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Environmental Changes & Human Impact. Long-Term Environmental Change. Environmental change that occurs slowly over time and affects organisms over generations. Short-Term Environmental Change.
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Long-Term Environmental Change • Environmental change that occurs slowly over time and affects organisms over generations.
Short-Term Environmental Change • Environmental change that occurs quickly and affects organisms immediately. • Examples: floods, fire, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions
Biodiversity • The number of different species of plants and animals in an area.
Abundance • The number of one type of species in an area.
Endangered • Occurs when a species becomes low in numbers within its natural habitat
Extinct • Occurs when a species no longer exists
How do Humans Impact the Environment? • Agriculture – crops and livestock • Resource Consumption – lumber, petroleum • Pollution – air, water, land
Agriculture – crops and livestock • Crops for food • Crops for feeding livestock • Livestock for food
Resource Consumption – lumber, petroleum, various products • Lumber for construction • Petroleum for many products and to power our industry and vehicles
Pollution • When a natural environment is contaminated with harmful substances.
Air pollution – substance in the air that can be harmful to humans and the environment • Water pollution – contamination of water bodies (lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers, and groundwater) • Land pollution – contamination of land by litter, garbage, or harmful substances
Runoff • Liquid that drains or flows off, such as rain that flows over land Urban runoff occurs in cities, and is caused by paved surfaces which cause water to run over the pavement instead of percolating down into the soil.
Agricultural Runoff Runoff can also carry agricultural wastes (manure) and fertilizers (containing nitrogen compounds) into streams, rivers, & lakes. Bacteria in the manure can contaminate the water and harm the organisms living there. Nitrogen in the fertilizer can cause algae in these bodies of water to grow out of control, which can cause the fish to die, and bacteria to reproduce in greater numbers.
Human Impact -- Artificial Reef • A man-made, underwater structure that promotes marine life
Over-Harvesting • Harvesting more of a resource than can be replaced by reproduction or re-growth
InvasiveSpecies • Introduced, alien species that lives outside of its native environment and causes damage or disruption to the native species within an ecosystem • Zebra Mussel
Dead Zone • A dead zone is an area in the ocean where fertilizer-laden runoff has caused an algae to grow out of control, causing low or no oxygen in the water. This results in the death of marine animals.
