Transcript What level of Organization?

What is
Ecology?
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Ecology- Study of
interactions between
organisms and their
environment.
Producer- Uses
the sun to make
food “autotroph”
Consumerorganisms eat
others for energy
“heterotrophs”
Abiotic FactorsNon-living parts
of the
environment.
Decomposer- break
down dead organisms Scavenger-eats
dead organisms
and cause decay
Feeding Relationships
Autotrophs- Organisms that produce their own food
Heterotrophs- Organisms that obtain nutrients by eating other
organisms or something made by them
Biotic FactorsAll the living
parts of the
environment
Herbivores: eat plants
Carnivores: eat meat
Omnivores: eat plants & meat
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Detritivores: eat decaying plants or meat
See if you know the difference between the two!
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Abiotic or Biotic?
Biotic
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Abiotic or Biotic?
Abiotic
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Abiotic or Biotic?
Abiotic
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Abiotic or Biotic?
Biotic
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Levels of
Organization
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Ecology- Study of
interactions between
organisms and their
environment.
Producer- Uses
the sun to make
food “autotroph”
Consumerorganisms eat
others for energy
“heterotrophs”
5 Levels of Ecological Organization
1. Organism- individual with all
characteristics of life.
2. Populations- groups of
organisms of the same species.
3. Community- group of
populations living together.
4. Ecosystem- living & nonliving
parts interact together.
5. Biosphere- part of the earth that
supports life
Abiotic FactorsNon-living parts
of the
environment.
Decomposer- break
down dead organisms Scavenger-eats
dead organisms
and cause decay
Feeding Relationships
Herbivores: eat plants
Carnivores: eat meat
Biotic FactorsAll the living
parts of the
environment
Omnivores: eat plants &
meat
Detrivores: eat decaying
plants or meat
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Grow & Develop:
growth is forming
new structures and
getting bigger;
development is all of
the changes in one’s
life
Evolution: the
gradual genetic
change in a species
over time; this
includes adaptation
which is the ability
to adjust to the
environment
(weather, water,
temperature)
Reproduction: making
babies… the ability to
produce offspring
Homeostasis: can maintain a
constant, stable internal
environment suitable for survival
Organization: have cells as their
basic unit of life; enables organisms
to be very complex
Use energy: energy is the ability to do
work; involves metabolism which is all of
the chemical reactions that take place in
our body…we’d die without one!!!
React to stimuli: a stimulus is anything in an
organism’s environment that causes it to react; a
response is a reaction to a stimulus
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Which Level of Ecological
Organization?
Take this quiz to see if you can
tell the difference between the
two!
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What level of organization?
Organism
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What level of Organization?
Community
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What level of Organization?
Population
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Which Level?
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Which Level of Organization?
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Which Level of Organization?
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Which Level of Organization?
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Which Level of Organization?
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Feeding Relationships
Herbivores: eat
plants (cows)
Carnivores: eat
meat (wolves)
Omnivores: eat
plants and meat
(humans)
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Habitat & Niche
• Habitat : where something
lives
• Niche: an organism’s total
way of life (how it eats,
competes with others)
• Competition: when niches
overlap, animals fight each
other for resources
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Survival Relationships
• Predator-prey: predators are
consumers that hunt and eat other
organisms called prey
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Survival Relationships
• Symbiosis:
relationship in
which one species
lives on, in, or near
another species and
affects its survival
• 3 Types:
– Mutualism
– Commensalisms
– Parasitism
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Mutualism
•
type of symbiosis
in which both
species benefit
–
Ex. Clownfish
living in the sea
anemones. It
provides protection
for the fish, and
attracts potential
food for the
anemones.
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Commensalism
•
type of symbiosis
in which one
species benefits
and the other
species is neither
harmed nor
benefited
–
Example: Spanish
moss grows on the
branches of trees.
The moss gets a
habitat and the tree
gets nothing.
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Parasitism
•
one species
benefits and the
other species is
harmed
–
–
Parasite: organism
that harms another
organism by draining it
of resources
Host: organism that is
harmed by a parasite
•
Ex. Ticks feed on dogs,
people, etc. The ticks
get food (blood) and the
host loses blood and
can be infected with
disease
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Trophic Levels:
A feeding level in an ecosystem
5th trophic level: quaternary
consumer (eats the tertiary
consumer)
4th trophic level: tertiary consumer
(eats the secondary consumer)
3rd trophic level: secondary
consumer (small carnivores)
2nd trophic level: primary consumer
(herbivores)
1st trophic level: producers (make
their own food)
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Eaten
by
1st trophic
level:
producers
(make their
own food)
Eaten
by
3rd trophic
level:
secondary
consumer
(small
carnivore)
Eaten
by
4th trophic
level: tertiary
consumer
(large
carnivore)
Bacteria
2nd trophic
level: primary
consumer
(eats plants)
Eaten
by
Last trophic
level:
decomposer
(eats dead
animals)
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Food Chain vs Food Web
• Food chain: lineup of organisms that
shows who eats who.
