Ecological Integrity & Human Health (2) Flashcards
What is the environment?
A bounded entity that acquires self-stabilizing mechanisms to reach internal balance
Possible causes of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)?
- Pesticides
- Parasites
- Fungi
- Poor nutrition
- Bee management practices
- Habitat fragmentation
- Agricultural practices
What is environmental health?
Addresses all the physical, chemical, biological factors external to a person, and all the related factors impacting behaviors
Indicator species
Species whose presence, absence, or general well-being serves as a signal of the state of an ecosystem or habitat
Keystone species
Species whose presence is critical to maintaining overall health of ecosystem or habitat
What makes a species a good “indicator” of environmental or ecological health?
- Representative of the other organisms in the ecosystem
- Easily observable and able to be sampled
- Should react consistently to environmental changes
Significance of the Pied Flycatcher?
- Exhibited adverse response to sulfur and particulate emissions from smelters before effects observed in humans (reduced clutch size)
- Town cut emissions by 99% –> Flycatcher population rebounded
What happens when a keystone species is removed?
Types of species and their numbers alter drastically, lowering overall species diversity
Is Pied Flycatcher indicator or keystone species?
Indicator
Tipping points of planetary boundaries (from Ted Talk)?
- Climate change
- Biosphere integrity (genetic diversity)
- Land-system change
- Biochemical flows (phosphorous, nitrogen)
Take home message of CCD?
- Characterized by measurable change
- Risk burden may be far-reaching (b/c indicator species)
- Potentially numerous attributable risk factors
- Unknown etiologies of environmentally-mediated health effects
- Steps exist on a societal and individual level
