The Prolific Afterlife
A: List the major ideas, concepts, or key points- point by point
-On the final dive of the 1987 expedition, a large object on the seafloor 1,240 meters deep was discovered, which was a 20-meter long whale skeleton.
-One year later, an oceanographer and his team went back to the sighting of the skeleton and noticed that there were several new species that have not been seen before.
-Investigators recorded many other ecosystems that are supported by whale carcasses.
-In these communities, 400 species have been found living in them, and at least 30 of those are species that have not been discovered before.
-In 1854, a zoologist found a new species of a centimeter-sized mussel that was extracted from floating whale blubber.
-Limpets were also discovered which are small snail-like mollusks with conical shells.
-The mussels and clams that Smith and his team found had the ability to harvest chemosynthetic bacteria which draws energy from inorganic chemicals.
-In 1989, Smith and his team suggested that whale skeletons are the stepping-stones for deep-sea animals to spread from one chemosynthetic community to another.
-Smith took up whales that were washed up on the coast of California and took them to deeper parts of the ocean so they can sink to the bottom in 1992. He checked up on them on a regular interval. This is called a "whale fall".
-Over the period of 6 years, 3 gray whales were dropped and investigated until 2000.
-The first stage is the mobile scavenger stage which starts when the whale carcass lands on the bottom of the ocean. Hagfish tunnel through the meat and sharks take bigger pieces. This strips off the bulk of the body
-The second stage is the enrichment opportunist stage which lasts up to 2 years. High-density through low-diversity communities take over the sediments and bones. They eat large amounts of blubber and scraps of soft tissue
-Third is the sulfophilic stage were specialized bacteria anaerobically break down the lipids in the bones. They use dissolved sulfate as a source of oxygen and release hydrogen sulfide as a waste. This can last up to 50-100 years, depending on the size of the whale.
-There are around 690,000 skeletons of the 9 largest whale species rotting at any given time.
-This distance average would be about 12 km between each carcass.
-One discrepancy could have been that the areas where the whales were dropped might have been poor in oxygen.
-Another reason could have been the zombie worm's activities by tunneling through the whale which speeds up the sulfophilic stage.
-How were the ecosystems that depend on whale carcasses able to evolve without the whales?
-The ancient whale-fall communities were recognized from the Oligocene. Miocene fossils, which are from 23-5 million years ago, were found in 3 states in Japan and California which were recognized from mollusk fossils.
-In 2006, it was said that the earliest whale-fall communities from Oligocene and Eocene were dominated by clams.
-Earlier whales were not able to support sulfophilic communities since they were small in size.
-Before whale falls these communities might have lived off of other fallen creatures in the ocean.
-In 2008, a research group from Japan and Poland discovered the bones of two plesiosaur dinosaurs which were similar to whale bones.
-5 different species of Osedax have been identified
B: Summary
In this article the author talks about how whale carcasses are important to the communities they support. It is estimated that there are 690,000 rotting whales at any given time and are 12 km apart. Over 400 species have been found living in these communities and around 30 of these species have never been found. These whale falls have been going around since the time of dinosaurs but due to humans there could be six times more whale falls active. Species such as limpets which are small snail like mollusks with conical shells have been found in these communities. Another interesting organism is the Osedax with 5 species discovered so far they plant roots inside the whale skeletons and slowly devour them. There are 3 stages that a dead whale goes through the first is the mobile scavenger stage which starts when the whale carcass lands on the bottom of the ocean. Hagfish tunnel through the meat and sharks take bigger pieces. This strips off the bulk of the body the second stage is the enrichment opportunist stage which lasts up to 2 years. High-density through low-diversity communities take over the sediments and bones. They eat large amounts of blubber and scraps of soft tissue. The third and last stage is the sulfophilic stage were specialized bacteria anaerobically break down the lipids in the bones. They use dissolved sulfate as a source of oxygen and release hydrogen sulfide as a waste. This can last up to 50-100 years, depending on the size of the whale. Much more is being discovered about these whale communities.
C: Reaction/Reflection
After reading this article I realized how important these whale communities are to the organisms living at the bottom of the oceans. Since there isn't much food these whale carcasses provide food and habitat for many organisms. They provide for over 400 species with 30 of them never seen. With the discovery of more prehistoric fossils there may be a link between the prehistoric fossils and modern whale fossils. With all these finding there has to be more to these whale communities and as they are studied more will be discovered.
So What?
Whale falls support communities of 400 species.
Says Who?
Crispin T. S. Little
What if?
What if these whale communities didn't exist?
What does this remind me of?
Dead animals feeding worms, leaving only bones as remains.
