human impacts Flashcards
what does hippo stand for
habitat destruction
invasive species
pollution
population
overconsumption
what are some examples of habitat destruction
destroying habitats for new homes, buildings, roads, etc
ocean acidification, coral bleaching, cultural eutrophication
how does ocean acidification occur
as we emit more co^2 into the atmosphere, it is absorbed into the oceans where it becomes carbonic acid, h2co3, lowering the ph to make the water more acidic
additionally this reaction also creates free hydrogen ions which bond to bioavailable carbonate, co3 2-, to form bicarbonate, hco3-, which is not bioavailable
carbonate is naturally found in oceans from run off and is used by many organisms to make shells and skeletons in the form of calcium carbonate, caco3
co2 in general is corrosive to the shells of many shells and skeletons
how does the ph scale work
it is a logarithmic scale from 0-14
7 is neutral, closer to 0 is acidic, closer to 14 is basic
what is coral bleaching
coral has a mutualistic relationship with algae, glucose and other nutrients form photosynthesis for coral and home for algae
when the water temperature increases, the coral becomes stressed and expels algae turning coral white
coral can also get stressed from pollution, run off, sunlight, and physical touch
what is cultural eutrophication and dead zones
cultural eutrophication occurs form excess nutrients in water, usually as run off with fertilizer
these extra nutrients benefit the algae, spiking the population in an algae bloom
once these algae die, decomposers decompose them but have to use a lot of oxygen in the process
this takes oxygen away from animals causing them to die massively in what is a called a dead zone
what are invasive species
invasive species are species of animals that are not in ecosystems where they should be, disrupting the natural food web
e.g. lionfish were dumped into the ocean by accident and also purposefully by people who didn’t want to care for them. they had no natural predators and venomous spines, leading to their population rapidly growing and reducing the number of low level consumers for other high level consumers
what makes plastic so bad for the environment
it does not break down chemically and only reaks down into tiny parts, e.g. microplastics and nanoplastics
a lot of plastic goes into the ocean from fishing gear or people’s trash
plastic often absorbs other chemicals and pollution and also can choke marine life
what are garbage patches
due to the way gyres flow, there are large concentrations of plastics at the center of gyres called garbage patches
what is biomagnification
chemicals inside ecosystems enter in producers and accumulate up the food chain, causing the top predators to have very high concentrations of toxins
this is both harmful for the organisms and humans who eat them
e.g. mercury from mines and coal plants seep into water where it is absorbed by krill, moving up to salmon, pollock, and oysters then trout and tuna and finally shark, pike, albacore, and halibut. the third and fourth trophic levels have enough mercury where humans can only eat them a couple times a week and a couple times a month respectively
what does population growth mean in hippo
as human population increases, the amount of resources, waste, and space we use and create increases, increasing our overall impact
what is overfishing and bycatch
often times fishermen use larger nets that catch fish other than the fish they intend to catch, called bycatch
by catch usually ends up dying
overfishing can reduce the population of larger fish by fishing too much
bycatch and overfishing lead to populations of certain species decreasing, disrupting ecosystems
what causes sea level rise
sea level rise is primarily caused by thermal expansion. as the temperature of the water increases, its volume also increases
a secondary cause of sea level rise is land ice. ice in the oceans already takes up space so it does not displace any water when it melts. however ice on land can run off into oceans and add more volume
