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Tell me why oysters are a keystone species. Oysters are just like the trees in a forest. You don’t think of them that way, but it’s the same with coral reef sy
by DoreenMichele 5y ago
Tell me why oysters are a keystone species.
Oysters are just like the trees in a forest. You don’t think of them that way, but it’s the same with coral reef systems—without the coral, there’s no coral reef. There’s no biodiversity. Oysters used to be the landscape of New York Harbor, which stretched over hundreds of thousands of acres in a three-dimensional habitat. They provided food for all these different animals. There are over 100 species of fish that historically either lived in, found their mates in, or laid their eggs in New York Harbor oyster reefs.
Fundamentally, all of our environmental problems are people problems, so if you ignore the people around the ecosystem and try to restore New York Harbor, it won’t have a lasting impact.
I like this guy's thinking.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- ethbr0 5y agoI thought the part before your second excerpt was insightful as well. > We’re trying to restore a billion oysters to New York Harbor and to engage a million people in that work by 2035. By setting these goals, we’re basically saying that we must stop thinking of habitat restoration and improving public education as two separate issues. The best way to improve outcomes for both is to combine them and train students to restore the environment. [...] Environmental impact is all about scaling: either because your process is self-multiplying or because part of your process is training >1 people who will carry on and contribute to the work. You can be the best, most productive oyster farmer in the world, but there's always going to be a cap to what you can do alone. Physical processes need physical muscle.
- newsclues 5y agoHow do you solve people problems without eugenics?
- bobthepanda 5y agoIt’s described in TFA, or at least the part relevant to the oysters: > Every time it rains, hundreds of millions of gallons of untreated household wastewater pours right out into the harbor. And that shouldn’t be a thing. The problem is that New York has an ancient combined stormwater+sewage system that is designed for the rainstorms of long ago, so regular flooding events overwhelm sewage and require these overflows in the harbor lest the pipes back up into houses and the street. Modern cities get around this by both reducing the amount of nonporous surfaces (and thus diverting less water into the system), or by separating stormwater drainage so that an overflow isn’t mixed with sewage.
- newsclues 5y agoYes, so some view it as economically cheaper for many humans to cease living, rather than to upgrade the infrastructure.
- pixl97 5y agoMy answer to them is "You first"
- qiskit 5y agoWhat a gentleman.
- newsclues 5y agoThe problem is that they get power and enforce their views on others.
- bobthepanda 5y agowho is actually in power and actually enforcing involuntary population control in a democracy? it's definitely a very fringe opinion.