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Has global warming impacted ecosystems and biodiversity
How has global warming impacted biodiversity on our planet
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The Australian tropical rainforest is an important biodiversity hotspot to save. In a world dominated by humans, it is essential to preserve what helps keep us alive. The trees of the Australian tropical rain forest contribute to their environment by providing oxygen, climate amelioration, and supporting the wildlife. In an in-depth research done by Zachos, he found this information to be true. "One acre of forest absorbs six tons of carbon dioxide and puts out four tons of oxygen. This is enough to meet the annual needs of 18 people"(Zachos 319). These trees and plants are the source for many of the things that we use. Medical drugs, paper, and oxygen are just a few examples. Animals supply us with food and scientific research. However, Australia's tropical rainforest is being greatly affected by climate change. This is leading to a decrease in the biodiversity in the region.
Biodiversity is the variety of living things in a specific geographic region. Biodiversity loss is a decline in the number of species, genetic diversity, or ecosystem. Over the past 200 years, Australia has experienced the most significant decline in biodiversity than any other continent. It is one of the most bio diverse countries in the world, meaning it has the some of the most vegetation and variety of species. With this in mind, reports have proven this statement correct. "According to the Australia State of the Environment Report 2001, Australia harbors seventy-five percent of the earth’s total biological diversity. Australia has two of the world’s recognized 35 terrestrial biodiversity” (Zachos and Habel 312). The rainforest covers about 6-7 percent of the land surface and is home to many creatures. “The Tropics are characterized by their evergreen ...
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... any human activity should be limited to one area. This can decrease deforestation and exploitation of organisms.
Human alteration of the environment has led to a short on the distribution of organisms. This is going to cause humans a great deal of consequences in the future. Therefore, humans should take the necessary precautions to save the environment. Earth’s most unique feature is the ability for life to exist. In that case, it makes its diversity feature extraordinary. There are more than nine million different types of animals, plants, fungi, and protists inhabiting the Earth. The humans outnumber them to approximately seven billion people. This leaves the question of how much biodiversity has to be loss before humans have to suffer the ultimate consequences. Ecosystems and their ability to provide society with the goods and services needed to prosper.
Forests cover 31% of the land area on our planet. They produce vital oxygen and provide homes for people and wildlife. Many of the world’s most threatened and endangered animals live in forests, and 1.6 billion people rely on benefits forests offer, including food, fresh water, clothing, traditional medicine and shelter (drug war facts, Page 1).
The dense levels of vegetation absorb tremendous amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and help slow down the rate of climate change that the planet is experiencing. This process also produces high levels of oxygen that help to support life around the world. Coupled with the high levels of rainfall that benefit the water cycle, the rainforests are an integral part of the many systems that exist. These forests contain a wide variety of plants that a source of different chemicals that are used to create medicines. The degradation of these areas could potentially lead to the loss of medicines that could cure some of the deadliest diseases and illnesses that
Long-term survival of a species depends on its ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions (Murphy, 1994). Genetic diversity within a species, which has taken 3.5 billion years to evolve, makes adaptations to these changing environments possible. Unfortunately, the rate of extinction of genetically diverse organisms is rapidly increasing, thus reducing this needed biodiversity, largely due to the human impacts of development and expansion. What was an average of one extinction per year before is now one extinction per hour and extinct species numbers are expected to reach approximately one million by the year 2000 (WWW site, Bio 65). As a result governmental and societal action must be taken immediately!
In The Diversity of Life, Edward O. Wilson reflects on how the living world became diverse and how humans are destroying that diversity. In the book’s preface, Wilson defines biodiversity as “the totality of inherited variation in all organisms in a selected area” (Wilson ix). He adds that modern technology will allow for us to find many new species that were previously unknown to be in existence.
a) The Daintree rainforest at Cape Tribulation, in far north Queensland is diverse in many ways. It holds 12 of the 19 primitive plant families in the world (Cairns Today, 2007). The forest covers an area of 1100 square kilometres and is approximately eighty kilometres wide. This dense and luxuriant rainforest has the greatest diversity than any other in Australia and many in the world. The Daintree is also the home of rare and threatened of being extinct plant and animal species. The importance of this ecosystem is the very high. This ecosystem contributes to the overall health of this plant in many ways. The diversity contributes in the breakdown of pollution and helps to control the climate to name a few. This rainforest also is a great ‘carbon sink’. It has many photosynthesising plants and this allows the control of carbon dioxide (CO2). The plants take in the CO2 from the atmosphere and return oxygen (O2)
Rainforests help stabilize the world's climate by absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is believed to contribute to climate change through global warming. Therefore rainforests have an important in addressing global warming.
