Earth, the home to humans, animals, and all of biological diversity, experiences changes every second of every day, and these changes are referred to as biological altercations. Biological altercations, like the Santa Ana winds, are commonly disputed among society due to both the positive and negative outcomes of the altercations. The Santa Ana winds are extremely dry winds that affect Southern California and are known to cause wildfires. Individuals like Joan Didion argue that a Santa Ana brings darkness and danger, whereas other individuals like Linda Thomas argue that it brings beauty and value. Each side of this dispute is discussed in Linda Thomas’ essay “Brush Fire”, and Joan Didion’s essay “The Santa Ana”. Despite each piece’s central idea being about the Santa Ana winds, the author of each
Earth, the home to humans, animals, and all of biological diversity, experiences changes every second of every day, and these changes are referred to as biological altercations. Biological altercations, like the Santa Ana winds, are commonly disputed among society due to both the positive and negative outcomes of the altercations. The Santa Ana winds are extremely dry winds that affect Southern California and are known to cause wildfires. Individuals like Joan Didion argue that a Santa Ana brings darkness and danger, whereas other individuals like Linda Thomas argue that it brings beauty and value. Each side of this dispute is discussed in Linda Thomas’ essay “Brush Fire”, and Joan Didion’s essay “The Santa Ana”. Despite each piece’s central idea being about the Santa Ana winds, the author of each piece has a different perspective. Each author’s perspective is based on their own personal connection and experience with the biological alteration of the Santa Ana winds.
In the past decade there have been hundreds of wild fires in California which have led to thousands of acres being scorched and left uninhabitable by plants and animals, the death of many, and future consequences that don’t only affect those near the fire but those all over the world. There are many causes of these forest fires such as low water vapor concentration in the atmosphere and high air and surface temperatures.
Abstract – The study to prove that ecological succession occurred at Conrad’s beach took place at Conrad’s beach in Nova Scotia. Species richness, height and amount of organic material was sampled by using a 1m x 1m quadrat. As predicted the abundance and size of the organisms were larger further as the groups got further from the sand dunes.
Bees work to pollinate and make honey, that is why we need to stop using pesticides. The chemicals in the pesticides are toxic to not only wasps, flies, and other pesky insects the pesticides are also toxic to bees.
Environmental change is defined as the adjustment or disturbance of the environment due to human influence and natural ecological processes. There are different types of environmental change which can include any number of things such as natural disasters, human interference or animal interaction. As such all life is subject to the effects of climate change and must somehow develop ways to adapt to such change.
During the last 40 years, over 20 percent of the Amazon Rainforest had been cut or burnt, due to deforestation. Over 200,000 acres of the worlds rainforest are destroyed every day. 150 acres of land are burnt every minute. 130 species of plants,
Old growth forests are rare to come by, especially in the United States. The Camillus Unique Forest Area, located in northeastern New York, has many characteristics of an old growth forest. It is unclear how old the forest actually is, as the tree species that reside there have a life span of 100-200 years. This could mean that the forest is thousands of years old, with hundreds of generations of these species, or only a few hundred years old, with the first generation just reaching maturity. Either way the forest has many traits of an old growth forest.
Hello Jamal, you made a valid point concerning nutrition being one of the most important factors of the human life. I am a witness that the proper nutrition can enhance the flow of our blood, and the oxygen to the brain. However, in my forestry class, I learned that trees function as a natural air filter, which leads to the importance to our environment and health matters. Upon learning about the importance of the nurturance in the dirt, to the importance of trees within an environment, this allowed me to appreciate being surrounded by trees, which was a different experience for me. Indeed, I can relate to eating anything without getting heartburn, and remaining the same size for the majority of my life. People thought my daughters were my
The Amazon is a sublime location. This region is abundant in species of vegetation and animals, many of which have not even been discovered (National Geographic). The animals of the Amazon Rainforest all come together to form a complex and intricate ecosystem. Deforestation, climate change, are factors that have recently come against the Amazon Rainforest (National Geographic). In this scenario, the future of the Amazon Rainforest appears bleak. A from National Geographic focuses on specific animals that have inhabited the rainforest for up to millions of years, their relations with one another, and the factors that threaten their survival.
The purpose of sustainably managing forests is such that forests may maintain their social, economic, and environmental prosperity (Natural Resources Canada, 2015). Because ecosystems contain many complicated aspects, and are so easily affected by external factors, sustainable forest management (SFM) practices must be continuously adapted as the situation demands (PEFC, 2015). This paper will explain Canada’s modern SFM practices, and how they have each contributed to Canada’s recognition as an international leader in sustainable forest management. The methodology used will be based on Canada’s four key aspects that summarize their SFM practices, and allow them to excel. Respectively, these include:
The number of plant species inhabiting Earth keep our planet highly diverse as well as play a vital role in sustaining our environment and our population. The understanding of plant species and their diversity and abundance is important because plants are vital to maintaining Earth and its atmosphere. In our research project, we addressed the question: How does the abundance of the ponderosa pine species vary within different elevation levels on the Bear Peak Trail? The article by Wathen et. al (2014) studies the spatial and temporal distribution of species richness within two National Parks. The study shows plants species to be at a maximum richness at middle to high altitudes (2000-3000m) and decline dramatically after 3000m. The article represents the positive relationships between the richness of plant species and elevations and demonstrates that as elevation increases the species richness also increases until you reach 3000m. Zhang et. al (2016) experienced findings
To feel free, living off the land, or to live the way we do in our current lives? These kinds of questions are ones that we often ask ourselves in our modern world of metropolises, cars, and grocery stores. But what would it really mean to have kept living in a society, thousands of years ago, that continued the roaming lifestyle. Would life be simpler and happier? In my opinion, the benefits that hunting and gathering proposed would be really tempting, and from the evidence better for my health too. The issue lays in the failure to continue growing, to be able to build comfortable homes and stay living regularly in the same place. Though beneficial in the short run, the inability of the hunting-gathering style to adapt to larger populations would result in starvation, and populations having to spread out across greater distances. The benefits of hunting and gathering not being dismissed, the possibilities presented by agriculture would pose a far greater draw for me personally.
The study will be guided by the ecosystem valuation framework (Hein et al., 2006) to quantify and map a range of ecosystem services and evaluate the impact of land use change on these ecosystem services (provisioning, regulating and cultural services). The ecosystem valuation framework is applicable to all ecosystems and very valuable in modified (semi-natural and natural) ecosystems. The framework categorize valuation of ecosystem services into four (4) phases, viz (1) Specification of the boundaries of the ecosystem to be valued, (2) Assessment of the ecosystem services supplied by the system, (3) Valuation of the ecosystem service and lastly, (4) Aggregation or comparison
Before one can talk about the Mediterranean landscape, one should ask themselves: what is a landscape? In an English Oxford dictionary, one can see that the definition of landscape is ‘all the visible features of an area of land, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.’ There is more to the landscape than just land and features; it is the place where existing political and cultural differences or similarities manifest themselves into creating a mixture of places, which is seen as a landscape (Olwig, 2007). Currently there are seven different types of landscapes: mountain, coastal, riverine, desert, karst, tropical rainforest and built. A built landscape is the only one that is not a natural landscape and provide evidence of human