Weekly Blog 3/7 - 3/13 - Gray Area Suspects

Algal Blooms, a new main suspect

Image Source: https://goo.gl/7SwzLM

Summary: 

     This week, I identified all of the suspects killing the fish in the entire Gray Area. The new suspects that were possibly killing the fish that I identified this week were Parallel Park (Elmo Skeeto), who was hunting mountain lions, allowing the other populations that the mountain lions hunt to grow and overpopulate, such as deer. Those, populations (deer especially), are overgrowing since there are no mountain lions to hunt them, so they overgraze the grass. Since there is a decrease in the amount of grass in the Gray Area, there is no grass/plants to hold down the soil, so the soil erodes into a nearby river, causing sediment problems for fish and other creatures living in the river. Other suspects I identified this week were suspects around James Pond such as the Golf Course (Sandy Trapp) who was adding phosphates into the grass, which eventually went into the river, causing algal blooms and fish to die, and the Farm and Cattle Ranch (owned by Don Juan Tuno, who was possibly doing the same thing as the golf course). I also went back and looked at previous suspects that were killing the fish, such as the Waterslide (Ken Unballe), the Clear Cut Forest, the Toy Factory (LaToya Faktorie), and the Oil Factory (Don Juan Tuno).

SP3: Conducting Investigations:

     I conducted investigations on the suspects killing the fish through two different ways: Scientific experiments and connecting data and events through suspect files. For example, I tested out which drainage (Small Town, Cattle Ranch, Golf Course) near James Pond had a big amount of phosphates in them by dropping a sample of each drainage's water, then pouring a drop of liquid which was an indicator into each of the samples. If the drainage water turned into another color (besides clear) after making contact with the indicator, that meant that the drainage had too much phosphates in them, and that that specific drainage was contributing to the fish kill. The only drainage near James Pond that had too many phosphates in them was the Golf Course Drainage, which meant that the Golf Course was contributing to the fish kill. Another way I identified suspects killing the fish were through the suspect files. These files often show secret emails, which show conversations of suspects talking about what they will do/did to solve a specific problem. A good example of this is a private conversation between Sandy Trapp (Owner of the Golf Course), and someone else, who goes by the name, Mo Lawn. They discuss the issue of the grass turning brown in the Golf Course, and decide to fix this issue by adding phosphates to the grass. To confirm that the Golf Course was a valid suspect, I looked for other events and data connecting to this detail, such as data that showed that phosphates were found in the drainage of the Golf Course. 

XCC: Systems and System Models:

      In the Gray Area, there is two systems: The Environment and the People. The environment contributes to the people by providing food (fish, deer, etc.) and recreation, such as birdwatching, sightseeing, hunting, fishing, etc. However, the Environment System is disrupted by the people in the Gray Area. Overhunting can cause other populations to grow, and possibly cause overgrazing. Overgrazing can cause grass to disappear. Since there is no grass, there is nothing to hold the sediment down from eroding, so the sediment erodes and falls into nearby rivers, suffocating, blinding fish and increasing the temperatures in the river. Also, the Environment System is disrupted by the people if the people pour harmful things into the water. Putting too much phosphates into grass can make the phosphates go down into drainage and into the rivers, and if this happens too much, algal blooms begin to occur, which is known to kill fish. Pouring chlorine into the river can also kill fish. All of the causes of this disruption is caused by the People, and if fish start to die out in the Gray Area, the food chain is disrupted, since other animals that eat fish starve due to the lack of fish, and animals that eat that animal start to die out as well, and this eventually affects humans. The lack of fish also causes birds to find places with more food, reducing birdwatching and sightseeing. This is how the Environment system is affected by the People system in the Gray Area

Final Thoughts/Recap/Conclusion:

     This week, I discovered new suspects killing fish in the Gray Area, and found out all of the suspects participating in this activity, which was all of the entire Gray Area. The Waterslide was pouring chlorine into the water, killing fish, Synchrony City, the Toy Factory, and the Oil Refinery were causing acid rain, making the water too acidic for fish, killing them, places near the James Pond were putting phosphates into the river, causing algal blooms, and the Clear/Selectively Cut Forest was cutting down trees and hunting animals, causing overgrazing and sediment to fall in the river, and disrupted the food chain. This is why I think everyone in the Gray Area is contributing to the fish kill. However, I believe that the Golf Course, owned by Sandy Trapp, is responsible for the majority of the fish kill, because in the Fish Autopsy Results, it showed that the majority of the fish died by lack of oxygen. I believe that the Golf Course caused all of this by adding phosphates into their grass, which went into rivers, causing algal blooms, and killing the fish. Also, this week, I was a Wanderer. This is because I told all the information I received to my team, and told them my ideas about the suspects in the Gray Area. I don't believe I contributed enough data to my team to be a Creator. This is why this week, I was a Wanderer.