Katie Meyers
Compendium Eight – Human Landscapes and Ecology
Origin of Life – Evolution
- Deep time
- Chemical evolution
- Biological evolution
- Evolution and its evidence
- Natural selection
Humans
- Human classification
- Human evolution
Ecosystems
- Biosphere
- Ecosystem
- Biotic components
- 2 phenomenon
- Human ecosystem
- Relationships among species
Global Biogeochemical Cycles
- Chemical pathways
- Gaseous or sedimentary
- Common terms
- Water cycle
- Carbon cycle
- Nitrogen cycle
- Phosphorous cycle
- Water pollution sources
Human Population
- Growth rate
- MDCs and LDCs
- Population’s three age groups
- Human use of resources
Biodiversity
- Definition
- Crisis
- Loss of biodiversity and cause of extinction – 5 types
- Direct value of biodiversity – 3 types
- Indirect value of biodiversity – 6 types
Unsustainable and Sustainable Society
- Sustainable society
- Unsustainable society today
- Sustainable society characteristics
- Assessing economic well-being and life’s quality
Origin of Life – Evolution
- Deep time – toilet paper roll analogy
- (found on slide 5 of Human Landscapes and Ecology – BIO 156 PowerPoint presentation)
- Chemical evolution – produced first cells on primitive Earth
- Steps leading up to and including chemical evolution
- Sun and planets took 10 billion years to form
- 4.6 BYA (billion years ago), solar system in place
- Earth’s gravitational field strong enough to have an atmosphere
- First atmosphere – formed by gases escaped from volcanoes
- Primitive atmosphere had – water vapor, nitrogen, carbo9n dioxide, small amounts of hydrogen and carbon monoxide
- Had little, if any, free oxygen
- Extremely hot
- All water in gas form (dense, thick clouds)
- Then, Earth cooled, making it rain for hundreds of millions of years, forming oceans
- Rain washed other gases (e.g. N2 and CO2) into oceans
- (found on slide 6 of Human Landscapes and Ecology – BIO 156 PowerPoint presentation)
- Primitive Earth’s energy sources
- Volcanoes, meteorites, radioactive isotopes, lightning, ultraviolet radiation
- Primitive gases reacted due to so much energy and produced small organic compounds (e.g. nucleotides and amino acids)
- Stanley Miller experiment
- (found on slide 7 of Human Landscapes and Ecology – BIO 156 PowerPoint presentation)
- Small organic molecules resulted from a gas mixture being heated, circulated past an electric spark, and allowed to cool
- Macromolecules – formed by small organic molecules that joined and produced macromolecules
- 2 hypotheses
- RNA-first hypothesis – only RNA macromolecules needed to progress to formation of first cells
- “RNA world” 3.5 BYA
- Protein-first hypothesis – amino acids joined together when exposed to dry heat
- Protocell
- If lipids are made available to microspheres, they will associate into lipid-protein membranes, resulting in a protocell
- Could not reproduce
- Used small organic molecules in ocean for food
- Fermenter, because there was no free oxygen
- True cell
- Can reproduce
- How did a protocell gain enzymatic proteins and DNA to become a true cell?
