ScLi16- Identify the purpose of discussions in scientific ar…
ScLi16- Identify the purpose of discussions in scientific articles The following excerpt belongs to the study Anthropogenic Marsh Impoundments Alter Collective Tendency in Schooling Fish coauthored by Dr. Kevin Boswell (professor in our bio department). The objective of the study was to determine if schooling behavior of fish was affected by the introduction of human modifications to their habitats. Researchers compared fish school behavior before and during predator attacks in undisturbed marsh environments and environments with Water Control Structure (man-made). The following is a part of a paragraph of their discussion: “In contrast with previous studies, which demonstrated that habitats with a structural boundary elicited tighter schooling with an increase in both rotational order and polarization (Rodriguez-Pinto et al. 2020), the decrease in the two schooling metrics at the WCS found in our study suggests that other factors modulated by the anthropogenic structure in addition to structural complexity are driving collective tendencies. A potential factor that may explain this is if the WCS environment, acting as an ecological hotspot, causes an increase in predation risk due to a greater abundance of predators. Previous studies have demonstrated the ability for fish schools to adjust schooling tendency relative to the perceived risk level (termed the “risk sensitive hypothesis”) (Rieucau et al. 2014), as well as showing that high-predation habitats influence social dynamics in fish schools (Ioannou et al. 2017). Therefore, the changes in behavioural schooling state observed at the WCS may be a result of a combination between habitat complexity, predation risk, and other environmental factors. Further studies on the combinations of environmental factors affected by anthropogenic structures and their impacts on collective behaviour are a novel area for future research.” Which of the following are functions of discussions that are NOT being addressed in the paragraph?