• Food web: a network of connected food
chains; more realistic because may
organisms are eaten by a variety of other
organisms
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What is an Energy Pyramid?
• Energy Pyramid – picture that shows how
much energy is transferred among the
different trophic levels in a food chain; 90%
of the energy from each previous step is lost
as you move up the pyramid
• Some of this energy is lost along the way
because of 1) an organism’s metabolism and
as heat loss
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Trophic Level
5th
Quaternary
consumers
4th
Tertiary
consumers
3rd
Secondary
consumers
2nd
Primary
consumers
1st
Producers
Energy Available
1 kcal/m2/year
10 kcal/m2/year
100 kcal/m2/year
1000
kcal/m2/year
10,000
kcal/m2/year
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Practice with Food Chains &
Food Webs
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Identify the food chains inside
the food web.
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Cycles in Nature
• There is only a limited amount of
resources (water, oxygen, nitrogen,
carbon) on the earth.
• In order to keep these resources
available to organisms, they must be
recycled after they are used.
• Cycle: a process that recycles a resource
so that you end up with what you started
with.
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Nitrogen Cycle
1. Nitrogen fixation: Bacteria
in the ground change nitrogen
from the atmosphere (N2) to
different nitrogen compounds
5. Denitrification: Bacteria
change the nitrogen
compounds back to N2 and
release it to the atmosphere
2. These bacteria live in plants
and transfer the nitrogen
compounds to the plants
4. Bacteria eat the dead
animals and animal waste and
take in the nitrogen compounds
3. Animals eat the plants and
take in the nitrogen compounds
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Nitrogen Cycle
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Water Cycle
2. Seepage:
Water seeps into
the ground and
plants use it
3. Transpiration:
Plants give off
water to the
atmosphere
1. Precipitation: Rain and snow fall from the
atmosphere to the earth
2. Runoff:
Extra water
runs off the
land to lowerlying bodies of
water
3. Evaporation
of water from
the bodies of
water back into
the atmosphere
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Water Cycle
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Carbon Cycle
1. Carbon dioxide (CO2) and
oxygen (O2) are found in
the atmosphere
Photosynthesis—Plants are
producers that use CO2 to
make their own food. During
photosynthesis, plants
release oxygen back into the
atmosphere.
Combustion—mining and burning of fossil
fuels in factories, power plants, trucks and cars
forms carbon dioxide (CO2) that returns carbon
back to the atmosphere. Volcanic eruptions do
this too.
Respiration—Animals
(consumers) and plants use
the O2 and make carbon
dioxide . During respiration,
animals and plants release
carbon back into the
atmosphere.
Decomposition—when organisms die,
decay (by bacteria, protists, and fungi), or
excrete, they return carbon back to the
earth. Carbon that has been buried for
46 to
millions of years has also been converted
fossil fuels.
Carbon Cycle
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Population
Size
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Populations
• What is a population?
• What are some factors that can
contribute to the size of a population?
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Organism Interactions Limit
Population Size
Organisms depend on each other for:
Protection
Reproduction
Food
Shelter
So what happens when these
factors change?
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Organism Interactions Limit
Population Size
1. Predation:
– What could happen if a predator is
introduced to a population and there are
no organisms to eat it?
Unchecked for many
years, the snakes caused
the extinction of nearly
every native bird species
on the Pacific island of
Guam
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Organism Interactions Limit
Population Size
2. Competition
- What can happen if resources become
limited?
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Organism Interactions Limit
Population Size
3. Crowding & Stress
– As pop. Increase in size and start
straining their resources, they may
become stressed. What are some
examples of stress symptoms?
•
•
•
•
Aggression
Decrease in parental care
Decreased fertility
Decreased resistance to disease
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How do you determine human
population size?
• Growth rate—amount that a
population’s size changes over
time
– Birth rate—number of births
occurring during a period of time
(ADD)
-- Death rate (or mortality rate)—
number of deaths in a period of time
(SUBTRACTS)
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How do you determine human
population size?
