Whales and biodiversity
Posted by Page (in Amsterdam)
The next time you go outside, take a look around you. Even if you live in a big city, if you look carefully, you'll see non-human creatures of all shapes and sizes. They're all sharing the Earth, and many of them are interdependent.
Now, let's dive underwater. Big surprise: the ocean's individual ecosystems are interdependent and so complex that it's mind-boggling. However, what isn't mind-boggling is the concept that decreasing biodiversity could have catastrophic effects. Dr. Boris Worm of Dalhousie University in Novia Scotia put it this way:
"The image I use to explain why biodiversity is so important is that marine life is a bit like a house of cards," said Dr Worm."All parts of it are integral to the structure; if you remove parts, particularly at the bottom, it's detrimental to everything on top and threatens the whole structure.
"And we're learning that in the oceans, species are very strongly linked to each other - probably more so than on land."
Obviously, whales play their part, and one facet is particularly fascinating. CR McClain of the nerdy - but very cool - blog, Deep Sea News, explains it here:
... deep-sea systems (except for vents and seeps) are reliant upon food raining down from the surface. At the small end of the spectrum is marine snow-a mixture of bacteria, dead plankton parts, and feces. At the other, a dead whale falling to the bottom....
Whales are indeed a treat for the deep-sea floor. The whale fall is a nutrient rich food source loaded with lipids and proteins. A 40-ton carcass contains about 2 Mini Coopers worth of labile organic compounds. But don't forget the bones laden with tasty lipids. They can possess another Mini Coopers worth of organic compounds. This is the equivalent of about 2000 years of food normally received on the abyssal plain.
In other words, it's a nice free meal for all sorts of scavengers, from mollusks to sharks.
So what has this got to do with whaling?
Even if you aren't a marine biologist, you could probably guess what the effects of the ongoing, relentless depletion of the world's whale population by the whaling industry might have on deep-sea biodiversity. Here's a prediction from the experts:
Given the potentially important role of whales to deep-sea biodiversity, these [deep sea] communities may have been altered by human hunting of whales. A profound effect of whaling was a vastly reduced—and in some regions, obliterated—whale skeleton supply to the deep sea due to an acute decrease in hunting-generated carcasses (after the turn of this century, whalers retained the entire animal) and to a dramatic decrease in whale populations.
Humans do not need the whale carcasses. But entire deep-sea communities thrive on them. It's a perfect example of how one sustained human activity can have detrimental effects on entire mini-ecosystems, which have existed at least as long as the whales themselves.
So, think about it: saving the whales really means you're saving whole communities! You're helping keep that biodiversity "house of cards" as stable as possible.
Signing up as a whale defender is the first step, of course! So what are you waiting for? Get those creative juices flowing and start your own campaign!
Comments
Hallo Page,
I loved your story.
Frank
Posted by: Frank Snijdewint | April 17, 2007 11:17 PM
its very nice to see blogs like these. I too have a blog relating to pollution and its effect to the enviornment. I was thinking of link exchange.
I added you to my blogroll. Let me know if your interested.
Posted by: fhmtech | April 18, 2007 2:01 PM