User:Leahpritchett/sandbox

Article evaluation
I will be reviewing the article on Emperor penguin. Everything in the article was relevant to the article topic except one part seemed out of place to me and that was the topic "Cultural references". This section to me seems not relevant to learning about the emperor penguin. The article is neutral and talks about the penguin with an unbias option. The citations that I checked did work and the sources did support the article. Most of the sources came from reliable sources like a textbook or a published paper. There was a lot of talk in the talk section that they placed them in a content section and they were based on how to improve the article and what they removed from it

Potential Articles
1) Vertical clinging and leaping. This article has very little information and can be improved by the addition of more information, photos and better description.

2) Spongivore This article also has very little information about the behaviour of eating sponges. Could provide information on what eats sponges, how, why and how it effects the sponge community.

3) Tail sailing. This article also has very little information about the tail sailing of whales and possible other marine species. Could provide more information about other animals that do this action, why, and how.

I would like these reviewed

Topic Feedback

I am not confident that there will be a substantial amount of additional information that you can add to these topics (particularly with vertical clinging and leaping, and tail sailing). However, there are some articles to support why species specialize on sponges, how predation affects distribution of species, and the defence mechanisms sponges have against spongivory. Therefore, of the three topics, I find this to be the most worthy of development. Jpethier (talk) 15:35, 7 February 2018 (UTC)jpethier

Contribute to selected article
- Describe what a sponge is, how it works in the environment and its role in the food chain (more biological aspect)

- Describe how predation affects the distribution of species and what predators prey on it.

- If any predation caused any species of sponge to become extinct.

- Any defence mechanisms sponges have against spongivory

- Photos of sponges and predators

Draft for the article Spongivore
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia A spongivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating the phylum Porifera, commonly called sea sponges, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their diet, spongivore animals like the hawksbill turtle have developed sharp, narrow bird-like beak that allows them to reach within crevices on the reef to obtain sponges.

Examples
The hawksbill turtle is one of the few animals known to feed primarily on sponges. It is the only known spongivorous reptile. Sponges of various select species constitute up to 95% of the diets of Caribbean hawksbill turtle populations.

Pomacanthus imperator, the emperor angelfish, Lactophrys bicaudalis, the spotted trunkfishes and Stephanolepis hispidus, the filefish are known spongivorous coral reef fish.

Certain species of nudibranchs are known to feed selectively on specific species of sponges.

Spongivore offense
The many defenses displayed by sponges means that their spongivores need to learn skills to overcome these defenses to obtain their food. These skills allow spongivores to increase their feeding and use of sponges. Spongivores have three primary strategies for dealing with sponge defenses: choice based on colour, able to handle secondary metabolites and brain development for memory.

Choice based on colour was involved based on which sponge the spongivore would choose to eat. A spongivore would bite small sample of sponges and if they were unharmed that they would continue eating that specific sponge and then move on to another sponge of the same colour.

Spongivores have adopted to be able to handle the secondary metabolites that sponges have. Therefore, spongivores are able to consume a variety of sponges without getting harmed.

Spongivores also have enough brain development to be able to remember the same species of sponge it has eaten in the past and will continue to eat in the future.

Sponge defense
A sponge defense is a trait that increases a sponge fitness when faced with a spongivore. This is measured relative to another sponge that lacks the defensive trait. Sponge defenses increase survival and/or reproduction (fitness) of sponges under pressure of predation from spongivore.

The use of structural and chemical strategies found in sponges are used to deter predation. One of the most common structural strategies that sponges have that prevents them from being consumed by predators is by having spicules. If a sponge contains spicules along with organic compounds, the likelihood of those sponges being consumed by spongivores decrease.

Sponges have also developed aposematism to help avoid predation. Spongivores have learned four things about sponges aposematism and they are as follows: Unfortunately, sponges that live in the deep sea are not at an advantage due to the colour because most colour in the deep sea is lost.
 * 1) If it is poison some predators will not eat it
 * 2) If It is conspicuously coloured, or advertises itself by means of some other signals;
 * 3) Some predators avoid attacking it because of its signals
 * 4) These conspicuous signals provide better protection to the individual or to its genes than would other (e.g. cryptic) signals.

Impacts
Sponges play an important role in the benthic fauna throughout temperate, tropical and polar habitats. If there is a high volume of predation it can effect bio erosion, reef creation, multiple habitats, other species and help with the nitrogen levels.

Bio erosion that occurs in the production of reef sediments and the structural component of corals are partly produced by sponges, where solid carbonate is processed into smaller fragments and fine sediments. Sponges also play a role in increasing the survival of live coral on Caribbean reefs by binding fragments together and is expected to increase the rates of carbonate accretion.

The coral reefs that contain higher amounts of sponges have better survival rate than the reefs with fewer sponges. Sponges can act as a stabilizer during storms as they help keep the reefs intact when presented with a strong currents. Sponges also grown between rocks and boulders, providing a more stable environment and lowering the disturbance levels. Sponges also provide habitats for other organisms to live in, without them, these organisms would not have a protected habitat.

Scientist have discovered that sponges play an important role in the nitrogen cycle. There are low amounts of nitrogen found in the water around coral reefs and most of the nitrogen that is found it bound into particulate or dissolved organic matter. Before this dissolved organic matter is able to be used by other reef organisms it must undergo a series of microbial transformations. The nitrogen cycle that occurs in sponges are able to cycle the nitrogen back into the water column and can be used by other organisms, especially the cyanobacteria.The cyanobacteria then can then fix the atmospheric nitrogen and then the sponges can use it. Therefore, if there is a high amount of spongivores present in an environment, it can effect other aspects of the environment besides sponges.

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