Biodiversity loss in Sumatra : a One sub-species of orangutan is found only in the rain forests of Borneo, while the other sub-species of orangutan is found only in the rain forests of Sumatra. These animals are examples of the exceptional biodiversity of c the islands of Sumatra and Borneo. Other species include the b Sumatran tiger and the d Sumatran elephant, both of which are critically endangered.
Human destruction of habitats has accelerated greatly in the latter half of the twentieth century. Natural habitats are often destroyed through human activity for the purpose of harvesting natural resources for industry production and urbanization. Clearing habitats for agriculture, for example, is the principal cause of habitat destruction.
Other important causes of habitat destruction include mining, logging, and urban sprawl. Habitat destruction is currently ranked as the primary cause of species extinction worldwide. Consider the exceptional biodiversity of Sumatra.
The neighboring island of Borneo, home to the other sub-species of orangutan, has lost a similar area of forest, and forest loss continues in protected areas. The orangutan in Borneo is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN , but it is simply the most visible of thousands of species that will not survive the disappearance of the forests of Borneo.
The forests are being removed for their timber, and to clear space for plantations of palm oil, an oil used in Europe for many items including food products, cosmetics, and biodiesel. A five-year estimate of global forest cover loss for the years — was 3. In the humid tropics where forest loss is primarily from timber extraction, , km 2 was lost out of a global total of 11,, km 2 or 2.
In the tropics, these losses also represent the extinction of species because of high levels of endemism. In temperate and boreal regions, forest area is gradually increasing with the exception of Siberia , but deforestation in the tropics is of major concern.
Sustainable practices, which preserve environments for long-term maintenance and well-being, can help preserve habitats and ecosystems for greater biodiversity. Sustainability is a concept that describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time. Long-lived and healthy wetlands and forests are examples of sustainable biological systems.
For humans, sustainability is the potential for long-term maintenance of well-being, which has ecological, economic, political, and cultural dimensions. One approach is environmental management, which is based largely on information gained from earth science, environmental science, and conservation biology.
A second approach is management of human consumption of resources, which is based largely on information gained from economics. A third, more recent, approach adds cultural and political concerns into the sustainability matrix. Loss of biodiversity stems largely from the habitat loss and fragmentation produced by human appropriation of land for development, forestry and agriculture as natural capital is progressively converted to human-made capital.
At the local human scale, sustainability benefits accrue from the creation of green cities and sustainable parks and gardens. Similarly, environmental problems associated with industrial agriculture and agribusiness are now being addressed through such movements as sustainable agriculture, organic farming, and more-sustainable business practices.
Overharvesting threatens biodiversity by degrading ecosystems and eliminating species of plants, animals, and other organisms. Overharvesting, also called overexploitation, refers to harvesting a renewable resource to the point of diminishing returns. Ecologists use the term to describe populations that are harvested at a rate that is unsustainable, given their natural rates of mortality and capacities for reproduction.
The term applies to natural resources such as wild medicinal plants, grazing pastures, game animals, fish stocks, forests, and water aquifers. Sustained overharvesting can lead to the destruction of the resource, and is one of the five main activities — along with pollution, introduced species, habitat fragmentation, and habitat destruction — that threaten global biodiversity today.
All living organisms require resources to survive. Overharvesting these resources for extended periods of time can deplete natural resources to the point where they are unable to recover within a short time frame.
Humans have always harvested food and other resources they have needed to survive; however, human populations, historically, were small and methods of collection limited to small quantities. Exponential increase in human population, expanding markets, and increasing demand, combined with improved access and techniques for capture, are causing the exploitation of many species beyond sustainable levels. As mentioned above, sustained overharvesting is one of the primary threats to biodiversity.
Overharvesting can lead to resource destruction, including extinction at the population level and even extinction of whole species. Depleting the numbers or amount of certain resources can also change their quality; for example, the overharvesting of footstool palm a wild palm tree found in Southeast Asia, the leaves of which are used for thatching and food wrapping has resulted in its leaf size becoming smaller.
Overharvesting not only threatens the resource being harvested, but can directly impact humans as well — for example by decreasing the biodiversity necessary for medicinal resources. A significant proportion of drugs and medicines are natural products which are derived, directly or indirectly, from biological sources. However, unregulated and inappropriate harvesting could potentially lead to overexploitation, ecosystem degradation, and loss of biodiversity; further, it can negatively impact the rights of the communities and states from which the resources are taken.