Birth rate – death rate = growth rate
- Positive number means the pop. is
growing
- Negative number means the pop. is
shrinking
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Human population size
• Other things that affect a population’s
numbers:
• Life expectancy—how long on average
an individual is expected to live
– US men: 72 yrs, US women: 79 yrs
• Immigration—individuals moving into a
population (ADDS)
• Emigration—individuals moving out of
a population (SUBTRACTS)
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What can affect population size?
• When you figure out the number of
individuals living in a certain area, this
is called the population density.
• There are two limiting factors (biotic
and abiotic) that can affect the pop.
density
• Limiting factor—any biotic or abiotic
factor that restrains the growth of a
population
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What are limiting factors?
• Density-independent factors—factors
that affect the population regardless of
the population’s size
– Ex: fires, climate
• Density-dependent factors—factors
whose effects on the population
depend on the population’s size
– Ex. food shortages, disease
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Density- dependent or Densityindependent? Take the following
quiz to find out!
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• Predation
– Density-dependent
• Volcanic eruption
– Density-independent
• Chemical pesticides
– Density-independent
• Parasitism
– Density-dependent
• Forest fire
– Density-independent
• Migration
– Density-independent
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Communities
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FYI: How are communities
formed?
• Communities are made of several
populations living together
• Think back to population size. What
are some limiting factors that can affect
a community?
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FYI: Forming Communities
• What would happen if people stopped cutting
the grass in their yards?
1. The grass would get taller & weeds would
grow
2. Later, bushes would grow; trees would
appear, and different animals would enter the
area
3. After 30 years, it would eventually become a
forest…BUT WHY?
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Forming Communities
Succession—orderly, natural changes
and species replacements that take
place in the communities of an
ecosystem
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Communitites
• Primary succession—
development of a community
in an area that did not
previously exist
–Ex: new volcanic island,
bare rock, sand dune
–Happens slowly
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Communities
• Pioneer species—usually
small, fast growing, and fast
reproducing organisms that
are first to colonize land after
a disturbance
• Example of primary
succession: lichens
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Communities
• Secondary succession—
sequential replacement of
species that follows a
disruption of an existing
community
• Example of secondary
succession: grasses, weeds
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–Ex. Forest fire, yard left to grow
wild, removal of buildings
–Occurs faster and has different
pioneer species than primary
succession
• Types of organisms initially
found grasses & weeds
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Communities
• Climax community—
stable end point of a
community after
succession
takes place
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Biomes
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Biomes
• Biomes—very large
ecosystems that are
distinguished by
characteristic plants and
animals.
• Terrestrial—land based
• Aquatic—water based
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Tundra
• extreme northern latitudes
• cold, largely treeless
• permafrost—permanently
frozen layer of soil
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Tundra
• long, cold winters and very
short summers
• short growing season limits
the producers in food webs
• very little precipitation
• thin, poor soil that can only
support shallow-root plants
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Tundra
• plants: grass, moss, small
shrubs
• animals: caribou, snowy owl,
artic fox, mosquitoes in
summer, hares, reindeer.
(Most migrate here in
summer)
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Taiga
• forested biome with
evergreen conifers
• South of tundra
• Long winters, but overall
warmer and wetter than
tundra
• Abundance of trees provides
more food/shelter than tundra
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Taiga
• Plants: pines, firs, some
grasses
• Animals: moose, bears,
wolves, lynx
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Temperate deciduous forests
• characterized by trees that
lose all their leaves in fall
(Alabaster, AL)
• Receive constant rainfall (70150 cm annually)
• Longer summers
• Rich topsoil with layer of clay
underneath
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Temperate deciduous forests
• Plants: hickory, maples, oaks
• Animals: deer, hawk, squirrel,
rabbits, bears
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Tropical rain forests
• tall trees
• Stable, year round growing
seasons
• Warm weather year round
• Most biologically diverse
biome
• Average temp 25 degrees C
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Tropical rain forests
• Many niches b/c of “vertical
layering” in forest
• Canopy (sunny tree tops),
understory (dark/moist where
smaller trees, ferns, shrubs
grow), ground level
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Tropical rain forests
• Plants—trees of all sizes,
herbs, grasses
• Animals—monkeys, birds,
jaguars,( and lots more…)
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Grasslands
• Usually in interiors of
continents (Prairies &
Savannas)
• Rainfall is not enough to
support large trees
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Grasslands
• Plants: dominated by grasses
• Animals: jackrabbits, bison,
deer, prairie dogs
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Prairie
• Grasslands found in North America
• Plants: grasses, wildflowers
• Animals: prairie dogs, rabbits
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Savannahs
• tropical or subtropical
grasslands with scattered
trees or shrubs
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Savannahs
• Africa, South America,
Australia
• Alternating wet/dry seasons
• Plants—short trees, shrubs,
grasses
• Animals– lions, giraffes,
antelopes, kangaroo (in
Australia)
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Deserts
• receive less than 10 inches
(25 cm) of rain each year
• Can be hot or cold!
