Insect Ecology @ Au Sable - spring 2023

Ocean Acidification By: Brayden Burns, Cecilia Vela, and Tyler Souza Many issues that humanity currently faces: war, healthcare, political/social strife, drought and crop failure extend back past the advent of written history. However, novel, systemic issues unknown to mankind prior to the industrial revolution have reared their ugly heads. One such issue is the slow, undeniable acidification of the world's oceans. According to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) carbon dioxide emission levels derived from man-made sources are a major contributing factor to current acid levels in the ocean. Carbon Dioxide going into solution http://diveadvisor.com/sub2o/ocean-acidification-causes-and-consequences NOAA estimates that roughly ¼ of the CO2 released into the atmosphere every year is dissolved by marine systems. Scientists, who were originally optimistic about the oceans service as a Carbon bank, are now forced to re-interpret their former theories (1).

Whale... That Sucks! Hannah, Ben, Sidney http://anewtraveller.com/2017/01/10/endangered-killer-whales-travellers-help/#sthash.C97UvRzX.dpbs In the summer of 2017, Hannah and I were given the opportunity to spend six weeks on Whidbey Island in Washington State. Before arriving, our marine mammals course advertised daily whale sightings.  Hannah and I had high hopes of seeing a plethora of cetaceans: Humpback whales, Minke whales, porpoises, dolphins, and of course, beautiful Killer Whales.  One might say we had too high of expectations - Free Willy kind of expectations.   Class began in early July. We were beyond ecstatic to ride the ferry to Lime Kiln , the most popular on land whale watching site in the world. People travel from across the world to witness wildlife pass through the nearby waters. Our class sat ourselves right on top of the rocky ledge of the water right next to the lighthouse. We met at this location multiple times throughout our 5 week course.

Marine Blog 2 By: Elizabeth Hargis & Shannon Ashworth Introduction: From single use grocery bags to your toothpaste, a majority of the modern world's products all have one thing in common: they are made of plastic. So much so that you probably can't even identify how many times you use plastic in a single day. But where does all of this plastic end up after we throw it out? Most plastic ends up in our oceans as well as marine life. In a world riddled with plastic is it possible to find a more ecofriendly alternative? Garbage Patches: Have you ever traveled from Beaumont, Texas to El Paso, Texas and then from Harlingen, Texas to Amarillo, Texas? Most of us have not travelled these 700,000 sq miles on one trip. However, if you had you would have traveled the same amount of surface area that is covered by the smallest garbage patch in our ocean. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, or Pacific Trash Vortex, can be found in the North Pacific Ocean. This great pat