I believe that there is no simple way to avoid or prevent wildfires. As mentioned in the article, they occur due to global warming, lightning, ‘emergence of new pests and diseases’, etc. I concur with the fact that big companies and/or practices near frequent wildfires should take initiative to yield or prevent them from hurting other people. Not only can they lower carbon greenhouse gases from polluting the air, but can take a stronger action like getting rid of the extra wood on the forest grounds, which end up making the wildfires larger. Small steps like these can lead to the minimization and control of wildfires from occurring.
The article I read was “Then and Now: The burning issue of wildfires”. This was some news that had gotten more attention in the past year, as I have heard about the wildfires in California and Australia. However, it was new information that wildfires were always a part of the natural cycle, and that some species actually rely on the fire to survive. I assumed that wildfires in general were catastrophic to our environment. However, the cause for concern is that the wildfires in the past few years were more frequent and more intense, destroying more land and ruining the overall ecosystem. Global warming and climate change are huge factors to the increase in wildfires, as well as people who may have accidentally or intentionally started the fire. Wildfires can grow very fast, making it difficult to stop, despite the best efforts of the firefighters. As the summers start to get hotter, the risk of wildfires increases greatly, which makes it a goal to try to reduce climate change to the best of our abilities. We should try to reduce our carbon footprint as well, as lightning is a major factor in starting fires. We should watch for lightning in our forecasts and start to notice patterns so that we can be better prepared for any wildfires near Monroe Township.
Venom contributing to fish and insect diversity article: While this study is extremely fascinating, what is even more fascinating to me is how venom was overlooked when it comes to studying the reasons for fish and insect diversity. Venom being a contributing factor to the diversity in species of fish and insects seems like an intuitive explanation. As is mentioned at the beginning of the article, the use of venom allows species to exploit more resources and opportunities in their environments, which becomes the starting point for speciation. I was unaware of the huge quantity of venomous species of fish and insects, but it does make sense based on how venom plays a role in their evolution. Wildfires and global warming article: Though I was aware that sometimes fires were beneficial to forests, I was unaware that they were a vital occurrence. This article is a great example of having too much of a good thing. While forest fires are good in smaller quantities, they are detrimental to ecosystems at the frequency they are currently occurring. People are a huge cause of starting forest fires, but so is climate change. Even if people could be educated on forest fire prevention, it is unclear if that would be helpful in tackling the issue of forest fires. The issue may go far beyond learning how to avoid them, but rather we need to tackle the bigger issue at hand: climate change.
The article “Venom Contributed to the Extraordinary Species Diversity of Fish and Insects” is really interesting. The venom plays an important factor in species richness within fish and insects. This article made me wonder how many more unknown factors influence diversity. Additionally, if life exists in a couple hundred or thousand years, I wonder if all animals would evolve to be venomous. I also read the article “Then and now: The burning issue of wildfires”. Increasing temperatures and drier conditions cause wildfires to thrive, extending the window of high fire ignition risk by ten to thirty percent. I was intrigued by the process of pyrocumulonimbus clouds developing. In areas with hot temperatures and dry conditions only need a spark to start a fire. Lighting is that natural spark. Global warming is a potent issue that needs to be properly addressed (by both community basis and a global level), before it becomes irreversible.
Wildfires: As time progresses, many of us know that the factors of climate change are greatly affecting our environment in many places such as California or Australia. These effects resulted in devasting wildfires which have only worsened since the time they started. s I continued reading, I found out more information on the effects of the fires being that they killed 34 people and almost 3 billion animals. With this being said, I also had prior knowledge about the somewhat positive effects of the fires. It’s always been a natural process in the environments that have resulted in eliminating and even bringing new species to these places have a better chance here, such as the eucalyptus tree seeds being covered in resin to prevent them from being exposed to the heat. Although with this small hope we have, these wildfires are still a major problem that is causing major weather problems. This was the part of the article I found the most interesting, the bushfires creating their own weather. While it was obvious that the consistent fires have caused warmer and drier conditions as well as drought, I knew there would be more effects, more importantly, disease. Just as the weather getting warmer with these fires, pests and diseases such as the emerald ash borer can equally have devasting effects on the plants by causing dieback. Overall, with this many factors, I believe, along with the scientists that contributed to this article, it is important that communities need to start to come together to continue to lower the wildfire risk. If not, it can not only continue to worsen the current conditions but bring on new effects that can be more devastating than the ones that existed before.
I chose to read the article ‘Then and Now: The burning issue of wildfires’. Wildfires continue to destroy more and more forms of life on earth. Wildfires can result in the destruction of homes and acres of land and death of billions of animals and several people. On the other hand, they allow trees to germinate and produce future forests, as stated in the article, “There are trees that actually need fire in order to germinate and produce the forests of the future.” If fires weren’t present, several trees and plants that depend on or adapted to wildfires would have difficulty reproducing, therefore changing their habitat. This was interesting because I had absolutely no idea at all that wildfires had a single positive impact on the environment. To continue, even though wildfires have been around for quite a long time, they are now more and more the cause of climate change; they occur more frequently, more widespread, and more intensely. Factors that cause wildfires are warmer and drier conditions, increased drought, a longer fire season, the emergence of new pests and diseases, and lightning strikes. This is why I believe in climate change and why we need to make efforts, with the knowledge we have about this topic, to reduce it.
The article I read was about the inheritance of coat patterns in dogs. It was interesting to read that the light coat color in dogs and wolves was due to a genetic mutation in a 2 million-year-old species that is now extinct. This shows how a single change in your DNA could affect future generations. The formation of the coat patterns on dogs and wolves is complicated but is crucial for the correct pattern to form. In dogs, there are two pigments that give color to the coat, signaling proteins that determine which pigment will be produced, 2 variants of a ventral promoter which determines how many signaling proteins will be produced, and finally 3 variants of hair cycle-specific promoters. As you can see the formation of coats in dogs is very complicated, however, this allows for a diversification of coats. The part that amazed me was that these variants for ventral and hair cycle-specific promoters were present almost 40,000 years ago. This allowed for wolves to evolve and adapt a lighter coat suited for their environment. The evidence that this mutation took place more than two million years ago was a comparison with other species in the Canidae family. I never knew that the golden jackal and coyote had similarities with light-colored dogs and wolves. At a first glance, these species may have nothing in common but if we look closer into their DNA we might find some similarities.
The second article I read was called “Venom Contributed to the Extraordinary Species Diversity of Fish and Insects.” Learning how venom contributes to the evolution and diversity of fish and insects was intriguing. With venom, many of these species are able to protect themselves against predators and are able to catch their prey. The versatility of the venom is useful in both predation and protection. Venom can also enable the organism to make use of the environment around them to evolve rapidly. The math adds up too since the 10 percent of fish families and 16 percent of insect families that are venomous have evolved their venom numerous times. The fact that surprised me the most was that fishes originally got their venom from the Late Cretaceous and Eocene periods. This must mean that fish had a long time to evolve their venom for their various uses. From the time dinosaurs roamed to Earth to the modern-day, fishes and insects have used venom to thrive in plentiful numbers. The introduction of venom to fishes and insects ultimately changed their lives.
I read the article, “Genetic enigma solved: Inheritance of coat color patterns in dogs.” The most fascinating aspect of the article is that variants in lighter-colored dogs and wolves did not share as many similarities with the classic European grey wolf as they did with distantly related species like coyotes. This is why they concluded that inheritance is linked to an extinct species of wolves. This article reminded me of Animal Genetics’ form which allows owners to DNA test their dogs to see which colors they carry. Their website lists many phenotypes along with the genotypes for many colors and breeds. The website describes how in the B-locus (a specific gene that is responsible for brown v. black coat color in dogs), the black allele is dominant to the brown alleles. However, some mutations can result in brown instead of black eumelanin production (which the article talks about). I have a Shih Tzu Yorkie, and she has many different hair colors. Some are light brown, some are grey, some are black, and some are yellow. I do not think I will DNA test her sometime in the future, but I think genetics is a particularly helpful tool to study evolution. I also think, as the article writes about the parallel to humans and neanderthals, that we will discover many more similarities between modern and extinct species through DNA testing.
The article “Then and now: The burning issue of wildfires,” was another reminder of how serious and out of hand wildfires have gotten. It was really fitting for this article to have a spot in the Then and Now monthly feature of BBC because the whole point of this article is to recognize how global warming has changed the environment overtime. The warmer climate has vastly increased the risk for wildfires, as stated in the article. Although wildfires have always occurred naturally and are even crucial for some species, the current situation is so far past what was previously considered to be normal. These more intense and widespread wildfires that have become the new normal in parts of the United States and other parts of the world are devastating to whole towns and cities and the surrounding ecosystems. Animals struggle to find food and shelter after the fires have made it near impossible to survive. It is becoming more and more obvious that global warming is making certain areas uninhabitable, and nothing will change if people do not educate themselves and do their part to help the environment. The fact that most wildfires are started by people is unacceptable. We need to be aware of the possible consequences our actions can have on not only ourselves, but the plants and animals that we share this planet with.
I read the article about how wildfires are becoming more intense due to global warming. I had already knew that forest fires could be very harmful to the forests, but I was surprised to learn that some species of trees depended on these fires to continue the forests. Some trees such as the gum species, or eucalyptus, surround there seeds in a resin that needs to be melted off. Other trees have developed a natural protection from the fires with their thick bark. But now these fires are becoming too strong and frequent. Now they are affecting people, especially in today’s time where global warming is at its worst. These fires are so intense they can create their own weather. I always had an idea that fires change the weather, I’ve seen pictures of skies turned completely red with ash rain. But this article showed that there is a cycle for this weather, involving the smoke plumes rising and cooling which allows for thunderstorms to develop. This is actually one of the causes for the lighting which ignites new forest fires, pushing the cycle to continue and and increase the amount of fires. The way humans play a role in this is that the constant warming of the earths atmosphere due to human activity further increases ignition risk up to 30%. This article did put a lot of emphasis on how the forest fire cycle works, but it is still clear as to how human activity further pushes this cycle; especially considering global warming is only getting worse. Overall, this article helped me learn more about how forest fires work so I could better understand what role humans play in their increasing occurrence.
Wildfires: This article contains an issue that is so visible in this year itself and in our community. Over the summer, the skies in New Jersey have become ashy and full of smoke due to the wildfires in California. It's horrifying to see the repercussions fires over 2,000 miles away. I did know about wildfires being good for certain forests and environments but those fires are controlled and vital, the opposite of the fires raving throughout the world. What I found the most interesting was the fact that wildfires can create weather. A certain wildfire in Oregon was so strong that it created clouds and "fire tornadoes" which scorched over 340,000 acres of land. The scientific community must take initiative to halt the effects of climate change before it becomes too late to reverse.
The article "Venom Contributed to the Extraordinary Species Diversity of Fish and Insects" provides evidence to support the hypothesis that venom has led to an increase in diversity amongst fish and insects. It has been discovered that fish and insects that possess venom diversify at approximately double the rate of those that do not, a statistic that can most likely be attributed to the fact that their venom allows them to be more creative in catching prey. Being the two most diverse groups of invertebrate and vertebrate, fish and insects are extremely diverse, but the reason why had not been fully researched. Recently, Dr. Kevin Arbuckle from the Department of Biosciences and his team carried out a study to determine whether venom contributed to the diversity of the two groups. The researchers identified that venom itself has evolved several times amongst fish and insects. Arbuckle explains that while venom was not the only driving factor of diversity, it did play a significant role. While the venom of insects tended to evolve frequently, the origins of venom in fish can be traced all the way back to the Late Cretaceous and Eocene periods. Mosasaurs and whales, two major aquatic predators during said periods, are believed to be linked to the origins of fish venom.