• Most plants and animals
adapted to storing/saving
water
• Rainfall is a limiting factor
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Deserts
• Plants: cacti and other
succulents (plants with
thick/waxy leaves that can
store water)
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Deserts
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Deserts
• Animals: tortoises, desert
fox, kangaroo rat, coyotes,
scorpions, camels
–Most animals stay hidden
during day
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Aquatic Biomes
Make up the largest part of the
Earth, covering nearly 75% of the
Earth's surface
Freshwater—salt concentration of
<1%
Marine—salt concentration of
about 3%
Marine areas contain different
zones based on light availability
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Aquatic Biomes:
• Ponds & Lakes (still waters):
–Ponds are smaller & can dry up
while lakes can last a long time
–The water temperature and
organisms found there depend
on its location
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Plants & Animals
• Plants:
–Algae, cattails
• Animals:
–Frogs, Trout
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Aquatic Biomes:
• Rivers & streams (moving
waters):
–bodies of flowing water moving
in one direction
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Plants & Animals
• Plants:
–lilies, moss
• Animals:
–Otters, snails
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Aquatic Biomes:
• Wetlands—where land and
water meet
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• Swamps—have
trees and running
water
• Plants:
– Trees, Spanish moss
• Animals:
– Snakes, alligators
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• Marshes—no
trees, but running
water
• Plants:
– grasses, cattails
• Animals:
– Minks, egrets
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• Bogs—get water
supply from rain
• Plants:
– Bog lily, bulrush
• Animals:
– turtles, dragonflies
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Aquatic Biomes:
• Oceans—largest of ALL the
ecosystems
• Algae is also responsible for
the absorption of large
amounts of CO2 from our
atmosphere
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Choose your own animals
• Plants are really Protists: Algae
(seaweed/kelp), Phytoplankton
(diatoms)
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• Coral Reefs
– in warm shallow waters
Plants: algae
Animals: coral,
sea urchins
– can be found as barriers
along continents
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Aquatic Biomes:
• Estuaries—coastal body of
water, partially surrounded by
land in which freshwater and
salt water mix
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Plants & Animals
• Plants:
– Mangrove trees, marsh grasses
• Animals:
– Worms, crabs
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Environmental
Concerns
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Pollution
• Pollution—of air, water, soil.
– Acid rain kills aquatic life and plant life—
disrupts food web
– Too much nitrogen/phosphates from
runoff damages lakes by disrupting
plant/algae growth and food webs
– Toxins (heavy metals, organic chemicals)
cause illnesses, cancers in humans
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Ozone
– Ozone—naturally occurring gas (O3) that
screens most of UV light from sun
• Humans are releasing Chlorofluorocarbons
(CFC) from refrigerator chemicals and aerosol
cans.
• Chemicals destroy ozone. Is causing a hole in
the ozone layer. Could lead to more cancers
• Ground level ozone contributes to smog and
breathing problems.
• Shelby and Jefferson Co. frequently exceed the
legal limit (Ozone Alert Days/Air Quality Index)
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Human Impact
• Human overpopulation—resources are
limited while waste increases
• Loss of biodiversity—deforestation,
urban sprawl, endangered species
(habitat loss and illegal animal trade),
invasive species, overfishing
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Global Warming/Climate Change
– Greenhouse effect—The natural warming
of the Earth due to gasses present in the
atmosphere (CO2 and methane) .These
gasses trap in heat from the sun.
– Concern: humans ARE releasing more
pollutants and gasses, such as carbon
dioxide, into the air. Average temperature
HAS increased. Strange weather patterns
noted
• How we’re releasing gasses/pollutants:
burning fossil fuels for energy, burning
rainforest, chemical industry wastes
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Global Warming/Climate Change
– The debate:
• Are these gasses allowing more heat to be
trapped, leading to a rise in global
temperatures?
• Is the recorded temperature rise and changing
weather patterns a normal response to many
factors, all of which we may not understand?
– Predictions:
• Earth warms up, polar ice caps and glaciers
melt all over world, sea levels rise, massive
flooding and global climate changes occurs.
Increase in water born diseases.
• Global warming will be a mild problem
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