A. Article title and reference: Drought, River Fragmentation Forcing Endangered Fish out of Water, Biologist Finds. (June 6, 2013) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130606110013.htm
B. Summary: Long Droughts and eventual fragmentation of North American rivers have threatened the ecosystem of many native fish in Kansas, Arkansas, Red, Gila, Platte and San Juan River according to the research conducted by Keith Gido of Kansas State University (Sciencedaily.com, 2013). Species such as the Silver Chub thriving the aforementioned rivers had an immense drop in its population due to ground water withdrawals and river fragmentation. In 2011, the number of Silver Grubs found in sampling reaches about 300. However, the numbers dropped in the next couple of years where the research team found not a single Silver Chub in the river in spring of this year. The main cause of the problem was pointed to the fragmentation of the rivers given that the native fish species require at least 100 kilometers of down-streaming water for the eggs to survive. However, dam constructions and other projects cut the river to smaller segments, which in effect causes the breeding process to be interrupted and causing the population of the native fish to diminish rapidly.
C. Identification of specific information from week 1's materials related to the identified information in #2: The following specific materials from week 1 are related to the identified information in #2:
1c) UC Berkeley site on science: discusses how scientists work (the nature of science); for example, how they use new discoveries-evidence to constantly update their understanding of scientific phenomena. In the article, it discussed about the environmental impact of natural and man-made causes to biodiversity. Biology Professor Keith Gido performed research on the affected rivers to determine the effects of the aforementioned causes. The discovery and evidence of the declining population of native fish species in the affected rivers were used to understand the effects of natural phenomenon such as drought to biodiversity. It is evident on the sampling method of the research by that by means of counting the acquired samples and comparing it to the previous year’s count suggests imminent threat to the species being studied. Furthermore, the findings of the research suggests that droughts and river fragmentation reduces the river water level, thus contribute to the decline in the native fish species population particularly when nonnative predators exists. Therefore, the evidence suggests that drought does not only cause dry riverbeds, but also contributes to biodiversity imbalance.
2c) Lecture 1: Science: the Characteristics of science include that science discoveries are tentative and can be updated with new evidence. In the article it revealed that drought causes nonnative predators to contribute in the decline of native species. However, that discovery constitutes the characteristic of tentativeness in science. This is because even if it was found that nonnative predators affect the population of the native species, it is still subject to change when one of the contributing factors will be eliminated. For example, the article stipulates that removing nonnative predators would help the native species to thrive and regenerate its population. In addition, the long period of drought is only one natural phenomenon being observed that have caused the decline in native fish species. If these contributing factors were to change and another research is to be performed under a different condition, there is a possibility that the next research will entail new findings. For example, when that drought had ended, the water level in the river returned to normal, but nonnative predators still exist and the rivers remained fragmented. There would be a chance that the next research would deliver a different result such as the native species was able to regenerate, but showed to have adopted a new way of breeding process. The possible change in discovery suggests the tentativeness of the scientific findings and that discovery in science is subject to change.
References
Kansas State University (2013, June 6). Drought, river fragmentation forcing endangered fish out of water, biologist finds. ScienceDaily. Retrieved June 7, 2013, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2013/06/130606110013.htm
