Starting the research process

Starting the research proccess

PHASE 1

TOPIC SELECTION AND WEB SEARCHING

1. Identify a topic of interest

• Select a topic that is interesting

and engaging

• Address an issue that is affecting

your community

TOPIC:

Mysterious Puffer fish deaths

Check out the story that got me interested:

http://www.kitv.com/news/24212214/detail.html

2. Develop a research question

3. Identify potential search terms

What is the cause of this mass death event in the hawaii striped puffer fish population?

Disease

Pollution

Mass death

Death

Mass mortality

Puffer fish

Puffer

Tetraodontidae

Tetraodon

Marine fish

Search terms

• Disease
• Pollution
• Death
• Mass mortality
• Puffer
• Puffer fish
• Marine fish
• Tetraodontidae

Tertradon

4. Execute a preliminary search (web)

puffer fish care

puffer fish information

facts about puffer fish

Not Wikipedia

Encyclopedia of life

http://www.eol.org/

Information derived from

• FishBase
• Catalog of life

High authority

Add new vocabulary to list of search terms

PHASE 2 DATABASE SEARCHING AND QUERY REFINMENT

1. Checking Database Thesauri

2. Executing your search

3. Organizing your findings

4. Make connections

Refining the research question

and developing a hypothesis

GOOD JOB

but thats just the beginning......

Now your ready to start the REAL RESEARCH

CONCLUSION

• Good research takes time

• Good research leaves the

researcher with more questions

than answers

• Most importantly good research is

comprehensive

GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR RESEARCH

• Habitat
• Threat
• Low oxygen
• Mass death
• Algae

Search terms

• Disease
• Pollution
• Death
• Mass mortality
• Puffer
• Puffer fish
• Marine fish
• Tetraodontidae

Tetraodon

Aquatic Community is not an expert site. It is however an

information portal where aquatic afficianados share information.

I found some good preliminary information using the fish news tab.

Classification and taxonomy provided

I found some interesting information on this site but something about the name didn't seem scientific enough. So I kept looking.

5. Refine the research question

Link to wikipedia page and formatted citation for the page are provided

6. Execute a second search (database)

Skillful use of online media

Equips students to

Use social media to work collaboratively

Reflect on their use of media

Active inquiry

Reflection

Too many search results

The result set for my search PUFFER and POLLUTION was larger than I wanted. I still found this intereresting article.

36 articles, a much better results set. A smaller set is easier to search.

Virtual community & real life

Virt

Virtual community & real life

• Habitat
• Threat
• Low oxygen
• Mass death
• Algae

FINAL LIST OF SEARCH TERMS

• Disease
• Pollution
• Death
• Mass mortality
• Puffer
• Puffer fish
• Marine fish
• Tetraodontidae

Tetraodon

• Fish kill
• Bioindicator
• Indicator species
• Oxygen level
• Algae bloom
• Water salinity
• Swim ladder
• Coral bleaching
• El Nino

algae can cause mass

fish mortality

Works Cited

http://www.bibme.org/

lack of scales makes

puffer fish more susceptible

to disease

Organize your bibliography

as you go. I use a citation

machine called bibme that

lets me save multiple

bibliographies which can

be viewed and accessed

onlilne.

You can also download your

bibliographies to a word

document and choose which

style you want to use to

format your citations.

parasitic organisms

feeding on puffer fish

can act as bioindicator

low oxygen levels

are a common cause

of fish death

1."Dead fish are covering the beaches of Brazil." AC Tropical Fish & Aquarium. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 July 2010.<http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/news/lib/514>. Mass fish mortality occurred on beaches in Brazil.

2."Puffers - Pufferfish, Family: Tetraodontidae." Dr. Jungles Exotic Pets, Animals, Aquariums. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 July 2010. <http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/Puffers/Pufferfish.php>.

Information of care of puffer fish. Article indicates that lack of scales makes puffer fish more susceptible to disease.

3.Roberts, T.R.. " Tetraodon lineatus Linnaeus, 1758 - Encyclopedia of Life ." Encyclopedia of Life. FishBase, n.d. Web. 20 July 2010. <http://www.eol.org/pages/225134>.

Detailed information on puffer fish. Includes habitat, disease, information on taxonomy and links to other reliable sources.

4."Stingray mass death in U.S. Zoo." AC Tropical Fish & Aquarium. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 July 2010. <http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/news/lib/312>. Stingray and fish death in the U.S. National Zoo.

Insufficient oxygen levels in the water is identified as a likely cause of stingray death.

5.Fajer-Avila, Emma, Irma Martinez-Rodriguez, Maria De la Parra, Luis Alvarez-Lajonchere, and Miguel Betancourt-Lozano. "Effectiveness of freshwater treatment against Lepeophtheirus simplex (Copepoda: Caligidae) and Neobenedenia sp. (Monogenea: Capsalidae), skin parasites of bullseye puffer fish, Sphoeroides annulatus reared in tanks." Aquaculture 284.1-4 (2008): 277-280. ScienceDirect. Web. 14 July 2010.

