Giant Clams Affecting Marine Algae

of the food chain. This would cause their numbers to rise, which would lead to irreparable damage to the ever-fragile ecosystem.

Overfishing affects a biome by reducing the amount of species. According to the National Ocean Service (NOAA) the effects of overfishing in a coral reef biome leads to a limited amount of wildlife to reproduce. The ones that do reproduce will be smaller as larger wildlife which spawn more offspring are targeted and removed from the biome causing lower overall birth. This causes more algae to be in the environment which can lead to nutrient pollution due to a lack of wildlife that cleans the area of algae. The World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) found that the effects of overfishing on the ocean also caused imbalances in the populations of wildlife such as tuna and the disruption on herbivores by overfishing such as scallops lead to algae bloom in the ocean as well.

On March 21st, our class went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The purpose of this trip was not only to explore Earth’s natural habitat’s, but it was also to gather information on our upcoming project and to gather information on how the community of St.Mary, affects the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The answer that we found out is one based off of what we eat. The Monterey Bay Aquarium released an app where it showed which type of seafood were lower in numbers than others. So, if plankton were very low in numbers, it is advised that we not fish for them or not eat as much of it. This shows based just off of what we eat, we can affect the numbers of in the ocean. Also, those plastic bags we buy at Target and Walmart, that we drop outside, drifts itself to the streams, which flow to rivers, which go to oceans, they are floating there, not doing much harm, until sea turtle comes by starts eating it, but gets tangled and choked in it, dies.

In this research paper I will talk about how a large decrease in the algae population in the Chesapeake Bay will cause problems for not just fish and other species but the people who fish and make a living off of it. A large decrease in algae population will have a domino effect on the food chain. Having a major decrease in algae will hurt how others species live and protect themselves.

“Since the beginning of the industrial era, the ocean has absorbed some 525 billion tons of CO2 from the atmosphere, presently around 22 million tons per day” (Ocean Portal, n.d). This number is expected to increase forevermore as atmospheric carbon dioxide levels increase and the effects of Climate Change worsen. At first, the idea of our oceans absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere may sound great, however, scientists have been quick to learn otherwise. High concentrations of carbon dioxide in oceans can have detrimental effects on the ocean chemistry and marine ecosystems (Hardt; Safina, 2008). Marine ecosystems are greatly complex and depend on every marine organism to function properly, any change can put the whole ecosystem at risk. For example, the increase of carbon dioxide in our oceans is responsible for the dissolving of “brittle star” skeletal parts, which has in effect caused food scarcity for many fish, crabs, shrimp, and other starfish (Leu, 2013). Furthermore, these marine ecosystems are very important to humans- being the primary food source for millions around the world and having an economic market worth trillions of dollars (Hardt; Safina, 2008). Part of keeping these ecosystems safe is to understand how they work and how projected changes can harm marine organisms.

If a predator organism was removed from an ecosystem, it would allow the prey population to increase which could lead to not having enough food for these organisms to eat. For example, if wolves were eliminated from the taiga biome than there would be a dramatic increase in the population of moose. This would result in the moose not having enough jack pine and could lead to starvation. The wolves would then have to eat more rabbits, elk, and voles which would decrease their population and starve the organisms that rely on these animals.

This article, posted by Kelsy Solway, on “CBC News”. It was published on July 8 2015 regarding the algae growth in Jackfish Lake. The article title is “Yellowknife dump runoff may be causing Jackfish Lake algae blooms” and can be access here. Additional analysis and summaries can be read below.

These increases of population could pose a potential shift in the ecosystem, in particularly, and importantly, in the populations of salmon species within the region. Taking a look at the diets of the three animals will suggest that the possibility of interspecies competition between the pollock, squid, and salmon is reasonably likely. Salmon and pollock both heavily rely upon euphausiids (small shrimp-like crustaceans), while both salmon and squid readily consume copepods (also small crustaceans), but salmon have been known to consume squid, making the question of what will happen one of great

The Atlantic cod fishery collapse left terrible ecological consequences. As mentioned above, the fishing technology was a major destruction to the ecological system by using deployment and draggers. The huge nets that were dropped and dragged along the bottom of the ocean destroyed the underlying eco-system in the process. The effect of selective fishing on spawning grounds – that is, selectively over-exploiting one species in an ecosystem – had disastrous effect on the feeding relationships in that ecosystem. This contributes to the overall reduction of spawning stock biomass of the targeted species, but also an increase in the number of invertebrate and vertebrate predators such as crustacean and fish which will prey on cod eggs, larvae, and younger fish. It is a little wonder that a species like cod, would eventually run into difficulties struggling to survive when its habitat is being continuously destroyed and the balance of their food chain had been wiped out.

The exact scenario changes in each example, but the central idea remains that through a chain of interactions, a non-abundant species has an outsized impact on ecosystem functions.

II Over the years there has been a huge drop in the population of sharks, because of the popularity of Shark fin soup in china, and this can later on lead to the ocean ecosystem to be disrupted, if sharks are extinct.

Squids are significant to the environment because they feed many marine mammals and other types of aquatic animals. Without squid many animals that rely on them would lose a primary source of food and may begin to die as a result. If the predators of squid died off it would cause the animals above them in the food chain to lose their primary source of food and that would lead to a weaker food chain. Also, some of the animals that squid feed on may begin to overpopulate and end up consuming their source of food to the extent that it would not be able to sustain itself and then these animals may also starve because of overpopulation and a lack of

This causes smaller aquatic fish to die off, and this eventually causes bigger aquatic fish who rely on consuming the smaller aquatic fish to die (Jobin, "Dams and Disease"). Before one knows it, a domino effect has occurred. Aquatic ecosystem services are even affected because they die from too many nutrients. Ecosystems can’t thrive without these ecosystem services because they tend the ecosystem such as caring for plants, et cetera (Newell, "The Globalization and Environment Reader").

Since the beginning of the human race, the ocean has been a major source of food. People near the shores have been taking of advantage of the ocean’s rich and diverse source of nourishment for centuries, both as a source of food and a livelihood. However, since the dawn of the industrial age, humans have begun to take from the ocean more that it can give. As a result, the ocean can no longer provide the human race with the abundance that it once did. As technology rapidly advances, populations skyrocket, and global warming spreads havoc, the ocean’s biodiversity and once abundant supply of fish is dwindling, calling marine scientists and experts to race to find solutions that will restore the oceans health while battling world hunger.

A recent increase in algae could be caused by excessive nutrients in the water, and the high concentration of these nutrients can also cause an increase in algae production. Another way that algae could increase would be if there is a high water temperature,which can cause algae to increase throughout the year. In addition, low light conditions can rapidly increase the population of algae. Lastly, when turbidity( which is the presence of matter and particles) is low it establishes an optimal environment for algal growth.