Marina Alfano
Mr. Ippolito
Current Event #7
3/30/17
Klein, Joanna. "A Search for Clues to What Causes Whale Strandings." The New York Times. The New York Times, 16 Mar. 2017. Web. 30 Mar. 2017.
The article I read, “A Search for Clues to What Causes Whale Strandings” explains how whales who try to flee from humans and predators use all of their energy and end up beached. In a study published on Wednesday March 15, showed that dolphins and whales use more energy to swim fast than to cruise at normal speeds. While this may seem obvious, marine animals are not supposed to get tired from swimming. It was assumed that they had certain physical structures that allowed them to conserve oxygen and store energy, and most of the time this assumption is proven true. This study suggests that the whales are vigorously swimming to avoid threats like humans and predators which eventually leads to them tiring out and becoming beached. Terrie M. Williams, who studies ecophysiology at the University of California has conducted multiple experiments that prove that animals spend only slightly more energy when cruising than when at rest. She did find however, that the dolphins she studies exerted twice their “normal” energy use when they were swimming their hardest. When the whales and dolphins get “spooked” they dive down as quick as possible and some who did this showed signs of decompression illness, which is the same illness some scuba divers develop when they ascend too quickly.
The main reason these animals are becoming beached, besides predators scaring the dolphins and whales, is all because of humans. Dr. Williams applied her data and found out that whales use on average 30% more energy moving their fins after they were exposed to sonar waves or seismic explorations. Specifically, there was an instance in 2002 when a handful of beaked whales wound up stranded in the Canary Islands after trying to escape sonar from naval exercises. Also, man made materials and chemicals are causing increasingly greater pollution throughout the world's oceans which is also leading to the disorientation and confusion of these animals. The man made sonars upset the whales echolocation which then makes the animals get lost and eventually beach themselves. More and more whale beachings are occurring and we need to make an effort to understand what is causing these animals to become stranded so that we can act upon it. The animals in our oceans are helpless without us, and we must protect them with all we have.
Overall, this article was well written and provided credible experiments that supported the subject. One critique I have is that there aren’t enough quotes, throughout the whole article there are several short quotes yet they don’t assist the reader's understanding in any way. Another thing that would have been nice is either a depiction or a graph showing the data that was collected from the experiment the author described. A visual would have furthered the reader's understanding of the study since the way it was explained, was slightly confusing. Something the author did well was having a flow of relevant information, and nothing seemed out of place. This piece flowed nicely and I don’t think anything needs to be taken out, just the above mentioned things could be incorporated into the article to make it even better. Overall, this was a well written article about an interesting and relevant subject which is why I enjoyed it.
Caroline Brashear
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
Core Biology
3/30/17
Current Event 7 Comment
Klein, Joanna. "A Search for Clues to What Causes Whale Strandings." The New York Times. The New York Times, 16 Mar. 2017. Web. 30 Mar. 2017.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/16/science/what-causes-whale-strandings.html?_r=0
Marina’s review of an article called “A Search for Clues to What Causes Whale Strandings” was an interesting read. I like how she presented the topic of study, which is how whales try to flee from humans and predators and use up all of their energy, which leads them to be beached. This set-up allowed the reader to easily follow the information that came next about the study, and understand the main point of the article. Another good aspect of Marina’s review was that she included a lot of meaningful evidence from the article that helped to explain the study. For example, she included that dolphins studied “exerted twice their ‘normal’ energy use when they were swimming their hardest,” (Alfano, Current Event 7). This was an important piece of information because it related to why humans scaring dolphins can lead them to become beached. Lastly, I thought her last paragraph regarding improvements that the author of the article she read could make was well-done because it included insightful details, which showed that Marina gave the article a thorough read.
Although Marina did a great job in writing her review, there are a few aspects she could improve on. She could make her review better by reading it over before she posts it, because there were a few grammatical or spelling errors. Also, I think her writing would be stronger if she included a quote from the article she read so that it would provide direct evidence to the study being discussed.
This review was a learning experience for the reader, and left me with a new perspective on how humans are impacting the safety of dolphins and other whales. I chose to read Marina’s review when I saw that whales were being discussed, because I am interested in marine life. Overall, this review was well-written, and opened my eyes to the fact that humans are harming whales by scaring them, which can later lead them to become beached.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSarah Goodell
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
Core Bio: Current Event #7
30 March, 2017
Klein, Joanna. "A Search for Clues to What Causes Whale Strandings." The New York Times.
The New York Times, 16 Mar. 2017. Web. 30 Mar. 2017.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/16/science/what-causes-whale-strandings.html?_r=0
My classmate, Marina, wrote a review on the article titled, “A Search for Clues to What Causes Whale Strandings,” by Joanna Klein from The New York Times. Firstly, Marina did a great job establishing credibility within her review. She included information about Dr. “Terrie M. Williams, who studies ecophysiology at the University of California. Marina discussed how she “has conducted multiple experiments that prove that animals spend only slightly more energy when cruising than when at rest” and also included pieces of data from Dr. Williams’ research. Another thing that Marina did well was providing sufficient background on her topic and on the studies that have been conducted and experiments that have been performed. She specifically discussed how humans are most likely the source or cause of the whales’ stress, in a few different areas. Finally, Marina included a good analysis of each possible cause of this problem and also discussed why we should examine these problems further. Marina was able to persuade her audience to consider how their actions are affecting the planet and, in turn, this marine life, which often ends up dead and beached.