Examines the impact of sea lice on bulls eye puffer fish relating to skin pathology and mortality.

6.Fazio, Gerladine , Helene Mone, Catherine Da Silva, Gael Simon-Levert, Jean-Francois Allienne, Raymond Lecomte-Finiger, and Pierre Sasal. "Changes in Gene Expression in European Eels (Anguilla anguilla) Induced by Infection with Swim Bladder Nematodes (Anguillicola crassus)." Parasitology 85.4 (2009): 808-816. JSTOR. Web. 11 July 2010.

Scientist investigate parasite that is thought to cause decline in the population of endangered eels.

7.Gunter, Gordon, Robert Williams, Charles, Davis, and Walton Smith. "Catastrophic Mass Mortality of Marine Animals and Coincident Phytoplankton Bloom on the West Coast of Florida." Ecological Monographs 18.3 (1948): 309-324. JSTOR. Web. 9 July 2010.

Historic fish kill event affecting the Florida coast.

8.Guzman, Hector, and Ross Robertson. "Population and feeding responses of the." Marine Ecology Press 55 (1989): 121-131. Google Scholar. Web. 13 July 2010.

Discusses the relationship between puffer fish feeding and coral death.

9.Jose Luis, Ochoa, and Arturo Sanchez-Paz. "Toxic events in the Northwest Pacific coastline of Mexico during 1992–1995: origin and impact." Hydrobiologia 352.1-3 (1997): 195-200. Google Scholar. Web. 19 July 2010. Explores red bloom occurrences in the Baja peninsula. Discusses possible impact of bloom on fish populations in the area.

10.Lima, D, MM Santos, AM Ferreira, C Micaelo, and MA Reis-Henriques. "The use of the shanny Lipophrys pholis for pollution monitoring: A new sentinel species for the northwestern European marine ecosystems." Environment International 34.1 (2008): 94-101. Oceanic Abstracts. Web. 15 July 2010.

The article discusses strategies for using mussels to monitor pollution levels in marine environments.

11.Mix, Michael. "Cancerous diseases in aquatic animals and their association with environmental pollutants: A critical literature review." Marine Environmental Research 20.1-2 (1986): 1-141. ScienceDirect. Web. 10 July 2010.

Mass mortality of sea bass in the Mediterranean has resulted in swim bladder malfunction. These conditions may be attributable to variety in light temperature and water salinity.

12.Pech, Daniel, Victor Vidal-Martinez, Leopoldina Aguirre-Macedo, Gerardo Gold-Bouchot, and Jorge Herrera-Silveira. "The checkered puffer (Spheroides testudineus) and its helminths as bioindicators of chemical pollution in Yucatan coastal lagoons ." Science of The Total Environment 407.7 (2009): 2315-2324. ScienceDirect. Web. 11 July 2010.

Seeks to determine whether parasitic organism feeding on checkered puffer fish can be used to determine chemical pollutant levels in a lagoon in the Yucatan Peninsula.

13.Pounds, Alan, Martin Bustamante, Luise Coloma, Jamie Consuegra, and Michael Fogden. "Widespread amphibian extinctions from epidemic disease driven by global warming." Nature 439 (2006): 161-167. Nature. Web. 13 July 2010.

Discusses the impact of global warming on amphibian populations worldwide.

14.Yang, Z, JJ Liu, W Wang, RX Guo, GX Qin, and YF Chen. "Effects of salinity on survival and Na+-K+ ATPase activity of obscure puffer Takifugu obscurus embryos." Journal of Applied Ichthyology 26.3 (2010): 449-452. Oceanic Abstracts. Web. 13 July 2010.

Examines the effect of salinity on the survival of puffer fish embryos.

amphibians are an indicator species

phytoplankton can cause

mass fish mortality

water salinity may have an effect on puffer fish health

Abstract

This article investigates mass puffer fish deaths which occurred in hawaiian waters during the spring and summer of 2010. The authors hypothesize that puffer fish, like amphibians may act as an indicator species, "whose presence or absence in an area indicates certain environmental conditions."* Factors contributing to contamination of the marine habitat are considered. In addition, the following three factors are identified as possible causes of the 2010 puffer fish mass mortality event.

• Coral bleaching resulting in increased ocean oxygen levels
• Consumtion of bleached coral by pufer fish
• Changes in ocean termperatures resulting from el nino weather pattern

Finding are presented and reccomendations are made for future study of this phenomenon.

*The Unabridged Hutchinson Encyclopedia. S.v. "Sentinel species." Retrieved July 21 2010 from http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Sentinel+species