Schneidl12

Wikipedia Article Evaluation :Global Temperature Record

Global temperature record

- This article was relevant to the article topic and made many key points that included information that gave insight into the different ways to measure global temperature. Plus, it wrote about the type of evidence that show global temperature records.

- The information seems to be up to date. Although there is not a lot of information providing what the actual temperatures were during specific periods.

- It would be nice if there would have been more information in this article regarding thermometers since there is one line and then a reference to another article. As well, it could be improved if the article had a simpler layout with less large paragraphs and run on sentence.

- The article is neutral, it does appear to be influenced by one’s opinion, nor does it come across as heavily biased.

- The only viewpoint that seemed underrepresented was thermometers.

- Some of the links go to pages that no longer exist, plus some of the sources go to pages that do not seem completely relevant to the topic of the article.

- Some of the facts do not have a reliable reference since there are links that do not have pages with relevant information or are no longer a page.

- The conversations discuss the ways to improve the article by updating the graphs, defining terms used and how to improve the article to represent the title better.

- The article is rated as Start-Class and is a part of the WikiProject Environment that has a goal to better the content regarding the environment.

- The way we talked about global temperature record was based on graphs and the interaction with the different spheres: atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, pedosphere, and exosphere. We did not talk specifically on the different ways to gather evidence of the global temperature record.

Article Selection

Article 1: Ecosystem

The article's content is most relevant to the topic, it could be improved by breaking down the sections into further subsections to clarify what or how that section is related to the subject of ecosystems. The paragraphs, after a comment made on the talk page, were shortened in order to reduce the amount of information clumped together. Yet, there is a lack of connectivity between the paragraphs and it seems like points jotted down rather than a composed article that expresses facts about ecosystems. As well, grammatical mistakes are apparent through the article, it has run on sentences, misspelled words and the sentences do not flow. This was even mentioned on the talk page, where someone pointed out the word 'ecosystem' being misspelled. The article could be improved significantly by including more information on the topics that are listed, some of the headings do not have information related to the topic or not enough to properly inform someone. It is written in a neutral manner. Some claims have citations, but it is noticeable that there is a lack of citations for much of the article. It needs to be cited properly since the claims do not have evidence to prove the validity. Most of the citations are reliable, there are a few citations that are broken links.

Sources to improve the article:

Article 2: Wetland

The content is based around the wetland and the different functions of a wetland. Overall, it appears to be well written and contains a significant amount of insight into what a wetland is, how it works, and the different services of a wetland. There are some sections that could be improved upon such as the characteristics of a wetland and expand on wetland disturbances. A more detailed section on monitoring wetlands would be a great addition to this article. A note would be that this article could be separated from other more specific articles. There are good detail and facts, but the article seems overcrowded and it jumps from section to section. Its overwhelming the amount of information in the article along. The article is not written in the in a neutral tone, the author appears to have an opinion are what parts of a wetland are most important as well gives opinions on the uses of wetlands rather than facts. There is an entire section of the article that is missing citations for the claims. As well, other portions of the article have citations backing up the claims made, despite the number of citations at the end of the article. Most of the citations appear to be reliable and are academic journals, although there are at least 10 of the links that do not lead to journal and do not work.

Sources to improve the article:

Article 3: Aquatic ecosystem

This article comes across as well structured and contains lots of information on aquatic ecosystems. The content is based around the aquatic ecosystem and gives many claims that educate the reader on the functions of aquatic ecosystems, the different types of ecosystems, and the abiotic and biotic characteristics. Although, there are a number of grammar and spelling mistakes throughout the article. This combined with the lack of definitions given to understand the language of the article. It is critical to an article that the language used is the common language and if it isn't then it should be defined. As well, some of the spelling errors can cause confusion as to what the author was trying to make a point of. It is not presented in a way that any audience could read it. The article is written in a neutral tone. Most of the claims have a citation to them, although there are some sections like the Lentic section that do not have citations to the claims made. The citations at the bottom include academic journals and peer-reviewed articles, which have links that work.

Sources to improve the article:

References

Council, National Research; Studies, Division on Earth and Life; Resources, Commission on Geosciences, Environment and; Policy, Committee on Restoration of Aquatic Ecosystems: Science, Technology, and Public (1992-02-01). Restoration of Aquatic Ecosystems: Science, Technology, and Public Policy. National Academies Press. ISBN 9780309092883.

This citation would be added to the article on Aquatic Ecosystem and would improve the sections regarding the restoration of aquatic ecosystems. This section was particularly lacking credible and working citations or even a citation at all on some claims. This would improve the credibility of the article and add more information on this topic that would greatly improve the content and add more quality information to it.

