Just as a little side-note I thought it was interesting to find that our cute pets can be terribly destructive. Read on to learn about this dangerous little creature!!!
While having a goldfish is fun as a pet the effects of releasing them when we don't want them anymore can be incredibly destructive to our native ecosystems.
Goldfish can live in a wide range of conditions:
Water temperatures: 50-90 degrees
pH levels: ~7
This means that they are able to outcompete many native fishes for food and space and other resources, which is terrible for biodiversity. They are also readily infected with parasites, this is another reason for their threat to our native species as they can pass these foreign parasites on. Salmon are the greatest concern for conservationists as they already have a precarious living with the changes that humans and other invasive species are making. Goldfish are not currently a huge problem for our marine environments and we can keep it this way if we don't release our Fred's or Jane's into local ponds!!!
That is shocking to me! I could never keep them alive.
ReplyDeleteThere doesn't seem to be a lot on your website. Maybe you could include proposals on how best to deal with these in invasives from research studies. Maybe find projections on how their populations are excepted to change.
I'm glad you defined invasive species and the negative effects that they have. I'm sure the general public would not completely understand what that is otherwise! With the goldfish, I was unclear if they are currently a problem or are they a POTENTIAL threat? Either way what do you suggest we could do to help prevent further damage (or introduction) besides what you have stated above already--not releasing them from being pets? Public awareness seems to be what you are going for, but do you have other suggestions? For example, would you go as far as banning goldfish as pets? Great intro and general info though!
ReplyDeleteI feel that this ended abruptly just when my interest was getting piqued.
ReplyDeletecould complete your site in many ways, but here are a few ideas: 1) Address each of the questions you posed on your intro page- you have not explicitly addressed "why we want them gone". Although you do include that information within the content, I was expecting to see it highlighted somewhere too. 2) Add more information about the 4 species you choose, perhaps as separate tabs. Why did you choose those particular species? 3) What can we do about invasive species? (This will be your "call to action").
And a reminder about references: collect a few more as you finish up your site so that you meet criteria for this assignment.
I like how you chose to cover a wide range of species when looking at invasive species because they can be plants and animals. I would suggest that you elaborate a bit on what makes them invasive. Although you started to touch upon them with the wanted posters I feel like you could add a little more about how they are affecting the environment they're found in. Also, I'm not sure how the destructive goldfish tab fits in with the rest of it. Maybe you can add a few lines to explain why you feel that goldfish is an important species to talk about.
ReplyDelete