While Marina’s article was very well-structured and well-written, there are two things I found that she could look into in order to improve her review. First off, Marina could have explained the idea of decompression illness more in depth, in order to allow her readers to better understand the point she is trying to make. She discussed decompression illness when describing how whales and dolphins “dive down as quick as possible” when they get spooked, which causes a form of decompression illness similar to the decompression illness which scuba divers experience. If Marina had explained this and its effects on marine life more in depth, it would have greatly enhanced her review. Lastly, Marina also could have discussed possible solutions to this problems. For example, she could have answered the questions: what can scientists do from here and what kind of research will they conduct? Are there any other experiments that are currently being conducted and how are they helping marine life? If Marina had given us some insight into the solutions or answers to these questions, her readers would be left with less questions at the end and would be able to understand the future of this issue and its possible solutions.
I chose this article because I am very interested in animals, specifically marine life, so Marina’s article intrigued me. If there is something that I can do to prevent the beaching of whales and other marine life, I would like to be aware of it as soon as possible. Marina’s review has made me more aware of this increasing issue and I will do as much as I can to be cognizant of how my actions affect the Earth. I hope that scientists and researchers will continue to pursue studying this issue and will be able to find a solution that all humans are able to manage.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteKlein, Joanna. "A Search for Clues to What Causes Whale Strandings." The New York Times.
ReplyDeleteThe New York Times, 16 Mar. 2017. Web. 30 Mar. 2017.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/16/science/what-causes-whale-strandings.html?_r=0
My classmate wrote a review on an article talking about whale strandings, “A Search for Clues to What Causes Whale Strandings.” The article was written by Joanna Klein from the New York Times. Marina does an excellent job of establishing how credible her article is, with mentioning the full title of Dr. Terrie M. Williams, instead of being broad and unclear. Marina also provided great background on the topic and on the studies that were conducted. She explained that humans are the cause for whale’s stress in some areas. Marina also displayed a very good analysis of the possible causes of this problem, and also discussed why we should be noticing these problems. However, there were a few areas where she could improve. Marina could have gone more into detail about how many whales have been beached in the past year or some sort of description to draw the reader into the review. Another thing she could have improved upon is describing the research process more in depth, because the actual process is not mentioned in the article, only that they were conducted. Although there were faults, Marina did a very good job of her review. I never knew that whale were beached because of human interaction, and this fact surprised me very much.
Susie Goodell
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
Core Biology
4/17/17
Klein, Joanna. "A Search for Clues to What Causes Whale Strandings." The New York Times. The New York Times, 16 Mar. 2017. Web. 30 Mar. 2017.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/16/science/what-causes-whale-strandings.html?_r=0
Current Event 8
My classmate Marina reviewed the article, “A Search for Clues to What Causes Whale Strandings” by Joanna Klein. In her review, Marina did a great job of providing the right amount of background information so that readers who might not know a whole lot about the topic could have some context. She analyzed the results from the experiments in a way that was easy to comprehend and explained past studies that influenced this one. These descriptions provide the readers with an understandable summary of the dangers of the rapid swimming and how it causes the beachings. Marina did a wonderful job stressing her point about why we should care about this problem. She convinced me of the importance and to find a way to help stop the beachings of whales.
Although she included all of these aspects, there are some things that could be improved on. She could have included a quote to enhance her argument and provide more evidence for her claims. Marina discusses the study and explains the results, but her argument would be much stronger with a quote from one of the researchers. Marina also could have explained the decompression illness more in depth. She mentions it once as evidence of the harmful effects of humans and relates it to the illness scuba divers can get when they ascend too rapidly. However, she doesn’t really explore the causes and the effects it has on the animals and their lives. This is important information to include so that readers can truly understand the impact humans have on the whales.
Before reading this review, I had heard about whale beachings, but I never looked into what caused them or really any information relating to this topic. This review caught my interest and I will now read more about this subject. I didn’t realize the full extent of humans’ damaging impact on marine life. Humans cause a variety of problems for whales, ones that people don’t hear a lot about. This article discusses a very important topic that needs to be talked about more to prevent further damage to marine life.
Alisa Fominykh
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
Biology 10H D Odd
April 25, 2017
Klein, Joanna. "A Search for Clues to What Causes Whale Strandings." The New York Times. The New York Times, 16 Mar. 2017. Web. 30 Mar. 2017.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/16/science/what-causes-whale-strandings.html?_r=0
My classmate Marina Alfano did a phenomenal job both summarizing and critiquing “A Search for Clues to What Causes Whale Strandings” by Joanna Klein. The article is about how whales in an attempt to protect themselves from people or other creatures find themselves on beaches, due to them fatiguing after fleeing. Marina does a good job emphasising how the everyday actions of people can harm wildlife. Her critique portion was also nicely done and I agree with the statement that a graph would have helped the reader better understand the collected data. Finally, her summary was also well done since it did not complicate the topic however at the same time provided enough information.
Although the the current event was nicely done I do recommend that my classmate, Marina should have used more quotes from the article and explained them, since often times summaries are even better with the aid of a quote. Additionally, she should have elaborated as to how humans can help protects these mammals and minimize potential harm to them.
This article provided me with an explanation as to why beached animals are becoming more common and corrected my misconception that it was their fault. Instead, I discovered it was a result of unintentional human interference with marine life. I chose to review this summary since it is important for various creatures to live peacefully and that can be started with people being more careful with the role they play on the planet since in recent years science has shown that every action a human performs has a profound impact on the environment.