Global Threats To Biodiversity

Bio means life and diversity mean variation biodiversity collectively refers to the variation of life. Biologically biodiversity refers to variation and divergence of living organisms in earth and ecosystem. Biodiversity describes the genetic variation of species in an ecosystem. It also tends to explain variation in ecosystem along with the divergence of species in a specific area, biome or planet , it is clear by the ecological researchers that there are nearly 14 million species in the word out of which only 1.2 million species have been   discovered  and half of the species have become extinct before getting discovered.

Ecosystems comprising rich biodiversity have many species of plants and animals that keep the system self-sustained and balanced. However, with the increase in human population and industrial evolution, the non-human species and plants species are seen under the threat of extinction. A major report, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, released in March 2005 highlighted a substantial and largely irreversible loss in the diversity of life on Earth, with some 10-30% of the mammal, bird and amphibian species threatened with extinction, due to human actions. 

Some of the global threats biodiversity is facing nowadays are: 

Poaching of wildlife: 

Illegal poaching of wildlife is mainly responsible for their extinction. Animals are poached for food and for their skin trading. Many of the animals are now on the brink of extinction due to their illegal hunting. Every state has laid down the laws and rules against the hunting of wildlife animals to protect them from total extinction but more is to be done to avert the threat.

Deforestation –main threat to biodiversity :

Cutting of forest aided much in the extinction of rare and valuable species of plants and animals. A man has cut the forests on the mass level to get the timber and land for the lodging. This, in turn, made many species get vanishes from the ecosystem and many got endangered to become extinct.  The demand for timber in China for the paper and wood material production has become a serious threat to the forest and animals species of the region.

Change in climatic condition:

Climatic change is also an important global threat to biodiversity. Carbon gas emitted from the from the human-made sources causes the temperature of the earth to rise that in consequence effects the animal and plant life on earth, climatic change effects the vegetative land by extreme temperature causing the land to become barren. the rise in temperature is making the ice glaciers to melt in polar regions this is making native species move to other unfavorable regions or causing them to become extinct. polar bears now lie in the list of endangered species due to climatic change factor.

Pollution of air and water affects the biodiversity a lot:

Waste and polluted matter from factories and human daily use is also affecting the world species on the alarming extent the polluted substances drained into ocean and rivers make the water toxic and causes the  marine animals to die beside  amphibians and mammals that drink the water from such resources also become the victim of the toxic materials in water.

Invasion of alien species:

Invasion of alien species in an ecosystem occurs mostly a result of human activities sometimes the invasion is natural also. The introduction of such species in the ecosystem has always negative effects often makes the native species to get extinct. Introduction of Nile Perch in Victoria lake is an example of such invasion Nile Perch invaded the Lake Victoria near to 170s and caused half of the native species to become extinct. Specie of snake tree was accidentally moved to Guam from Australia in the 1950s the population of snake tree expanded in the absence of the predator. The snake species lowered down the number of native birds and animals down in that ecosystem

Dead Zones Of Ocean An Environmental Crisis

Dead zones of the ocean are large water bodies in lakes, rivers, and oceans that don’t have enough oxygen in them necessary for the marine life. This marine condition is also referred to as hypoxic meaning the lacking of oxygen. Often the condition occurs naturally but currently the condition is expanding in marine bodies unnaturally. It is due to due to the introduction of pollutants and the fertilizers into the water bodies. The fertilizers and toxic pollutant encourage the growth of algae which increases the bloom of algae in water bodies. The algae decompose in the water and consume the oxygen which causes to the extinction of the oxygen necessary for the marine life. Researchers say that hypoxic condition in marine bodies has become doubled in every ten years since 1960.

Development of the hypoxic zone:

Change in the climatic condition is increasing the hypoxic condition in the marine bodies. with the onset of the industrial era, there has been a rapid change in the temperature globally. Since last few decades change in the temperature affects the climate of seas and marine body directly. It is evident from the research that warm water dissolves less oxygen in as compared to cold water. The situation in the marine body becomes complicated when the warmer air above the surface of the water heats the water on the surface reducing the chances of mixing of top layer warm water with cold water at the bottom of the sea surface. The dead zone thus occurs in the deeper water as the temperature increases the animals in the area get less supply of oxygen and move toward the mortality. The change in climate will expand the production of the dead zone in oceans.  Currently, there are 400 dead zones available worldwide and it is expected that 94 % of these areas will experience the rise of 3.6Farenheit till the end of this century.

