The Unnatural Kingdom

Scientists are coming up with new methods that can save endangered species, due to advancements in technology. One method was the collar system that was tested on The Sierra Bighorns species which is an endangered species. The Sierra Bighorns was hunted by Lions and in one point in time their population decreased to about 100. Back in the day people would fire net guns from helicopters to capture Bighorns, and gave them collars with GPS and VHF radio transmitters. Professional hunters used these collars to track and dart almost every Lion in the area. After this occurred, Biologists watch the Bighorn’s movements and whenever a Lion killed multiple bighorns in a short period of time, the hunters used VHF radio waves and a special bred Lion Hounds to find the Lion and kill it.

Another method was the relocation of pregnant sheep, which allowed the species diverse genetics to be introduced to other species in another area. Introducing new genes to the "gene pool," caused an increase in diversity and population. Relocating an animal is not as effective as putting collars on the animals to track their every movement. By placing animals in new random areas to increase their population, doesn't affect the animals’ natural aspect as much. But putting animals in a different location may affect them psychologically in the beginning, due to the fact that they are taken out of their habitat and put in an unfamiliar area. However, as time goes on the animal will eventually adapt to its surroundings. But, conservationists would most likely move these animals to an area that is similar to the area that they were in before.

Restored populations of Big Horn Sheep will have less genetic diversity than they did 200 years ago because the current population of Sheep has been created by the same small species of Sheep, causing a low gene pool to be created. These restored populations should still be considered wild because they haven't been domesticated, and they live in the wild still. I believe that the collar system would be more efficient. I think this because it’s easier to monitor and manage.

IFAP topic 1: public health

IFAP systems are very harmful to workers, people who live nearby, also those who live far away from the systems. They are harmful because they produce a lot of air pollution and water pollution. Workers and people who live nearby the IFAP systems go through more problems that affect their ability to breathe clean air. People who work in the IFAP systems can bring nasty diseases into their homes, which causes the disease to spread and eventually can affect a whole community population. This disease that the meat carries causes the human body to form a resistance against it. Then when there’s a time where you need assistance with something minor, the antibiotics most likely won’t work because your body has created a resistance to it because you’ve been around the meat with the disease. In the end appropriate treatment of great amounts of waste needs to occur or it will result in contamination in close waters. This will cause the water to have very harmful levels of toxins, such as viruses and nasty bacteria.




Source:




http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/about/news-room/press-releases/2008/04/29/pew-commission-says-industrial-scale-farm-animal-production-poses-unacceptable-risks-to-public-health-environment


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EROI Hw

Which energy source should we extract and use first, oil shale or tar sands? Why?

•  We should extract oil from tar sands first. We should do this because they have a higher EROEI than oil shale does.

Describe one similarity between the process used to get oil from tar sands and the process used to get oil from oil shale.

• Both tar sands and oil shale must be heated in order to obtain the oil from it.

Describe one key difference between the process used to get oil from tar sands and the process used to get oil from oil shale.

•  A key difference between the process used to get oil from shale and tar sands is when they collect it. Tar sands are mined while oil shale is drilled. Drilling is less intruding than mining is. Rock containing oil shale has to be heated to take the oil. Tar sands is extracted then heated in water, which is less energy consuming than heating oil shale.

Explain, in terms of EROI, why the author believes "off-shore oil drilling may be a smart way to actually reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the long run".

• When it comes to off-shore drilling there is a higher EROI and consequently you get more oil and also have to use less fossil fuels to acquire.  In the long run, this means we produce more oil without having to use as much oil or fossil fuels to get it. This causes lower rates of CO2 pollution in the air.

Use EROI/Best First Principle to explain one decision that you have made in your day-to-day life. This could literally be anything, but I am looking for new examples other than the energy resources we have been studying. In other words, you should provide an example of how EROI influenced a decision at your individual level rather than the societal level.

• When tests come up I don't study the night before. So the day of the test I have a lot more energy to actually take the test because I wont be tired from studying. 

Persuassive Essay- Head Count

The development of the Haber - Bosch process, I believe has had an overall negative impact on human civilization. The Kolbert article gives several details that support the fact that the increasing nitrogen is affecting humans and animals in a negative way. The article mentions TFR (total fertility rate) and how the Haber - Bosch process causes these number to change. 

When the yearly meeting of the German Bunsen Society became to end, a well-known chemist named Walther Nernst discredited a junior colleague named Fritz Haber. The synthesis of ammonia at very high temperatures was the topic. When Haber went back home, Karlsruhe, his skin broke out in hives, before Nernst’s attack, he hadn’t been all that interested in synthesizing ammonia. “The insult had the unintended consequence of stiffening his resolve. Haber threw himself full time into proving that ammonia could indeed be cooked up in the laboratory, using hydrogen and ordinary nitrogen gas. The result of this effort, which eventually became known as the, had unintended consequences of its own, some of which proved to be world-altering.” 

