Level 5 Planet Earth: Biodiversity and interdependence SCN ...



S3 BGE BIOLOGY Part 1 BIODIVERSITY1H: Impact of Population Growth on BiodiversityYou will study the following topic at Level’s 4 & 5. Biodiversity, Ecosystems & Investigating Abiotic Factors (L3/4/5) Biomes (L4/N4) Investigating Distribution of Organisms: Sampling Techniques (L3/4/5) Identifying Organisms which have been Collected: Keys (L3/5) Interdependence, Food Chains & Webs (L4/5) Energy in Ecosystems - Pyramids (L5) Interdependence -Niche & Biotic factors (L4/5)Impact of Population Growth on Biodiversity (L4/5)Impact of Natural Hazards on Biodiversity (L4)left1470660Level 5 Planet Earth: Biodiversity and interdependence SCN 5-01a; Topical Science SCN 5-20aNational 5: Unit 3: Key Area 3.5a Food ProductionKey Area 3.5c: Increasing human population requires an increased food yield00Level 5 Planet Earth: Biodiversity and interdependence SCN 5-01a; Topical Science SCN 5-20aNational 5: Unit 3: Key Area 3.5a Food ProductionKey Area 3.5c: Increasing human population requires an increased food yieldleft328718Level 4 Planet Earth: Biodiversity and interdependence SCN 4-01a; Topical Science SCN 4-20aI can predict the impact of population growth and natural hazards on biodiversityNational 4: Unit 3: Key Area 3.2 Impact of population growth on biodiversity 3.2a&b Investigate examples of human population growth and how this affects biodiversity.3.2a&b Research ecological footprints that measure human demands on Earth’s resources00Level 4 Planet Earth: Biodiversity and interdependence SCN 4-01a; Topical Science SCN 4-20aI can predict the impact of population growth and natural hazards on biodiversityNational 4: Unit 3: Key Area 3.2 Impact of population growth on biodiversity 3.2a&b Investigate examples of human population growth and how this affects biodiversity.3.2a&b Research ecological footprints that measure human demands on Earth’s resourcesConservation of Endangered Species (L4) Impact of Population Growth on Biodiversity learning OutcomesL4 Learning Outcomes: You should be able to…Describe how human populations have increased in recent centuries.Explain that population growth has increased demands on resources.Understand that threats to biodiversity are caused by humans.L5 Learning Outcomes: As well as the above you should be able to…Describe how the increasing human population requires an increasing food yield.(L4/5) DEFINITIONS TO LEARN – MAKE ME A FLASH CARDBiological termDefinitionBiodiversityThe variety of all life (plant or animal) on Earth, or in a specific ecosystemPopulation growthThe increase in the number of individuals in a populationCarbon footprintThe total emissions caused by an individual, event, organization, or product.Ecological footprintThe ecological footprint measures human demand on natureIntensive agricultureAlso known as intensive farming, where both of crop plants and animals are produced as a bigger yield in a smaller spaceExtinctionProcess of a species dying out488505516891000(L4/5) Population Growth.Currently humans have a population of 7.7billion on earth (2019). Unlike other species, human beings have managed to overcome most of the environmental factors that normally prevent a population in its natural ecosystem from increasing indefinitely in number. This is because humans have used their exceptional brain power to…Remove the threat of predation.Develop vast areas of land for food production/intensive agriculture.Improve public health such as vaccines and antibiotics.As a result, the human population continues to increase rapidly and is expected to reach 9 billion in the 2040’s.3411855698500(L4/5) Increasing at an even faster rateConstant growth can be observed on graph above showing the population initially rising slowly. This changes in the 1850’s due to the start of the industrial revolution. During this time there was a massive spike in technological advances. This led to better health systems, sanitation, and increased food production, and resulted in the human population increasing at an even-faster rate. This is particularly prominent in the graph after the 1950's.Have a look at the world population clock ? It highlights that there is an imbalance between births and deaths. As our population rapidly grows the number of births is approximately 2.75 times the number of deaths.(L4) Ecological footprintsPopulation increases have placed massive demands on the planet in terms of the need for space, food, water and raw materials.An ecological footprint is a measure of human impact on Earth’s ecosystems.It can be measured in Area of planetAmount of resources consumed each year24572381120564008467108839000The amount of waste materials which need to be removed. The Ecological Footprint can be calculated for a single?individual,?city, region,?country?and the entire planet. The diagram below from the Global Footprint Network shows a map of the world in 2019 showing different ecological footprints – the darker the colour the lager the footpront. Note how widely the footprints vary.Threats to biodiversityWe have already learned that biodiversity describes the variety of plant and animal life in the world or in a habitat. It is globally agreed that it is good to have a high level of biodiversity. As the human population has grown, greater pressure has been placed on the land for building homes, growing crops and providing raw materials for our existence.The main human activities that are causing reduction on biodiversity are as follows…30283156794500Habitat destruction and deforestationOverfishingIntensive agricultureGenetic pollutionClimate changeAcid RainOil and chemical