Nishan Nayak: The article I read this week was “Venom Contributed to the Extraordinary Species Diversity of Fish and Insects.” This article was interesting because I had not realized that venom played such an important role in the diversification of many species. The origin of venom in fish is a perfect example of how predation results in evolution. Because whales and mosasaurs were most likely a lot bigger than their prey, evolution in size would not really help prey fight back. By developing venom, fish could deter or even kill their predators and thus survive. Given this relationship, it is easy to see why venomous creatures contribute to diversity so much. By giving them this advantage in the environment, offspring would be able to grow and reproduce without as much hassle, thus leading to the creation of more species. Another thing that caught my attention in this article is the fact that insect and fish venom seems to be a result of convergent evolution. I concluded this for two reasons. For one, insects are invertebrates whereas fish are vertebrates. This is a huge distinction in their anatomy. Secondly, the reason for fish developing venom is larger predatory in the ocean. This, of course, could not be the cause for insect venom, so they must have had different evolutionary pressures. It’s interesting to see how predation led to the same results in both groups despite these entirely different environments. While many species try to survive predators by hiding, running, or even fighting, certain insects and fish instead rely on venom. It shows how beautiful life is at adapting to environmental pressures in “creative” ways.
Amanda Vaysbukh The article I read, "Genetic enigma solved: Inheritance of coat color patterns in dogs", was a reminder that we are still discovering more and more about evolution. The discovery further exemplifies the effect evolution is still having in modern times. The genetic variants that result in overactive ventral and hair cycle specific promoters is due to an extinct relative of modern wolves, occurring over two million years ago. This is significant to me as the DNA sequence is also found in dogs which, were not domesticated until 40,000 years ago. Although the adaptation first occurred in a species that has been extinct for millions of years, its presents is found in a species that had yet to exist in its time of creation. I find that extremely interesting as it connects every living being to a past we have yet to discover. Furthermore, it creates a larger differentiation between species of wolves. This is especially significant as the overactive variant of the hair cycle- specific promoter found in light colored wolves and dogs, connects those lighter colored species more to coyotes and the golden jackal, rather then the European grey wolf. I find this peculiar as despite being a part of the same species as the European grey wolf, the fur type on lighter colored wolves is more related to other species. This begs to further ask the question as to what plays more of a role: environment or hereditary? The adaptation most likely only stuck due to the need of survival in the ice age climate. Therefor, the adaptation only stuck in species that continue to live a similar environment, such as the artic wolf. It is so interesting how a single adaptation can create so much differentiation within one species so much later in time. It is a topic I would really enjoy learning more about.
I read the article dealing with wildfires becoming deadlier and more frequent due to global warming. I knew that there were horrible fires out in Australia in the beginning of 2020 but I didn't know it killed at least 34 people, an estimated three billion animals, and scorched 46 million acres. We as humans truly do need to accept the fact that our bad habits and lifestyle has caused the deaths of billions of innocent animals and in a year alone we helped cause the scorching of 46 million acres of land. I do however understand that wildfires have always been a part of nature and most likely always will be. For some plants they are necessary. I never knew how much damage these fires have truly caused and will continue to cause. I was surprised that we have increased the chances of these fires 10-30% and we will continue to raise that number on our current path. There needs to be more awareness of this issue and it needs to be resolved by not only us but the world leaders in the U.N. They need to find a world wide agreement to help stop global warming from destroying this world before it is too late. We must put politics aside and focus on the fact that we are all one species and are all responsible for the fate of the planet we live on. I truly hope that we can find a solution soon because we may be too late by the time we realize this is one of the most serious threats of our time. I also found it interesting that these conditions can create phenomena like "fire tornadoes" which destroyed over 300000 acres of land and it was in our country. Nature is truly amazing and terrifying all at once and I only hope that we will gaily global warming before it's too late.
“Venom Contributed to the Extraordinary Species Diversity of Fish and Insects” is an intriguing and informative article that educates readers on the role that venom plays when formulating the vast diversity of fishes and insects. This article was of particular interest to me due to my initial disbelief at the fact that venom, a term I usually tend to associate with harm and death, could actually serve a purpose as meaningful as creating the diversity in insects and fishes - this shows how wonderfully designed and intricate our world is, and how things that seem “destructive”(like venom) can actually be used to create and form the wonders of our world(like our planet’s extraordinary species diversity of fishes and insects). In addition, Dr. Arbuckles’ speculation that venom in fishes developed in response to predation pressures, imposed by mosasaurs in the Late Cretaceous and early whales in the Eocene, was truly fascinating and shows the impact the past has had on our present - without the mosasaurs in the Late Cretaceous or the early whales in the Eocene, who knows when or even if venom would have emerged in fishes - and without the venom in fishes, our present world would lack one of the major factors that contributes to its extraordinary species diversity of fish . All in all, I truly enjoyed reading this article as it brought light to a topic not really discussed about, while also showing the role the past plays in the present - I am curious to see what other secrets of our past will be revealed by future research.
Wildfires: The issue of climate change is becoming more and more prevalent as disasters such as wildfires, insect invasions, and extinctions of vital species are growing in numbers. Impacts of wildfires were seen in our area, with red skies and an ashy atmosphere. I was intrigued by the information given about eucalyptus trees. I was aware that some fires are ignited for obvious agricultural reasons, but I was not aware of species of trees that need fire to reproduce. The weather cycle that was shown explains yet another reason why wildfires spread so rapidly. It was very interesting how between the rising of the smoke plume and the lightning, there is a downburst of rain. As the threats of global warming increase, I hope the scientific community and world governments take actions to help preserve nature for future generations.
This week, the article I read was “ Genetic enigma solved: Inheritance of coat color patterns in dogs”. The main idea of this article was that coat colors in dogs have finally been proved to be linked to genetics, and that the super light coats trace back to a species that lived 2 million year ago. I found it interesting that dogs can only make 2 types of pigment, the black one called eumelanin and the yellow one called pheomelanin. Even though there are so many types of coat colors that can be seen on a single dog, it all traces back to the same 2 pigments. The agouti protein signals which pigment to produce. The researchers also found that there were different variants of the promoters for the agouti protein. They discovered that there were 5 (not 4 as thought before) different combinations possible of which promoters a specific dog had. Each different promoter combination can yield different coat types. Once the researchers found this, they looked at the genetic information of wolves prior to domestication of dogs. They found that traits such as a lighter coat were already present in these wolves. A lighter coat would have been beneficial to these wolves due to the snow packed environment. It is amazing to see how natural selection works, changing wolves from having darker coats to lighter ones. It is also crazy to think that my dog today, who has a light coat color, could be related to an extinct species that lived 2 million years ago.
“Then and now: The burning issues of wildfires” discusses an issue that isn’t talked about enough: wildfires. While people know about the wildfires going on, many do not know why they are so harmful and the impacts they have on people, wildlife, and the environment. While wildfires are needed in certain habitats, careless decisions made by people and the changing climate have led to the recent wildfires. It’s important that more people are educated on how to prevent forest fires; While we cannot control the lightning that causes some wildfires, we can prevent the wildfires caused by fireworks and campfires. If humans do not begin to change and try to understand the severity of wildfires, these fires will continue and more and more destruction will occur. Wildfires do not just impact those in the surrounding area; The wildfires pollute the air, and that air can travel far distances. For example, the smoke from wildfires in California traveled to New Jersey, which led to the sun appearing to be red. If people do not begin to educate themselves and change their actions, these fires will become more destructive and ruin our planet.
I read the article “then and now: the burning issue of wildfires” by Mark Kinver. This article discussed the disastrous implications posed by wildfires. Wildfires are usually a very beneficial part of an ecosystem and are necessary to the vitality of that ecosystem. The fires help establish a healthier forest as many trees use the fire as an agent to help reproduction. Despite all of these positive aspects of natural wildfires, they are becoming far too common and extensive to be considered healthy for the environment. In recent years, as global temperatures climb due to global warming, the climate conditions around the world are becoming more dry and drought is occurring more often. This leads to the risk of wildfire increasing dramatically. A statistic that surprised me is that due to warmer global temperatures, the window in which wildfires can happen is extended by almost thirty percent. Something else is also the fact that during Australia's black summer three and a half billion animals and almost fifty million acres of land was destroyed. The loss of biodiversity and habitat loss is becoming a growing issue as wildfires like these keep happening all around the world. Anthropogenic activities may be a major factor to why the rates of wildfires are increasing. I think that communities and countries where wildfires have become exceedingly common should employ practices to preserve the biodiversity of the wildlife and to become more resilient against wildfires.
I read the article "Venom Contributed to the Extraordinary Species Diversity of Fish and Insects" written by Swansea University. I found it interesting that species that utilize venom have been found to diversify 19-20 times faster than others in fish, the most diversified group of vertebrates. Species of insects, the most diversified group of non vertebrates, that utilize venom diversify 28 times faster than those without venom as well. I was intrigued when I read that research had been done by Swansea University in Wales on the impact of venom in the diversification of insects and fish. I didn't know that this was an area of active research, as often times I overlook insects and fish in the animal kingdom. I found it even more fascinating that fish venom had most of its diversification in the Late Cretaceous, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, and Eocene periods. Research done by Swansea University shows that due to the activity of apex predators in each period (mosasaurs in the Cretaceous and whales in the Eocene) venom developed very quickly during these time periods. Venomous fish began to diversify in response to these apex predators hunting, as they were at their peak, and so diversification increased to combat the increased hunting of these predators.
The global warming crisis in recent years is beginning to look more and more like a dystopian science fiction film, one that I previously would have taken entertainment from with how unrealistic the futures shown in these films are. However, this article helps shed light on how some of these futures might not be as ‘unrealistic’ as previously believed. It’s one thing to just hear about how wildfires are getting more common and intense, but it’s another to see it. For example, before watching the videos in this article, I hadn’t even known what a fire tornado was, and it’s surprising that the global warming crisis has created such extreme conditions that these fire tornadoes are expected to be seen more and more.
In addition, while reading the article, I also remembered something. When Californian fires were first mentioned, it reminded me of a conversation I had recently with a friend. The sun had looked far more red than usual when setting, which at first I thought looked so cool and pretty. My friend, who was with me at the time, changed my positive opinion on the sun’s appearance by explaining to me that the sun looks so red due to smoke all the way from the wildfires from the west coast. This phenomenon has been reported by the articles below.
I read the article, “Then and Now: The burning issue of wildfires.” This article was extremely heartbreaking, yet not surprising. The number of wildfires has been increasing lately and is getting worse and worse. Wildfires not only impact forests, trees, and land but also people who live near them. Wildfires cause an immense amount of damage and also take lives. Before reading this article, I didn’t know that certain seeds need to be exposed to fire in order to be able to thrive. Wildfires may not always happen on purpose, and definitely have different factors that contribute to it happening, however, there are steps that can be taken to try and prevent wildfires. For example, steps can be taken to help lower greenhouse gases as well as being aware and alert of what is going on in your surroundings.
