For our assignment this week, we were asked to find an article that relates to our work, reflect on it, and write down our thoughts about how this article could be used to provide new perspectives into our work. I selected an article (https://arctic.ru/ecology/20200608/946428.html) that explored a completely different side of biological and biosphere reserves. While, during this project, I was focusing on the terrestrial ecosystems and their statistics, I did not realize that there were protected marine reserves as well. This article describes the measures that Russia is taking (or planning to take) in order to create marine reserves and maintain the homeostasis of the environment and its relation to humans.
From what I have learned through classes, many of the marine environments are in great need of protection, especially from overfishing, eutrophication, acidification, and marine life death. Especially coral reefs, which are dying at increasingly fast pace due to climate change, and other species similar to these could benefit from the protections of a marine reserve. Through my research, I have been reflecting on the conservation and protection of the flora and fauna in different biosphere reserves, including tigers, elephants, and even ancient citrus plants. However, I never considered that these marine ecosystems would also need certain protection so that the species are conserved.
The article states that Russia has been researching and analyzing the biodiversity of places in the Arctic and in Russia to help select the areas that should be under protection. As I ponder this article, I realize that there are many more marine ecosystems in existence that could benefit from conservation. I think that this practice should be used more often and in more countries around the world – after all, most of our world consists of marine environments!