STEM: Ecosystems Coral Reefs

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130219-coral-reefs-the-oceans-larder

Corals are more like plants than animals. Every species is food for another in the food web. Coral reefs are ocean nurseries. One fourth of all ocean species live in coral reefs. Many costal communities only access to protein is the coral reef. Catching fish is essential for the health and nutrition for fishing communities. Coral reefs are under stress from international fishing industries.

STEM: Ecosystems, Antarctic Ocean

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130305-antarctica-engine-of-ocean-life

This is a 4 minute film about the oceans surrounding Antarctica. That southern ocean around the earth's remotest, coldest, windiest, loneliest place is essential to all of the world's ocean life.

Even though it is a cold and desolate place, it supports an amazing number of animals. All of that life relies on the sea for food. The sea around Antarctica is full of plankton. Nutrient rich waters of Antarctica is key to the global ocean system. This is the point where the world's oceans connect.

This system generates a huge amount of nutrient cycling, where the world's largest mammal, the whale, can feed.

STEM: Ecosystems: Jellyfish on the Rise

Excerpt:

The rise of jellyfish populations in many of the world's oceans may be more than just an inconvenience for swimmers who want to take a dip.

The rapid growth over the last few decades of these creatures is a sign of the planet's deteriorating marine health, according to expert Lisa-ann Gershwin.

In her new book Stung! On Jellyfish Blooms and the Future of the Ocean, Gershwin says that these "enchanting and lovely" invertebrates are in fact harbingers of the health of the oceans.

"They're an indicator that something is out of balance,” she told Bob McDonald, host of CBC Radio's Quirks & Quarks. “So they’re kind of the canaries in the coal mine, if you will. Except whereas a canary dies when something’s wrong, jellyfish flourish when something’s wrong.”

Read the whole article about the ocean's ecosystem being unbalanced by following the link below

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2013/06/07/tech-jellyfish-bloom-quirks.html