How to combat with hypoxic zone :

Climatic change is no doubt the great cause of the dead zones but pollutant introduction also contributes. If we control the harmful nitrogenous and other poison pollutant introduction in the seas and oceans, we can somehow avert the cause. With less pollutant in water, the algae blooms will definitely get reduced and the dead zone will occur less no matter how warm the water becomes. The hypoxic zone in black sea vanished in 1990 with the fall of Soviet Union. At that time, there was seen a great rise in the price of fertilizers. The situation was spontaneous and resulted in giving a positive impact on the Black Sea. This taught the scientist and the state advisors a lesson and now the United Nation officials are trying hard to lessen the industrial and agricultural toxin emissions in an area where dead zone is a serious concer.

Global Warming, Climate Change and Greenhouse Effect - A Storm in a Teacup

The hustle and bustle about climate change is getting louder and louder with the passing of every single month, probably day. The rate at which the planet earth is experiencing climate change is truly making things really horrible. Specifically, the level of carbon dioxide that is increasing in the atmosphere is really a threatening situation. 

 

The pace at which the ice bergs are melting is making the sea levels rising, and that is why, the weather patterns have been changing at such a fast rate thus making the sea levels is higher. Moreover, we can also experience water deficiency and probably face more hazardous disasters such as typhoons, cyclones and hurricanes at a faster rate. Moreover, the horrible environmental factors have also created so many issues and thus, deserts may also expand and will ultimately decrease the amount being grown on the soil. 

Moreover, some of the scientists are also claiming that the earth is suffering due to the global warming and that is why, precautionary measures should be adopted as far as making earth a safest place. Innumerable scientists across the globe are working hard to find out the scientific aspects of climate change and also working on finding an appropriate solution to this problem. 

If we have a look at the natural climatic cycles, we will be amazed to see that abrupt changes are taking place and which is not a normal thing at all. Something that is really scary is the burning fossil fuels that are emitting greenhouse gases at a hazardous level. That is why, we can say that everything i.e., Global Warming, Greenhouse Effect, and above all Climate Change are happening at a very fast pace.

Moreover, the rate at which the climate change is happening compels us to shift our policies in every aspect according to the change and that is the only way, we can save our planets from various hazards.

Adverse Effects Of Acid Rain

Acid rain is subsequent of atmospheric pollution caused by a human being. Acidic rain is comprised of droplets containing the poisonous or acidic composition taken from the atmosphere. What actually happens is that sodium and nitrogen emitted from different sources into the environment get to interact with the rain droplets to make it acidic. The process of acidic deposition in the air takes place in two manners wet acid deposition and the dry acidic deposition.

Wet Acid deposition:

N wet decomposition, the precipitation in the form of snow or rain removes the acid from the atmosphere into the surface of Earth. This is caused due to deposition of acidic material into the drops of rain and snow. 

Dry Acid deposition:

In a dry deposition, the toxin in the absence of precipitation particles sticks to the ground through the smoke and dust particles.

PH value of acid rain:

The acidity in the rain is measured by the PH scale .0 is the most acidic point in and the 14 level is the most alkaline point in measuring the acidic. While PH level 7 is the neutral acidic level meaning that it is neither alkaline nor acidic. Rainwater is always naturally acidic to some extent due to the presence of oxides in the atmosphere. The PH value of rain in an unpolluted ecosystem is somehow in between 5 to 6 but when the air of an ecosystem gets contaminated with excess oxides of nitrogen and sulfur, its PH value increases to the level 4 and often in more polluted areas it is recorded to be having the PH value of 2 and it Is the most acidic rain having adverse effects on the atmosphere.

History of acidic rain:

The gases responsible for the acid rain is mostly emitted from the natural resources like volcanoes but is also emitted by the human combustion of fossil fuels in industries and vehicles. Effects and deposition of acid in the rain was under consideration of the scientist since the 18th century but was not able to gain the profound attention of the world. The issue gained the mass attention of the public in late1970when the New York Times published their report dealing with the issues faced in the forest in New Hampshire.

Effects of acidic rain:

Acid rain has many adverse effects on the life of habitat in an ecosystem it has adverse effects on the earth aquatic life, plantation on the earth and also on the animals and the human being living on.

Effects on forest:

Acidic rain causes the stunt of growth in plants and trees. It washes away all the essential nutrients of the plants and soil that make them grow well. Besides, the chemicals in the rain react with the nutrients in the plant cell causing different diseases in the plants also the chemical deposits in them make them the vulnerable prey of plants enemy insects. .forestall around the world are affected by the acid rain but mostly these effects can be seen in the forests of European countries. Almost 30% of forests in Switzerland are destroyed by the acidic rain.

