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Dead Salmon are Good for Plants
#1
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46305004

This article discusses the positive impacts that salmon carcasses have on the natural environment around them. This natural experiment took place over the course of 20 years! Students from the University of Washington threw dead salmon from a stream onto one side of the bank. Their original experiment involved studying what was eating these fish in the stream, and they naturally threw the dead fish to one side of the stream to avoid double counting them when analyzing results. Soon, this developed in to a kind of surprise experiment already started before they knew what they were doing. As this "accidental" experiment developed, it used the riverbank without fish carcasses as a sort of controlled variable, to compare their results to the other side, which had all the dead fish. 

After two decades, the students at the university took cores from live trees that were about 40 years old. It was found that the trees on the side were growing up to 20% faster during this period of the experiment, compared to the tree's growth before the experiment even occurred. The nutrients from all the dead fish helps boost plant and tree growth. This is a great example regarding the circle of life, and how dead wildlife gives back to its environment. This experiment also highlights the importance of scientists taking time and being patient and conducting their experiments over a suitable amount of time, without rushing it. This experiment would not be as effective over a smaller timeline of maybe 5 years. It would not show how well the trees respond to the carcasses. Even a longer time like 50 years, would show even more extensive results of the plant life, but hey, you got to stop somewhere.
#2
(11-26-2018, 05:58 AM)Blake Cherpin Wrote: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46305004

This article discusses the positive impacts that salmon carcasses have on the natural environment around them. This natural experiment took place over the course of 20 years! Students from the University of Washington threw dead salmon from a stream onto one side of the bank. Their original experiment involved studying what was eating these fish in the stream, and they naturally threw the dead fish to one side of the stream to avoid double counting them when analyzing results. Soon, this developed in to a kind of surprise experiment already started before they knew what they were doing. As this "accidental" experiment developed, it used the riverbank without fish carcasses as a sort of controlled variable, to compare their results to the other side, which had all the dead fish. 

After two decades, the students at the university took cores from live trees that were about 40 years old. It was found that the trees on the side were growing up to 20% faster during this period of the experiment, compared to the tree's growth before the experiment even occurred. The nutrients from all the dead fish helps boost plant and tree growth. This is a great example regarding the circle of life, and how dead wildlife gives back to its environment. This experiment also highlights the importance of scientists taking time and being patient and conducting their experiments over a suitable amount of time, without rushing it. This experiment would not be as effective over a smaller timeline of maybe 5 years. It would not show how well the trees respond to the carcasses. Even a longer time like 50 years, would show even more extensive results of the plant life, but hey, you got to stop somewhere.
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An example like this shows that many things we have studied or will have to study took place over a large span of time. Even the physicists we study did there work hundreds of years apart. Something simple like using fishes to grow trees shows that there is a whole sea of things on our planet which we don't know and are just waiting for time to tell us. On the fish, the fact the indigenous people already knew about this effect shows how people from way before learned from observation and used what they had around them. The use of fish carcasses to grow tree must of really helped since the study show a 20% increase in the speed in which they grew. I wouldn't think that we use fish carcasses today but this idea doesn't seem to fishy at all.
#3
This is a prime example of the circle of life on a completley natural level. This accidental experiment not only shows that decomposing salmon allow trees to grow at a quicker rate, it also shows something on a deeper level. The discovery influences the idea that natural and organic things are able to interact and help each other in various ways in order to ensure that everything is being reused and recycled, nothing in the natural world goes to waste because it can, in this case, make the surrounding trees grow faster than normal. This experiment also shows the contrast between the natural, organic world and the industrialized, man-made world that has take over a huge amount of our planet. As I said before, everything in natural and untouched by humans is able to carry out the natural cycle of life and in my opinion reducing almost or all waste, whereas in the man-made world there are materials that we made that are not able to be broken down naturally, like plastic, that create a large amount of waste that is then sent to a landfill, never really breaking down. 

If the industrialized world took on a more natural way of life, I believe a lot of our environmental issues would fade and be eliminated. With that being said, I think it would be very difficult to do so as well as the production of even more conflict between opinions would be a result in which it would have to be dealt with. The worlds population is a lot ore aware of our environmental issues and waste than it was years ago and there are efforts towards helping the planet taking place already and I think this article really supports those efforts and the importance of awareness of waste and the natural world.
#4
To me this shows how potential human intervention on some natural cycles could hinder the potential output of the system. For example if humans were to clean/ remove salmon from the place entirely this would/ would have caused the growth to not be where it is at today
#5
(11-26-2018, 05:58 AM)Blake Cherpin Wrote: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46305004

This article discusses the positive impacts that salmon carcasses have on the natural environment around them. This natural experiment took place over the course of 20 years! Students from the University of Washington threw dead salmon from a stream onto one side of the bank. Their original experiment involved studying what was eating these fish in the stream, and they naturally threw the dead fish to one side of the stream to avoid double counting them when analyzing results. Soon, this developed in to a kind of surprise experiment already started before they knew what they were doing. As this "accidental" experiment developed, it used the riverbank without fish carcasses as a sort of controlled variable, to compare their results to the other side, which had all the dead fish. 

After two decades, the students at the university took cores from live trees that were about 40 years old. It was found that the trees on the side were growing up to 20% faster during this period of the experiment, compared to the tree's growth before the experiment even occurred. The nutrients from all the dead fish helps boost plant and tree growth. This is a great example regarding the circle of life, and how dead wildlife gives back to its environment. This experiment also highlights the importance of scientists taking time and being patient and conducting their experiments over a suitable amount of time, without rushing it. This experiment would not be as effective over a smaller timeline of maybe 5 years. It would not show how well the trees respond to the carcasses. Even a longer time like 50 years, would show even more extensive results of the plant life, but hey, you got to stop somewhere.

I believe that this shows just how incredible our masses of water truly are, Which is why I believe that before we begin discussing extra terrestrial beings from planets light years away, we should first begin to understand and appreciate the beauty and diversity that is still yet to be discovered in our oceans.
#6
I believe that if the nutrients from the carcasses is boosting the plant growth by 20%+ that we should be incorporation these nutrients into all plants that we can around the world. Thousands upon thousands of trees are being taken down everyday so if we can speed up the process of growing these trees I believe that we should do our best to do so.


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