Human Impact on environment Flashcards
How does oil effect the environment
Kills life and contaminates water.
Oil floats preventing water pcygenation caoting sea birds and prevent their insulation. Oil can also be washed to shore and digested by land wildlife
What is local conservation
Protects communities which act as gene banks - designation
What is international conservation
Preservation of gene banks in wild and captivity
- tradr restrictions
-breeding programmes
-sperm banks and seed stores
-reintroductions
-rare breed societies
What is the importance of conservation (4 points )
Survival of existing gene pools and useful alleles for humans / other species
-ethical- each species is intriniscally valuable due to particular combination of alleles
- agricultural and horticulatrual breeding with wild relatives
- medical use
Name 5 ways agricultural processes dmaage the environment
Removal of hedges
Monoculture-pest and parasite increase
- mineral depletion
-inorganic fertilisers
- overgrazing and compaction - roots cannot penetrate
What is the national sceme for subsidies
Encourage farmers to manage farms with conservation in mind
How many tropical rainforest species are lost every day
25
What are some consequences of deforestation
Reduced biodiversity
- soil erosion
-waterlogged soils
-desertification
- increased co2
What is coppicing
Trees cut a few cm from ground
Shoots grow and cut when required thickness reached for furniture
What is selective cutting
Only some trees removed at a time to reduce soul erosion and nutrient loss
Name the 5 ways of forest management
Coppicing
Selective cutting
Long rotation
Land used effectively eg trees a good distance apart
Preserving natural woodland
Causes of fish depletion
Nets with small mesh size
-catching young fosh before maturity
-less breeding occurs
-population decrease
- hard for fish to find a mate
-genetic diversity reduced
What are drift nets
Large negs where non target organisms caught
What is trawling
Large nets dragged along sea bed
What is trawling
Large nets dragged along sea bed
Name 6 methods of regulation
in fishing
- Legal restriction of mesh size
- Fishing quotas
- Legislation to manage fleet size
- Controlling days spent at sea
- Protective zones
- Consumer choice to eat sustainably
What are the two advantages of fish farming
Fish convert food into protein more effectively than cattle
Has lower carbon footprint
Name disadvantages of fish farming
-fish densely stocked- disease
- antibiotics used
- pollution e.g from Waste food or excretions
- escaped fish can outcompete.
- high levels of pesticides
-environmental degradation
Give an example of environmental degradation from fish farming
Shrimp farming has been depleting mangroves and freshwater inland is becoming salinated
What is environmental monitoring
Describes the current quality of the environment by measuring factors in air soil etc and predict future changes
How is water quality measured
Chemically- PH and oestrogens
Biologically - assesing indicator species
Microbiology- bacteria in drinking water
What are environmental impact assesments
Compiled for all projects that have an impact on the environment e.g for nuclear power stations and impact on flaura and fauna