spillsSewage and litter1. Habitat destruction: Deforestation - Global problemThe following statistics are from the following link. Have a read to learn more! . Forests still cover?about 30%?of the world’s land area, but they are disappearing at an alarming rate. Between 1990 and 2016, the world lost 502,000miles2 of forest,?that’s an area larger than France. Since humans started cutting down forests,?46% of trees have been felled, according to a 2015 study in the journal Nature. About?17%?of the Amazonian rainforest has been?destroyed?over the past 50 years, and losses recently?have been on the rise.Causes of deforestation.Farming, grazing of livestock, mining, and drilling combined account for?more than half of all deforestation. Forestry practices, wildfires and, in small part, urbanization account for the rest. In Malaysia and Indonesia, forests are cut down to make way for producing?palm oil. In the Amazon, cattle ranching and farms, particularly soy plantations are the?key culprits.Logging operations, which provide the world’s wood and paper products, also fell countless trees each year. Loggers, some of them?acting illegally, also build roads to access more and more remote forests, which leads to further deforestation. Forests are also cut as a result of urbanisation as land is developed for homes.Oil palms versus Orangutans391629660524000020000In recent years, the tropical forest habitat of the orangutan has been cut down at a rapid rate and replaced with palm oil plantations. Deforestation for palm oil is now the main threat to the survival of?orangutan?populations in Borneo and Sumatra. The WWF estimates that 90% of the orangutan population has been lost in the last 100 years as such the orangutan is now classed as critically endangered.What do we use palm oil for?It’s in 50% of all household and food products sold in the West. It’s an ingredient in shampoo, toothpaste, detergent, frozen microwave dinners, cookies, peanut butter, lotion, makeup and much more!Not only is palm oil bad for orangutans it is bad for the environment, and a major cause of climate change. Conflict exists between those who wish to produce palm oil and those who wish to preserve wildlife and the environment. If preventative action is not taken now the beautiful orangutan might be extinct in less than 20 years.Deforestation: What happened Scotland’s Rainforest? The Caledonian forest can it be saved?The ancient Caledonian Forest is Scotland’s ‘rainforest’ - but it has long faced extinction due to thousands of years of destruction. News article published 2016. Click to read full article.Only a few tattered scraps of woodland in the Cairngorms provide evidence that a vast forest once covered the Scottish Highlands (its original size of 1.5million hectares), and much of the UK. It once provided homes for wolves, lynx, elks and many other species.Human activities such as land clearances for farming, and felling trees for timber, destroyed most of that habitat hundreds of years ago, leaving only a few disconnected fragments of land to provide shelter for dwindling numbers of animals. In 2016 less than 5% (as disconnected pieces) of the Caledonian Forrest remained. 3936628679744400000The good news is that the biggest conservation project to take place in the UK is underway to save the Great Caledonian Rainforest. – Click to read the full article. ?The project hopes to bring Caledonia’s forest back to some of its ancient glory. In an ambitious??23m Endangered Landscapes Programme (ELP). This ‘rewilding’ aims to increase Scotland’s biodiversity and help our endangered species such as the red squirrel, pine marten, mountain hairs, capercaillie and there are also promising signs for the critically endangered Scottish wildcat.2. Habitat destruction: Overfishing3962106333560400000In recent years the need to feed the growing population has resulted in overfishing of the seas. The technology of fishing has changed dramatically since the 1960’s. The use of larger boats, larger nets, dredging &trawling and use of sonar technology has helped to increase the catch. In various parts of the world overfishing has led to the removal of breeding stock, the reductions of populations and the destruction of the marine habitat. The pie chart opposite shows that in 2004 88% of the worlds fish stocks were exploited.396240023495400000The North Sea.The catches of white fish such as haddock, cod and plaice in the North Sea have been declining due to overfishing for decades. The graph opposite shows the total catch of various white fish by the British fleet from 1996 until 2006.What are the solutions for overfishing?Many seas including the North Sea now has restrictions placed on it in the form of new laws, such as..Where and when fishing can take place.Some sites have a total ban on fishing for certain species such as cod, these restrictions will stay in place till fish populations recover to their previous levels.Limits on number of fish species being caught.Size of fish being caught.A ban on dredging off the coast of Oban (an area of marine conservation) has been in place for 12 years, unfortunately illegal trawling for scallops still occurs. In November 2018 Scotland banded dredging of kelp as this was seen to be unsustainable. 