Effects on marine life:

The acidic water when inserting the aquatic body causes to increase the aluminum concentration in the water. Besides, it lowers the PH value of the water, which subsequently results in the death of fishes. Snails mussels, shrimps, minnows, salmon, roach are widely affected by the contamination of the acidic rainwater into the rivers, lakes and seas. it also destroys the plankton’s life in the sea.

Effects on human being:

The acidic rain appears like normal rain. It does not have direct effects on the human body when interacted with it during the walk in the rain. The pollutants in the rain form the nitrate and sulfate which when inhaled deep causes many respiratory and lungs disorders besides the toxic pollutant in the rain are also responsible for causing the diseases of heart .it also have been reported in some places to cause some allergic effects on the skin of human beings.

Effects Of Global Warming On Human Health

Global warming is a globally recognized issue that has risen due to the emission of greenhouse gasses from man-made resources.  The rise in the earth’s temperature is continuous and it is expected to be more in the future coming years. The increasing global warming is affecting every life form on the Earth.  Due to global warming rivers are drying, waste glaciers are melting, green land is turning into barren lands, and dead seas or hypoxic seas are becoming common.  Due to climatic change there is no doubt some positive aspects seen on the earth like less intense winter in some local areas, besides there has become positive agricultural production seen in some cold areas where there was no food and crop production due to intense winter, but it, on the other hand, is rendering great loss to the health of human being and its food cultivation  

Respiratory And Cardiovascular Diseases:

Due to the high temperature, the volume of hydrocarbon and other pollutant gasses upsurge in the air that in turns cause the people to become the victim of cardiovascular diseases. The smog and other pollutants in the air directly cause respiratory disorders and cardiovascular diseases. Aeroallergen and the pollen at high and dry temperature trigger the attack of asthma in more than 3000million people annually.

Natural Disasters:

The change in temperature also has impacts on the geographical and physical condition of the earth. It has caused irregular rainfall pattern, drought in some part of the earth.  The severe drought and lack of rain in some areas lead to the freshwater crisis and loss of vegetation in some areas. The unusual rain pattern causes the world to encounter great disaster in the form of the tsunami, flood storm, and hurricanes which cause the loss of human life and valuable cattle; it also results in the loss of vegetation. Flood and disaster give birth to fatal epidemic diseases and several water-borne diseases that make a lot of people lose their life.

Global Warming Causes Vector-Borne Disease 

Global warming is also giving birth to many fatal diseases and also importing vector-borne diseases due to transmission of season and alternation of the geographical range of the planet earth.

Skin Ailments:

Ultraviolet radiations emitted by the sun are very harmful to human skin. The ozone layer protects the earth and its inhabitants from these harmful rays. Due to the global warming ozone layer is being destroyed perpetually and the ultraviolet radiation gets their direct exposure to the earth and its life from. The rays cause many skin diseases in a human being.  Direct exposure of the rays on the human skin causes skin cancer beside other skin complications.

Loss Of Human Vegetation  

The severe temperature has also led to the generation and introduction of non-friendly soil bacteria and pesticides invasions on the agricultural sites, the introduction of such foreign species in vegetation regions have led to the destruction of vegetation and crops. 

Serious and necessary steps should be taken by the entire globe’s states and individual to protect the earth from the increasing global warming and its increasing harmful effects. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses emitting vehicles, machines and industries should be diminished or at least lessened. More trees should be planted to make the environment purified from the carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses

Mission To Save The Planet Earth

Planet earth is our homes. We are born into it and spend the whole of our life on it and then die and get buried in it. During our life course on the planet earth, we get enormous benefits from it, like a benevolent mother it provides us shelter, feed us with its resources and provides us with air to breathe in order to continue our life on it.  Having lots of benefits from the planet earth, it is also our duty to give the earth and its resources some protection so that likewise us, it can also render enormous benefits to the future generation that will come and depend on for its survival on earth. As the time is passing, the human population on the earth is increasing day by day.  We should take necessary measures to protect the earth and save our planet for the coming generation.

Save the water:

Water is the important constituent of the earth and is consumed by every organism including man, animals, plant and microbes for their survival man cannot live on the earth if he doesn’t get water for more than 2 to 3 days. And then there is less fresh water available on the earth so we need to save it for us and for those who are deprived of the fresh and clean water.  Avoid wastage of water while brushing, washing and bathing. The increase in population is exerting a huge stress on environment and resources of the earth. Because man is in order to fulfill its food and energy requirement, is depending more adversely on the earth resources.

