STUNG! On Jellyfish Blooms and the Future of the Ocean Lisa-ann Gershwin Sylvia Earle (Fwd.) Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, May 2013 |
Rating: 5.0 High |
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ISBN-13 978-0-226-02010-5 | ||||
ISBN-10 0-226-02010-X | 424pp. | HC/FCI | $27.50 |
Page 31: | "...and a myriad of gribblies living in the understory." |
This quotation refers to the ecology of a kelp forest. The term "gribblies," as I understand it, means something akin to gremlins: small monsters, perhaps harmless, but if not more annoying than dangerous. |
Page 51: | "Mnemiopsis only rarely preys on copepods when other food is available." |
Redundant: S/B "rarely". |
Page 53: | "However, cool spring temperatures are associated with smaller body size, and they are unable to survive the 4°C (39°F) winters..." |
Dangling participle: S/B "Mnemiopsis is unable to survive". |
Page 67: | "Introduced species seem to love the Baltic apparently attracted or enabled by this instability..." |
Missing comma: S/B "the Baltic, apparently attracted". |
Page 80: | "Generalists." |
Not a sentence: S/B "They are generalists." |
Page 83: | "In order to better understand jellyfish blooms and their growing importance, this chapter is devoted to making sense of..." |
Dangling participle: S/B "In order to foster better understanding of". |
Page 93: | "Most of the time, this is more or less true." |
I'm not sure what to make of that. |
Page 95: | "From 1988 to 1999, the annual worldwide catch of jellyfish was [...] about 321,000 tons (wet weight). [...] that's [...] more than the totals of Pacific herring (353,068 tons) ..." |
This math doesn't add up. |
Page 114: | "Man marks the earth with ruin, his control stops with the shore, again reflecting..." |
Close-quote mark missing: S/B 'with the shore," again'. |
Pages 127-128: | "Longlines catch sharks, sea turtles, and seabirds in addition as their target fish species." |
Wrong word: S/B "in addition to". |
Page 138: | "But jellyfish, which eat copepods, are flourishing. And salps." |
Not a sentence: S/B "And so are salps." |
Page 151: | "Research is currently underway to try to determine how many jellyfish..." |
Missing space: S/B "under way". |
Page 161 & 2: | "It's pink. It's slimy. It's lethal. [...] The stings are annoying but usually not lethal." |
Inconsistent: S/B "It can be lethal." |
Page 178: | "The second phase of eutrophication is when the initial and secondary effects become visible." |
Contradictory: Why describe an initial phase if initial effects aren't part of it? S/B "when the secondary effects". |
Page 184: | "Formerly so common as to be featured on textbook covers, stamps, and even university logos, sightings of these species are now few and far between." |
Dangling participle: S/B "these species are seldom sighted now". |
Page 189: | "Nutrient pollution includes substances that are natural in the marine environment but are in unnaturally excessive amounts (eutrophic conditions) or severely limiting (oligotrophic conditions)." |
This may be the marine ecological definition, but to me it seems incorrect that the lack of something would be considered pollution. |
Page 192: | "'Biomagnification' is where these accumulated substances are passed up the food chain, and compounded through repeated ingestion of contaminated organisms." |
Punctuation, wording: S/B "chain and concentrated". |
Page 197: | "Once thought to break down through rapid dispersion and microbial degradation, it is now clear that spilled oil has both an acute mortality effect and a chronic sublethal effect." |
Dangling participle: S/B "spilled oil is now known to have". |
Page 198: | "Heavy metals can cause changes to tissue matter, reproductive and growth abnormalities, and behavioral alterations." |
Extra word: S/B "tissue". |
Page 199: | "To put this into context, the highest category of contaminated fish, which includes, ahi tuna, swordfish, and shark, reveal concentrations of more than..." |
Extra comma: S/B "which includes ahi tuna". |
Pages 204-5: | "...and second, manufactured microscopic resin pellets (called 'nurdles') and cosmetic and industrial scrubbers." |
Wrong word: S/B "from cosmetic". (Also I'm not sure these pellets are microscopic.) |
Page 205: | "However, it seems plausible that the toxins in and on plastics may be capable leaching out during the digestion process..." |
Missing word: S/B "may be capable of leaching out". |
Page 209: | "Vast tracks of cold-water corals living in the deep sea..." |
Wrong word: S/B "Vast tracts". |
Page 232: | "Carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere when we burn fossil fuels, for example, in coal-fired power plants and automobiles." |
Word order: S/B "in automobiles and coal-fired power plants". |
Page 240: | "Much of this carbon is 'fixed' by phytoplankton, meaning that it is converted into energy in the form of body mass." |
Inaccurate: S/B "converted into insoluble forms of body mass". (One possible revision) |
Page 240: | "Furthermore, many copepod species [... facilitate] the process of removing excess carbon from the carbon cycle by their waste becoming more readily locked in the sediments." |
Inaccurate: S/B "removing excess carbon from the oceans". (It's still part of the carbon cycle, which includes rocks and sediments.) |
Page 252: | "For tropical species, the outlook under intolerable warming conditions is less clear." |
Clumsy: S/B "the outlook under warming conditions". Intolerable conditions will not be tolerated! |