Teen+Science+Cafe-+Antarctica+Expedition

On March 2nd, Alex Rotherburg, a curator of Ichthyology, or the study of fish, spoke at the Teen Science Cafe. He spoke about his recent journey to Antarctica, mentioning several stories and then the environmental aspects of the continent. His focus was on climate change, which is a major problem in Antarctica due to the massive hole in the ozone layer above it. He went on to discuss what effects this had on the food chain in Antarctica, such as mass migration of species and the effects on predators. He built on this by discussing the effects of human commercial fishing on certain populations, including seals and whales. He also went over various terms such as mucus cocoon. water tolerance, and limb regeneration through a game of Extinction Bingo.

This lecture relates to AP Environmental Science because it focused on a major environmental problem seen throughout the world, but especially in Antarctica: global warming and climate change. A major theme of AP Environmental Science is to discuss how drastic changes in an ecosystem can affect different species of life living in it, and this was shown in the lecture as it emphasized how different organisms react to global warming, be it through migration because of water temperature rising or loss of a predator's biggest food source. Another major theme of the class is discussing how what humans do can affect the environment, which Mr. Rotherburg touched on when he talked about the effects of commercial fishing on certain Antarctic Populations.