- 2 hypotheses
- RNA-protein (enzymes) – template for DNA
- Cell acquired all enzymes, including DNA
- Biological Evolution – process by which species change through time
- 3 steps
- First true cells were prokaryotic cells (lacking nucleus)
- Eukaryotic cells later evolved
- Multicellularity and kingdoms evolved
- 2 important aspects
- Descent from common ancestor
- Descent from original cells explains similarities in chemistry and cellular structure
- Adaptation to environment
- Characteristic that makes a species able to exist (survive, produce) in environment
- Explains diversity
- Evolution and its evidence
- Charles Darwin – first formed concept of evolution
- Fossils – support evolution (best evidence)
- Most found in sedimentary rock
- Stratum – recognizable layer in sequence of (rock) layers
- Older than those above it, younger than those beneath it
- Allows fossil dating
- Hard parts of organisms (fossils) preserved by mineralization
- Fossil record – history of life is recorded by fossils
- Tells us that life has progressed form simple to complex
- Paleontology – science of discovering fossil records and making decisions from them
- Transitional fossils – have characteristics of two different groups
- Tell us who is related and how evolution occurred
- E.g. Archaeopteryx (semibird), Ambulocetus natans (whale’s terrestrial ancestor)
- Earliest true mammals around 200 MYA (million years ago)
- Biogeographical evidence – study of distribution of plants and animals in different places of the world
- Evidence confirms that life-forms evolved in particular places and then spread out
- Creatures found in different places globally according to where their species evolved
- Evolution influenced by mix of plants and animals on particular continent
- Anatomical evidence
- Common descendent hypothesis offers explanation for anatomical similarities (homologous structures between species)
- E.g. forelimb
- (found on slide 8 of Human Landscapes and Ecology – BIO 156 PowerPoint presentation)
- Explanation – basic forelimb plan belonged to a common ancestor
- Analogous structures – same function, dissimilar construction, no common ancestry
- Vestigal structures – anatomical features fully developed in one organism group and found reduced and possibly without function in another organism group
- Explained by common descent
- Biochemical evidence
- Almost all living organisms use the same biochemical molecules (e.g. DNA, ATP)
- Developmental genes shared in animals from worms to humans
- Natural Selection – discovered by
- (found on slide 16 of Human Landscapes and Ecology – BIO 156 PowerPoint presentation)
- During adaptation, species becomes suited to its environment
- Evolution happens by natural selection
- 3 critical elements
- Variation – individual species members vary in physical characteristics
- Competition for limited resources – results in unequal reproduction among members of population
- Adaptation – population members with advantageous traits capture more resources and are more likely to pass on traits; environment “selects”
- Can account for great diversity of life
Humans
- Human classification
- Binomial name – creature’s genus and species
- Characteristics that help classify humans (earliest to most recent)
- Domain eukarya – membrane-bound nucleus
- Kingdom animalia – multicellular, motile, heterotrophic
- Phylum chordata – in life history: dorsal tubular nerve cord, no tochord, pharyngeal pouches
- Class mammalian – vertebrates with hair, mammary glands
- Order primates – well-developed brain adapted to live in trees
- Family hominidae – adapted to upright stance and bipedal locomotion
- Genus homo – most developed brain, made and used tools
- Species homo sapiens – modern; speech centers of brain well-developed
- DNA data useful as well
- Important decisions about history of life made based on DNA/rRNA/protein sequencing data
- Indicates that modern humans from Africa and spread to
- Humans are primates
- Order primates
- Adapted to live in trees
- Mobile limbs
- Grasping hands
- Flattened face
- Binocular vision
- Large, complex brain
- Reduced reproductive rate
- An “order” – has two suborders
- Prosimians – lemurs, tarsiers, lorises
- Anthropoids – humans, monkeys, apes
- Similarities and differences between human and chimp skeletons
- Hominids – branch of evolutionary tree
- (found on slide 9 of Human Landscapes and Ecology – BIO 156 PowerPoint presentation)
- All primates share one common ancestor
- First hominids – not agreed upon
- Hominid features
- Bipedal posture
- Shape of face
- Brain size
- Earliest fossil hominids
- Found and dated to be the time when the human and ape lineage split
- Oldest (7 MYA) – sahelanthropus tchandensis – found in
- Orrorin tugenensis – 6 MYA – eastern
- Ardipithecus kadabba – 5.2-5.8 MYA – closely related to later Ardipithecus ramidus
- Really begins with australopithecines – group of species that evolved and diversified in
- “Lucy” was one of them
- Human evolution
- (found on slide 10 of Human Landscapes and Ecology – BIO 156 PowerPoint presentation)
- Homo genus
- Brain – 600 cubic centimeters at least
- Jaw and teeth humanoid
- Tool use evident
- Early homo
- Homo habilis (“handy man”)
- About 2 MYA
- Some brains at least 775 cubic centimeters
- Omnivores
- Crude stone tools
- Enlarged speech areas in brain
- Led to cooperative hunting possibly
- Society and culture possible
- Culture – encompasses human behavior and products
- Depends on capacity to speak and transmit knowledge
- Homo erectus
- 1.9-0.3 MYA in Africa, Asia,
- Possibly several different species
- Larger brain (1000 cubic centimeters)
- Flatter face
- Much taller than hominids thus far (5-6 ft.)
