Dave Volek's Food Chain

In 2014, I built a food chain simulation where biology students role-play biologists trying to predict trends in an ecosystem:

https://davevolekinventions.org/FoodChain/

#tiereddemocraticgovernance
#foodchain #biology

@Mikeini That does sound really cool! It depends, because I don't really have a genre for podcasts. #Gastropod, #FoodChain and #JapanEats! are great food casts. #FallOfCivilizations and #TidesOfHistory are great for History. I deeply miss #Overunderstood. So many science podcasts (#ScienceVs. #Sidedoor, #ScienceInAction). BUT, wish more people listened to Short Cuts. It's about everything and nothing, and comforts me enormously at times.

Jason White on plastic pollution in the food chain – cartoon https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2026/jan/03/jason-white-plastic-pollution-food-chain-cartoon

#food #foodchain #environment #plastic #PlasticPollution

A quotation from Robert Ingersoll

   A devout clergyman sought every opportunity to impress upon the mind of his son the fact, that God takes care of all his creatures; that the falling sparrow attracts his attention, and that his loving kindness is over all his works.
   Happening, one day, to see a crane wading in quest of food, the good man pointed out to his son the perfect adaptation of the crane to get his living in that manner. “See,” said he, “how his legs are formed for wading! What a long slender bill he has! Observe how nicely he folds his feet when putting them in or drawing them out of the water! He does not cause the slightest ripple. He is thus enabled to approach the fish without giving them any notice of his arrival.”
   “My son,” said he, “it is impossible to look at that bird without recognizing the design, as well as the goodness of God, in thus providing the means of subsistence.”
   “Yes,” replied the boy, “I think I see the goodness of God, at least so far as the crane is concerned; but after all, father, don’t you think the arrangement a little tough on the fish?”

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Lecture (1872-01-29), “The Gods,” Fairbury Hall, Fairbury, Illinois

More about this quote: wist.info/ingersoll-robert-gre…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertingersoll #robertgreeningersoll #circleoflife #creation #divinefavor #divinegift #divinelove #divineplan #foodchain #God #God'slove #intelligentdesign #lovingkindness #predation #predator #providence

Dave Volek's Food Chain

Players role-play biologists managing an ecosystem:

https://davevolekinventions.org/FoodChain/

#tiereddeemocraticgovernance
#biology #foodchain

PFAS concentrations can double with every step up the food chain https://phys.org/news/2025-12-pfas-food-chain.html

#food #FoodSystem #FoodChain #PFAS #pollution

From the deck of #CaptPaulWatson "Captain Paul Watson Foundation desperately needs a new inflatable boat and crane for the Bandero as we aim to confront the escalating crisis of #krill harvesting in the Southern Ocean" www.paulwatsonfoundation.org/campaigns-pr... Marine #habitat #foodchain #whales

Campaigns & Projects

Everyone of these CEOs grossly underestimates the complexity of both human labor and the "inevitable" replacements logistics

https://www.grocerydive.com/news/kroger-ocado-close-automated-fulfillment-centers-robotics-grocery-ecommerce/805931/

#Ai #Robots #Employment #FoodChain

Dave Volek's Food Chain

I built a simulation where biology students can roleplay biologists managing an ecosystem:

The simulation has several mathematical relationships between grass, mice, and foxes. Can the students discover these relationships?

https://davevolekinventions.org/FoodChain/

#tiereddemocraticgovernance
#foodchain
#biology

Dave Volek's Food Chain

I built a Food Chain simulation. Participants role-play biologists managing an ecosystem:

https://davevolekinventions.org/FoodChain/

#tiereddemocraticgovernance
#foodchain #biology

Dave Volek's Food Chain

I built a food chain simulation for biology students to manage a wildlife preserve:

https://davevolekinventions.org/FoodChain/

#tiereddemocraticgovernance
#biology #foodchain #foodweb

Typical #NukeShill comment - "[UK #MinistryOfDefense] published data on #radioactive discharges from #Coulport and #Faslane every year, along with assessments of the #environmental impacts. It insisted those discharges were 'of no regulatory concern'.

That's because these ASSHATS are in denial about #Bioaccumulation! #BananaMan got to them!

#RadioactiveWater from #UK #nuclear bomb base leaked into sea, files show

Exclusive: #Polluted water was released into #LochLong near #Glasgow because #RoyalNavy failed to maintain 1,500 water pipes, says watchdog

by Rob Edwards and Severin Carrell
Sat 9 Aug 2025

Read more:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/09/radioactive-water-bomb-base-scotland-leak-sea-files

#NoNukes #NoWar #NoNuclearWar #NuclearWasteIsForever #BioaccumulationIsReal #FoodChain #NuclearFoodChain #Scotland #NuclearPollution #WaterIsLife

We were warned! From September 2024. And now the #whales are falling silent!!! And #krill are dependent on whales as much as whales are dependent on krill!