Me and my dad went on a hike just a few weeks ago in Pocono Pines, Pennsylvania and he had pointed out that the sky was getting foggy and humid. I questioned why it was happening and he brought up that the large wildfires in California and Oregon would carry over smoke from the west coast all the way to the east coast creating a haze in the sky. The haze made the sky appear orange and the sun looked like a enormous yellow ball that I've never seen before. This caught my attention when I read "Then and Now: The Burning Issue of Wildfires." As the weather has been getting crazier by day, wildfires and bushfires around the world have been getting more frequent and intense as well. Luckily on the East coast we do not need to worry about these intense bushfires however these wildfires are affecting global warming and our global climate. A 2017report by the US Global Change Research Program cited that there has been warmer weather, drier conditions, more droughts and longer wildfire seasons that expose many wildlife. However, there must be a way to control these fires to a limit and contain them when needed. On the contrary, i found that these wildfires are somewhat vital to these ecosystems around the world. Some species of trees and wildlife depend on these fires to reproduce and adapt to new habitats. For example the gum tree (a type of eucalyptus) has seeds that are covered in resin, which must be melted in order to release the seed. Without the fires the resin starts to thrive and hold the seeds from reproducing more trees, therefore slowly eliminating the gum tree species and any wildlife that might depend on the tree for food, or shelter. Therefore, wildfires should not be exterminated permanently as they are a vital part to some wildlife, however, they should be contained and stopped so that they do not spread to the point of destruction and danger to the world.
I read the article, “Genetic enigma solved: Inheritance of coat color patterns in dogs”, since I find the genetic variances between dogs and wolves fascinating. This article focused on a genetic variant that resulted in a light colored coat in dogs and wolf that originated from a common ancestor they shared millions of years ago. It was discovered that the production of two different types of pigment that dogs and wolves produce, eumalanin and pheomelanin, depends on an agouti-signaling protein. The more agouti signaling protein is present, the more yellow pheomelanin will be produced. This allowed researched to identify an extra pattern of dog coats, making for a total of 5 different coat color patterns. Researchers continued to investigate where this genetic variant could’ve come from, and found that it was much more present in species such as the golden jackal and coyote rather than the grey wolf. This led researchers to hypothesize that the variant must’ve originated in an extinct relative of wolves rather than from wolves themselves. This finding reminds me of how modern reptiles and birds, which are very different species, both have dinosaurs as a common ancestor, which results in their many similarities such as facilitating reproduction through eggs with shells and having scales. It is interesting to see how modern animals are actually more related than we think by investigating their genealogy.
Then and now, The burning issue of wildfires: Climate change is becoming a more pressing concern as natural calamities such as wildfires, pest invasions, and extinctions of key species become more common. Wildfires had an impact on our area, with red sky and an ashy atmosphere. The facts on eucalyptus trees piqued my interest. It was known to me that certain fires are started for apparent agricultural purposes, as they do in the indian province of Punjab, but I was unaware that some tree species require fire to propagate. The meteorological cycle depicted illustrates another another reason why flames grow so quickly. It was extremely intriguing how there was a downburst of rain between the rise of the smoke plume and the lightning. As the threat of global warming grows, I trust in the scientific community and international governments that they will take steps to protect nature for future generations, as on the path we're going on, there may be none.
Venom Contributed to the Extraordinary Species Diversity of Fish and Insects: it is fascinating that species that use venom diversify quicker than others in fish, the most diverse group of vertebrates. Insect species, the most diverse group of non-vertebrates, diversify quicker than those that do not use venom. It was fascinating to learn that SU has conducted studies on the role of venom in the evolution of insects and fish. It was even more intriguing since most fish venom diversification occurred when dinosaurs roamed the Earth during the Late Cretaceous and Eocene eras. SU research reveals that venom evolved relatively fast during both periods due to the activities of apex predators. As these apex predators reached their peak, venomous fish began to diversify in response to the increased hunting of these predators; thus, species being more diverse.
“Venom Contributes to the Extraordinary Species Diversity of Fish and Insects” by Swansea University - The whole idea of evolution involving where and how certain species came to be has always sparked my interest, partly due to the unclearness and various possibilities. This was my first time hearing about how venom may have been a driving factor in the diversity of insects and fish. Insects and fish carry the weight of having the most different types of species in any vertebrae or invertebrate group. Learning that venom, specifically its use in predation and protection, may have been a main cause of this biodiversity makes me think about evolution with a different perspective. The addition of a certain mechanism, whether that be fins, gills, inconsistent breathing habits, or in this case venom, could lead to whole new species and further new species from those. Research showing just how many times species equipped with venom diversify prove that evolution is constant and forever changing. The amount of change that fish and insects went through solely based on the involvement of venom demonstrates how altering and transforming evolution can really be and how many different forms it can take on.
“Then and now: The burning issue of wildfires” by Mark Kinnver - Global warming, forest fires, drier soil and climate, and increased drought have been heard as climate threats by many around the world. Each year we are told that conditions are only getting worse, but no initiative on local levels is really taking place. As sad as it may sound, I do hope that with these wildfires expanding and affecting local communities, more action will be taken. The wildfire that took place in Australia, killing 34 people and over 3 billion animals, should be a warning sign for all of us. I agree that wildfires shouldn’t be completely avoided as they do play a huge role in secondary succession, but the wildfires currently taking place are doing no good for us or the environment. Wildfires should be started through nature alone, whether that be through lightning or intense climate. Right now though, human activity, intentional or not, is the main cause of forest fires and the rapid increase in global warming and climate change. It is deranged to think about how it may take even more lives and national coverage of the effect of wildfires to see any real communal change come about.
I read the article, “Venom Contributed to the Extraordinary Species Diversity of Fish and Insects,” by Swansea University. I found this article to be fascinating as I had previously thought that venom was important in protecting themselves and obtaining food. After reading this article, I learned that venom also shows signs of evolution in insect and fish species. These traits help certain species outlive others in serious situations, which enables the development of the species. Venom can range anywhere from itchiness caused by the venom, or death. I had never been bit by anything venomous other than a mosquito, but that in itself is very painful. This trait provides a large advantage to species in obtaining food. According to the article, the venom could also be the reason that prehistoric animals survived when many others could not. A few of these species include whales and mosasaurs, which were present in the Eocene and the Late Cretaceous. The studying about venom could bring a new perspective to how animals lived in the past. I think that more studies should be oriented towards studying these venomous fish and insects. This could tell us more about the many fish species present today and in the past.
The article that I read is called, “Venom Contributed to the Extraordinary Species Diversity of Fish and Insects'', by Swansea University. I found the correlation between venom and ecological diversity to be very interesting. When I first saw the title, I thought about how venom could affect diversity. I predicted that venom affects diversity because venomous creatures coevolve with their prey or predators, which can cause their venom to become more potent. The article primarily uses fishes and insects to show how venom affects diversity. This is because they are the most diverse groups in the kingdom Animalia, and the role of venom has not been well studied in these groups. According to the article, fish venom originated in the Late Cretaceous and Eocene periods. Fish likely developed venom from ecological pressures of large sea predators, such as Mosasaurs and prehistoric whales. This supports my prediction because the smaller fish coevolved with the Mosasaurs and whales by evolving venom. Currently, around 10% of fish families have venomous species. Insects have also evolved with venom, with roughly 16% of insect families containing venomous species. Furthermore, venom has independently evolved at least 28 times in insects during their evolutions. Today, centipedes and spiders are some of the most common venomous insects. Overall, both examples of venom in fish and 9n insects supports my initial prediction.
I read the article “Then and now: The burning issue of wildfires” by Mark Kinver. The first thing that intrigued me was the picture of Cobargo. This “slide” effect helped me realize the difference in buildings, atmosphere, and essence. This village that initially appeared bright and full of life turned into this destroyed, gloomy place. Also, wildfires are impacting human life greatly, and animal life even greater. This is expressed when Kinver says, “... which killed at least 34 people, an estimated three billion animals,”. Unfortunately, wildfires are difficult to control. Learning how to prevent wildfires from reoccurring without being able to stop wildfires when occurring is hard. Since these fires are so destructive and spread at rapid speeds, people are unable to stop them and their collateral damage. Although, these fires are also essential for certain species to survive, such as eucalyptus. I don’t believe that helping out a few species is worth the many species and land that these fires completely wreck. Wildfires have also been occurring but the issue now is the frequency and intensity of these fires as said by Kinver. Just earlier this summer, wildfires were occurring in California and these fires were able to impact our New Jersey sky. There are almost 3,000 miles between these two states. These fires were able to carry themselves 3,000 miles in the air, truly showing how fierce they are. To my surprise, wildfires are shown to be caused by natural forces, such as lightning strikes and also manmade causes. Unfortunately, there is not much people can do but learn how to survive these fires with as little damage as they can take. Wildfires quickly grow out of control and become unstoppable. I’ve always been aware of the presence of wildfires but never how dangerous these fires have become. This article discussed a crucial topic that deserves more attention now before it's too late.
This week, I read the article “Then and now: The burning issue of wildfires” by Mark Kinver. This article discussed the severe impact of wildfires and how they are much worse than people believe. Kinver makes a point to discuss how wildfires have always been around, but recently, they have been getting more frequent, widespread, and intense, causing a lot of harm to the climate, thousands of animal species, humans, and property. Over the past two years, I have noticed the increase of fires throughout the world. I see the news of wildfires everywhere, specifically the west coast of America, the Amazon rainforest, and Australia. Furthermore, I have even seen infographics on social media about how there are thousands of wildfires in the southern regions of Africa that are not even getting media coverage, but are continually hurting the environment and millions of helpless species. Like the article said, some of these fires do occur naturally, but the majority of them are caused by humans. This goes back to the idea of global warming, and how humans’ actions are just making the climate crisis worse. As we saw in the past year, these fires can get so intense that they destroy entire communities, just as viewers can see how deeply Cobargo, a city in New South Wales, was destroyed in just a period of 6 months. In order to reduce the likelihood of such wildfires from happening, people must be educated on the risks of fires, and learn how to decrease the chances of them accidentally happening.
The article, “Then and now: The burning issue of wildfires” described the frightening effects of our changing wildfires. Wildfires weren’t uncommon in the past and they were seen as beneficial rather than the frightening way they are perceived today. It is not without reason that people are becoming more and more afraid of wildfires, considering their increasing intensity, which is due (primarily) to the Earth’s rapidly increasing issue: Global warming. In the past, wildfires were used to show the seed within other dirt and build-up. Wildfires today take out our homes and buildings, cause us to lose loved ones and create alarming situations. Although wildfires were once appreciated and useful for agricultural matters, today it becomes a frenzy when a wildfire is mentioned.
Article I chose: “ Venom Contributed to the Extraordinary Species Diversity of Fish and Insects.”
From taking multiple science classes through my middle school and high school career I always new that diversity was a thing, but never knew such factors like venom can heavily influence it. After reading the article it was shocking that venom rapidly contributed to the vast majority of fish and insect species diversity. Learning that outside factors such as venom contribute to diversity of certain species, it got me thinking what other unique factors like that help diversify certain species. This article definitely gave me a lot of knowledge about venom and it's correlation with diversity, and I would like to follow up on this topic to learn more factors that affect diversity in any type of species.