3. Intensive Agriculture.Intensive agriculture is designed to increase crop and animals for food, this is necessary due to the growing population.Intensive Crop ProductionTechniques to increase crop yield includeImproving the varieties of crops being grown.Planting huge areas of the same crop (requires removal of trees and hedge rows which lead to habitat destruction for many species).Increased use of fertilisers and pesticides.Intensive FarmingIntensive farming involves the breeding of large numbers of animals (cows, sheep, pigs, chickens and fish) on the principles of factory farming. The industry hopes to increase production at reduced costs. Techniques used to increase animal yields are…3823211429399400000Cheap animal feed can include, same species meat, other meats (the parts we won’t use e.g. feathers, hair, hooves and blood), plastics, unhealthy amounts of grains, drugs and chemicals.Factory farming squeezes large numbers of animals in confined spaces e.g. ‘battery farming’ of chickens.The routine 'mass-medication' of animals prevents diseases in conditions which are often 'disease-causing'. Routine?antibiotic use?is fuelling the?antibiotic resistance?crisis in people.What are the solutions for intensive crop production and farming?Use of organic farming methods, this includes the use of natural fertilisers and the biological control of pests (e.g. using ladybirds to control greenfly).Animals reared as free range.Animals are fed only organic products.Future food may not look like it does today, e.g. meat can now be grown in a lab using stems cells. In addition, we could be eating foods made from insects or algae. How about 3D printed food, science fiction or science fact?4. Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) & Genetic PollutionGenetic engineering has made the transfer of genes between species possible. New varieties of high-yielding crops (GMO) have been produced by genetic modification (GM). Genetic pollution is a term used by people who are opposed to GMO. There is concern that GM crop plants might escape into wild populations. We do not know what effects this might have on biodiversity and the balance of nature in local environments in the longer term.What are the solutions for GMO and Genetic Pollution?This threat to biodiversity is being monitored closely and there are regulations controlling the planting of GM crops in the UK.5. Climate Change.391414058584000020000Our Climate is changing. Politicians and scientists have debated the cause of global warming however evidence is clear that the temperature of our planet have risen most dramatically since the start of the Industrial Revolution. While global warming may be partly natural (as we continue to recover from the last ice age), the main cause of climate change is human activities. These include…DeforestationBurning fossil fuels for energyIncreased agriculture, industry and transportThese activities change the gas balance of the atmosphere resulting in the build-up of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane. These gases act as a barrier to heat escape from the planet and so cause it to warm up.The result if this is that ice sheets and glaciers are continuing to retreat, and the frequency of droughts and storms are increasingWhat are the solutions to Climate Change?This threat to biodiversity is being reduced by using alternative energy sources such as wind power, solar energy and wave-power to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.39057301475994000020000Acid Rain.Gases released by the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal oil and natural gas can dissolve in water vapour in the air and fall as acid rain. Acid rain affects the growth of trees and can kill animals in freshwater habitatsWhat are the solutions to Acid rain?Regulating the emissions coming from vehicles and buildings is an important step to reducing acid rain. This can be done by restricting the use of fossil fuels and focusing on more sustainable energy sources such as solar and wind power. Also, each person can do their part by reducing vehicle use, or by reducing their use of electricity and or switching to solar energy.40405521778040000200007. Oil and Chemical Spills.More people mean more industry. If there is more industry, then spills of various sorts are more likely. Oils spills do huge immediate damage to biodiversity by killing many animals and plants, and longer-term damage by slowly poisoning many more.EXXON VALDEZ On March 24, 1989 the?Exxon Valdez?tanker ran aground and spilled nearly 11 million gallons of oil in Alaska’s Prince William Sound. It was the worst oil spill in US history until 2010, when?Deepwater Horizon?disaster pumped nearly 20 times that into the Gulf of Mexico. Almost thirty years after the?Exxon Valdez?spill, there’s still lingering oil on some beaches. Wildlife ranging from seabirds to killer whales still haven’t recovered from the spill. The commercial fishery for Pacific herring remains closed. The?Exxon Valdez?spill left deep wounds in Alaska that have yet to heal completely.40476144697440000200008. Human Waste: Sewage, litter and Plastic.More people produce more waste. There is more sewage to treat and more litter to dispose of. The results of untreated sewage into water threatens biodiversity because bacteria in the sewage deoxygenised water and kills many members of the water-living community. Litter is often disposed of by landfill by which the litter is simply buried under soil. Bactria decomposes the litter in the absence of oxygen and creates methane gas which escapes into the atmosphere increasing greenhouse gases.Plastic pollution has become a huge problem and a massive issue for biodiversity. Plastic was invented in the mid-20th century. Plastic is useful in many ways, but it doesn’t break down or biodegrade. Anything made with plastic piles up in landfills or pollutes the ocean, where it kills wildlife. Plastic can be recycled. ................
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