Overharvesting is a serious threat to many species, especially aquatic ones. The natural outcome of harvesting common resources is their overexploitation. In a few fisheries, the biological growth of the resource is less than the potential growth of the profits made from fishing if that time and money were invested elsewhere.
In these cases for example, whales economic forces will always drive toward fishing the population to extinction. Cod trawler and net : Overharvesting fisheries is an especially salient problem because of a situation termed the tragedy of the commons.
In this situation, fishers have no real incentive to practice restraint when harvesting fish because they do not own the fisheries. Overexploitation of species can also result in cascade effects, particularly if a habitat loses its apex predator. Because of the loss of the top predator, a dramatic increase in their prey species can occur. In turn, the unchecked prey can then overexploit their own food resources until population numbers dwindle, possibly to the point of extinction.
Exotic species introduced into foreign ecosystems can threaten native species through competition for resources, predation, and disease. Bonus: It keeps toxic chemicals from polluting soil and water near landfills.
Is your house full of mail from places like banks and utility companies? Ask your parents to sign up for online alerts. And make sure to recycle newspapers, magazines, and other paper in your home. Clean your shoes before going on a hike, especially in a new place. The mud caked in your sneakers may contain seeds of invasive plants , which can push out native plants that keep the ecosystem healthy.
Flush only your own waste and toilet paper—no medicine, cleaning wipes, cotton balls, paint, or pet poo. This trash can eventually travel into the water system and affect the animals that live there. Your attendance matters! Wildlife refuges, parks , bird sanctuaries, and nature preserves are more likely to receive funding to stay open when more people visit them. Work a lemonade stand , host a bake sale, or sell homemade jewelry to raise funds to protect wildlife and their habitats. Conserve this resource by taking five minute showers, turning off the faucet when you brush your teeth, and bugging your parents to fix leaky pipes.
Palm oil is often used in products like chocolate, soap, ice cream, bread, cookies, and shampoo. But some rain forests are being destroyed in order to grow the trees that produce palm oil.
Try to avoid buying products that use it, or look for a label that confirms the ingredient was grown in a rain-forest friendly way. People cut down about 15 billion trees every year, some of it to make paper.
Save your sheets by using the back, buying recycled paper, and asking your teacher to sometimes switch from printed homework to online assignments. Ask your parents to plant a garden full of local trees , flowers, and shrubs to provide habitats for native bees , birds, and other animals. Plant fertilizer can dump extra nutrients into the water system, which might create wildlife-killing algae blooms in the ocean. Hydropower plants, dam construction, and water diversion are many of water projects such as frequently disconnect or draw off waters thereby altering water chemistry and hydrology.
This is why such water projects limit the amount of water and nutrients running downstream. The downstream section of the river can dry out and the nutrients supporting aquatic life can significantly lessen. So, gradual habitat loss happens as the water flows downstream. The alteration of lands into urban settings, housing developments, office spaces, shopping malls, industrial sites, parking areas, road networks, and so on takes away the naturally occurring land that provided habitat for wildlife and other living organisms.
This process has substantially led to the loss and destruction of millions of acre of natural habitable environments. Climate change is one of the recent leading reasons of habitat loss since it changes the physical environmental factors such as temperature and moisture which are crucial for a sustainable habitat.
Wildlife that needs cool temperatures of high elevations such as the rock rabbit and mountain gorillas may in the near future run out of habitat because of global warming. Excessive rains, flooding or drought arising out of global warming have also impacted several habitats, contributing to the loss of wildlife and other living organisms. When a certain ecosystem that is home to different species destroy, more aggressive species may enter the territory.
As the native species fight to cope in a harsher environment, the invasive species contributes to a further and rapid decline of the habitat and subsequently dominates.
The explosive entry of invasive species into an ecosystem generates a strong threat to the native species as they strive to survive in the increasingly changing environment. Invasive species directly competes for food with the native species and can also alter the structure of the habitat.
Vegetation removal and logging ruin the structure of the habitat since it takes away the vital materials and natural systems responsible for refilling and purifying the habitat. Eradication of vegetation cover and logging also generates room for soil erosion and decrease storm-water infiltration which ends to the degradation of water quality, further destroying the habitat. Sign up for more inspiring photos, stories, and special offers from Tired Earth.
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