Topic: Terrestrial Ecosystems

Sources to use:

1. Braswell, B. H., Schimel, D. S., Linder, E., & Moore, B. (1997, October 31). The Response of Global Terrestrial Ecosystems to Interannual Temperature Variability. Retrieved from http://science.sciencemag.org/content/278/5339/870Gill
3. R. A., & Jackson, R. B. (2000). Global patterns of root turnover for terrestrial ecosystems. New Phytologist, 147(1), 13-31. doi:10.1046/j.1469-8137.2000.00681.xSchimel
5. D. S. (1995). Terrestrial ecosystems and the carbon cycle. Global Change Biology, 1(1), 77-91. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2486.1995.tb00008.xTylianakis
7. J. M., Didham, R. K., Bascompte, J., & Wardle, D. A. (2008, October 02). Global change and species interactions in terrestrial ecosystems. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2008.01250.x
9. Swift, M. J., Andren, O., Brussaard, L., Briones, M., Couteaux, M. -., Ekschmitt, K., . . . Smith, P. (1998). Global change, soil biodiversity, and nitrogen cycling in terrestrial ecosystems: Three case studies. Global Change Biology, 4(7), 729-743. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2486.1998.00207.x
11. Shugart, H. H., Smith, T. M., & Woodward, F. I. (1998). Plant functional types: Their relevance to ecosystem properties and global change. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.

KELLY, THE ITEMS BELOW THAT ARE BOLDED ARE THE CHANGES THAT I MADE

Editing an Article

add pictures to article

A terrestrial ecosystem is a type of ecosystem found only on biomes. Seven primary terrestrial ecosystems exist: tundra, taiga, temperate deciduous forest, tropical rain forest, grassland , deserts add more information regarding each of these ecosystems

A community of organisms and their environment that occurs on the land masses of continents and islands. Terrestrial ecosystems are distinguished from aquatic ecosystems by the lower availability of water and the consequent importance of water as a limiting factor. Terrestrial ecosystems are characterized by greater temperature fluctuations on both a diurnal and seasonal basis that occur in aquatic ecosystems in similar climates. The availability of light is greater in terrestrial ecosystems than in aquatic ecosystems because the atmosphere is more transparent inland than in water. Gases are more available in terrestrial ecosystems than in aquatic ecosystems. Those gases include carbon dioxide '(that)switch for (which) serves as a substrate for photosynthesis, oxygen that serves as a substrate in aerobic respiration, and nitrogen that serves as a substrate for nitrogen fixation. Terrestrial environments are segmented into a subterranean portion from which most water and ions are obtained, and an atmospheric portion from which gases are obtained and where the physical energy of light is transformed into the organic energy of carbon-carbon bonds through the process of photosynthesis.

Size and plants

Terrestrial ecosystems occupy 55,660,000 mi² (144,150,000 km²), or 28.26% of Earth's surface. Although, they are comparatively recent in the history of life (the first terrestrial organisms appeared in the Alchi period, about 425 million years ago) and occupy a much smaller portion of Earth's surface than marine ecosystems, terrestrial ecosystems have been a major site of adaptive radiation of both plants and animals. Major plant taxa in terrestrial ecosystems are members of the division Magnoliophyta (flowering plants), of which there are about 275,000 species, and the division Pinophyta (conifers), of which there are about 500 species. Members of the division Bryophyta (mosses and liverworts), of which there are about 24,000 species, are also important in some terrestrial ecosystems. Major animal taxa in terrestrial ecosystems include the classes Insecta (insects) with about 900,000 species, Aves (birds) with 8,500 species, and Mammalia (mammals) with approximately 4,100 species.

Organisms

Organisms in terrestrial ecosystems have adaptations that allow them to obtain water when the entire body is no longer bathed in that fluid (clarify this sentence because it doesn't flow nicely), means of transporting the water from limited sites of acquisition to the rest of the body, and means of preventing the evaporation of water from body surfaces. They also have traits that provide body support in the atmosphere, a much less buoyant medium than water, and other traits that render them capable of withstanding the extremes of temperature, wind, and humidity that characterize terrestrial ecosystems. Finally, the organisms in terrestrial ecosystems have evolved many methods of transporting gametes in environments where fluid flow is much less effective as a transport medium.

