 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 The kanji for dolphin literally mean, sea pig. |
|
|
Whales are becoming fewer in number more quickly than the dolphins except for the fresh water dolphins whose numbers have deteriorated very rapidly. This is due to the thinning of the polar stratospheric ozone. The disappearance of the whales which depend directly and indirectly upon krill will become pronounced within about five years. Carnivorous whales such as the famous cause celebre, Willy, do not have a particularly bright future because of the accumulations of toxic chemicals in the food chains. These bad circumstances will worsen as human numbers continue to rise. Of course we wish humans would show some signs of slowing their population increase or opting for a reduction in their numbers. They show no signs of desiring to do so voluntarily. We are sorry to have to bring you the bad news. Think globally, act locally. Americans are, of course are single largest cause of global habitat destruction. Curiously they continue to try to find fault in the wrong places. They set the wrong examples, use the platitudes to create complacency, and use red herrings to create confusion. They continue to use NASA as a political football, rather than as a tool to help stop habitat destruction. As they know full well, the gap between what they could be and should be doing, and what they actually do continues to widen. At best their efforts to stop habitat destruction and species extinctions can be described as penny wise and pound foolish. That's a good recipe for continued increasing rates of habitat destruction.
Japanese harvest 300 Minkes and eat them. That would be bad if those were sacred cows. That would be bad if it were the real cause of whale extinction. But, guess what jelly bean? That's not where the fault lies.
|
|
"In fact the change in the air and in sunlight in the next few decades may pose more danger to animals and plants than to human beings. Laboratory tests show that UV-B can damage fish, shrimp, and crab larvae, copepods, krill, and the zooplankton and phytoplankton at the base of the food chains in the sea. A 10% increase in UV killed almost all (phytoplankton) specimens. Since the Ozone Hole is going to be with us for at least one hundred years, we could cause an evolutionary upheaval if thousands of species in the sea weaken and others more resistant to these rays take over. The billions of krill in Antarctic waters - which are shrimp-like crustaceans - depend on the phytoplankton. Baleen whales, sperm whales, squid, seals, the albatross and the penguin are among the many creatures that depend on the krill. El-Sayed (researcher) suspects that krill may be among the first casualties of the Ozone Hole. 'If anything happens to the krill,' he has said, 'the whole ecosystem will collapse. We can say good-bye to the whales, to the seals, to the penguins, et cetera.'" Jonathan Weiner, The Next One Hundred Years, 1990. |
|
Dolphin Composite Population Graph, including freshwater species.
|
 |
This little graph shows the increase in human numbers in the last few thousand years. In this case, the distance from 1,000 million to 7,600 million is 7.6 times the distance from zero to 1,000 million. 7.6 billion is demographers' mid projection. Graph curve is from Learning Tools, KQED TV, San Francisco, a PBS educational tv station. Overpopulation denialists right and left have asked about the source, so now you know. The leader of the Task Force on Amphibian Decline living in Britain objected calling the graph extreme and, "off the scale." But it isn't. It is simply demographer's mid projection. Usually when such a graph is drawn, a short time scale is used. But an evolutionarily significant time scale can more easily show relevant amounts of increase per unit of time. The distance from 1,000 million to 7,600 million is 7.6 times the distance from zero to 1,000 million. The graph is an accurate representation. |
|
Source: |
|
|
naturalsciences.sdsu.edu/classes/lab2.7/lab2.7.html |
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Visit....... |
|
|
For web searches on this subject:
|
