cgualtieri's blog

Biologists in Africa’s Albertine Rift region recently made a surprising discovery – a new species of bird living high in the mountains of this incredibly biodiverse area. They named this bird Willard’s Sooty Boubou, which is closley related to another previously recognized high-elevation bird species, the Mountain Sooty Boubou. While these birds appear to be quite similar, the main difference between them is the elevations at which they are found. The Willard’s Sooty Boubou is found at approximately 1200-1900 meters, and the Mountain Sooty Boubou is found at 1800-3800 meters. Sadly, the discovery took an unexpected turn for the worse. While the team was quite happy to find this new bird, after analyzing its habitat they soon realized that more than half of it had been destroyed for agricultural needs. This has sparked debates in the local area on taking measures to protect the birds environment and conserve what is left of its habitat before it goes extinct. Estimates show that 50-70% of its habitat has been lost, and does not show signs of recovering without significant human intervention. By better understanding this new species of bird and identifying what kind of ecological niche it fills, scientists can learn how to better protect it in the face of growing threats.

Biologists in Africa’s Albertine Rift region recently made a surprising discovery – a new species of bird living high in the mountains of this incredibly biodiverse area. They named this bird Willard’s Sooty Boubou, which is opposed to another previously recognized high-elevation species, the Mountain Sooty Boubou. These birds appear quite similar, but live at different elevations. Willard’s Sooty Boubou is found at approximately 1200-1900 meters, and the Mountain Sooty Boubou is found at 1800-3800 meters. While the team was quite happy to find this new bird, after analyzing its habitat they soon realized that more than half of it had been destroyed for agricultural needs. This has sparked debates in the local area on taking measures to protect the environment and conserve what is left of this birds habitat before it goes extinct. By better understanding this new species of bird and identifying what kind of ecological niche it fills, scientists can learn how to better protect it in the face of growing threats.

The website belongs to the scientific journal called CellPress. The website contains advertisements promoting the journal and you can purchase a subsciption, or link your social media account. There are 33 volumes of this journal, and the website contains sections that include the most recent articles, the most popular articles from the past 2 years, and articles from the current issue. The artile links bring you to an online version of the article where you can read, download, and share the document. They also have a section where you can apply for a job to work for CellPress. This website seems very valid due to all of these reasons, and I would trust the articles on this site to be factual and valid. My one red flag is that it is a .com site and not a .org or .edu. 

Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health, food security, and human development that we are facing today. Antibiotic resistance can effect anybody, of any age, anywhere in the world. This process occurs naturally, but the misuse of antibiotic drugs by humans had accelerated the process and is causing common infections to become more difficult to treat. Infections like pneumonia, tuberculosis, gonorrhoea, and salmonella are beconing harder to treat with conventional antibiotics. Other side effects of antibiotic resistance include longer hospital stays, higher medical bills, and increased mortality. In order to combat this growing problem, the world needs to change the way it prescribes and uses antibiotics. Even if new antibiotics are developed, they will quickly become ineffective if the same practices used today are still in place. This behavior change does not only apply to doctors, but applies to everyone around the world. Most people are not prescribing antibiotics on a regular basis, but their behaviors can still contribute to antibiotic resistance. By reducing he spread of infections through vaccinations, hand washing, practicing safe sex, and good food hygiene, we can all do our part to limit antibiotic resistance. Researchers around the world are constantly looking for new antibiotics, but the rate we are finding them is much lower than the rate at which the current ones are becoming resistant. This is a global issue that has the potential to effect everybody on the planet, and it seems as if not enough people are talking about it or taking steps to limit it. By raising awareness about this issue, we can work together to ensure that antibiotic resistance does not get out of control. 

Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health, food security, and development we are facing today. Antibiotic resistance can effect anybody, of any age, anywhere in the world. This process occurs naturally, but the misuse of antibiotic drugs by humans had accelerated the process and is causing common infections to become more difficult to treat. Other side effects of antibiotic resistance include longer hospital stays, higher medical bills, and increased mortality. In order to combat this growing problem, the world needs to change the way it prescribes and uses antibiotics. Even if new antibiotics are developed, they will quickly become ineffective if the same practices used today are still in place. This behavior change does not only apply to doctors, but applies to everyone around the world. Most people are not prescribing antibiotics on a regular basis, but their behaviors can still contribute to antibiotic resistance. By reducing he spread of infections through vaccinations, hand washing, practicing safe sex, and good food hygine, we can all do our part to limit antibiotic resistance. This is a global issue that has the potential to effect everybody on the planet, and it seems as if not enough people are talking about it or taking steps to limit it. By raising awareness about this issue, we can work together to ensure that antibiotic resistance does not get out of control. 

In this first class meeting I looked at a common basement spider that was in a clear plastic cup with a lid on it. The spider was light brown and fairly large compared to the other spiders that my classmates were looking at. I estimate that the spider was 2 inches long, including its legs. This spider had 7 legs, which was unususal as most spiders have 8. It appeared as if one leg was ripped off prior to the spider being placed into the cup. The hind legs of the spider were significantly longer than the front legs. Each leg had 3 joints, and at each joint was a specific marking pattern that went black-white-black. The legs of this spider got progressivley thinner as they got further away from the body. I observed small hairs covering the legs and body of the spider. I thought that these could be a way for the spider to sense its external environment. The most prominent marking on this spider was a black sesame seed shaped marking on the top of the head. I also noticed that the spider had several small black eyes, and a mouth that resembled that of a crab. The spiders behavior was constant, varying between frantically moving around trying to escape, and not moving at all. I observed some thin white film that had stuck to the sides of the cup, which I predict was the spiders discharge in an attempt to spin a web. I asked myself why would the spider try to spin a web in such a confined space? The spider was symmertical if it were to be cut down the middle, with the exception of the missing leg on the left side. The thorax of the spider was where all of the leg protrusions came from, and the abdomen was signignificantly longer and the shape of a pea pod. The abdomen was light grey with two white spots on either side. There was a lighter brown patch that ran along the top of the abdomen. I wondered to myself: What kind of environment would these markings be beneficial to the spider?

In this first class meeting I looked at a common basement spider that was in a clear plastic cup with a lid on it. The spider was light brown and fairly large compared to the other spiders that my classmates were looking at. This spider had 7 legs, which was unususal as most spiders have 8 legs. It looked as if one leg was ripped off prior to the spider being placed into the cup. The hind legs of the spider were significantly longer than the front legs. Each leg had 3 joints, and at each joint was a specific marking pattern that went black-white-black. The legs of this spider got progressivley thinner as they got further away from the body. I observed small hairs covering the legs and body of the spider. The most prominent marking on this spider was a black sesame seed shaped marking on the top of the head. I also noticed that the spider had 3 or 4 black eyes, and a mouth that resembled that of a crab. The spiders behavior was constant, varying between frantically moving around trying to escape, and not moving at all. I observed some thin white film that had stuck to the sides of the cup, which I predict was the spiders discharge in an attempt to spin a web. I asked myself why would the spider try to spin a web in such a confined space? The spider was symmertical if it were to be cut down the middle, with the exception of the missing leg on the left side. The thorax of the spider was where all of the leg protrusions came from, and the abdomen was signignificantly longer and the shape of a pea pod.