http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/277/5325/494
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4228411.stm
http://www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/qthinice.asp
http://www.nas.nasa.gov/About/Education/Ozone/ozonelayer.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone_depletion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
GLOBAL WARMING AND BIODIVERSITY
Many scientist consider humans as the most invasive species, as human can greatly change an environment and impact living things that reside there. Are we being stewards of the world? Take a look at an issue in which human inervention has positive or negative effect the biodiversity of our ecosystem.
The life on Earth today have been endagered and altered by the actions of humans. Human alteration to the Earth is substantial and growing. About one-third of the land's surface area has been transformed by human activity. The concentration of greenhouse gasses have increased 30% since the beginning of industrial revolution orginating problems such as global warming. Global warming blazes dasators such as the melting of the ice caps in the North and Southern poles, changing the Earth's temperature, destruction of the ozone layer, extinction of species, various deaseases and plagues.All these problems affect the biodiversity of the planet as all species are conneted to each other through food webs.
More than half of all accessible surface fresh water is put to use by humanity. Humans pollute the world by adding the factory wates, fertilizers and organic wates in to river, lake or any other water body. This affects the aquatic life and then through the food web the whole life in the biospere. Many aquatic, land and air species have gone into extinction because we pollute the land, water and air by toxics and other form of pollutants.
Change in temperature is another issuse that should disturb our peace and influence us to take action. Global warming is increasing the Earth's temperature constantly. The Earth's
temperature increased from 0.74 degree celsius to 0.18 degree celsius in the last century. This cause enormouse problems such as the extiction of certain spieces who cannot adapt with the rising temperatures. The extictions causes problems such as the increase in population in certain species while the decrease of population of the other; causing disruption in the food web. For example, if a number of Giraffe's die, their predators, the lions, will suffer scarcity for food and die eventually. However, the plants that the Grirafee's eat will rapidly increase in number. This causes distrubace to the balance of the earth and challenge the biodiversity of the Earth.
The life on Earth today have been endagered and altered by the actions of humans. Human alteration to the Earth is substantial and growing. About one-third of the land's surface area has been transformed by human activity. The concentration of greenhouse gasses have increased 30% since the beginning of industrial revolution orginating problems such as global warming. Global warming blazes dasators such as the melting of the ice caps in the North and Southern poles, changing the Earth's temperature, destruction of the ozone layer, extinction of species, various deaseases and plagues.All these problems affect the biodiversity of the planet as all species are conneted to each other through food webs.
More than half of all accessible surface fresh water is put to use by humanity. Humans pollute the world by adding the factory wates, fertilizers and organic wates in to river, lake or any other water body. This affects the aquatic life and then through the food web the whole life in the biospere. Many aquatic, land and air species have gone into extinction because we pollute the land, water and air by toxics and other form of pollutants.
Moreover, the melting of the ice caps in the Northern and the Southern poles should not be taken as a light concern by the global population. Over the
past five years, studies have found that melting Antarctic ice caps contribute at least 15% to the current global sea level rise of 2mm in a year. It is thought that over 13,000 sq km of sea ice in the Antarctic Peninsula has been lost over the last 50 years. Melting in the Antarctic Peninsula removes sea ice that once held back the movement of glaciers. As a result, glaciers flow into the ocean up to six times faster than before. If this pattern continues, the Earth could be swallowed by the oceans in about 50 years. All the more, it means that the species in living in the North, such as penguins and Polar bear are endangered because they cannot adapt to the changing environment conditions and the also becuase they are loosing their land on which they live, walk and prey to sustain thier life.
past five years, studies have found that melting Antarctic ice caps contribute at least 15% to the current global sea level rise of 2mm in a year. It is thought that over 13,000 sq km of sea ice in the Antarctic Peninsula has been lost over the last 50 years. Melting in the Antarctic Peninsula removes sea ice that once held back the movement of glaciers. As a result, glaciers flow into the ocean up to six times faster than before. If this pattern continues, the Earth could be swallowed by the oceans in about 50 years. All the more, it means that the species in living in the North, such as penguins and Polar bear are endangered because they cannot adapt to the changing environment conditions and the also becuase they are loosing their land on which they live, walk and prey to sustain thier life. Change in temperature is another issuse that should disturb our peace and influence us to take action. Global warming is increasing the Earth's temperature constantly. The Earth's
temperature increased from 0.74 degree celsius to 0.18 degree celsius in the last century. This cause enormouse problems such as the extiction of certain spieces who cannot adapt with the rising temperatures. The extictions causes problems such as the increase in population in certain species while the decrease of population of the other; causing disruption in the food web. For example, if a number of Giraffe's die, their predators, the lions, will suffer scarcity for food and die eventually. However, the plants that the Grirafee's eat will rapidly increase in number. This causes distrubace to the balance of the earth and challenge the biodiversity of the Earth. The Ozone layer is an area in the Stratosphere that abrobs 97-99% of the suns ultraviolet radiation which is potentially damaging to life on earth. Every 1% decrease in the earths ozone shield is projected to increases the amount of UV light exposure to the lower atmosphere by 2%. This information should bring up concerens in every human mind as the Ozone layer is depleating due to the actions of mankind. This deplation affects the health of all in the biosphere the increase of skin cancer in the world today is because our bodies are more exposed to Ultra violet radiation. The health of animals are also challenged. Frogs are amphibians that even lived through the ice age, yet they are endangered today because they are affect by the toxic in water and air as well as UV radiations. This is a very negatively affect on the biodiversity of the Earth, as more and more animals are entered into the endangered list.
We are supposed to be the stewrads of the Earth, yet we have acted to destroy our planet. If we don't act against our own action and correct the mistakes that we have made, we will cause suffering for our future generations and deplete the biodiversity of our beautful planet. The destruction of biodiversity means the detruction of our planet. Our Earth will no longer be a friend. We can rectify our mistake by starting to do simple things like taking the bus to school instead of our cars, walking to close by places, recycleing, reusing and reducing garbage. We can still help our Earth recuperate if we work together and live with consideration towards the environment and all the life in it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)