#KrillHarvesting threatens #whale recovery

Soaring human demand for krill in the Southern Ocean poses a challenge to the recovery of whale species once hunted nearly to extinction. Stanford researchers identify the growing food conflict and offer solutions.

September 10th, 2024

"Human harvesting of krill in the Southern Ocean could threaten the recovery of whale species that were nearly wiped out by industrial whaling in the 20th century, according to a Sept. 10 study in Nature Communications.

"The tiny, shrimp-like crustaceans known as krill are the essential food source for baleen whales such as blues and #humpbacks. To feed, these giant marine mammals take in great gulps of ocean water, filtering krill through bristly mouth structures. Booming demand for krill as #FishMeal and #omega3 fatty acid nutritional #supplements, however, could leave whales without enough victuals to sustain even their diminished numbers.

" 'Our calculations suggest an alarming possibility that we might harvest krill to the point where we do real damage to recovering whale populations,' said lead study author Matthew Savoca, a research scientist in the lab of Jeremy Goldbogen, associate professor of oceans in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability.

"The results highlight a need for scientists, regulators, and industry to carefully assess the impacts of krill harvesting in the Southern Ocean at current levels before expanding. 'With this study, we want to draw attention to how there likely isn’t enough krill to support fully recovered whale populations, and now on top of that, we’re harvesting krill and plan to harvest more krill in the near future,' said Goldbogen, the study’s senior author
.
Counting on krill

"The new research grew out of a prior Stanford study documenting how baleen whales gobble up significantly more krill than scientists had previously estimated. A paradoxical finding of that study was that, as whale populations plummeted by roughly 90% in the Southern Ocean during whaling’s grim heyday, so, too, did krill populations.

"The researchers worked out that #BaleenWhales effectively fertilize the ocean through their prodigious droppings, providing nutrients for the #phytoplankton that krill eat. The upshot: The krill population must have been much larger, perhaps five times greater, than it is currently to have sustained the pre-whaling whale populations in the early 20th century.

" 'Krill is the foundation of the entire Southern Ocean ecosystem. They’re really the only thing that large whales eat down there,' Savoca said.

"In the nearly 40 years since a global whaling moratorium went into place in 1986, some Southern Ocean species – particularly humpbacks – have made an impressive comeback. Yet this recovery has taken place against increasing competition with humans for the whales’ critical food source; over the past 30 years, the krill catch has quadrupled to around 400,000 tons annually and is set to expand further.

"Savoca and colleagues calculated how much krill is left in the Southern Ocean for baleen whales, seabirds, and other predators to eat after industrial krill harvesting at current rates, compared to the estimated amount of krill available before industrial whaling began. 'The basic math makes it pretty clear that the current krill biomass cannot support both an expanding krill fishery and the recovery of whale populations to pre-whaling size,' said Savoca."

Read more:

#SaveTheWhales #KrillSupplements #Overfishing #FoodChain #FoodIsLife #WaterIsLife #Whales #Extinction #BlueWhales

Alarm over reports of massive #krill catch in the Southern Ocean

August 1, 2025

#ASOC is calling on world governments to take urgent action

Washington, 31 July 2025: "In response to a report by the Associated Press that the Antarctic krill fishery may have to imminently close due to an unprecedented high catch, the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC) is calling on world governments to take urgent action. The historic catch amount occurred due to the lapse of a key #conservation regulation requiring the fishery to distribute fishing over a larger geographic area.

"Krill is at the base of the #FoodChain in Antarctica and increasing demand from companies seeking to sell fishmeal, #PetFood and #DietarySupplements has led to a spiraling increase in catch. International negotiations at CCAMLR, the body charged with conserving marine living resources in Antarctica, broke down last year, resulting in lowering of protections related to krill catch. This reduction in protection allows the entire krill quota to be caught in a very small area, increasing impacts to krill predators – #penguins, #seals, and #whales – that depend on krill to survive.

"The next round of negotiations on these issues will be held in Australia in October. Scientific research has previously shown that krill predators are negatively affected by fishing at an even lower level of catch than was seen this year."

https://www.asoc.org/news/alarm-over-reports-of-massive-krill-catch-in-the-southern-ocean/

#OceansAreLife #Overfishing
#FoodIsLife #Extinction #MarineLife
#Whales #KrillHarvesting #KrillSupplements #StarvingWhales

But nice lawns and golf courses and unblemished flower gardens are so important. We can't possibly give up routine use of #pesticides.

Yet it's clear that even "benign" pesticides, like #pyrethroids, have adverse impacts. Even if they are harmless to people and pets, they have serious adverse consequences. So much of nature's food chain relies on insects - as pollinators, as food for birds and fish, as natural pest control (lady bugs in the garden as an example)

And the joy of seeing butterflies brings smiles to many peoples faces (certainly mine).

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/01/monarch-butterflies-mass-die-off-pesticides?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

#insectageddon #ecosysytems #foodchain