Powered By Magnetism
Nathan Putman of Oregon University emphasizes on an idea that was thought of a long time ago. He learned that sea creatures such as fish, seals, and sea turtles are capable of using the earth's magnetic field to travel through the waters. Based on data that has been collected for 56 years, Nathan theorizes that salmon homcoming behavior can be predicable. After looking at British Columbia's Fraser River Watershed, the greatest salmon-producing region in the world, Nathan notices that Vancouver Island blocks the main enterance into the river for the salmon. He questioned how the salmon will make it into the river with having their main enterance blocked. Studying their actions, Nathan learns that the fish are able to find another way around by detecting which other river has a similar magnetic field as the river that they were previously in. He was able to come to this conclusion because magnectism constantly changes, and as it changed so did the fish movement. Due to their findings, Nathan and his colleagues are able to say that it is possible to predict the behavior of salmon during their homecoming.
Animals tend to migrate to different places all the time. Birds migrate south during the winters to escape the freezing temperatures and live in a more comfortable enviroment. I've always understood this concept but I've never really understood how animals are able figure out exactly where to go. I researched this topic to learn more about animal behavior and how they migrate, and found this article. The way in which these salmon know their way is just incredible and something that I would've never guessed.
NOS Themes:
Science is experianced through a series of observations: Nathan was able to dentify and prove the that salmon behavior is predicable by observations of the changes in the magnetic fields and the salmon movement.
Evidence is key in science: Without the evidance of the changes of salmon movement due to the magnetic fields and the data from the 56 years, Nathan can not conclude the relation between the earth's magnatism and the fish movement.
Collaboration is very important in science. Nathan had to do this research with his colleagues inorder to make his conclusion.
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I think this article is very interesting Anusha, and something I've read about recently that is quite similar to the theme of your article has to do with dung beetles being able to navigate around their environment by using starlight. This is similar in the sense to your article because both salmon and beetles rely on these abiotic factors, which in turn influences their survival rate and how they adapt to their environment. Besides beetles, I think it’s quite unique that salmon and other fish are able to travel to their destinations even if a route has been blocked off. I did some further research and found how these salmon are able to make an 8000 mile round long trek from the ocean and then upstream. It’s so fascinating to see how they must rely on the environment in order to survive and reproduce. http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2013/01/dung-beetles-navigate-by-the-mil.html http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2013/02/07/Salmon-said-to-navigate-by-magnetism/UPI-11341360273325/
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