Name: Joanna Asuelo Due Date: 10-12-13 Article Title: The Fish and the Forest Author/Source: Scott

M. Gende and Thomas P. Quinn/ Scientific American

A: List the major ideas, concepts or key points- point by point: Bears fertilize the forest by discarding salmon carcasses salmon tissue bring nutrients to woodlands salmon are born in streams or lakes, travel to the ocean, then come back to the streams when they die the return migration and death of salmon makes a large net flow of nutrients and energy from the ocean to stream/lake Only some of the salmon fish is eaten by the bear, the rest is eaten by other plants and animals some bears wont eat the salmon if it the salmon is a male or a female that has already laid eggs bears deliver marine-derived nutrients to other plants and animals that do not have access to the nutrients confrontations can make subordinate bears move to upland meadows to feed an organism does not need to consume salmon directly salmon carcasses bring nutrients to forest removing of bears or less salmon will bring less nutrient flow to forest

B: Summarize the AUTHORs main point or idea- at LEAST 1-2 paragraphs The first food that come to mind of most people when bears are mentioned is honey. This article however did not mention honey, rather salmon. Salmon is a valuable fish that contain nutrients that help freshwater systems. Many bears spend hours catching the fish, and usually they do not even eat all of the salmon. When bears eat, they carry the salmon into the forest for a better, safer environment without other bears who will eat their catch. Bears leave salmon carcasses behind after they eat in the forest. This lets the nutrients from the salmon enter the ecosystem. The nutrients from the salmon carcasses benefit other animals and plants such as bald eagles and red foxes. The author points out to the reader that the salmon carcesses and bears are becoming less or even extinct in some areas. Without the salmon carcesses, most of the plants and animals that use up the salmon would not have access to the nutrients contained in the salmon. Dumping salmon carcasses into those areas can help the plants and animals. However it will not entirely stop the problem. The bears and salmon are a valuable asset to the ecosystem, and the article recognizes that.

C: Write a reaction paragraph to the article stating your own thoughts on the topic, using specific citations from the article to support your views Before reading the article, I had little knowledge about the decrease of bears and importance of salmon. Salmon did not seem to be a fertilizer to a forest ecosystem because I expected them to be in the water. It surprised me to learn bears leave the streams to eat the salmon. They just seemed to be always dominant and superior, so I did not expect them

to hide when they ate. The author was able to succeed in highlighting the importance of both bears and salmon.

So What? Learning about the importance of salmon and bears can help increase the awareness of endangered bears and impact of salmon to the forest ecosystem. What if? What if bear numbers increased in the areas with less nutrients from the salmon? If that were to happen, then humans would be able to stop dumping of salmon carcasses.

Says Who? The authors, Scott M. Gende and Thomas P. Quinn.

What does this remind me of? This reminds me of the importance of phytoplankton in the sea. Phytoplankton are also a huge impact of the sea just like the salmon in the forest ecosystem.