Main Points:
Peter Lake changed dramatically in 2010. Before the scientists started their experiment, the lake abounded in fathead minnows, pumpkin seeds and other small fish. Now, however, those once dominant predators were rare, for the most part eaten by the largemouth bass. Peter Lake’s food web has flipped, shifting from a long standing arrangement to a new one. Food webs are very interesting to study. Most food webs, for instance, consist of many weak links rather than a few strong ones.Mathematical models have also revealed vulnerable points in food webs, where small changes can lead to big effects throughout entire ecosystems. The experiment performed at Peter Lake was adding bass to the lake and over time the food web flipped. The whole point is to come with a monitoring system that can warn them about huge changes.
My Response:
This article thought me some educational and about Peter Lake being dramatically changed in 2010. Food webs are very interesting to stud.y. Also, most of the food webs, are consist of many weak links rather than a few study. The experiment in Peter Lake was a adding bass to the lake and the food web flipped. Then, the point of this is to come and monitor the system that can warn them because it can make a huge changes.
- To keep jellyfish, fungi and other creatures from overtaking healthy habitats, scientists are exploring food webs and tipping points
- The dominant predators were rare, because they were eaten by the largemouth bass
- Because these animals graze on algae, the lake water became clearer
- Peter Lake’s food web has flipped, shifting from a long standing arrangement to a new one
- Carpenter triggered it on purpose, as part of an experiment on factors leading to persistent changes in mix of organisms
- Whether by fishing, converting land into farms and cities, or warming the planet, humanity is putting tremendous stresses on the world’s ecosystems
- As a result, ecologists expect many more food webs to flip in the years ahead
- With the development, scientists are beginning to find the rules that determine whether a food web will be stable or change
- To find an answer, ecologists began to diagram food webs, noting who ate whom and how much each one ate
- To make sense of snarls, ecologists turned food webs into mathematical models
- Most food webs, for instance, consist of many weak links rather than a few strong ones
- Mathematical models have also revealed vulnerable points in food webs, where small changes can lead to big effects throughout entire ecosystems
- Ecologists realized that, as predicted, changes in certain predators had massive impacts on food webs
- Equations produced ecosystem models
- Scientists could see subtle but distinct patterns before ecosystems change
- One pattern is when an ecosystem is disturbed, by disease or temperature, it takes longer before it goes back to normal
- Scheffer, Carpenter and co-workers are testing models in range of experiments.
- Peter Lake experiment was first time they put early-warning system to the test
- Carpenter and colleagues hope to develop monitoring systems for ecosystems from wetlands to forests to oceans
- some scientists say that preventing food webs from switching is a more effective strategy than trying to restore ones that have flipped
- The goal, of course, is to know when we are pushing an ecosystem to the brink, so we can stop pushing
- Surprises will continue although the early-warning system does provide the opportunity to anticipate some surprises before they happen
Peter Lake changed dramatically in 2010. Before the scientists started their experiment, the lake abounded in fathead minnows, pumpkin seeds and other small fish. Now, however, those once dominant predators were rare, for the most part eaten by the largemouth bass. Peter Lake’s food web has flipped, shifting from a long standing arrangement to a new one. Food webs are very interesting to study. Most food webs, for instance, consist of many weak links rather than a few strong ones.Mathematical models have also revealed vulnerable points in food webs, where small changes can lead to big effects throughout entire ecosystems. The experiment performed at Peter Lake was adding bass to the lake and over time the food web flipped. The whole point is to come with a monitoring system that can warn them about huge changes.
My Response:
This article thought me some educational and about Peter Lake being dramatically changed in 2010. Food webs are very interesting to stud.y. Also, most of the food webs, are consist of many weak links rather than a few study. The experiment in Peter Lake was a adding bass to the lake and the food web flipped. Then, the point of this is to come and monitor the system that can warn them because it can make a huge changes.