- Migrated (about 1-2 MYA)
- First to use fire
- Fashioned more advanced tools (e.g. axes, cleavers)
- Systematic hunters possibly
- Culture more like ours may have developed
- Had campsites, or “home bases”
- Modern humans
- Evolved from H. erectus
- Evolved with the “Out-of-Africa” hypothesis most likely
- Neandertals (H. neandertalensis)
- (found on slide 13 of Human Landscapes and Ecology – BIO 156 PowerPoint presentation)
- Massive brow ridges
- Nose, jaws, teeth protrude far forward
- Low and sloping forehead
- Lower jaw lacked chin
- Longer pubic bone
- Slightly larger brain than H. sapiens
- Heavily muscled
- Hypothesized that H. sapiens supplanted them
- 200,000 years BP (before present)
- Cousins, not ancestors
- Culturally advanced evidence
- Caves and houses
- Variety of stone tools
- Skilled hunters
- Used and controlled fire (cook, warmth)
- Buried dead with flowers and tools
- Possibly had a religion
- Made symbolic capability possible
- Homo floresiensis
- (found on slide 12 of Human Landscapes and Ecology – BIO 156 PowerPoint presentation)
- Lived 12,000 years ago on
- Nicknamed “hobbits” for their short height – 3-4 ft. tall
- Cro-Magnons
- (found at http://chdmuseum.nic.in/history_museum/images/cyclorama-view._LARGE.jpg)
- Oldest H. sapiens fossils
- 100,000 years BP or earlier
- Very modern appearance
- Did not interbreed with Neanderthals
- Made advanced stone tools
- Including compound tools
- First to throw spears (kill at a distance)
- Responsible for extinctions possibly
- Hunted cooperatively
- First to have language possibly
- Lived in small groups
- Men hunted by day
- Women remained at home with the children
- This pattern still seen today in humans
- Included art
- Human variation
- Humans widely distributed around the globe since evolving
- As a result, phenotypic and genotypic differences (ethnicities) seen
- Possible correlation between body shape (e.g. skin color) and environmental conditions
- All ethnic groups evolved from same single, ancestral population
- Humans today
- All homo sapiens, making interbreeding amongst all living humans possible
- Dominate the planet
- Most landscapes now have very strong effects of human elements
- Good or bad? For whom?
Ecosystems
- Biosphere – includes organisms on Earth, from atmosphere above to ocean bottom
- Entire biosphere is a large ecosystem
- Ecosystem – place where organisms interact among themselves and with physical and chemical environment
- Such interactions maintain various ecosystems and therefore, the biosphere
- Several distinctive major types of terrestrial ecosystems, called biomes
- Temperature and rainfall define biomes
- Biomes – contain communities or organisms adapted to regional climate
- 7 main types
- Temperate forest
- Desert
- Tropical grassland (savanna)
- Temperate grassland (prairie)
- Taiga
- Tundra
- Aquatic ecosystems – cover 70% of Earth’s surface
- Freshwater – standing water (lakes/ponds) and running water (rivers/streams)
- Saltwater – (oceans)
- Richest ones near coasts
- Biotic (living) components
- (found on slide 23 of Human Landscapes and Ecology – BIO 156 PowerPoint presentation)
- Autotrophs – “producers”
- Produce organic nutrients with inorganic nutrients and outside energy source
- Primarily photosynthetic organisms
- Heterophs – “consumers” (of food)
- Need source of organic nutrients
- Herbivores – animals that graze directly on plants or algae
- Carnivores – feed on other animals
- Primary consumers (e.g. insects)
- Secondary consumers (e.g. insect-eating birds)
- Tertiary consumers (e.g. hawks)
- Top predators
- Omnivores – feed on both plants and animals (e.g. humans)
- Detritus feeders – organisms that feed on detritus (decomposing particles of organic matter) – e.g. earthworms
- Niche – role of organism in ecosystem
- How it gets its food
- What eats it
- How it interacts with other populations in same community