In a 2007 best-seller, Alan Weisman’s new book, “Countdown: Our Last, Best Hope for a Future on Earth?” (Little, Brown), shows a less comprehensive thought approach. “Instead of eliminating people from the planet altogether, Weisman wants only to get rid of several billion of them. He argues that when Haber figured out how to make bread out of air, things took a turn for the worse.” The avoiding of the nitrogen cycle has allowed Homo sapiens to reproduce at an unprecedented pace. The results of this explosive growth has been a development of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which puts not only humans but also pretty much every other creature on earth in danger. Since it was the Haber-Bosch process that made the surge possible, the process also suggests a target for the abatement.

            “When demographers peer into the future, the key figure that they look at is the total fertility rate, or T.F.R. The T.F.R. is designed to offer a snapshot of a process—childbearing—that occurs over many years. Roughly speaking, it represents the average number of children that the average woman will produce in her lifetime.” There are a lot of countries where the T.F.R. is close to one, and even some where it’s dropped lower than that. Singapore’s T.F.R., for example, is just .79, Taiwan’s is 1.1, and South Korea’s is 1.2. Almost all European countries have T.F.R.s less than 1.5; this includes Italy, Spain, Germany, and the Czech Republic. In some countries where the population still increases at a rapid speed, the fertility rates are way down: Iran’s T.F.R., for example, is 1.9 and Brazil’s 1.8.

            Even if their fertility rates are low, the amount of nitrogen being produced into the air will make the living conditions very hard to a point where humans or any creature on Earth can live. Greenhouse gases increased by the Haber-Bosch process can be reduced by the same thing that increased them. If these chemicals are not reduced then they will destroy the Earth’s atmosphere.

Seneca Lake Lab Report- Final

Seneca Lake Lab Report

Research Question: How does the location, temperature, water depth, and time of day effect the pH, chloride content and dissolved oxygen?

Independent: sample sites

Dependent: temperature and depth of the water, and location.

 

Introduction: Seneca Lake is approximately 3.7 miles at its widest point and 630 feet at the deepest point. As the packet says, the lake can get as warm as 72 degrees F and as cold as 38 degrees F. The lake contains several types of macroinvertebrate that live all over the lake such as stonefly larva, crayfish, and mayfly larva. Seneca Lake is the largest lake when it comes to total area and is also the deepest of all the Finger Lakes.

Hypothesis: I hypothesis that as the temperature and water depth increases, location changes, and time of day changes so does the pH, chloride content, and dissolved oxygen.

Method: Take a sample of water from each location. Test the pH, then make the water fixed so it is able to touch the air. After test

Procedures:
1. Go to a very shallow depth location on Seneca Lake.
2. Measure for temperature at this location.
3. First you need to make sure you have a firm grip on the nets rope to collect macroinvertebrate information correctly.
4. Next you MUST make sure the clasp at the bottom of the net is closed.
5. Lower the net over the side of the boat and walk along the side, back and forth, slowly.
6. Bring the net up and wash the plankton into a cup at the end of the net.

Now repeat 1 through 6 for the next two locations

Results:

 

sample 1 graphing

Discussion/Evaluation: The tables show a slight constancy with all categories. The data collected between each sample aren't on a wide range, they are fairly close to each other. The chloride content in sample 2, between, a.m. and p.m. is 157 compared to the other samples that's a very large gap. there may be some error involved. The sampler might have put to many drops of chemicals, anything could have occurred. there are two graphs showing the relationship between pH and DO from in the morning and in the afternoon. The morning results show that the pH increases then decreases swiftly when it goes from 6-30 ppm. The afternoon results show how the pH decreases dramatically then increasing at the same speed when going from 10-10.4 ppm. The afternoon ppm range is very small compared to the morning ppm range, this would explain the difference in graph display.

conclusion: My hypothesis was not proven due to the data we have collected. In fact what occurred was the opposite of what I predicted. As the temperature and water depth increases, location changes, and time of day changes; the pH, chloride content, and dissolved oxygen did not.


Citations:

 "Lake County Water Atlas." Seneca, Lake: Ecology. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.

"Does Water Level Affect Benthic Macro-invertebrates of a Marginal Lake in a Tropical River-reservoir Transition Zone?" Does Water Level Affect Benthic Macro-invertebrates of a Marginal Lake in a Tropical River-reservoir Transition Zone? N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.

 "Seneca Lake." - A Guide to Hotels, Bed and Breakfasts in the Finger Lakes. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2015