Our group 4 project has now come to an end. Before we sign off on this blog for the last time, we will take some time to reflect on the project. We will reflect in the three areas of evaluation provided.
1) Self-Motivation and perseverance.
-Each one of us took on this project wholeheartedly, and nobody was ever known to arrive to a meeting without useful data ready to share.
-We each took time out of our schedules to make sure we met regularly, despite the other issues pressing on us.
-We had difficulty in the beginning in forming a research question, but we maintained our commitment until we finally managed to find one which was suitable.
2)Working within a team
-Each time our group met, we would stay together and discuss where we were as a group, and how to move forward with the project.
-Each member of the group showed up to every meeting, on time, with data.
-We integrated each others ideas while forming the question, finally settling on one which we felt suited us all well.
-We were a little lost in the beginning in terms of how to integrate every person's different science, but we decided to find a topic which covered all areas of science, so that each person could research to the best of their ability and knowledge.
3) Self-Reflection
-Since this is a personal score, we must all speak for ourselves on the evaluation form. However, we as a group feel that we have accurately reflected on the process, on our strengths and weaknesses.
GROUP REFLECTION
-We had difficulties starting out, but by harder work in the early days to find a suitable research question, we managed to unearth a realistic topic, as well as stretch our knowledge of the various sciences.
-One weakness we had was our lack in finding enough quantitative data as we would have liked, but this was largely due to the recent nature of the event. Thus, we had to settle for alternative sources of similar data, such as the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia.
For these reasons and more, we consider our Group 4 project a success. We all know a little more about seagrass, sciences, and each other. Go Group 16!
Monday, 11 April 2011
Sunday, 10 April 2011
Summary of our Findings
Importance of Seagrass:
- acts as a nursery for juvenile fish species, providing a safe environment in which to reach adulthood.
- is an important food source for many vegetarian marine species, such as dugongs, which are endangered.
- puts oxygen into water through photosynthesis, creating a cleaner and healthier ocean.
- radiation being put into the sea will damage seagrass levels considerably.
- (previous posts for more details)
- Seagrass can only grow in the photic zone (the area of the ocean into which light penetrates). The photic zone varies, and is determined by the clarity and depth of the water. The movement of the earth's crust, combined with the high input of debris from the crisis will significantly decrease the photic zone around northern Japan, and thus the habitat in which seagrass can grow.
- Seagrass in Japan are mainly found in depths of around 20m or shallower in muddy sands, gravel sands, coral sands or reef platforms (Seagrasses from Japan: species composition, distribution) and the high energy of the waves would have caused the uprooting of many seagrasses
- as the energy of a wave is proportional to the square of its amplitude, a 32m high tsunami would have a wave strength 1000 times that of a normal 1m wave with a strength of 1 unit
- the highest height of the tsunami was 37.9 m
- Since the 2004 9.1 earthquake in Indonesia had caused a damage of 20% to seagrass beds and 30% to coral reefs (according to the State Ministry of National Development Planning) and 3-10% damage to seagrass beds in Thailand (according to the Thai government) , it can be expected that a larger damage will be done to the seagrass beds of Japan as the energy released was nearly double that of the 2004 earthquake
- According to the New York Times the earthquake led to shift of Honshu (the main island of Japan) by 13ft to the East, with the largest shifts happening closest to the epicentre--> this would have caused the destruction or loss of many of the seagrass habitats (especially those located new Sendai) on the east coast of Japan as seagrasses are mostly found 50km2 or less from the coastline (with some exceptions according to the study: Seagrasses from Japan: species composition, distribution) http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/world/asia/14seismic.html?_r=1 (see diagram below)
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| red dots = major segrass locations (http://data.unep-wcmc.org/datasets/9#Download) |
- Without a safe area in which to mature, many fish species living in the seagrass ecosystems of Japan will experience a drop in population.
- A decline in food sources will cause population levels of marine vegetarian species to decline.
- Without additional sources for oxygen input into the water, it will take longer for the sea around Japan to be habitable for marine life again.
- The change in photic zone and seafloor levels could possibly mean that seagrass will grow back in much more limited quantities.
- Fishing is a large part of Japans economy (fresh water fishing = 30%)
- The loss of fish habitat, and thus population and the additional loss of species is likely to have a severe, long lasting impact on the economy
- As the loss of fish species and populations is not likely to recover in near future, consequently it it likely that the impact on the Japanese economy will be long lasting
- From a strictly economic point of view, the decline of the fishing industry is likely to have a negative impact on the economy as a whole, as well as the global supply of fish.
- The overall effect of the decline in fish populations will create a long lasting, severe shock for the Japanese economy, as well as the rates of unemployment.
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