- 2 phenomenon
- Energy flow – when producers absorb solar energy
- Grazing food web
- Detrital food web
- Food chains
- Can be found in food webs
- E.g. leaves – caterpillars – birds – hawks
- Trophic level – composed of all organisms that feed on particular link in food chain
- Different levels (e.g. first trophic level)
- Only 10% energy on one trophic level available to next level
- Explains why carnivores can be supported in food web
- Depicted as an ecological pyramid
- Chemical cycling – when producers take in inorganic nutrients from physical environment
- Also make organic nutrients for selves and other populations in ecosystem via photosynthesis
- Human ecosystem
- (found on slide 24 of Human Landscapes and Ecology – BIO 156 PowerPoint presentation)
- (found on slide 25 of Human Landscapes and Ecology – BIO 156 PowerPoint presentation)
- Has same biophysical resources as wild ecosystems
- More complicated to describe because of cultural, social, and political elements
- Relationships among species
- Symbiotic – “mutually beneficial, both species benefit”
- Parasitic – “one species benefits (‘parasite’) and the other is harmed (‘host’)”
- Commensal – “one species benefits, the other is unharmed”
- Mutualism – “both species benefit, like symbiosis, but it my appear one species has the advantage, but evolutionarily, over the long-term, both benefit”
- Predation – “usually considered parasitic, where the predator is the parasite, but can also be seen as mutualistic”
- All above quotes from slide 25 of Human Landscapes and Ecology BIO 156 PowerPoint presentation
Global Biogeochemical Cycles
- Chemical pathways involve living (biotic) and nonliving (geological) components
- Can be gaseous (carbon and nitrogen cycles) or sedimentary (phosphorous cycle)
- Common terms
- Reservoir – source normally unavailable to producers
- Exchange pool – source from which organisms take chemicals
- Biotic community – how chemicals move along food chains
- Water cycle (hydrologic cycle)
- (from slide 18 of Human Landscapes and Ecology – BIO 156 PowerPoint presentation)
- Evaporation (from sea)
- Precipitation
- Evaporation from land
- Gravity causes much water to flow into ocean (runoff water), some contained on land in standing and flowing water
- Some precipitation sinks and saturates into the ground
- Ground water is also located in aquifers
- Human interference – 3 ways
- (from slide 19 of Human Landscapes and Ecology – BIO 156 PowerPoint presentation)
- Withdraw water from aquifers
- Clear vegetation from land and build roads and buildings preventing percolation and increase runoff
- Interfere with natural processes that purify water and instead add pollutants to water
- Carbon cycle
- (found on slide 20 of Human Landscapes and Ecology – BIO 156 PowerPoint presentation)
- In atmosphere, exchange pool for carbon cycle
- Organisms in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems exchange carbon dioxide with atmosphere
- Land plants take up air’s carbon dioxide and incorporate carbon dioxide and incorporate carbon in photosynthesis
- Organisms return carbon to atmosphere with respiration
- In water, carbon dioxide combines with it to produce HCO3-, source or carbon for water plants
- When water plants respire, carbon dioxide becomes HCO3-
- HCO3- in water in equilibrium with carbon dioxide in air
- Carbon reservoirs
- In biotic components
- In plant and animal remains
- Fossil fuels
- Coal
- Oil
- Natural gas
- Inorganic carbonate
- Human activities
- Causing more carbon dioxide to be deposited in atmosphere than can be removed
- Causing global warming (greenhouse effect)
- (found on slide 21 of Human Landscapes and Ecology – BIO 156 PowerPoint presentation)
- Nitrogen cycle
- (found at http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/images/nitrogencycle.jpg)
- Nitrogen makes up 78% of atmosphere
