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Study: Whales Are Ecosystem "Engineers"
An anonymous reader writes Researchers had previously thought that, being excessively uncommon and migrant, whales didn't have much of an effect on the more extensive marine environment. However, a new study distributed in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment gives whales a role as "engineers" of the oceans. In the study, scientists from the University of Vermont suggest that the 13 types of extraordinary whale have an essential and positive impact on the capacity of seas, on carbon storage, and on the state of fisheries around the globe. "The decline in great whale numbers, estimated to be at least 66% and perhaps as high as 90%, has likely altered the structure and function of the oceans, but recovery is possible and in many cases is already underway," researchers wrote in an article announcing their investigation.
As an Engineer I feel that the title is being misused more and more.
Large apex predators change their environment. Change the numbers of the apex predators and the environment changes.
- So far, so good. Ecology 101.
"Engineers of the ocean" - now we're starting to anthropomorphize. Engineering, at least in the classic sense of human engineering, is a directed, (generally) intelligent effort to change the environment. Now, cetaceans are very likely intelligent (at least smarter than the average Internet user by all accounts), but the TFS doesn't give any indications that the whales are doing this purposely to change things, they're just being apex predators.
Grrr. I hate stuff like this. Perhaps the paywalled article is better, but TFS does not impress.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Whales shape their environment, just as their environment has shaped them. That's how evolution works. Evolution is nothing but the establishment of equilibria between niches and the creatures occupying those niches. When either the niche or the creature (or the number of creatures) changes, of course the other will follow suit.
The new information in this article is that scientists have discovered a way in which whales influence their environment. Engineering has nothing to do with it.
Sooo... Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home was kind of right?
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
I'm so old, I still think an "engineer" is the guy who drives a train.
Clearly, a whale isn't going to be driving a train, though, so they must be the other type of engineer. But how do they work a slide rule with those flipper things?
You are welcome on my lawn.
...what does that make beavers?
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
What gives whales the right to alter the environment? Whales should be regulated so their engineering impact to the oceans can be controlled.
I am shocked, SHOCKED, I tell you, that there are absolutely NO federal regulations on whale activities. Next they'll be deregulating the growing of vegetables!
"Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
--- Jerry Garcia
They're using unfamiliar units to define their made up measurements.
The oceans are 1.3 billion cubic kilometers (that's a lot of engineering!)
That's 45,909,066,700,000,000,000 square feet
The Library of congress is 2,100,000 square feet
So the whales are engineering over 21 trillion libraries of congress!
Shave the whales.
But I have met some engineers large enough to qualify as whales... Excessive Mountain Dew and Cheetos consumption builds blubber pretty darn fast!
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
Actually, there are quite a number of regulations concerning human activity in and around whales. Come to think of it, if engineers had those same regulations apply to them (mostly don't bother the whale, stay at least 100 yards away, no nearby explosions and such), then engineers might have a better chance of getting something useful accomplished.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Here's a really incredible video on wolves, and their positive influence on Yellowstone National Park - doubtless we'll find that species have a much larger influence and impact that we assume, which makes sense that these systems all took millions of years to develop..it's not a haphazard configuration, most species depend on a number of others. Even in our bodies, look at the bacteria that inhabit us, and the influences we're finding they have on us....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysa5OBhXz-Q
Whale poop.
I'm all for saving the whales, but to give the planet a break, perhaps we could compensate by finding a way NOT to treat human poop.
I am certain, combined, people are fuller of it.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
But I guess now, knowing the extent of her responsibilities, I have to treat her with more respect.
Could you hit any more topical achievements: helps the fisheries, help the climate through CARBON STORAGE? Crap might as well throw in helps peace in the Middle East and nurtures orphan kittens.
Big message: don't hunt whales because ... they're good for fisheries and the climate and ... everything.
Homer: "Right, Lisa, some wonderful, magical animal."
"Consensus" in science is _always_ a political construct.
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