Article Summary & Discussion Preparation Log Part I: Individual Assignment Name: Selena Felix Article Title: The

Fish & The Forest Author/Source: Scot M. Gende and Thomas P. Quinn/ Scientific American While reading the article, highlight words or phrases that require definitions or Clarifications What are the AUTHORs major ideas, concepts or key points? A: List the major ideas, concepts or key points- point by point Bears fertilize the forests, nourishing them by discarding partially eaten salmon carcasses. Large predators such as bears are valuable marine-derived nutrients to streamside woodlands. Young salmon emerge from gravel in streams or lakes in spring then migrate to the ocean over various periods of time. After one to two years, salmon return to their natural streams to spawn and die. Salmon are crucial resources for bears because they depend on them to get the amount of fat they can deposit in the late summer and fall. After bears enter their dens in the early winter, they neither eat nor drink for up to seven months. When bears have captured salmon they often carry it to the streamside forest salmon before they eat it so they can avoid other bears. Bears kill far more salmon then they eat/ It is common for bears to carry a carcass to the stream bank and not eat a bite after finding it is a male salmon or female that has already spawned her eggs. Bears deliver marine-derived nutrients to the riparian system. The foraging of all these animals, together with leaching by rain and microbial activity, breaks down the carcasses, making the nitrogen, phosphorus and other nutrients available to riparian plants. This could influence growth rates of many plant species. Nutrients in the form of migrating salmon, travel from the ocean for freshwater and then, carried by foraging bears to land. In areas where salmon runs are seriously reduced or wiped out, state agencies are now transporting salmon carcasses by dropping them from helicopters or dispersing them from trucks to mimic natural processes until salmon runs return to their historical levels. B: Summarize the AUTHORs main point or idea- at LEAST 1-2 paragraphs Salmon migrate from ocean to natural stream, then fish swim upstream to spawn. Bears then catch the migrating salmon and usually take their catch on to the bank or into the forest; they often eat only part of the fish. Uneaten portion of the fish are eaten by insects, birds, and small mammals. The fish also fertilizes plants. This process in which bears are fertilizing the forest, nourishing them by discarding partially eaten carcasses, could influence the growth rates of many plants species. The foraging of all

these animals, together with leaching by rain and microbial activity, breaks down the carcasses, making the nitrogen, phosphorus, and other nutrients available to riparian plants. If any changes are made that reduce the number salmon or bears will affect the nutrient flow and many of the creature that depend on it. To manage salmon in areas where salmon runs are seriously reduced or wipeout, state agencies are now transporting salmon carcasses by dropping them from helicopters or dispersing them from trucks to mimic the natural process until salmon runs return to their historical levels. 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 It is an amazing thing that out of all things that happen in an ecosystem, bears would be the one to provide nutrients in forest. If anything, I would of thought bears would be ruining the ecosystem in some way by capturing too many salmon and not eating them which could lead to endangering the specie. Bears provide nutrients to the forests that plants would have not gotten other than bear capturing them and leaving the rest in forest. This also brings some benefit to insects, birds, and small mammals because it provides them with uneaten fish that the bears leave behind. This is a natural process that is good for the ecosystem and bears as long as there are still salmon alive and at their historical levels.
So What? We should care about this because this is a very important cycle that has been discovered. We should always be looking for more and more ways that nutrients can be given to the environment and we have discovered one way that has been done naturally. Says Who? Scott M. Gende and Thomas P. Quinn have both performed experiments and have wrote the article on this incredible finding of this process.

What if..? If bears died then it would affect the ecosystem greatly. Nutrients would not be able to get to plants which could hurt the forest. We need to protect bears so that we can have nutrients flow through the ecosystem.

What Does This Remind Me Of? This reminds me of the coyote in the coyote lab report and how they were the keystone specie of their ecosystem. I think that bears are the keystone specie in a way because that is what allows nutrients to get to other places and be a provider for many things.