The organisms in terrestrial ecosystems are integrated into a functional unit by specific, dynamic relationships due to the coupled processes of energy and chemical flow. Those relationships can be summarized by schematic diagrams of trophic webs, which place organisms according to their feeding relationships. The base of the food web is occupied by green plants, which are the only organisms capable of utilizing the energy of the Sun and inorganic nutrients obtained from the soil to produce organic molecules. Terrestrial food webs can be broken into two segments based on the status of the plant material that enters them. Grazing food webs are associated with the consumption of living plant material by herbivores. Detritus food webs are associated with the consumption of dead plant material by detritivores. The relative importance of those two types of food webs varies considerably in different types of terrestrial ecosystems. Grazing food webs are more important in grasslands, where over half of the net primary productivity may be consumed by herbivores. Detritus food webs are more important in forests, where less than 5% of net primary productivity may be consumed by herbivores.

Types

There is one type of extensive terrestrial ecosystem due solely to human activities. The other eight types are natural ecosystems. Those natural ecosystems reflect the variation of precipitation and temperature over the Earth's surface. The smallest land areas are occupied by tundra and temperate grassland ecosystems, and the largest land area is occupied by tropical forest. The most productive ecosystems are temperate and tropical forests, and the least productive are deserts and tundras.

Cultivated lands, which together with grasslands and savannas utilized for grazing are referred to as agroecosystems, are of intermediate extent and productivity. Because of both their areal extent and their high average productivity, tropical forests are the most productive of all terrestrial ecosystems, contributing 45% of total estimated net primary productivity on land.

References

add sections that give examples of actual terrestrial ecosystems add citations to sections without them use more sources to have more information that is accurate but adds more depth to this article -there are no sources listed in this article, also not sure but we should move comments to this article's Talk page. Not sure though. Category: Ecosystems

Expanding article: Canadian Prairies

Canadian Prairies, partner: Sidneysmiith

• NOTE: reference numbers for each section do not correspond with a reference number in the article, but all are there.*

Paragraph:Definitions/Intro Paragraph #2

This section will be removed and merged with the introduction to allow for a thorough introduction paragraph since it doesn’t make sense by itself. It will also have citations added and be restructured to allow for zero plagiarism and clarity.

Original Paragraph

The prairies in Canada are a temperate grasslands and shrublands biome, within the prairie ecoregion of Canada and consists of Northern mixed grasslands in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and southern Manitoba. Northern short grasslands in southeastern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan.Northern tall grasslands in southern Manitoba, and Aspen parkland, which covers central Alberta, central Saskatchewan, and southern Manitoba. The Prairie starts from north of Edmonton, it covers the three provinces in a southward-slanting line east to the Manitoba-Minnesota border. Alberta has the most land classified as Prairie, while Manitoba has the least, as the Boreal Forest begins at a lower latitude in Manitoba than in Alberta.

Improved Paragraph

The prairies in Canada are temperate grasslands and shrublands biome within the prairie ecoregion of Canada, that consists of northern mixed grasslands in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and southern Manitoba. Plus, northern short grasslands in southeastern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan. As well, the northern tall grasslands in southern Manitoba, and Aspen parkland, which covers central Alberta, central Saskatchewan, and southern Manitoba. The Prairie starts from north of Edmonton and it covers the three provinces in a southward-slanting line east to the Manitoba-Minnesota border. The prairie is the most dominant land cover in Alberta and the least in Manitoba since it has the Boreal Forest covering a large area of land mass. Alberta has the most land classified as Prairie, while Manitoba has the least, as the Boreal Forest begins at a lower latitude in Manitoba than in Alberta.

Paragraph: Economy

I’m going to remove the section under the economy and replace it with this paragraph.

In the mid 20th century, the economy of the prairies exploded, due to the oil boom, and introduced a growth of jobs. The primary industries are agriculture and services. Agriculture consisting of livestock(cattle and sheep), cultivating crops (oats, canola, wheat, barley), and production of oil. Due to the production of oil, the service industry expanded in order to provide for the employees of the oil companies extracting the oil. In the 1950s-1970s, the explosion of oil production increased the worth of Alberta and allowing it to become the “nations richest province” and Canada one of the top petroleum exporters in the world. Edmonton and Calgary drew in a larger population with the increase in jobs in the energy field, which causes the jobs supporting this field to grow as well. It was through the steady economic growth that followed this explosion that the prairies region began to switch from an agriculture-based job sector to one with services included. In 2014, the global market for oil fell and led to a recession, impacting the economy dramatically. Alberta still has an oil dominant economy even as the traditional oil wells dry up, there are oil sands further north (ie. Fort McMurray)that continue to provide jobs to extract, drill and refine the oil. Saskatchewan, in particular, in the early 20th century grew economically due to the Canadian agricultural boom and produce large crops of wheat. It is said to have a “one-crop economy” due to such dependency on this crop alone, but after 1945 the economy took another turn with technological advancements that allowed for the discovery of uranium, oil, and potash. This lead to the economy diversifying.

