User:Kuom4/sandbox

I have reviewed the Mire article and left a feedback in the talk page of the sandbox of the user Herryhen. I have also responded to a peer review in the talkpage of my sandbox.

Positive Impacts
All snakes are ectothermic species, meaning they depend on the temperature of the environment to maintain homeostasis. Although it is predicted that the current rate of climate change will be too rapid for many reptiles and amphibian species to adapt or to evolve, studies have suggested that a warmer climate may actually be beneficial to rat snake species. Global warming also poses less threats to rat snakes in temperate zones than in tropical zones as rat snake species in temperature zones can tolerate broader ranges of temperature. Global climate change will increase both day time and night time temperature. This will make the night time environment more thermally suitable for rat snakes to hunt, thereby making them more active at night. Increasing night time activity allows rat snakes to catch larger prey items such as birds, since female birds usually incubate their eggs in the nest at night and have decreased ability to detect rat snakes due to poor visibility conditions. Global warming may also lead to changes in predation. Rat snakes are prey species to predators like hawks. While rat snakes are being hunted during the day, being more active at night due to warmer temperature may allow rat snakes to be less vulnerable to predation from hawks. A warming climate also enhances food digestion in rat snakes thereby making them more efficient, which enables rat snake individuals to grow larger in size and allowing them to consume more prey. In comparison to rat snake species at relatively colder regions, rat snake species at lower latitudes tend to be larger in size due to warmer climate conditions. As the global climate warms, the average body size of rat snakes at higher latitudes will become larger, which will allow the species to catch more preys and thus increase their overall reproductive success.

Negative Impacts
Eastern rat snakes species in North America are experiencing negative shifts in their behaviour due to climate change and increasing temperatures. These shifts differ between the large distributions of rat snakes that range from Ontario to Texas. The increasing temperatures can negatively impact this species and can be attributed to population declines in some areas.

Rat snake populations from their northern range, such as Ontario, are experiencing a shift in hibernation emergence. The populations in these regions typically emerge from hibernation in late April. However, the increasing variability in temperature may cause rat snakes to emerge on a warm sunny day in the months of February or March. Climate change has caused winters that can have weather turn back very quickly from sunny periods with high temperatures to snow and below freezing temperatures. The early emergence of these rat snakes will begin to expose them to these fatal conditions if a snake cannot return to its hibernaculum in time. Therefore, the large fluctuations in temperature affect the consistent thermoregulation that rat snakes need for bodily functions like digestion and movement. The unpredictability of the weather is causing more rat snakes in their northern range to get caught in this these cold snaps and freeze to death.

Increasing temperatures due to climate change have increased the nocturnal activity of rat snakes, especially in warmer climates such as Texas. This has allowed them to alter their predation habits and feed more on nesting birds and other accessible prey. However, their increased nocturnal activity puts them at risk to a new range of nocturnal predators. Rat snakes may not be used to the presence of nocturnal predators such as raccoons and owls and may be more vulnerable as prey. Until rat snakes are able to adapt to their relatively new predators, populations may be at risk due to heavy predation from other animals.

Life History Alterations in Ontario Gray Rat Snakes
As Rat Snakes are ectothermic species, they require sunlight and heat to maintain their body temperatures. Across their range in North America each species of Rat Snake has different ideal body temperatures. In Ontario, the average ideal body temperature of a Rat Snake is 28.1 degrees Celsius with free ranging gravid females tending to be require a bit higher in order to meet their thermoregulatory requirements for gestation. With ambient air temperatures over the course of their entire active season (from May to September) almost never reaching the required 28.1 degrees C, the Rat Snakes in Ontario resort to basking habitats where conditions allow temperatures to rise above normal and up to 43 degrees Celsius at the hottest times of day and year. These habitats include areas such as rock outcrops, bare ground, or edge habitat where they can bask on tree branches fully exposed to the sun. However, with climate change and an associated increase in ambient air temperature by 3 degrees C, the amount of required time spent by snakes in these habitats will decrease. This will result in alterations in the amount and time of activity of Rat Snakes in the province. They will have the potential to be generally more active during both the day and night as it will be easier for them to maintain their ideal body temperature. Habitat choices may also shift with increased temperatures. More time could be spent in areas such as forests or barns where the temperatures are currently too low for the snakes to spend most of their time in. There will be less of a need to expose themselves in their open basking habitats causing decreases in predator vulnerability as well as increases in thermoregulatory ability and foraging time. In addition, Rat Snakes in Ontario currently have a low growth rate and maturation rate due to the cooler climate and shorter active seasons compared to other species of Rat Snakes further South in North America. This means that Ontario’s Rat Snakes are more vulnerable to population declines. But, with an increase in temperature and an increase in the duration of the active season from climate change, it is possible that the growth rate and maturation rate of these snakes will increase.

Week 6 assignment: Article evaluation

Article: Afforestation The article I have chosen for this evaluation is Afforestation. I think that all of the content in this article is relevant to the topic, however, I think that more details should be included in the "processes" section. Moreover, the editors should explain the mechanisms of afforestation in more details instead of linking the readers to another article. In the countries and regions section, it is obvious to see that little effort has been put in for the afforestation in Brazil in comparison to all other countries and regions. There is only 1 line in the Brazil section, whereas extensive research has been done on all other countries. It is clear to see that the information regarding afforestation in Brazil is under-presented compared to all other sections. In terms of the citations, there are a few citations missing in this article. For instance, the editor wrote that "there is extensive and ongoing Amazon deforestation" under the Brazil section. This is a fact that is missing a citation. In addition, not all of the information are retrieved from academic sources such as scientific papers. In order to make this article more reliable, more information should be drawn from scientific journals. In the Talk page of the article, several advice are mentioned. It is discussed that the article needs to include information regarding afforestation at a broader geographic range. Also, an editor points out that this article requires more citations. This article is a part of the WikiProject Forestry as well as the WikiProject Environment. It is rated as Start-Class in both projects, and as high-importance in the Forestry Project and as Mid-importance in the Environment Project.

Week 7 assignment: Add to an article

Article selected: Afforestation There is extensive and ongoing Amazon deforestation. ). There is also ongoing afforestation effort in Brazil. In an afforestation hotspot outlined in Para, Brazil, 1 billion trees are intended to be planted to restore deforested lands by 2013.

Week 8 assignment: Choose your topic/Finding Sources

For this section of the article, my group members and I will gather information regarding the positive and negative effects of climate change on rat snakes. For my section specifically, I will be contributing to the positive effects of climate change to rat snakes. This will include facts such as how a warming climate can lead to prolonged night-time activity, which allows rat snakes to capture more preys and be less vulnerable to predators such as hawks and raccoons.

Week 9 assignment: Draft your article

Article Draft The following section in the article about rat snakes will contain information regarding the impacts of climate change on rat snake species. This section in the article will be broken up into 3 parts: the possible benefits of climate change to the snakes, the possible negative impacts of climate change to the snakes, and possible impacts on specific rat snake species in various geographic regions. Some of the benefits of climate change to rat snakes include extended night-time activity, which allows more hunting opportunities. In addition, extended night-time activity reduces the odds of getting eaten by predators such as hawks, as hawks hunt during day-time and not during night-time.