Genetic enigma solved: Inheritance of coat color patterns in dogs: This article is a reminder of the lasting effects of evolution. I found it so interesting how a gene carried by a wolf ancestor which became extinct almost two million years ago still bears itself on modern dogs. In fact, it even confounds me more that this ancestor is more related to coyotes or jackals than it is to the European Gray Wolf, which just goes to show how diverse the genus Canis is. This specific gene dictates whether or not a canine will have lighter fur. We also see how our knowledge is ever-changing when we find out there were five different coat patterns instead of four as we previously thought. While reading this article it also brought up another question. What about dogs that have multiple fur colors? For example, my corgi, Zuko, has black, brown, and white fur. Is the genetic variant responsible for coat patterns such as his? Would there be different amounts of agouti signaling protein which cause different parts of his body to produce either eumelanin or pheomelanin, or instead is there just one genetic variant that controls his fur coloring over his entire body. It would be pretty cool if sometime in the future I could test Zukos' genetics to better understand what specifically controls his fur coloring as well as many of his other features, including how adorable he is.
I read the article titled “Then and now: The Burning Issue of Wildfires”. This article mainly talked about the terrible consequences that wildfires provide. Though it has to be very closely controlled, wildfires are typically advantageous to several ecosystems. Unlike the wildfire that occurred in California a couple of months ago, wildfires that are monitored may actually benefit certain environments. Some benefits they may provide include assisting in initiating a stronger and healthier environment. Unfortunately, not all wildfires are maintained properly and some may even pose negative threats to the environment such as destroying habitats of several animals. This is common in forests as multiple species live in forests. Something that shocked me was that wildfires may even occur too commonly for it to be healthy for these environments. Recently, wildfires have occurred more often because of the rise of global warming. The occurrence of wildfires has become drastically larger by 30%. This proves how much climate change is really affecting our environments. Something that also really sparked my interest was how some of these wildfires and bushfires may create their own weather. Some may lead to fire tornadoes or droughts which could pose greater threats to the environment. Ultimately, if the occurrence of these wildfires is as often as the article states, I hope that there are groups of scientists working to create solutions on how to limit these numbers or create protocols for when these wildfires occur so that more animals can be saved.
The article I read this week was "Then and now: The burning issue of wildfires" by Mark Kinver. This article talked about the effects of wildfires and how they cause so much damage. Each year these fires are getting way worse, and it is becoming harder for firefighters to stop them. These fires spread extremely fast and damage peoples homes and properties. I was very intrigued when the article talked about how some species need these fires to reproduce and thrive. I have always though that forest fires were extremely bad to all species and harmed everyone one of them. However many trees depend on these fires and have adapted to these changes. Recently, there has been more concern about wildfires as they are becoming more common and dangerous. Most fires are caused by human activity. We need to be more careful and protect our environment otherwise this is only going to get worse.
Venom contributing to fish and insect diversity article: When reading about this study, the part that shocked me the most was how much venom was overlooked when it came down to figuring out the reason for fish and insect diversity. Learning how venom contributes to the evolution and diversity of fish and insects was intriguing. I feel like venom being a factor in the diversity explains itself. I was unaware of the huge quantity of venomous species of fish and insects, but it does make sense based on how venom plays a role in their evolution and diversity.The origin of venom in fish is a perfect example of how predation results in evolution. This article made me wonder how many more unknown factors influence diversity. This surprised me so much and made me want to learn more about this study.Not only was it informative, but it fascinated me to know how little we know about this topic.
After reading the article about wildfires, it reminded me of the recent wildfires that happened in California. Wildfires plagued the west coast of CA and affected the weather. Wildfires can create their own closed weather systems, from the smoke emitted from the fire. Most wildfires begin during the summer when dry plant matter ignites from the intense heat. Due to pollution, wildfires have appeared more frequently. As pollution makes the Earth hotter and hotter, the chances of wildfires keep increasing alongside it. I was surprised to find out that some species need these wildfires to live. This made me wonder if wildfires didn't happen, how forests would look like and whether certain species would be gone from these forests.
I read the articles about the wildfires, and what happened to the wildfires. The impacts of wildfires and how much damage they inflict were discussed in this article. These fires are getting worse every year, and firefighters are having a tougher time putting them out. The majority of wildfires start in the summer when dry plant stuff ignites due to the extreme heat. Wildfires have become more common as a result of pollution. As pollution causes the Earth to become increasingly warmer, the likelihood of wildfires rises in tandem. I was startled to learn that some species rely on wildfires for survival. This article really opened my eyes on showed me how much wildfires can effect the environment around us.
The article I read this week was, "Genetic Enigma Solved: Inheritance of Coat Color Patterns in Dogs." This article piqued my interest because around a year ago I got my dog Fifi whose a Shih-Tzu. The breeders told us that the color and placement of her coat is extremely rare for her breed, which drew me to read more about this in the article. It is amazing to understand that one protein can change the appearance of the dog/wolf and depict the color of their coat pattern. It is also interesting to learn how dogs have different initiation sites. This leads me to make the inference, each initiation site can have the possibility of creating the five different colors that these animals can be. This leads me to believe how spots and different colors appear to be on these cute mammals. Furthermore, it is interesting to learn about how the genome and environment both play a crucial role in determining the fur color of these animals. The genome of the parents of each litter is simply the process of the Punnett square determining the percent chance of certain fur color. Subsequently, the environment leads these animals to create adaptations to better fit their surroundings. An example of this is how the arctic wolves developed white coat color to blend into their surroundings. This leads them to be stealthy, and hunt prey efficiently. Overall, these animals are very diverse and unique, but the shared lineage they have and their surrounding environment help sum up to create the most beneficial fur color.
The article, "Venom Contributed to the Extraordinary Species Diversity of Fish and Insects", was very informative and interesting. I found it interesting that a part of the reason that there are so many insect and fish species is due to the origin of venom. The article talks about how venom itself has evolved many times to protect smaller organisms against the larger organisms. I was very surprised to see that many types of fish venom were connected to the rise of large predators during the late cretaceous. I enjoyed reading this article because it gave insight to the evolution of venom and some of the causes of venom in fish and insects.
I read the article "Then and now: The burning issue of wildfires" and it informed me about the world wide danger of wildfires. I have seen videos of wildfires in Australia and California and it's shocking to see the sheer size of them and the damage they cause to people, animals, and the overall environment. Many animals will suffer form these wildfires because they burn down plants which many rely on for food or shelter. These fires also destroy him es and leave people homeless which can devastate people living near forests. I was surprised that wildfires have been a part of a natural cycle in many habitats where they help produce new forests in the future. Fires are becoming too common though and are doing too much damage to the environment and cause droughts, higher temperatures, and drier conditions. Smoke also can form into thunderstorms which can cause even more fires. I have seen the fog and clouds from wildfires in California and they are huge. Also, dead trees from pests and diseases help spread fires which is interesting because it shows the main problems are with the trees themselves and with how the fires are started either naturally or by people.
The article “Venom Contributed to the Extraordinary Species Diversity of Fish and Insects” was a captivating read. The idea that venom could potentially contribute to diversity never occurred to me, however the more I consider it, the idea makes sense. Each fish/insect would have their own unique venom that would either capture or ward off prey/predators. Because of this it makes sense that venom would contribute to the diversification of insects/fish. I would also assume that the venom of a certain species would also evolve over the years and mutate, once again proving the point mentioned earlier. It was fascinating to read about how a small factor played such an important role in diversity. Rather than the generic difference in eye color, or hair color, this article pointed out that venom contributes to variation.
- Arsalaan Zaki (Late comment) Article: Venom I was interested in this article because of the unreasonable deduction that venom and evolutionary diversity are correlated. But as I was reading the article I was thinking, co-evolution is a major driving force in nature to diversity, and to co-evolve to poisons, organisms that prey on these poisonous organisms must develop anti-poisons and eventually the prey organism will develop another poison, leading to higher rates of diversity as certain organisms may evolve different venoms and anti-venoms and release methods just because they have venom. Also I was wondering if it had evolved multiple times along history or was there one common ancestor to all venomous creatures and it was simply as ancient as life, My thoughts were that the first line of thought was more reasonable as the extreme variety in venomous animals and their venoms seem to have evolved many different times in many different classes of organisms. (Fun fact: there is a penny-sized jellyfish who's venom can kill a person in 5 minutes but the main effect is not the lethality, but the venoms property of making the victim feel "an overwhelming feeling of unavoidable doom", so much so that most victims beg doctors to just let them die)
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In the article "Then and now: The burning issue of wildfires", the wildfires are not only destroying environments but are also the cause of many deaths of people. With this being said, these fires may have a good side to them. I actually had visited Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming during the last week of June and I was surprised to see many fallen and burnt/dead trees around the park. Thinking a national park would do its best to preserve the trees, I realized that they encouraged this to happen since some trees needed fire to grow and produce, as stated in the article. This would keep the future generations of trees growing and able to carry on to survive. The certain type of plant affected by this was the serotinous cone from a lodgepole pine tree which was mentioned during one of my drives through the park. Still, the wildfires are being managed, so when they get excessive and pose a threat to the visitors, the department is the first to stop or control them. Unfortunately these beneficial fires weren't the only cause of the destruction of trees in Yellowstone. There was a certain type of pine beetle that is a contributing factor towards the bountiful number of dead trees but is still a significant part in the ecosystem. Forests and certain areas of the park are highly maintained and are under watch for this but the beetle kill and natural fires are the two main reasons explaining the excessive amount of fallen trees. Now, going back to New South Wales and Australia, the wildfires there are far from safe and are a new epitome of destruction. Global warming is a big factor in this but also human activity "either accidentally or intentionally". Many people and the reducing number in trees is becoming evident and a well known reminder on how much humans impact the environment. Not only are the trees going down but many species and wildlife that survive within forests don't have a habitat anymore causing the death of them too. One event causes the destruction of many which is a chain reaction. Hopefully in the future, humans realize the danger coming from our activity and wildfires may cease to exist.
This week, I decided to read "Then and now: The burning issue of wildfires"
by Mark Kinver. Global Warming has been an ongoing conflict for many decades and scientists presume that climate change at this rate may cause a doomsday for our planet in about 20 years or so. In addition, the fatal fires that are striking around the world (more specifically in California & Australia) are costing the lives of billions of innocent creatures and some are predicted to be extinct if this accelerating trend is continuous. However, one thing that I wasn't really aware of was the POSITIVE impacts these fires have on some species' habitats and the trees themselves. They are the phenomenons that build up the forest and produce some of the goods that nature has to offer. Nonetheless, there has to be another way without causing a great deal of chaos in the world. Because of the ash produced by these fires, clouds are arising and generating lightning (a form of plasma), causing even more fires, thus, killing more species. In the present day, it is quite evident that every time precipitation occurs (more specifically rain), lightning is visible. Another way to observe this is by conducting a short experiment with assistance from local forecast charts. As you can see within the next 5 consecutive days, rain is supposed to fall right here in Monroe Township. Out of those 5 days, try to notice the lightning that generates from the clouds and keep track of how many days this happens. This doesn't necessarily mean a fire will emerge, but, it will give you an idea of the impacts climate change has on life. Despite whether or not lightning is discernable, it is crucial to reduce our own carbon footprints and make sure we don't consume unnecessary energy that hurts our environment... because who knows, one person's actions can change our entire planet's perspective on the current circumstances ongoing in the world.