- Nitrogen cannot be used by plants
- Therefore, growth inhibitor of ecosystem
- Nitrogen fixation – nitrogen converted to ammonium NH4+, which plants use
- Nitrification – production of nitrates (NO3-)
- Assimilation – plants take up ammonia and nitrates from soil and use these ions to produce proteins and nucleic acids
- Denitrification – conversion of nitrate back to nitrogen gas, which can enter atmosphere
- Counterbalances nitrogen fixation
- Human activities
- Significantly alter nitrogen cycle rates (nearly double them)
- Done by fertilizers
- Can result in massive fish killings
- Cause acid deposition
- Phosphorous cycle
- (found at http://www.ikzm-d.de/abbildungen/59_phosphoruscycle.gif)
- Phosphate trapped in oceanic sediments moves onto land after geological upheaval
- Slow weathering of rocks on land places phosphate ions in soil
- Some phosphate ions then used by plants
- Animals eat plants and absorb phosphates into teeth, bones, shells (all of which take years to decompose)
- Death and decay of all organisms and decomposition of animal wastes make phosphate ions available to producers again
- Lack of phosphate limits size of populations in ecosystems
- Some phosphate naturally runs off into aquatic ecosystem
- Phosphate does not enter atmosphere, therefore, it is a sedimentary cycle
- Human activities
- Causes cultural eutrophiciation of phosphate in waterways
- Water pollution sources
- Oxygen – demanding waste – biodegradable organic compounds
- Plant nutrients – nitrates and phosphates
- Sediments – enriched soil in water due to soil erosion
- Thermal discharges – heated water from power plants
- Disease-causing agents – bacteria and viruses from sewage and barnyard waste
- Synthetic organic compounds – pesticides, industrial chemicals
- Inorganic chemicals and minerals – acids from mines and air pollution; dissolved salts; heavy metals
- Radiation – radioactive substances
Human Population
- Growth rate
- Difference between…
- Number of people born per year
- Number of people that die per year
- Rates recorded per 1000 persons
- Expressed as a percentage, e.g. 1.2%
- Exponential growth
- Indicates population enjoying its biotic potential
- Maximum growth rates under ideal conditions
- Carrying capacity
- Maximum population environment can support for indefinite period
- MDCs (more developed countries) and LDCs (less developed countries)
- MDCs
- Typical MDCs in North America and
- MDC definition – modest population growth and good living standard
- Modest growth since 1950
- Now growth rate is 0.1% or even decreasing in population
- LDCs
- LDC definition – dramatic population growth and majority live in poverty
- Typical LDCs in Asia, Africa, and
- Collective growth rate today – 1.6%
- From 2002-2050, population may jump from 5 billion to 8 billion
- Population’s three age groups
- Prereproductive
- Reproductive
- Postreproductive
- Human use of resources
- Non-renewable resources – limited in supply
- E.g. land, fossil fuels, minerals
- Renewable resources – capable of being naturally replenished
- E.g. water, plants, animals, solar energy
- Careful not to squander
- Pollution – side effect to resource consumption
- Alteration of environment in undesirable way
- Often caused by human activities
- 5 types of resources
- Land – place people live
- Average 83 persons per square mile in world
- Beaches
- 40% of world population lives within 60 miles of coastline
- 70% world’s beaches eroding due to this
- Protect coastal wetlands because they are spawning areas for fish and other marine life; habitats for certain species; and they protect coastal areas from storms
- Semiarid lands
- 40% of Earth’s lands
- Desertification – conversion of semiarid land into desert
- Begins when humans’ animals overgraze
- ¾ of world’s rangelands in danger of this
- Responsible partly for famines in places, e.g.
