Expedition+Antarctica+Snigdha

On March 2nd, I went to the Teen Science Cafe to learn about Antarctica and its organisms and inhabitants. The discussion was led by Alex Rothburg, a ichthyologist. He talked mostly about his studies on fish populations in the area and about the food chains that result in decreased numbers in these fish.We also talked about evolutionary biology and how it may have effects on the death of some species. He explained these death-producing factors through a game of “extinction bingo”, some of those factors being climate change commercial fishing, and trawling.

During “Extinction Bingo”, I learned some interesting things. For example, I learned that scientists are looking into using the genomes of zebra fish as a key to understand humans better. In addition, I also learned that a troglodyte is a caveman and a type of fish.

Overall, Mr. Rothberg concluded that evolution and extinction go hand-in-hand. In order to understand life better, we need to understand death. He was very enthusiastic to mention how much he liked death for this reason. This is related to APES because we have learned how factors such as global warming and overfishing can harm food chains, and therefore harm multiple species and organisms in the process. If one level in the pyramid is affected, all the other levels will also be affected in some way.