Then and now: The burning issue of wildfires:
I decided to read this article because of the amount of wildfires I hear about on the news. I found it very alarming that, "Australia's Black Summer... killed at least 34 people, an estimated three billion animals, and scorched 46 million acres." I now saw how little I knew about this topic and as I read further, I learned that fires are not all unfavorable. Some trees depend on fire to germinate, such as a species of eucalyptus tree that has seeds coated in resin. I also discovered that one factor of the increased wildfires, "is the emergence of new pests and diseases that cause widespread dieback of plants and trees." This adds fuel for the wildfires. In addition, I found it disturbing that most fires are started by people "either accidentally or intentionally." I do not understand why any individual would start a wildfire on purpose while knowing the amount of casualties it causes. After reading all of this, I truly believe that people should be educated on the topic of wildfires and how to reduce the risk of having them.
The article I read was "Venom Contributed to the Extraordinary Species Diversity of Fish and Insects." I already am very interested in animals so this was a very interesting article to read. While I was reading about how venom causes more diversity in species, it reminded me of how viruses are kind of able to do the same thing.Viruses can find ways to become stronger and make things like vaccines or medicines less effective. By having venom diversify species of fish and insects, it can almost do the same thing. These animals can become more effective at getting rid of predetors or capturing prey. Not only are the venemous species evolving, but the things that hunt them or are hunted by them evolve as well. This constant back and forth of evolution is fascinating, and I never put much thought into it before, but it is super important for diversity and nature. Even seeing that some species started to evolve during the eocene period was fascinating. Those creatures may have needed to evolve because of threats to their habitat of lck of resources. I definietly want to know some other important driving factors in evolution.
The article, “Then and now: burning issue of wildfires” was extremely unfortunate, yet not quite surprising. Back then, wildfires had been occurring for a while and had been beneficial to the landscape, as it mentions, “However, it is worth noting that wildfires have long been part of the natural cycle in many habitats”. Unlike back then, wildfires are increasing and getting worse nowadays due to global warming/climate change being the primary component. They are putting homes on fire, resulting in injuries/deaths to human beings around the world. While wildfires in itself may not have been a new term, it was surprising that wildfires were beneficial in maintaining the environment in the forest. Fires are a necessity for seeds to be exposed, or to allow ‘species to thrive’. Those are the simplistic differences between the wildfires in the past and the present. Back then, it aided the organisms who thrived in that forest environment where small fires would occur. Now, it is in fact getting larger and worse by hurting a myriad of species (including humans), along with their homes. The bushfires creating their own weather was extremely fascinating, along with the remaining wood that lead to the ignition of larger fires. I believe that there is no simple way to avoid or prevent wildfires. As mentioned in the article, they occur due to global warming, lightning, ‘emergence of new pests and diseases’, etc. I concur with the fact that big companies and/or practices near frequent wildfires should take initiative to yield or prevent them from hurting other people. Not only can they lower carbon greenhouse gases from polluting the air, but can take a stronger action like getting rid of the extra wood on the forest grounds, which end up making the wildfires larger. Small steps like these can lead to the minimization and control of wildfires from occurring.
The article I read was “Then and Now: The burning issue of wildfires”. This was some news that had gotten more attention in the past year, as I have heard about the wildfires in California and Australia. However, it was new information that wildfires were always a part of the natural cycle, and that some species actually rely on the fire to survive. I assumed that wildfires in general were catastrophic to our environment. However, the cause for concern is that the wildfires in the past few years were more frequent and more intense, destroying more land and ruining the overall ecosystem. Global warming and climate change are huge factors to the increase in wildfires, as well as people who may have accidentally or intentionally started the fire. Wildfires can grow very fast, making it difficult to stop, despite the best efforts of the firefighters. As the summers start to get hotter, the risk of wildfires increases greatly, which makes it a goal to try to reduce climate change to the best of our abilities. We should try to reduce our carbon footprint as well, as lightning is a major factor in starting fires. We should watch for lightning in our forecasts and start to notice patterns so that we can be better prepared for any wildfires near Monroe Township.
Venom contributing to fish and insect diversity article:
While this study is extremely fascinating, what is even more fascinating to me is how venom was overlooked when it comes to studying the reasons for fish and insect diversity. Venom being a contributing factor to the diversity in species of fish and insects seems like an intuitive explanation. As is mentioned at the beginning of the article, the use of venom allows species to exploit more resources and opportunities in their environments, which becomes the starting point for speciation. I was unaware of the huge quantity of venomous species of fish and insects, but it does make sense based on how venom plays a role in their evolution.
Wildfires and global warming article:
Though I was aware that sometimes fires were beneficial to forests, I was unaware that they were a vital occurrence. This article is a great example of having too much of a good thing. While forest fires are good in smaller quantities, they are detrimental to ecosystems at the frequency they are currently occurring. People are a huge cause of starting forest fires, but so is climate change. Even if people could be educated on forest fire prevention, it is unclear if that would be helpful in tackling the issue of forest fires. The issue may go far beyond learning how to avoid them, but rather we need to tackle the bigger issue at hand: climate change.
The article “Venom Contributed to the Extraordinary Species Diversity of Fish and Insects” is really interesting. The venom plays an important factor in species richness within fish and insects. This article made me wonder how many more unknown factors influence diversity. Additionally, if life exists in a couple hundred or thousand years, I wonder if all animals would evolve to be venomous. I also read the article “Then and now: The burning issue of wildfires”. Increasing temperatures and drier conditions cause wildfires to thrive, extending the window of high fire ignition risk by ten to thirty percent. I was intrigued by the process of pyrocumulonimbus clouds developing. In areas with hot temperatures and dry conditions only need a spark to start a fire. Lighting is that natural spark. Global warming is a potent issue that needs to be properly addressed (by both community basis and a global level), before it becomes irreversible.
Wildfires: As time progresses, many of us know that the factors of climate change are greatly affecting our environment in many places such as California or Australia. These effects resulted in devasting wildfires which have only worsened since the time they started. s I continued reading, I found out more information on the effects of the fires being that they killed 34 people and almost 3 billion animals. With this being said, I also had prior knowledge about the somewhat positive effects of the fires. It’s always been a natural process in the environments that have resulted in eliminating and even bringing new species to these places have a better chance here, such as the eucalyptus tree seeds being covered in resin to prevent them from being exposed to the heat. Although with this small hope we have, these wildfires are still a major problem that is causing major weather problems. This was the part of the article I found the most interesting, the bushfires creating their own weather. While it was obvious that the consistent fires have caused warmer and drier conditions as well as drought, I knew there would be more effects, more importantly, disease. Just as the weather getting warmer with these fires, pests and diseases such as the emerald ash borer can equally have devasting effects on the plants by causing dieback. Overall, with this many factors, I believe, along with the scientists that contributed to this article, it is important that communities need to start to come together to continue to lower the wildfire risk. If not, it can not only continue to worsen the current conditions but bring on new effects that can be more devastating than the ones that existed before.
I chose to read the article ‘Then and Now: The burning issue of wildfires’. Wildfires continue to destroy more and more forms of life on earth. Wildfires can result in the destruction of homes and acres of land and death of billions of animals and several people. On the other hand, they allow trees to germinate and produce future forests, as stated in the article, “There are trees that actually need fire in order to germinate and produce the forests of the future.” If fires weren’t present, several trees and plants that depend on or adapted to wildfires would have difficulty reproducing, therefore changing their habitat. This was interesting because I had absolutely no idea at all that wildfires had a single positive impact on the environment. To continue, even though wildfires have been around for quite a long time, they are now more and more the cause of climate change; they occur more frequently, more widespread, and more intensely. Factors that cause wildfires are warmer and drier conditions, increased drought, a longer fire season, the emergence of new pests and diseases, and lightning strikes. This is why I believe in climate change and why we need to make efforts, with the knowledge we have about this topic, to reduce it.
The article I read was about the inheritance of coat patterns in dogs. It was interesting to read that the light coat color in dogs and wolves was due to a genetic mutation in a 2 million-year-old species that is now extinct. This shows how a single change in your DNA could affect future generations. The formation of the coat patterns on dogs and wolves is complicated but is crucial for the correct pattern to form. In dogs, there are two pigments that give color to the coat, signaling proteins that determine which pigment will be produced, 2 variants of a ventral promoter which determines how many signaling proteins will be produced, and finally 3 variants of hair cycle-specific promoters. As you can see the formation of coats in dogs is very complicated, however, this allows for a diversification of coats. The part that amazed me was that these variants for ventral and hair cycle-specific promoters were present almost 40,000 years ago. This allowed for wolves to evolve and adapt a lighter coat suited for their environment. The evidence that this mutation took place more than two million years ago was a comparison with other species in the Canidae family. I never knew that the golden jackal and coyote had similarities with light-colored dogs and wolves. At a first glance, these species may have nothing in common but if we look closer into their DNA we might find some similarities.
The second article I read was called “Venom Contributed to the Extraordinary Species Diversity of Fish and Insects.” Learning how venom contributes to the evolution and diversity of fish and insects was intriguing. With venom, many of these species are able to protect themselves against predators and are able to catch their prey. The versatility of the venom is useful in both predation and protection. Venom can also enable the organism to make use of the environment around them to evolve rapidly. The math adds up too since the 10 percent of fish families and 16 percent of insect families that are venomous have evolved their venom numerous times. The fact that surprised me the most was that fishes originally got their venom from the Late Cretaceous and Eocene periods. This must mean that fish had a long time to evolve their venom for their various uses. From the time dinosaurs roamed to Earth to the modern-day, fishes and insects have used venom to thrive in plentiful numbers. The introduction of venom to fishes and insects ultimately changed their lives.
I read the article, “Genetic enigma solved: Inheritance of coat color patterns in dogs.” The most fascinating aspect of the article is that variants in lighter-colored dogs and wolves did not share as many similarities with the classic European grey wolf as they did with distantly related species like coyotes. This is why they concluded that inheritance is linked to an extinct species of wolves. This article reminded me of Animal Genetics’ form which allows owners to DNA test their dogs to see which colors they carry. Their website lists many phenotypes along with the genotypes for many colors and breeds. The website describes how in the B-locus (a specific gene that is responsible for brown v. black coat color in dogs), the black allele is dominant to the brown alleles. However, some mutations can result in brown instead of black eumelanin production (which the article talks about). I have a Shih Tzu Yorkie, and she has many different hair colors. Some are light brown, some are grey, some are black, and some are yellow. I do not think I will DNA test her sometime in the future, but I think genetics is a particularly helpful tool to study evolution. I also think, as the article writes about the parallel to humans and neanderthals, that we will discover many more similarities between modern and extinct species through DNA testing.
The article “Then and now: The burning issue of wildfires,” was another reminder of how serious and out of hand wildfires have gotten. It was really fitting for this article to have a spot in the Then and Now monthly feature of BBC because the whole point of this article is to recognize how global warming has changed the environment overtime. The warmer climate has vastly increased the risk for wildfires, as stated in the article. Although wildfires have always occurred naturally and are even crucial for some species, the current situation is so far past what was previously considered to be normal. These more intense and widespread wildfires that have become the new normal in parts of the United States and other parts of the world are devastating to whole towns and cities and the surrounding ecosystems. Animals struggle to find food and shelter after the fires have made it near impossible to survive. It is becoming more and more obvious that global warming is making certain areas uninhabitable, and nothing will change if people do not educate themselves and do their part to help the environment. The fact that most wildfires are started by people is unacceptable. We need to be aware of the possible consequences our actions can have on not only ourselves, but the plants and animals that we share this planet with.