A: List the major ideas, concepts, or key points- point by point
-On the final dive of the 1987 expedition, a large object on the seafloor 1,240 meters deep was discovered, which was a 20-meter long whale skeleton.
-One year later, an oceanographer and his team went back to the sighting of the skeleton and noticed that there were several new species that have not been seen before.
-Investigators recorded many other ecosystems that are supported by whale carcasses.
-In these communities, 400 species have been found living in them, and at least 30 of those are species that have not been discovered before.
-In 1854, a zoologist found a new species of a centimeter-sized mussel that was extracted from floating whale blubber.
-Limpets were also discovered which are small snail-like mollusks with conical shells.
-The mussels and clams that Smith and his team found had the ability to harvest chemosynthetic bacteria which draws energy from inorganic chemicals.
-In 1989, Smith and his team suggested that whale skeletons are the stepping-stones for deep-sea animals to spread from one chemosynthetic community to another.
-Smith took up whales that were washed up on the coast of California and took them to deeper parts of the ocean so they can sink to the bottom in 1992. He checked up on them on a regular interval. This is called a "whale fall".
-Over the period of 6 years, 3 gray whales were dropped and investigated until 2000.
-The first stage is the mobile scavenger stage which starts when the whale carcass lands on the bottom of the ocean. Hagfish tunnel through the meat and sharks take bigger pieces. This strips off the bulk of the body
-The second stage is the enrichment opportunist stage which lasts up to 2 years. High-density through low-diversity communities take over the sediments and bones. They eat large amounts of blubber and scraps of soft tissue
-Third is the sulfophilic stage were specialized bacteria anaerobically break down the lipids in the bones. They use dissolved sulfate as a source of oxygen and release hydrogen sulfide as a waste. This can last up to 50-100 years, depending on the size of the whale.
-There are around 690,000 skeletons of the 9 largest whale species rotting at any given time.
-This distance average would be about 12 km between each carcass.
-One discrepancy could have been that the areas where the whales were dropped might have been poor in oxygen.
-Another reason could have been the zombie worm's activities by tunneling through the whale which speeds up the sulfophilic stage.
-How were the ecosystems that depend on whale carcasses able to evolve without the whales?
-The ancient whale-fall communities were recognized from the Oligocene. Miocene fossils, which are from 23-5 million years ago, were found in 3 states in Japan and California which were recognized from mollusk fossils.
-In 2006, it was said that the earliest whale-fall communities from Oligocene and Eocene were dominated by clams.
-Earlier whales were not able to support sulfophilic communities since they were small in size.
-Before whale falls these communities might have lived off of other fallen creatures in the ocean.
-In 2008, a research group from Japan and Poland discovered the bones of two plesiosaur dinosaurs which were similar to whale bones.
-5 different species of Osedax have been identified
B: Summary
In this article the author talks about how whale carcasses are important to the communities they support. It is estimated that there are 690,000 rotting whales at any given time and are 12 km apart. Over 400 species have been found living in these communities and around 30 of these species have never been found. These whale falls have been going around since the time of dinosaurs but due to humans there could be six times more whale falls active. Species such as limpets which are small snail like mollusks with conical shells have been found in these communities. Another interesting organism is the Osedax with 5 species discovered so far they plant roots inside the whale skeletons and slowly devour them. There are 3 stages that a dead whale goes through the first is the mobile scavenger stage which starts when the whale carcass lands on the bottom of the ocean. Hagfish tunnel through the meat and sharks take bigger pieces. This strips off the bulk of the body the second stage is the enrichment opportunist stage which lasts up to 2 years. High-density through low-diversity communities take over the sediments and bones. They eat large amounts of blubber and scraps of soft tissue. The third and last stage is the sulfophilic stage were specialized bacteria anaerobically break down the lipids in the bones. They use dissolved sulfate as a source of oxygen and release hydrogen sulfide as a waste. This can last up to 50-100 years, depending on the size of the whale. Much more is being discovered about these whale communities.
C: Reaction/Reflection
After reading this article I realized how important these whale communities are to the organisms living at the bottom of the oceans. Since there isn't much food these whale carcasses provide food and habitat for many organisms. They provide for over 400 species with 30 of them never seen. With the discovery of more prehistoric fossils there may be a link between the prehistoric fossils and modern whale fossils. With all these finding there has to be more to these whale communities and as they are studied more will be discovered.
So What?
Whale falls support communities of 400 species.
Says Who?
Crispin T. S. Little
What if?
What if these whale communities didn't exist?
What does this remind me of?
Dead animals feeding worms, leaving only bones as remains.