- Tropical rain forest
- Deforestation – removal of trees to make land humanly inhabitable
- Also subject to desertification
- Destruction can result in loss of biodiversity
- Water
- Most freshwater utilized by industry and agriculture
- 70% worldwide used to irrigate crops
- Increasing water supplies
- Dams
- Aquifers
- Ground water depletion consequences
- Causing land subsidence
- Saltwater intrusion
- Water conservation
- Drought and salt-tolerant crops
- Drip irrigation
- Food
- (found on slide 27 of Human Landscapes and Ecology – BIO 156 PowerPoint presentation)
- Comes from three activities
- Growing crops
- Raising animals
- Fishing the seas
- Minimize harmful farming practices with…
- Polyculture
- Contour farming
- Biological pest control
- Traditional farming causes erosion
- Domestic livestock – provides protein
- 2/3
- Energy
- Can be renewable or non-renewable
- Non-renewable
- Nuclear – 6% of world’s energy supply
- Fossil fuels – 75% of world’s energy supply
- Oils, natural gas, coal
- Oil preferred
- Burning of them causes environmental problems
- Causes more carbon dioxide in atmosphere
- Methane production increasing by 1% per year
- Both greenhouse gases (cause global warming)
- Renewable
- Hydropower
- Conversion of falling water into electricity
- Accounts for almost 98% of total renewable energy used
- 19% of all electricity used
- Geothermal energy
- Steam from radioactive decay heating ground water used to supply hot water
- Wind power
- Expected to account for significant percentage of energy needs in the future
- Energy and solar-hydrogen
- Solar energy must be…
- Collected
- Converted
- Stored
- …in order to compete with other renewable energy sources
- Lessen dependency on
- Lessen environmental problems
- Minerals
- Non-renewable materials in Earth’s crust
- Mined/extracted by humans
- Include – fossil fuels, nonmetallic raw materials (e.g. sand, gravel, phosphate), metals (e.g. aluminum, copper, iron, lead, gold)
- Heavy metals – lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, tin, chromium, zinc, copper
- Most dangerous metals to human health (inhibit vital enzymes)
- Used to produce batteries, electronics, pesticides, medicines, paint, inks, dyes
- Hazardous wastes
- Most commonly heavy metals and synthetic organic compounds
- CFCs thinned out Earth’s ozone shield
- Human co-evolution today (domestication)
- Early agricultural domestication with species that…
- Behave well with humankind
- Made their reproduction systems and processes obvious and beneficial to humans
- Recent domestications (last 100 years)
- Laboratory domestications
- Indoor-surviving species
- “Species that make some aspect of their biology – usually at cellular/developmental/molecular level – easily accessible to humans” (from slide 31 of Human Landscapes and Ecology BIO 156 PowerPoint presentation)
- Example one – E. coli
- Why humans “like” e. coli
- It is adaptable and reproduces in a wide variety of lab situations/conditions
- Form colonies, making it easy to visualize
- Easily accessible genes and proteins
- DNA manipulation genes/proteins are known and can be isolated
- Why e. coli “like” humans
- We provide them with new and safe reproduction environments; we guarantee their survival moreso
- We make new genetic material accessible to them; e.g. insulin they now make after being introduced to it via humans, which gave them the insulin gene, which they took and now make
- We have given them virulent strains with easy human access, which is to our disadvantage
- Example two – guinea pigs
- First used them for livestock in the
- Then began using them as lab animals in the 20th century
- They have been used to discover different genes that affect coat color, digits, etc.