I read the article about how wildfires are becoming more intense due to global warming. I had already knew that forest fires could be very harmful to the forests, but I was surprised to learn that some species of trees depended on these fires to continue the forests. Some trees such as the gum species, or eucalyptus, surround there seeds in a resin that needs to be melted off. Other trees have developed a natural protection from the fires with their thick bark. But now these fires are becoming too strong and frequent. Now they are affecting people, especially in today’s time where global warming is at its worst. These fires are so intense they can create their own weather. I always had an idea that fires change the weather, I’ve seen pictures of skies turned completely red with ash rain. But this article showed that there is a cycle for this weather, involving the smoke plumes rising and cooling which allows for thunderstorms to develop. This is actually one of the causes for the lighting which ignites new forest fires, pushing the cycle to continue and and increase the amount of fires. The way humans play a role in this is that the constant warming of the earths atmosphere due to human activity further increases ignition risk up to 30%. This article did put a lot of emphasis on how the forest fire cycle works, but it is still clear as to how human activity further pushes this cycle; especially considering global warming is only getting worse. Overall, this article helped me learn more about how forest fires work so I could better understand what role humans play in their increasing occurrence.
Wildfires: This article contains an issue that is so visible in this year itself and in our community. Over the summer, the skies in New Jersey have become ashy and full of smoke due to the wildfires in California. It's horrifying to see the repercussions fires over 2,000 miles away. I did know about wildfires being good for certain forests and environments but those fires are controlled and vital, the opposite of the fires raving throughout the world. What I found the most interesting was the fact that wildfires can create weather. A certain wildfire in Oregon was so strong that it created clouds and "fire tornadoes" which scorched over 340,000 acres of land. The scientific community must take initiative to halt the effects of climate change before it becomes too late to reverse.
The article "Venom Contributed to the Extraordinary Species Diversity of Fish and Insects" provides evidence to support the hypothesis that venom has led to an increase in diversity amongst fish and insects. It has been discovered that fish and insects that possess venom diversify at approximately double the rate of those that do not, a statistic that can most likely be attributed to the fact that their venom allows them to be more creative in catching prey. Being the two most diverse groups of invertebrate and vertebrate, fish and insects are extremely diverse, but the reason why had not been fully researched. Recently, Dr. Kevin Arbuckle from the Department of Biosciences and his team carried out a study to determine whether venom contributed to the diversity of the two groups. The researchers identified that venom itself has evolved several times amongst fish and insects. Arbuckle explains that while venom was not the only driving factor of diversity, it did play a significant role. While the venom of insects tended to evolve frequently, the origins of venom in fish can be traced all the way back to the Late Cretaceous and Eocene periods. Mosasaurs and whales, two major aquatic predators during said periods, are believed to be linked to the origins of fish venom.
Nishan Nayak: The article I read this week was “Venom Contributed to the Extraordinary Species Diversity of Fish and Insects.” This article was interesting because I had not realized that venom played such an important role in the diversification of many species. The origin of venom in fish is a perfect example of how predation results in evolution. Because whales and mosasaurs were most likely a lot bigger than their prey, evolution in size would not really help prey fight back. By developing venom, fish could deter or even kill their predators and thus survive. Given this relationship, it is easy to see why venomous creatures contribute to diversity so much. By giving them this advantage in the environment, offspring would be able to grow and reproduce without as much hassle, thus leading to the creation of more species. Another thing that caught my attention in this article is the fact that insect and fish venom seems to be a result of convergent evolution. I concluded this for two reasons. For one, insects are invertebrates whereas fish are vertebrates. This is a huge distinction in their anatomy. Secondly, the reason for fish developing venom is larger predatory in the ocean. This, of course, could not be the cause for insect venom, so they must have had different evolutionary pressures. It’s interesting to see how predation led to the same results in both groups despite these entirely different environments. While many species try to survive predators by hiding, running, or even fighting, certain insects and fish instead rely on venom. It shows how beautiful life is at adapting to environmental pressures in “creative” ways.
Amanda Vaysbukh
The article I read, "Genetic enigma solved: Inheritance of coat color patterns in dogs", was a reminder that we are still discovering more and more about evolution. The discovery further exemplifies the effect evolution is still having in modern times. The genetic variants that result in overactive ventral and hair cycle specific promoters is due to an extinct relative of modern wolves, occurring over two million years ago. This is significant to me as the DNA sequence is also found in dogs which, were not domesticated until 40,000 years ago. Although the adaptation first occurred in a species that has been extinct for millions of years, its presents is found in a species that had yet to exist in its time of creation. I find that extremely interesting as it connects every living being to a past we have yet to discover. Furthermore, it creates a larger differentiation between species of wolves. This is especially significant as the overactive variant of the hair cycle- specific promoter found in light colored wolves and dogs, connects those lighter colored species more to coyotes and the golden jackal, rather then the European grey wolf. I find this peculiar as despite being a part of the same species as the European grey wolf, the fur type on lighter colored wolves is more related to other species. This begs to further ask the question as to what plays more of a role: environment or hereditary? The adaptation most likely only stuck due to the need of survival in the ice age climate. Therefor, the adaptation only stuck in species that continue to live a similar environment, such as the artic wolf. It is so interesting how a single adaptation can create so much differentiation within one species so much later in time. It is a topic I would really enjoy learning more about.
I read the article dealing with wildfires becoming deadlier and more frequent due to global warming. I knew that there were horrible fires out in Australia in the beginning of 2020 but I didn't know it killed at least 34 people, an estimated three billion animals, and scorched 46 million acres. We as humans truly do need to accept the fact that our bad habits and lifestyle has caused the deaths of billions of innocent animals and in a year alone we helped cause the scorching of 46 million acres of land. I do however understand that wildfires have always been a part of nature and most likely always will be. For some plants they are necessary. I never knew how much damage these fires have truly caused and will continue to cause. I was surprised that we have increased the chances of these fires 10-30% and we will continue to raise that number on our current path. There needs to be more awareness of this issue and it needs to be resolved by not only us but the world leaders in the U.N. They need to find a world wide agreement to help stop global warming from destroying this world before it is too late. We must put politics aside and focus on the fact that we are all one species and are all responsible for the fate of the planet we live on. I truly hope that we can find a solution soon because we may be too late by the time we realize this is one of the most serious threats of our time. I also found it interesting that these conditions can create phenomena like "fire tornadoes" which destroyed over 300000 acres of land and it was in our country. Nature is truly amazing and terrifying all at once and I only hope that we will gaily global warming before it's too late.
“Venom Contributed to the Extraordinary Species Diversity of Fish and Insects” is an intriguing and informative article that educates readers on the role that venom plays when formulating the vast diversity of fishes and insects. This article was of particular interest to me due to my initial disbelief at the fact that venom, a term I usually tend to associate with harm and death, could actually serve a purpose as meaningful as creating the diversity in insects and fishes - this shows how wonderfully designed and intricate our world is, and how things that seem “destructive”(like venom) can actually be used to create and form the wonders of our world(like our planet’s extraordinary species diversity of fishes and insects). In addition, Dr. Arbuckles’ speculation that venom in fishes developed in response to predation pressures, imposed by mosasaurs in the Late Cretaceous and early whales in the Eocene, was truly fascinating and shows the impact the past has had on our present - without the mosasaurs in the Late Cretaceous or the early whales in the Eocene, who knows when or even if venom would have emerged in fishes - and without the venom in fishes, our present world would lack one of the major factors that contributes to its extraordinary species diversity of fish . All in all, I truly enjoyed reading this article as it brought light to a topic not really discussed about, while also showing the role the past plays in the present - I am curious to see what other secrets of our past will be revealed by future research.
Wildfires: The issue of climate change is becoming more and more prevalent as disasters such as wildfires, insect invasions, and extinctions of vital species are growing in numbers. Impacts of wildfires were seen in our area, with red skies and an ashy atmosphere. I was intrigued by the information given about eucalyptus trees. I was aware that some fires are ignited for obvious agricultural reasons, but I was not aware of species of trees that need fire to reproduce. The weather cycle that was shown explains yet another reason why wildfires spread so rapidly. It was very interesting how between the rising of the smoke plume and the lightning, there is a downburst of rain. As the threats of global warming increase, I hope the scientific community and world governments take actions to help preserve nature for future generations.
This week, the article I read was “ Genetic enigma solved: Inheritance of coat color patterns in dogs”. The main idea of this article was that coat colors in dogs have finally been proved to be linked to genetics, and that the super light coats trace back to a species that lived 2 million year ago. I found it interesting that dogs can only make 2 types of pigment, the black one called eumelanin and the yellow one called pheomelanin. Even though there are so many types of coat colors that can be seen on a single dog, it all traces back to the same 2 pigments. The agouti protein signals which pigment to produce. The researchers also found that there were different variants of the promoters for the agouti protein. They discovered that there were 5 (not 4 as thought before) different combinations possible of which promoters a specific dog had. Each different promoter combination can yield different coat types. Once the researchers found this, they looked at the genetic information of wolves prior to domestication of dogs. They found that traits such as a lighter coat were already present in these wolves. A lighter coat would have been beneficial to these wolves due to the snow packed environment. It is amazing to see how natural selection works, changing wolves from having darker coats to lighter ones. It is also crazy to think that my dog today, who has a light coat color, could be related to an extinct species that lived 2 million years ago.
“Then and now: The burning issues of wildfires” discusses an issue that isn’t talked about enough: wildfires. While people know about the wildfires going on, many do not know why they are so harmful and the impacts they have on people, wildlife, and the environment. While wildfires are needed in certain habitats, careless decisions made by people and the changing climate have led to the recent wildfires. It’s important that more people are educated on how to prevent forest fires; While we cannot control the lightning that causes some wildfires, we can prevent the wildfires caused by fireworks and campfires. If humans do not begin to change and try to understand the severity of wildfires, these fires will continue and more and more destruction will occur. Wildfires do not just impact those in the surrounding area; The wildfires pollute the air, and that air can travel far distances. For example, the smoke from wildfires in California traveled to New Jersey, which led to the sun appearing to be red. If people do not begin to educate themselves and change their actions, these fires will become more destructive and ruin our planet.
I read the article “then and now: the burning issue of wildfires” by Mark Kinver. This article discussed the disastrous implications posed by wildfires. Wildfires are usually a very beneficial part of an ecosystem and are necessary to the vitality of that ecosystem. The fires help establish a healthier forest as many trees use the fire as an agent to help reproduction. Despite all of these positive aspects of natural wildfires, they are becoming far too common and extensive to be considered healthy for the environment. In recent years, as global temperatures climb due to global warming, the climate conditions around the world are becoming more dry and drought is occurring more often. This leads to the risk of wildfire increasing dramatically. A statistic that surprised me is that due to warmer global temperatures, the window in which wildfires can happen is extended by almost thirty percent. Something else is also the fact that during Australia's black summer three and a half billion animals and almost fifty million acres of land was destroyed. The loss of biodiversity and habitat loss is becoming a growing issue as wildfires like these keep happening all around the world. Anthropogenic activities may be a major factor to why the rates of wildfires are increasing. I think that communities and countries where wildfires have become exceedingly common should employ practices to preserve the biodiversity of the wildlife and to become more resilient against wildfires.
