Teen+Science+Cafe+-+Expedition+Antarctica

Teen Science Café is a series of events hosted by Marbles Kids Museum throughout the school year to get teens to learn about different topics regarding science and technology. At Expedition Antarctica, there was a speaker Alex Rothburg, the museum's research curator of ichthyology, which is the branch of zoology that deals with fishes. During the event, Mr. Rothburg talked about his expedition in Antarctica and how recent changes in the global climate due to global warming can affect both food webs and ecosystems. He also discussed different questions he researches during his expeditions.

From Expedition Antarctica, I learned just how drastically food webs and ecosystems can be altered to climate change and global warming. For example, as the temperatures continue to rise near the usually icy Antarctic oceans, the species that live there move to other waters in search of a semi-replicated environment. Because of this, not only does the food web of the original place drastically change, but it in turn also affects many other food webs. This made me understand just how necessary every organism's role in a food web is. For example, in a jaguar-deer (predator-prey) relationship, if the jaguar is taken away, the ecosystem around the animals suffers because the deer population becomes too high, and the amount of plant life is unable to sustain it. This event had many young children at it, which is good for the future because it creates a generation of environmentally conscious people who can find solutions to the world's ever-growing problems.