Kevin Trichtinger(McTWISTx)7
“A Dose of Diversity” by Jessica Snyder Sachs in National Wildlife August/September 2010 p. 22-29
then search for “Jessica Sachs” and click on title
Picture:
This is a picture of some of the urban birds know to carry West Nile virus
Summary: This article by Jessica Sachs seen to bring home the importance of what we were taught about biodiversity. In this article she points to specific examples where the lack of biodiversity has had a direct effect on the rise of some less common illnesses that have become more frequent. A Rutgers group found that in areas of wetlands that had lost it biodiversity that the bird populations also lost its diversity. The same areas where birds are less diverse West Nile virus infections have increased. She writes “studies have shown that across the nation bird diversity is a significant buffer against the spread of West Nile virus to humans.” This unfortunately is not an isolated example. Less diversity increases the rates of Lyme disease as in fragment areas the tic that spread the disease have an easier time finding both the white-footed mouse and the white tailed deer. Additionally Ms Sachs points out that the loss of species diminishes the amphibians, mammals and plants that are our greatest hope to finding new drugs and vaccines to fight these diseases.
Opinion/Reflection: From our class I understood that the loss of biodiversity puts other species of plants or animals at risk for extinction; however, I don’t think I really understood that it is not just the loss of certain species; the loss of biodiversity influences other aspects of our lives. The illnesses that she talks about really hit home to me because one of my older brothers classmates was in the hospital for months due to West Nile virus. Some of my family including my dog has needed to be treated for Lyme disease. But the most disturbing thing may be that in lost species we are losing the opportunity to discover how nature fights off the very disease we are facing.
Questions:
1) Should the government spend more money for research to preserve biodiversity wetlands or spend more to stop global warming?
2) Since the amount of wetlands will not help the fractured urban regions that breed West Nile virus how do we make urban areas safer?
3) How do we get the material that nature has available for us to fight diseases before the species that carry this information to go extinct?
Reflection: I thought this article was perfect because it really ties in to what we were learning in class. I did not know that less biodiversity can cause such harmful diseases that we even hear about as humans. We really should be doing more to help this situation because the species we are loosing could be beneficial to us, for medical use, etc. It really proves what we learned in class: the lower the biodiversity, the less stable the species are in that envionment.
ReplyDeleteKevin's Question 1: I think the government should spend money to preserve biodiversity because it is not only affecting animal life, but plant life as well. These dying plants could be used to find important cures for life-threatening diseases for humans. Ultimately, preserving biodiversity is preserving our world's habitats and those who live in them.
I wanted to see an example of a biodiversity wetland, so I found a photo. Click the link below:
http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1249&bih=561&tbm=isch&tbnid=Nqz73ULjas_kXM:&imgrefurl=http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1817385/world_wetlands_day_to_focus_on_climate_change/&docid=9soDsqi50NqMGM&imgurl=http://www.redorbit.com/media/uploads/2010/01/860f41c524989aa99c739ae1641e8a9d-617x462.jpg&w=617&h=462&ei=4r1WT_rhCeHf0QGbhfySCg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=84&vpy=233&dur=2885&hovh=194&hovw=260&tx=177&ty=107&sig=106238973459876110688&page=1&tbnh=107&tbnw=151&start=0&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:15,s:0
Opinion: Wow! You are right, Kevin. This article really explains to me the impact of the loss of biodiversity. I never knew that something as foreign as the West Nile Disease could become common in the US just because of low biodiversity. If we stop harming species and be more respective to our surroundings, then we could create more medicines to help fight these diseases! It's also scary to think that we could wipe out a whole ecosystem just by not caring for biodiversity.
ReplyDeleteExpansion: I found this article on the importance of biodiversity. Click the link below.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/life/evolution/mass-extinction1.htm
Reflection: The article really relates to what we learned in class. That's a great example how the loss of biodiversity rffrcts the whole ecosystem. It is really disoppionting to hear that the loss of birds is effecting all the other species and is putting us at a loss to fight these diseases.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 3: This how we make vaccines in my own words, we take an animal that we know is immune and inject it with the virus. Then we watch how the body fights the disease and we take that for our own use to develope a vaccine.