I read the article "Venom Contributed to the Extraordinary Species Diversity of Fish and Insects" written by Swansea University. I found it interesting that species that utilize venom have been found to diversify 19-20 times faster than others in fish, the most diversified group of vertebrates. Species of insects, the most diversified group of non vertebrates, that utilize venom diversify 28 times faster than those without venom as well. I was intrigued when I read that research had been done by Swansea University in Wales on the impact of venom in the diversification of insects and fish. I didn't know that this was an area of active research, as often times I overlook insects and fish in the animal kingdom. I found it even more fascinating that fish venom had most of its diversification in the Late Cretaceous, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, and Eocene periods. Research done by Swansea University shows that due to the activity of apex predators in each period (mosasaurs in the Cretaceous and whales in the Eocene) venom developed very quickly during these time periods. Venomous fish began to diversify in response to these apex predators hunting, as they were at their peak, and so diversification increased to combat the increased hunting of these predators.
“Then and now: The burning issue of wildfires”
The global warming crisis in recent years is beginning to look more and more like a dystopian science fiction film, one that I previously would have taken entertainment from with how unrealistic the futures shown in these films are. However, this article helps shed light on how some of these futures might not be as ‘unrealistic’ as previously believed. It’s one thing to just hear about how wildfires are getting more common and intense, but it’s another to see it. For example, before watching the videos in this article, I hadn’t even known what a fire tornado was, and it’s surprising that the global warming crisis has created such extreme conditions that these fire tornadoes are expected to be seen more and more.
In addition, while reading the article, I also remembered something. When Californian fires were first mentioned, it reminded me of a conversation I had recently with a friend. The sun had looked far more red than usual when setting, which at first I thought looked so cool and pretty. My friend, who was with me at the time, changed my positive opinion on the sun’s appearance by explaining to me that the sun looks so red due to smoke all the way from the wildfires from the west coast. This phenomenon has been reported by the articles below.
https://wgntv.com/weather/weather-blog/heres-why-the-sun-looks-red-this-week/
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/07/wildfire-smoke-makes-sun-glow-red-in-new-york-city.html
To be honest, our future is looking more and more like one from a dystopian science fiction movie.
I read the article, “Then and Now: The burning issue of wildfires.” This article was extremely heartbreaking, yet not surprising. The number of wildfires has been increasing lately and is getting worse and worse. Wildfires not only impact forests, trees, and land but also people who live near them. Wildfires cause an immense amount of damage and also take lives. Before reading this article, I didn’t know that certain seeds need to be exposed to fire in order to be able to thrive. Wildfires may not always happen on purpose, and definitely have different factors that contribute to it happening, however, there are steps that can be taken to try and prevent wildfires. For example, steps can be taken to help lower greenhouse gases as well as being aware and alert of what is going on in your surroundings.
Me and my dad went on a hike just a few weeks ago in Pocono Pines, Pennsylvania and he had pointed out that the sky was getting foggy and humid. I questioned why it was happening and he brought up that the large wildfires in California and Oregon would carry over smoke from the west coast all the way to the east coast creating a haze in the sky. The haze made the sky appear orange and the sun looked like a enormous yellow ball that I've never seen before. This caught my attention when I read "Then and Now: The Burning Issue of Wildfires." As the weather has been getting crazier by day, wildfires and bushfires around the world have been getting more frequent and intense as well. Luckily on the East coast we do not need to worry about these intense bushfires however these wildfires are affecting global warming and our global climate. A 2017report by the US Global Change Research Program cited that there has been warmer weather, drier conditions, more droughts and longer wildfire seasons that expose many wildlife. However, there must be a way to control these fires to a limit and contain them when needed.
On the contrary, i found that these wildfires are somewhat vital to these ecosystems around the world. Some species of trees and wildlife depend on these fires to reproduce and adapt to new habitats. For example the gum tree (a type of eucalyptus) has seeds that are covered in resin, which must be melted in order to release the seed. Without the fires the resin starts to thrive and hold the seeds from reproducing more trees, therefore slowly eliminating the gum tree species and any wildlife that might depend on the tree for food, or shelter. Therefore, wildfires should not be exterminated permanently as they are a vital part to some wildlife, however, they should be contained and stopped so that they do not spread to the point of destruction and danger to the world.
I read the article, “Genetic enigma solved: Inheritance of coat color patterns in dogs”, since I find the genetic variances between dogs and wolves fascinating. This article focused on a genetic variant that resulted in a light colored coat in dogs and wolf that originated from a common ancestor they shared millions of years ago. It was discovered that the production of two different types of pigment that dogs and wolves produce, eumalanin and pheomelanin, depends on an agouti-signaling protein. The more agouti signaling protein is present, the more yellow pheomelanin will be produced. This allowed researched to identify an extra pattern of dog coats, making for a total of 5 different coat color patterns. Researchers continued to investigate where this genetic variant could’ve come from, and found that it was much more present in species such as the golden jackal and coyote rather than the grey wolf. This led researchers to hypothesize that the variant must’ve originated in an extinct relative of wolves rather than from wolves themselves. This finding reminds me of how modern reptiles and birds, which are very different species, both have dinosaurs as a common ancestor, which results in their many similarities such as facilitating reproduction through eggs with shells and having scales. It is interesting to see how modern animals are actually more related than we think by investigating their genealogy.
Then and now, The burning issue of wildfires: Climate change is becoming a more pressing concern as natural calamities such as wildfires, pest invasions, and extinctions of key species become more common. Wildfires had an impact on our area, with red sky and an ashy atmosphere. The facts on eucalyptus trees piqued my interest. It was known to me that certain fires are started for apparent agricultural purposes, as they do in the indian province of Punjab, but I was unaware that some tree species require fire to propagate. The meteorological cycle depicted illustrates another another reason why flames grow so quickly. It was extremely intriguing how there was a downburst of rain between the rise of the smoke plume and the lightning. As the threat of global warming grows, I trust in the scientific community and international governments that they will take steps to protect nature for future generations, as on the path we're going on, there may be none.
Venom Contributed to the Extraordinary Species Diversity of Fish and Insects: it is fascinating that species that use venom diversify quicker than others in fish, the most diverse group of vertebrates. Insect species, the most diverse group of non-vertebrates, diversify quicker than those that do not use venom. It was fascinating to learn that SU has conducted studies on the role of venom in the evolution of insects and fish. It was even more intriguing since most fish venom diversification occurred when dinosaurs roamed the Earth during the Late Cretaceous and Eocene eras. SU research reveals that venom evolved relatively fast during both periods due to the activities of apex predators. As these apex predators reached their peak, venomous fish began to diversify in response to the increased hunting of these predators; thus, species being more diverse.
“Venom Contributes to the Extraordinary Species Diversity of Fish and Insects” by Swansea University - The whole idea of evolution involving where and how certain species came to be has always sparked my interest, partly due to the unclearness and various possibilities. This was my first time hearing about how venom may have been a driving factor in the diversity of insects and fish. Insects and fish carry the weight of having the most different types of species in any vertebrae or invertebrate group. Learning that venom, specifically its use in predation and protection, may have been a main cause of this biodiversity makes me think about evolution with a different perspective. The addition of a certain mechanism, whether that be fins, gills, inconsistent breathing habits, or in this case venom, could lead to whole new species and further new species from those. Research showing just how many times species equipped with venom diversify prove that evolution is constant and forever changing. The amount of change that fish and insects went through solely based on the involvement of venom demonstrates how altering and transforming evolution can really be and how many different forms it can take on.
“Then and now: The burning issue of wildfires” by Mark Kinnver - Global warming, forest fires, drier soil and climate, and increased drought have been heard as climate threats by many around the world. Each year we are told that conditions are only getting worse, but no initiative on local levels is really taking place. As sad as it may sound, I do hope that with these wildfires expanding and affecting local communities, more action will be taken. The wildfire that took place in Australia, killing 34 people and over 3 billion animals, should be a warning sign for all of us. I agree that wildfires shouldn’t be completely avoided as they do play a huge role in secondary succession, but the wildfires currently taking place are doing no good for us or the environment. Wildfires should be started through nature alone, whether that be through lightning or intense climate. Right now though, human activity, intentional or not, is the main cause of forest fires and the rapid increase in global warming and climate change. It is deranged to think about how it may take even more lives and national coverage of the effect of wildfires to see any real communal change come about.
I read the article, “Venom Contributed to the Extraordinary Species Diversity of Fish and Insects,” by Swansea University. I found this article to be fascinating as I had previously thought that venom was important in protecting themselves and obtaining food. After reading this article, I learned that venom also shows signs of evolution in insect and fish species. These traits help certain species outlive others in serious situations, which enables the development of the species. Venom can range anywhere from itchiness caused by the venom, or death. I had never been bit by anything venomous other than a mosquito, but that in itself is very painful. This trait provides a large advantage to species in obtaining food. According to the article, the venom could also be the reason that prehistoric animals survived when many others could not. A few of these species include whales and mosasaurs, which were present in the Eocene and the Late Cretaceous. The studying about venom could bring a new perspective to how animals lived in the past. I think that more studies should be oriented towards studying these venomous fish and insects. This could tell us more about the many fish species present today and in the past.
The article that I read is called, “Venom Contributed to the Extraordinary Species Diversity of Fish and Insects'', by Swansea University. I found the correlation between venom and ecological diversity to be very interesting. When I first saw the title, I thought about how venom could affect diversity. I predicted that venom affects diversity because venomous creatures coevolve with their prey or predators, which can cause their venom to become more potent. The article primarily uses fishes and insects to show how venom affects diversity. This is because they are the most diverse groups in the kingdom Animalia, and the role of venom has not been well studied in these groups. According to the article, fish venom originated in the Late Cretaceous and Eocene periods. Fish likely developed venom from ecological pressures of large sea predators, such as Mosasaurs and prehistoric whales. This supports my prediction because the smaller fish coevolved with the Mosasaurs and whales by evolving venom. Currently, around 10% of fish families have venomous species. Insects have also evolved with venom, with roughly 16% of insect families containing venomous species. Furthermore, venom has independently evolved at least 28 times in insects during their evolutions. Today, centipedes and spiders are some of the most common venomous insects. Overall, both examples of venom in fish and 9n insects supports my initial prediction.
I read the article “Then and now: The burning issue of wildfires” by Mark Kinver. The first thing that intrigued me was the picture of Cobargo. This “slide” effect helped me realize the difference in buildings, atmosphere, and essence. This village that initially appeared bright and full of life turned into this destroyed, gloomy place. Also, wildfires are impacting human life greatly, and animal life even greater. This is expressed when Kinver says, “... which killed at least 34 people, an estimated three billion animals,”. Unfortunately, wildfires are difficult to control. Learning how to prevent wildfires from reoccurring without being able to stop wildfires when occurring is hard. Since these fires are so destructive and spread at rapid speeds, people are unable to stop them and their collateral damage. Although, these fires are also essential for certain species to survive, such as eucalyptus. I don’t believe that helping out a few species is worth the many species and land that these fires completely wreck. Wildfires have also been occurring but the issue now is the frequency and intensity of these fires as said by Kinver. Just earlier this summer, wildfires were occurring in California and these fires were able to impact our New Jersey sky. There are almost 3,000 miles between these two states. These fires were able to carry themselves 3,000 miles in the air, truly showing how fierce they are. To my surprise, wildfires are shown to be caused by natural forces, such as lightning strikes and also manmade causes. Unfortunately, there is not much people can do but learn how to survive these fires with as little damage as they can take. Wildfires quickly grow out of control and become unstoppable. I’ve always been aware of the presence of wildfires but never how dangerous these fires have become. This article discussed a crucial topic that deserves more attention now before it's too late.