The United Nations designated 2011-2020 as the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity. In biodiversity, each species, no matter how big or small has an important role to play in ecosystem. Various plant and animal species depend on each other what each offers and these diverse species ensures natural sustainability for all life forms. A healthy and solid biodiversity can recover itself from variety of disasters. It is estimated that the current species extinction rate is between 1,000 and 10,000
The Human Impact on Rainforests Human Impact on Rainforest is it a necessity? Rainforest are the beautiful gift of Mother Nature. It consists of the most magnificent species and plants in the world. 4.2% of the world’s animals live in the rainforest. This statistic it self shows how bad it would be to destroy such essential part of the worlds biodiversity.
Rainforests once covered 14% of the worlds land surface, however now it only covers a mere 6%. It is estimated that all rainforests could be consumed in less than 40 years. Trees are becoming more needed and used everyday. We need them cut down for many reasons such as paper and timber, while also needing them ‘untouched’ for other reasons like oxygen, we have to ask ourselves, which is more important? At the current rate, most of the rainforests are being cut down for resources like paper and timber, but less importance is being placed on main resources like oxygen.
== = = Human beings are dependent on the Earth's diversity of species for our survival. Wild species play a vital role in the maintenance of the planets ecological functions, yet everyday on the planet 40-100 species become extinct.
Biodiversity loss can lead to extinction, and hurt human life. It is our responsibility to take care of the environment. We bring in machines that harm the environment and destroy animal life. We need to limit ourselves on how much land and resources we consume. There are major issues that are causing species to become extinct and hurt our way of life and other animals do to the change in food chain.
The link between climate change and biodiversity loss has long been established. Although throughout Earth’s history the climate has always changed with ecosystems and species coming and going were able to adapt. Rapid climate change affects the ecosystems and species ability to adapt and so biodiversity loss increases. Climate change has many environmental impacts on biodiversity, projected future changes are likely to result in changes in the distribution of species and ecosystems, and overall biodiversity loss. There are many ways you can go about this situation to help reduce the impact the climate change has on the biodiversity, I have two approaches that I think would be very efficient. The affects climate change has on biodiversity loss is important to the world for many reasons. If climate change continues to affect biodiversity it can have an enormous impact on human society, it will have a major impact on the food chain which we greatly depend on, water sources may become scarce, and medicines and other sources that we obtain from plants may reduce or even disappear because of biodiversity loss.
Nowadays it is common to read articles in newspapers and magazines regarding biodiversity issues. Human beings have been knowingly and unknowingly destroying biodiversity since their existence. Biodiversity is the measure of the variety of species of animals living in an area. Forests are usually areas with high biodiversity while deserts are the opposite. Human beings have always destroyed biodiversity either by deforestation, or by some other means. Biodiversity depletion is a natural phenomenon. But the present levels of biodiversity depletion are many times higher than the natural rate. Recently the levels of loss in biodiversity have started causing global concern. Some of the main causes for loss in biodiversity are alteration of habitats, increasing levels of pollution and human population growth.
The Earth is far and away the most biodiverse planet in our solar system, with about 8.7 million more unique species than the other 8 planets (UNEP). However, the Earth’s commanding lead is shrinking; not because the other planets are increasing biodiversity, but because Earth’s is decreasing. According to the World Wildlife Fund, we as a planet are losing 1,000 to 10,000 more species than the natural rate. Since the total number of species is hard to pin down, this can mean anywhere from 200 to 10,000 species going extinct per year (World Wildlife Fund). This obscenely high extinction rate is dangerous not just to ecosystems directly affected by the loss, but also creates a domino effect that circles around the globe and up and down the food
NEED AND PURPOSE FOR CONSERVATION OF BIODIVERSITY: Biodiversity, a contraction of “biological diversity,” generally refers to the variety and variability of life on Earth. The very existence of human species and sustainable development depend on biodiversity conservation, therefore the need for conservation of biodiversity is basically for this reason that all living creatures need other creatures and plants in one way or the other. At least 40 per cent of the world’s economy and 80 per cent of the needs of the poor are mainly derived from biological resources. Biodiversity is necessary for our existence as well as valuable in its own right as it provides the fundamental building blocks for the many goods and services which are essential