https://padlet.com/evanpoeschl/liu4himfgc9z9o7n en-us 2020-05-20 19:13:57 UTC 2020-05-21 22:09:35 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.net/icons/png/1f40b.png evanpoeschl https://padlet.com/evanpoeschl/liu4himfgc9z9o7n/wish/585681721 Earth and its variety of life create particular habitats and ecosystems. These take place in many different parts of the world, such as a dessert, tundra, grassland, savanna, forest, jungle, coral reef, and even marine (ocean and sea). Biodiversity is important for sustainability to all life forms on earth. For it to do that, biodiversity gives every living organism (animal) an important role in their ecosystem, no matter how big or small. There are some living organisms which has an incredible role than any other organism in their ecosystem. They are known to be keystone species. Biodiversity depends on these species greatly, and if it were to be remove from its natural habitat, things will change drastically. Keystone species are very important, and should be protected to avoid extinction.]]> 2020-05-20 19:26:44 UTC https://padlet.com/evanpoeschl/liu4himfgc9z9o7n/wish/585681721 evanpoeschl https://padlet.com/evanpoeschl/liu4himfgc9z9o7n/wish/585736704 The blue whale is part of a keystone species. Which means that they play in a very important role in their ecosystem. Blue whales can live in many open wide oceans and seas, such as the antarctic ocean, pacific ocean, Indian ocean, Atlantic ocean, and others. This results them being a part of the marine ecosystem.

Image source:
https://3c1703fe8d.site.internapcdn.net/newman/gfx/news/hires/2017/dataonbluewh.jpg]]> 2020-05-20 19:59:30 UTC https://padlet.com/evanpoeschl/liu4himfgc9z9o7n/wish/585736704 evanpoeschl https://padlet.com/evanpoeschl/liu4himfgc9z9o7n/wish/585790789 The blue whale's role is easy to play, it does by by eating its daily (8,000 pounds of krill a day). Why would they eat so much krill in one day? Of course, it is something that helps the blue whales grow in size to what it is now, but when eating krill, they are regulating the krill's population. This can reduce the risk of krill from overpopulating. Overpopulating means reproducing in populations in a bigger number than usual. This could create a massive change to biodiversity if it is not taken control of. And because there are only a few endangered blue whales left in the world's ocean today, the krill's population has been increasing. If krill succeed to over reproduce in their population, we will all experience a staggering demise of biodiversity.

Image source:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/cool-video-shows-blue-whale-nomming-krill-180962974/]]> 2020-05-20 20:34:24 UTC https://padlet.com/evanpoeschl/liu4himfgc9z9o7n/wish/585790789 evanpoeschl https://padlet.com/evanpoeschl/liu4himfgc9z9o7n/wish/585816804 Back in the 19th century, near the 1900's, there was plenty! To be exact, there was about 350,000 blue whales. Today however its only around 10,000 blue whales. How did this happen. It all started in the 1900's, where humans invented weapons that made it possible to hunt for blue whales. This led up to the major event of whaling where people called whalers who hunted blue whales for their blubber and organs. This continued until the early 1970's, where the U.S. found out about the endangered whales. They officially banned whaling a year later. Unfortunately, this has not stopped that fact that blue whales are still being harmed to this day. They are still threatened by climate change as it affects their prey, krill. They're also majorly affected by pollution. Whether on accident or on purpose, oil spills and vessel strikes are still chronic.]]> 2020-05-20 20:52:45 UTC https://padlet.com/evanpoeschl/liu4himfgc9z9o7n/wish/585816804 evanpoeschl https://padlet.com/evanpoeschl/liu4himfgc9z9o7n/wish/585941300 Blue whales today are usually getting harmed by vessel strikes and oil spills. And they are always caused by boats. Those boats may be cruise ships, that normally used for transpiration, and sometimes container ships, that are normally used for delivery. Just an opinion, I think its best that we should slow down using boats and ships and start using more of something else. Airplanes and aircraft. When using planes, we use air to travel, not the ocean. So no blue whales nor any other type of whale is around you. If that does not work out, then captains and sailors must have a sharp eye. All of them. They must look out for blows, dorsal fins, flukes, and other parts of a whale over water. They must also watch their speeds in whale finding areas which are known for whale occurrences. At least for 10 knots or less, to reduce potential for injury and the cause for (vessel strikes). Too avoid oil spills, I suggest to give all the oil ships an upgrade. Some ways that you can upgrade your storage of oil while at sea can be tightening up more bolts to prevent leaks or replace cracked hydraulic lines and fitting before they fall. People can also use some equipment for preventing oil spills or leaks, such as outfitting the oil ship's engine with an oil tray or drip pan or you can use a bilge sock made out of oil absorbent pads to prevent oily water discharge. But if we are trying to protect the world's largest and most important animals in the ocean, its best to try out all of these suggestions.]]> 2020-05-20 22:35:20 UTC https://padlet.com/evanpoeschl/liu4himfgc9z9o7n/wish/585941300 evanpoeschl https://padlet.com/evanpoeschl/liu4himfgc9z9o7n/wish/587701973 Blue whales are the largest and heaviest animals to live in the sea in the world. They are estimated to be at least 80-100 feet long in length (24-30 meters). We can compare its size length with three school buses. Blue whales when grown fully adult, they weigh about 110,000-330,000 lbs. We can compare its weight with the equivalent of 25 adult elephants. Blue whales also have the largest hearts than any other animals ever. Its about 5 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 5 feet tall and weights about 400 pounds. The blue whales tongue is weighed about 8,000 pounds (3,600 kilograms), more than a female Asian elephant. A reason explained why these majestic creatures are so big is because blue whales need to take in a lot of foods and expand as little energy as possible. But blue whales eat krill. Krill are the size about two inches, so how does this fill up a blue whale's stomach? It doesn't. The blue whale needs to eat more than just one krill, it needs more krill. A blue whales eats about 4 tons of krill (8,000 pounds) in a day. And every day. This is what the blue whale does in its daily that makes it so huge.

Text and image source:
https://www.treehugger.com/animals/11-facts-about-blue-whales-largest-animals-ever-known-earth.html

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