Paragraph: Physical Geography

This paragraph will stay in the original article, but there are citations needed which will be added below. Some of the paragraphs may be reworked to improve clarity and allow for a better flow of information.

New References

Demographics section

Nothing will be changed in this section. No edits were done.

Partner:Sidneysmiith

Sections are written by partner below:

Main climates section

Adding in new content, as this section was heavily plagiarized with no references. This is the new section:

The core climate of the Canadian prairie region is defined as a semi-arid climate and is often based upon the Köppen climate classification system . This type of classification encompasses five main climate types, with several categoric subtypes based on the precipitation pattern of the region . The majority of the prairie provinces experience snowy, fully humid continental climates with cool summers, also known as class Dfc on the Köppen climate scale . The southern-most regions of the prairies tend to experience fully humid continental climates with warm summers, Dfb . A trifling section surrounding the Alberta-Saskatchewan border has been classified as Bsk, semi-cold and arid climate .

Precipitation events in the Canadian prairies are very important to study as these locations make up 80% of the countries agricultural production . On average, 454mm of precipitation falls on the prairies each year . Out of the three prairie provinces, Saskatchewan obtains the least amount of precipitation annually (395mm), with Manitoba receiving the most at 486mm. Most rainfall typically happens in the summer months such as June and July . With the high humidity of the prairies, tornadoes are likely to occur—marking central Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba as high probability areas . Approximately 72% of tornadoes in Canada are seen across the prairies due to the capability of summer thunderstorm precipitation to mechanically mix with the air adjacent to the relatively flat surface of the region .

Culture and politics section

Some of the section will be reworded for better fluency and references will be added, as there are none for this section.

References that will be added in:

Intro Paragraph #1

Going to reword this section and add in references, as it has none. This is the new section after my edits:

The Canadian Prairies is a region geographically located in Western Canada. The area includes the Canadian portion of the Great Plains and the Prairie provinces such as Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba . These provinces are partially covered by grasslands, plains, and lowlands, mostly in the southern regions. Known to a lesser extent, is the northern-most section of the Canadian prairies which is marked by forests and more variable topology . To define the region in a physiographic sense, to strictly include areas only covered by prairie land, the corresponding region is known as the Interior Plains . Geographically, the Canadian prairies extend to northeastern British Columbia, however this province is not included in a political manner To add to references:

Peer Review Articles

BN1998's Article : Freshwater Acidifcation

Left a review on their talk page.

Varelasara 's Article Glacial Lake

Left a review on their talk page.

Contributing Images and Media Files

Insert 3 links in my article Canadian Prairies and inserted 3 links in another article Prairies

Reflective Essay

During the article evaluation, I understood more about how to improve my writing to allow for clarity and simplicity to my sentences. It is better to put information on Wikipedia that is able to be read by all audiences than use complex words or concepts that a general audience could not understand. As well, the layout of the article is crucial to making the article good, it must clearly layout sections that are subdivisions of information on the topic at hand. When I was choosing articles to critique, I would choose articles that appeared to have great information available and had relevant subjects to our class curriculum. When critiquing the article that my partner and I selected for our assignment, the grammar and sentence structure of the whole article was the first step to editing this assignment, then it was a matter of ridding the article of all of the sections that the original author has plagiarized from other websites. This took a great deal of time to edit everything and to find appropriate citations for all of the research. For the original article we had chosen, Terrestrial Ecosystems, I made edits to the layout of the article. I suggested that a number of graphs and pictures should be added to improve the quality of the article and allow for a better understanding of the concepts. As well, I added that citations should be found for all of the information in the article that was currently missing citations. Additionally, the original author had left a number of spelling and grammatical errors that would be fixed. These edits would greatly improve the ability to understand the article and improve the information being given in the article. For the peer review, it was important to look at the layout, the grammar, the tone of the article, and the ability to convey the important information in the article. In my peer reviews, I encouraged others to improve their grammar and to include citations when necessary. Also, I gave examples of how they could improve their article and were in it. The peer review that I received was to change the structure of a couple of sentences in my piece in order to allow for clarity in the concept I was trying to express. I did not receive feedback from any Wikipedia editors. This assignment allowed me to perform in-depth analysis of the article and to improve it as I saw needed to allow for the article my partner and I chose, Canadian Prairies, to be a more effective learning tool to others. By editing this article and contributing to the community as a whole, this allows for more relevant and reliable information in Wikipedia and available to the public.