This week, I read the article “Then and now: The burning issue of wildfires” by Mark Kinver. This article discussed the severe impact of wildfires and how they are much worse than people believe. Kinver makes a point to discuss how wildfires have always been around, but recently, they have been getting more frequent, widespread, and intense, causing a lot of harm to the climate, thousands of animal species, humans, and property. Over the past two years, I have noticed the increase of fires throughout the world. I see the news of wildfires everywhere, specifically the west coast of America, the Amazon rainforest, and Australia. Furthermore, I have even seen infographics on social media about how there are thousands of wildfires in the southern regions of Africa that are not even getting media coverage, but are continually hurting the environment and millions of helpless species. Like the article said, some of these fires do occur naturally, but the majority of them are caused by humans. This goes back to the idea of global warming, and how humans’ actions are just making the climate crisis worse. As we saw in the past year, these fires can get so intense that they destroy entire communities, just as viewers can see how deeply Cobargo, a city in New South Wales, was destroyed in just a period of 6 months. In order to reduce the likelihood of such wildfires from happening, people must be educated on the risks of fires, and learn how to decrease the chances of them accidentally happening.
The article, “Then and now: The burning issue of wildfires” described the frightening effects of our changing wildfires. Wildfires weren’t uncommon in the past and they were seen as beneficial rather than the frightening way they are perceived today. It is not without reason that people are becoming more and more afraid of wildfires, considering their increasing intensity, which is due (primarily) to the Earth’s rapidly increasing issue: Global warming. In the past, wildfires were used to show the seed within other dirt and build-up. Wildfires today take out our homes and buildings, cause us to lose loved ones and create alarming situations. Although wildfires were once appreciated and useful for agricultural matters, today it becomes a frenzy when a wildfire is mentioned.
Article I chose: “ Venom Contributed to the Extraordinary Species Diversity of Fish and Insects.”
From taking multiple science classes through my middle school and high school career I always new that diversity was a thing, but never knew such factors like venom can heavily influence it. After reading the article it was shocking that venom rapidly contributed to the vast majority of fish and insect species diversity. Learning that outside factors such as venom contribute to diversity of certain species, it got me thinking what other unique factors like that help diversify certain species. This article definitely gave me a lot of knowledge about venom and it's correlation with diversity, and I would like to follow up on this topic to learn more factors that affect diversity in any type of species.
Genetic enigma solved: Inheritance of coat color patterns in dogs: This article is a reminder of the lasting effects of evolution. I found it so interesting how a gene carried by a wolf ancestor which became extinct almost two million years ago still bears itself on modern dogs. In fact, it even confounds me more that this ancestor is more related to coyotes or jackals than it is to the European Gray Wolf, which just goes to show how diverse the genus Canis is. This specific gene dictates whether or not a canine will have lighter fur. We also see how our knowledge is ever-changing when we find out there were five different coat patterns instead of four as we previously thought. While reading this article it also brought up another question. What about dogs that have multiple fur colors? For example, my corgi, Zuko, has black, brown, and white fur. Is the genetic variant responsible for coat patterns such as his? Would there be different amounts of agouti signaling protein which cause different parts of his body to produce either eumelanin or pheomelanin, or instead is there just one genetic variant that controls his fur coloring over his entire body. It would be pretty cool if sometime in the future I could test Zukos' genetics to better understand what specifically controls his fur coloring as well as many of his other features, including how adorable he is.
I read the article titled “Then and now: The Burning Issue of Wildfires”. This article mainly talked about the terrible consequences that wildfires provide. Though it has to be very closely controlled, wildfires are typically advantageous to several ecosystems. Unlike the wildfire that occurred in California a couple of months ago, wildfires that are monitored may actually benefit certain environments. Some benefits they may provide include assisting in initiating a stronger and healthier environment. Unfortunately, not all wildfires are maintained properly and some may even pose negative threats to the environment such as destroying habitats of several animals. This is common in forests as multiple species live in forests. Something that shocked me was that wildfires may even occur too commonly for it to be healthy for these environments. Recently, wildfires have occurred more often because of the rise of global warming. The occurrence of wildfires has become drastically larger by 30%. This proves how much climate change is really affecting our environments. Something that also really sparked my interest was how some of these wildfires and bushfires may create their own weather. Some may lead to fire tornadoes or droughts which could pose greater threats to the environment. Ultimately, if the occurrence of these wildfires is as often as the article states, I hope that there are groups of scientists working to create solutions on how to limit these numbers or create protocols for when these wildfires occur so that more animals can be saved.
The article I read this week was "Then and now: The burning issue of wildfires" by Mark Kinver. This article talked about the effects of wildfires and how they cause so much damage. Each year these fires are getting way worse, and it is becoming harder for firefighters to stop them. These fires spread extremely fast and damage peoples homes and properties. I was very intrigued when the article talked about how some species need these fires to reproduce and thrive. I have always though that forest fires were extremely bad to all species and harmed everyone one of them. However many trees depend on these fires and have adapted to these changes. Recently, there has been more concern about wildfires as they are becoming more common and dangerous. Most fires are caused by human activity. We need to be more careful and protect our environment otherwise this is only going to get worse.
Venom contributing to fish and insect diversity article:
When reading about this study, the part that shocked me the most was how much venom was overlooked when it came down to figuring out the reason for fish and insect diversity. Learning how venom contributes to the evolution and diversity of fish and insects was intriguing. I feel like venom being a factor in the diversity explains itself. I was unaware of the huge quantity of venomous species of fish and insects, but it does make sense based on how venom plays a role in their evolution and diversity.The origin of venom in fish is a perfect example of how predation results in evolution. This article made me wonder how many more unknown factors influence diversity. This surprised me so much and made me want to learn more about this study.Not only was it informative, but it fascinated me to know how little we know about this topic.
After reading the article about wildfires, it reminded me of the recent wildfires that happened in California. Wildfires plagued the west coast of CA and affected the weather. Wildfires can create their own closed weather systems, from the smoke emitted from the fire. Most wildfires begin during the summer when dry plant matter ignites from the intense heat. Due to pollution, wildfires have appeared more frequently. As pollution makes the Earth hotter and hotter, the chances of wildfires keep increasing alongside it. I was surprised to find out that some species need these wildfires to live. This made me wonder if wildfires didn't happen, how forests would look like and whether certain species would be gone from these forests.
I read the articles about the wildfires, and what happened to the wildfires. The impacts of wildfires and how much damage they inflict were discussed in this article. These fires are getting worse every year, and firefighters are having a tougher time putting them out. The majority of wildfires start in the summer when dry plant stuff ignites due to the extreme heat. Wildfires have become more common as a result of pollution. As pollution causes the Earth to become increasingly warmer, the likelihood of wildfires rises in tandem. I was startled to learn that some species rely on wildfires for survival. This article really opened my eyes on showed me how much wildfires can effect the environment around us.
The article I read this week was, "Genetic Enigma Solved: Inheritance of Coat Color Patterns in Dogs." This article piqued my interest because around a year ago I got my dog Fifi whose a Shih-Tzu. The breeders told us that the color and placement of her coat is extremely rare for her breed, which drew me to read more about this in the article. It is amazing to understand that one protein can change the appearance of the dog/wolf and depict the color of their coat pattern. It is also interesting to learn how dogs have different initiation sites. This leads me to make the inference, each initiation site can have the possibility of creating the five different colors that these animals can be. This leads me to believe how spots and different colors appear to be on these cute mammals. Furthermore, it is interesting to learn about how the genome and environment both play a crucial role in determining the fur color of these animals. The genome of the parents of each litter is simply the process of the Punnett square determining the percent chance of certain fur color. Subsequently, the environment leads these animals to create adaptations to better fit their surroundings. An example of this is how the arctic wolves developed white coat color to blend into their surroundings. This leads them to be stealthy, and hunt prey efficiently. Overall, these animals are very diverse and unique, but the shared lineage they have and their surrounding environment help sum up to create the most beneficial fur color.
The article, "Venom Contributed to the Extraordinary Species Diversity of Fish and Insects", was very informative and interesting. I found it interesting that a part of the reason that there are so many insect and fish species is due to the origin of venom. The article talks about how venom itself has evolved many times to protect smaller organisms against the larger organisms. I was very surprised to see that many types of fish venom were connected to the rise of large predators during the late cretaceous. I enjoyed reading this article because it gave insight to the evolution of venom and some of the causes of venom in fish and insects.
I read the article "Then and now: The burning issue of wildfires" and it informed me about the world wide danger of wildfires. I have seen videos of wildfires in Australia and California and it's shocking to see the sheer size of them and the damage they cause to people, animals, and the overall environment. Many animals will suffer form these wildfires because they burn down plants which many rely on for food or shelter. These fires also destroy him es and leave people homeless which can devastate people living near forests. I was surprised that wildfires have been a part of a natural cycle in many habitats where they help produce new forests in the future. Fires are becoming too common though and are doing too much damage to the environment and cause droughts, higher temperatures, and drier conditions. Smoke also can form into thunderstorms which can cause even more fires. I have seen the fog and clouds from wildfires in California and they are huge. Also, dead trees from pests and diseases help spread fires which is interesting because it shows the main problems are with the trees themselves and with how the fires are started either naturally or by people.
The article “Venom Contributed to the Extraordinary Species Diversity of Fish and Insects” was a captivating read. The idea that venom could potentially contribute to diversity never occurred to me, however the more I consider it, the idea makes sense. Each fish/insect would have their own unique venom that would either capture or ward off prey/predators. Because of this it makes sense that venom would contribute to the diversification of insects/fish. I would also assume that the venom of a certain species would also evolve over the years and mutate, once again proving the point mentioned earlier. It was fascinating to read about how a small factor played such an important role in diversity. Rather than the generic difference in eye color, or hair color, this article pointed out that venom contributes to variation.
- Arsalaan Zaki (Late comment)
Article: Venom
I was interested in this article because of the unreasonable deduction that venom and evolutionary diversity are correlated. But as I was reading the article I was thinking, co-evolution is a major driving force in nature to diversity, and to co-evolve to poisons, organisms that prey on these poisonous organisms must develop anti-poisons and eventually the prey organism will develop another poison, leading to higher rates of diversity as certain organisms may evolve different venoms and anti-venoms and release methods just because they have venom. Also I was wondering if it had evolved multiple times along history or was there one common ancestor to all venomous creatures and it was simply as ancient as life, My thoughts were that the first line of thought was more reasonable as the extreme variety in venomous animals and their venoms seem to have evolved many different times in many different classes of organisms.
(Fun fact: there is a penny-sized jellyfish who's venom can kill a person in 5 minutes but the main effect is not the lethality, but the venoms property of making the victim feel "an overwhelming feeling of unavoidable doom", so much so that most victims beg doctors to just let them die)
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