Environment - Impacts Flashcards
What kind of human activities have disrupted and destroyed many communities of organisms?
Clearing land (urban dev, logging and farming), mining, introduced species, over hunting
Why are aquatic ecosystems (e.g. estuaries, wetlands, rivers and coastal areas) particularly vulnerable to human actives?
Toxic substances easily leak into these environments
How can water be polluted?
Sewage, high nutrient level, heat (i.e. increase temp of water), heavy metals
Why is water essential to life on earth?
Organisms are mostly made of water and it makes environments on Earth hospitable
How is water cycled through the land, sea and atmosphere? what are all these processes driven by?
Precipitation, evaporation and transpiration from planted are all driven by sunlight
How can deforestation affect the water cycle?
Less water is evaporated and transpired which means less rainfall
How much has norther chinas rain fall decreased by deforestation?
30% from 1950 - 80
What are other human impacts on the water cycle?
Climate change, agriculture, dam construction, large cities/urban sprawl, urban and industrial ground/water use
What is integrated water resource management?
Involves sustainably managing water resource to best serve social economic and environmental interests
What might an engineer in integrated water resource management do?
Analyse the behaviour of water basins and flow, monitor global water movement, model and simulate groundwater system etc
Globally where does most water move from?
Fro the ocean to the atmosphere (by evaporation)
What are the impacts of high salinity level?
Crop damage + limited crop choice, loss of organisms (animals not adapted to high salt conditions), water is not drinkable, infrastructure and industrial equip not suite to cope with high salinity
What causes high salinity?
Excessive use of irrigation water over saline ground water environments
What are the eight water quality measurements?
Dissolved O2, chlorophyll, pH, Nitrogen, Turbidity, phosphorous, temperature, E.coli
What percent of the earths land surface has been altered by humans?
60%
