Emma Hulbert 9/22/21
Chemistry 9 Current Events
Wetzel, C. (2021, September 17). The planet has lost half of its coral reefs since 1950. Smithsonian.com. Retrieved September 21, 2021, from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-planet-has-lost-half-of-coral-reefs-since-1950-180978701/.
In “The Planet Has Lost Half of Its Coral Reefs Since 1950” by Corryn Wetzel, the author describes a study in which the coral reefs are dying. The reasons for the declining numbers of coral reefs are climate change, overfishing, and pollution. Corals are very sensitive to acidity and water temperature which causes them to get “bleached” - a process that leaves coral reefs completely white and vulnerable. Coral reefs dying also negatively affect marine ecosystems. The biodiversity in coral reefs have decreased by 63%. This means coastal communities will suffer due to their primarily seafood diet.
Wetzel and the scientists quoted in the article caution us on the importance of coral reefs. Wetzel ends the article by stating “it's even more vital that we act now, and that we act in all directions.” emphasizing how important it is that we act now to help preserve coral reefs. The article also discusses the impact on coastal communities that rely on a stable ecosystem for seafood and micronutrients. “Coral reefs play this really important function in supplying indigenous communities and local communities vital micronutrients, and if they lost them, it could lead to severe implications.” Without the coral reefs, the number of marine life associated with coral reefs have decreased. Wetzel states “In addition to finding that half of living corals have died since the 1950s, researchers discovered that coral-reef-associated biodiversity dropped by 63 percent. Healthy reefs support thousands of different corals, fish and marine mammals, but bleached reefs lose their ability to support as many species.” The article makes it clear that this is an issue that is time sensitive and will get worse if we don’t help.
This article did a good job on stressing the importance of the coral reefs declining numbers. Although, the author could have added more information about the effect on coastal communities because although they are mentioned a lot, she did not go into depth on their need for coral reefs. It was nice how the author explained the cause and added statistics to support their claim. It was very informative and lacked details at some points but was overall very good.
Davis Patterson
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
Sep 27, 2021
Science current event
Magazine, Smithsonian. “The Planet Has Lost Half of Its Coral Reefs since 1950.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 17 Sept. 2021, www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-planet-has-lost-half-of-coral-reefs-since-1950-180978701/.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-planet-has-lost-half-of-coral-reefs-since-1950-180978701/
https://bhscorechem.blogspot.com/2021/09/the-planet-has-lost-half-of-its-coral.html
I read Emma Hulbert review on the article, The Planet Has Lost Half of Its Coral Reefs Since 1950. The article talks about how coral reefs are dying and how far that they have decreased. While reading Emma blog I noticed that she did a great job of getting straight to the point of what the article is trying to say. She says “the author describes a study in which the coral reefs are dying. The reasons for the declining numbers of coral reefs are climate change, overfishing, and pollution.”(Hulbert 1). This is what she says right after she says the title, and this really helps reader like me understand what exactly that im about to read right and what the problem in that these coral reefs are facing. This also pulls the reader in to learn and now he or she wants to learn how they can help. Another thing that Emma did a good job in is using evidence straight from the article. Through out her blog she quotes sentences that are very impactful to the reader understanding and allows the reader to know that she isn't making these things up, that she is really using evidence to show just how bad the reefs are getting. This helps the reader know that she knows what she is doing. It also helps the reader know which scientist is saying what and if they really like what they are saying the reader can look them up and look further into their study. Another thing that Emma did good in was tell the reader what was wrong in the article, in case that reader wanted to know more. She says “the author could have added more information about the effect on coastal communities because although they are mentioned a lot, she did not go into depth on their need for coral reefs.”(Hulbert 1) This helps reader know that if they read the article that they wont find a lot on coral reefs and that they will have to find more information somewhere else.
Although Emma did a great job on her blog and told us what was wrong. She never explained to us how to fix the problem of the coral reefs or how to help the decrease of the reefs. In the article it says way to help the reefs, and if i were writing the review i would of added it at the end of the first paragraph after you talked about how bad the reefs were. Another thing I think you could have done better was talk more about the problems that could come from the future if coral reefs continue to decline. This would create more trouble to the reader and maybe they would something about it.
After reading this blog one thing that i realized was that coral reefs are actually dying at a really fast rate. The reason why i chose this fun fact was because my dad always wanted to take us scuba diving to see the coral reefs and who knows maybe they wont be there when were there and i didnt know that coral reefs were dying that quick.
Wetzel, C. (2021, September 17). The planet has lost half of its coral reefs since 1950. Smithsonian.com. Retrieved September 21, 2021, from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-planet-has-lost-half-of-coral-reefs-since-1950-180978701/.
ReplyDeleteThe review of the article “The Planet Has Lost Half of Its Coral Reefs Since 1950” was well written and well supported. It gives the reader a better understanding of how the coral reefs are endangered, because of “climate change, overfishing, and pollution”. It also informs us on the author's point of view by including direct quotes and opinions. The author, Corryn Wetzel believes that we need to act now before it is too late to save the coral reefs.
Although this review was well written, it is lacking a few details. The author’s opinion is referred to in the article, as well as “scientists quoted in the article”, but their names are never mentioned. In addition, I think the review could have gone more in depth about the topic or talked about the scientific aspects of the issue.
I learned alot from this review. The reader learns about issues surrounding coral reefs including the flaws and dangers that humans inflict on habitats. We learn that not only are we killing reefs, but we are contributing to habitat loss. Overall, this review was intriguing and informational.