- Lastly, we have used them as household pets because they rapidly reproduce (cheap and easy to access) and are docile creatures
Biodiversity
- Variety of life on Earth, described by number of different species
- Presently in biodiversity crisis – unparalleled future of extinctions
- Loss of biodiversity and cause of extinction – 5 types
- Habitat loss
- Caused by extended human occupation
- Alien species (exotics)
- Nonnative members of an ecosystem
- Done by humans during colonization, horticulture and agriculture, and accidental transport
- Invasive – alien species that crowds out native species
- Counteract by replanting native species
- Pollution
- Bring about environmental change that adversely affects lives and health of living things
- Environmental pollution main “threateners”
- Acid deposition
- Global warming
- Ozone depletion
- Synthetic organic chemicals
- Overexploitation – when number of individuals taken from wild population is so great that population becomes severely reduced in numbers
- Positive feedback cycle
- Markets for decorative plants and exotic plants (legal and illegal)
- Species hunted for specific qualities (e.g. pelts, tusks)
- Over-fishing
- Disease
- Wildlife subject to emerging diseases
- Exposure due to human encroachment
- Direct value of biodiversity – 3 types
- Individual species perform useful services for humans, making them and biodiversity very valued
- Medicinal value
- Most prescription drugs originally from living organisms
- E.g. rosy periwinkle from
- E.g. penicillin (derived from a fungus)
- Particular animals make medicinal research possible
- E.g. nine-banded armadillo naturally grows leprosy, making finding a cure possible
- Agricultural value
- Crop modified to be high producers, e.g. wheat, corn, rice
- Biological pest control – natural predators and parasites
- Animals that pollinate – e.g. bees, wasps, butterflies, beetles, birds, bats
- Consumptive use value
- Biodiversity vital to aquatic organisms human use, since they are captured from the wild, rather than breeded like many terrestrial organisms are
- Marketplace products, e.g. vegetables, skins, fibers, beeswax, seaweed
- Trees provide fruit and latex
- Indirect value of biodiversity – 6 types
- Define ecosystems services that benefit humans
- Waste disposal
- Decomposers break down dead organic matter etc. into nutrients used by producers
- Freshwater provision
- Needed by most terrestrial organisms
- Humans – drinking, crops
- Provide us with fish, etc.
- Forests and other natural ecosystems perform “sponge effect”
- Prevention of soil erosion
- Intact ecosystem naturally retains soil and prevents soil erosion
- Destroyed by deforestation
- Biogeochemical cycles
- Humans dependent on these for…
- Freshwater
- Phosphate provision
- Uptake of excess soil nitrogen
- Removal of atmosphere’s carbon dioxide
- Regulation of climate
- Locally – trees provide shade
- Globally – forests ameliorate climate by taking up carbon dioxide
- Ecotourism
- Preferences of humans to vacation in natural beauty of ecosystems
- Spend $4 billion a year on it
Unsustainable and Sustainable Society
- Sustainable society – would always be able to provide the same amount of goods and services for future generations as it does at present; preserve biodiversity
- To achieve…
- Resources preserved and not depleted
- Future generations need…
- Clean air
- Water
- Adequate amount of food
- Enough living space
- Unsustainable society today
- Caused by LDCs’ population growth and MDCs’ excessive resource consumption
- Causes worldwide pollution and extinction of wildlife
- MDCs eat too much meat – wasteful
- Groundwater and surface water supplies dwindling
- Sewage and animal wastes affecting water oxygen levels
- Primary use of nonrenewable fossil fuel energy
- Leads to global warming, acid deposition, smog
- Lost habitats
- Sustainable society characteristics
- Natural ecosystems’ clues
- Solar energy only
- Recycling materials
- Efficiency practiced in human endeavor, from agriculture to business enterprises
- E.g. efficient car
- 2 regions – rely on each other (interdependent)
- Rural sustainability
- Emphasize preservation
- Of ecosystems – terrestrial and aquatic
- Preserve topsoil and trees
- Other suggestions
- Plant cover crops
- Use multiuse farming
- Replenish soil nutrients
- Use low flow or trickle irrigation and other water-conserving methods
- Increase cultivar planting
- Use precision farming
- Use integrated pest management
- Plant a variety of species
- Plant multipurpose trees
- Maintain and restore wetlands
- Use renewable energy forms
- Support local farmers, fishermen, and feed stores
- Urban sustainability
- Suggestions
- Design energy-efficient transportation systems
- Use solar and geothermal energy for hearing and seawater for air conditioning
- Utilize green roofs
- Improve storm-water management with sediment traps, artificial wetlands, holding ponds
- Use porous surfaces for walking paths, parking lots, roads
- Plant native species instead of traditional grasses
- Create urban greenbelts
- Revitalize old city sections before building new sections
- Use lighting fixtures that hug the wall or ground or send light downwards
- Control noise with quiet motors
- Encourage recycling, specifically of business equipment
- Use low-maintenance building materials
- Assessing economic well-being and life’s quality
- Use value
- Option value
- Existence value
- Aesthetic value
- Cultural value
- Scientific and educational value
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