Ernest Brockenberry UBN Project

Part 1

Biodiversity is the variety of life on Earth, at all it’s levels, from genes to ecosystems, from genes to ecosystems, and the ecological and evolutionary processes that sustain it. [It] should be a very big thing in our lives today, especially because there are so many species in the world getting punished as an effect of our unsanitary and uncaring human ways. (pollution, etc.) The things that we do on this Earth affect, not only us, but everyone and everything around us. Another thing that we should care about is urban ecology. Urban ecology is the interaction between organisms in an urbanized community and their interaction with the community that they live in. The things that we do to the Earth are destroying these communities and environments that they live in. If all of the animals die off, then the food chain will be very much altered. We eat the animals that eat other animals, but if all the animals are dead, we will have to convert to cannibalism, which would be a very bad thing.

There were many different projects that I could have chosen, but I decided to choose the Urban Biodiversity Network project. I’ve always been interested in biodiversity and things like that having to do with the Earth and our environment. I was hooked, though, when I found out that we’d be using phones and computers. I love the idea of incorporating modern technology into science because science can sometimes be boring, but using technology with science always makes it more fun and more interesting.

The link below will direct you you to an article about urban biodiversity and urban ecology by J. Niemelä. http://bit.ly/patO0v

Part 2

The first plot that I observed in Central Park, right next to the Delacorte Theater. The are was very grassy, and had many trees. There weren’t very many animals in the plot. There were mostly dogs and people, which I couldn’t use, unfortunately. I was still able to get a good amount of information because there were some invertebrates crawling around in the grass and flying through the air next to the plot.

Map Image of Plot #1: http://bit.ly/svfo16

The second plot that I observed was really a transect. It consisted of about 3 blocks of a consistent sidewalk. Most of the pictures that I was able to take were of concrete, or, the rare times that I got lucky, it was a patch of grass with a bush or a tree. This transect of data made me pretty upset because most of the areas that I looked at had no living organisms on or in them, besides trees or leaves, of course.

Map Image of Plot #2: http://bit.ly/urbQe8

The link below will direct you to an article by K. Tzoulas and P. James about the link between human well being, social and economical, and urban biodiversity. http://bit.ly/t9guUp

Part 3

For my conclusion, I would like to say that it’s the things that we are doing to our Earth that tend to make scientists upset. If all we do is continue pollute the Earth, where will we be in a matter of a few thousand years? We won’t be anything in a couple of thousand years if we continue on this road because the sun’s rays will have penetrated the ozone layer and will all be burned to death. We have to preserve the Earth for the generations to come. Don’t let it be our fault that the Earth gets burned to pieces. I think that if we all make an effort to help clean up the Earth, it will put an end to a lot of the bad things going on. All of the tornadoes and global warming is the Earth trying to fight back. So are we going to help clean the Earth, or will we just sit in the corner living our mundane lives acting like nothing is going on? I hope you answered with the first choice, because the latter will get us in trouble.

I think that the way that we treat the Earth destroys areas like the ones that I was able to observe. With all of the pollution that is going on, plots and transects like this will become more and more scarce. That is why we need to make sure to take care of out Earth and treat her fairly. She [Earth] will no doubt retaliate if we don’t treat her with the respect that she deserves.

There are many different methods that can be used to get people interested in biodiversity, but I think that the most effective way to do it is to get the children of our society to get involved in different activities that deal with urban biodiversity. The best volunteers for things like this are children because it exposes them to new things. If you tell a seven year old that they get to help plant a tree, they would probably be more excited than a 25 year old would be. Here’s a link to an article that better explains my statement: http://bit.ly/sGkwcw. This article is a response to Folke, C. and L. Gunderson’s article "A Kaleidoscope of Change" written in 2003.