Save energy:

A lot of earth’s natural resources are used for the energy consumption of man, minimize the use of energy tries to use solar energy instead of electrical energy. Besides, the man in his quest to make his life more luxurious is performing actions and inventing the mechanical devices that are polluting the earth’s pure air with the harmful greenhouse gasses.  Keep light off during the day when there is sunlight available to enlighten your interior. Always turn off extra lights in your home. Remove the charger from the socket when you are not charging your mobile phone. When you leave the room or house, don’t forget to switch off extra lights.

Avoid chemical-containing products:

Avoid the products containing chemicals in your daily use. Avoid the use of chemical based deodorant and cosmetic self-care products.  They have the harmful volatile chemical which fuses into the air and makes it toxic use flowers and plants to refresh your air instead of using chemically synthesized air fresheners. Plastic has harmful chemicals in it.  Avoid the use of plastic made products in your home especially in the kitchen. Invulnerable case purchases PBA-labeled plastic products. 

Save resources by using recycled products:

A lot of energy is consumed when a new product is made from the raw material. So we should try to recycle the products made of plastic paper glass Rubber and other stuff.  Recycling of the products will not only conserve the earth’s natural resources but will also save the energy consumption.  This will also reduce the waste dumping in the earth and the sea which is a major environmental concern of this era.

Drive less:

Automobiles and vehicles are the major sources of air pollution on the planet earth. The chemical gas emitted from the cars and other automobiles are a big source of global warming. So, one should drive less. We should share the vehicles and use public transport for moving from one place to another.  In this way, the numbers of cars on the road will be decreased and the increasing global warming will become under control.

Plants more trees:

Green plants make the earth air purified besides it provides us with the shelter, flowers, and fruits.  Almost 70 % of the forest and green plants have been removed by the man due to the increase in population the loss of trees has caused the destruction of wildlife habitats and essential microbes from the earth. Besides, trees are the source of timber, wax, and paper.  So plants should be planted extensively so that the pure air of earth can be protected from the harmful effects of the greenhouse gasses and sources of timber and wax can be conserved for the coming generation of the earth.

Feeds Marine Life Instead of Killing Them

Drinking canned soda for saving marine life looks like a lovely idea. Cheers to Saltwater Brewery in Florida who have partnered with New York Ad agency We Believers to feed marine life in a very thoughtful way. Many ocean lovers take their best drinks to sea and throw away the plastic six-pack ring which ultimately chokes the marine life.

This is a classic example of recycling as the ring is made of wheat and barley which is a byproduct of beer making process. The waste material is then turned into rings which start to disintegrate within two hours into the sea which avoids the marine life to get stuck into it. The ring decomposes within days if left on the beach. More than 50 craft breweries have shown interest in creating similar rings for their products. Florida brewery will be able to accommodate them by 2017.

 

The brewery company has come up with a pragmatic solution to a problem which kills hundreds and thousands of marine life each year. The traditional alternatives to plastic cannot compete with this idea which costs less than any other alternative and also serves an important purpose. Whereas other options are only biodegradable but do nothing to feed the marine life. The real challenge in this example was to find an alternative which is sturdy enough to hold the weight of six beer cans yet is dissolvable in the ocean. Initially, the idea was to build the ring with seaweed but they are too fragile and too rigid when taken out of the sea to hold the cans.

 

Some commom threats to Marine Ecosystem

Ecosystem   marks up the whole life span of organisms living in an ecosystem.  On the planet Earth, a great variety of ecosystems thrives according to the need of the organism living in it and the physical condition existing in that area. The Huge ecosystem is comprised of many smaller ecosystem like in a green land ecosystem there will be a small puddle or stagnant water ecosystem. A completely unique and small ecosystem will be found thriving under the rocky sediments also. This may be referred as the sub-ecosystems of the terrestrial ecosystem.

Marine ecosystem: the largest ecosystem:

Of the entire huge ecosystem on the planet earth, the marine ecosystem is the hugest ecosystem because the 70 % of the earth is comprised of the marine bodies.  The marine ecosystem consists of the 90 % of the living organisms on the whole planet earth.  There is a natural balance maintained in the ecosystem and every component of an ecosystem plays its vital role in maintaining it. If there becomes any change in any part of an ecosystem its effects can be seen in the whole ecosystem. Now as the time is changing the natural diversity of an ecosystem is getting disrupted and altered. The change in the ecosystem is alarming because it is causing some serious effects on the life inhibiting in an ecosystem. Here in this article we will discuss some of the threats our marine ecosystem is facing these days

Ocean dumping:

 Ocean dumping is a major threat to marine biomes. Human being is continuously dumping their discarded material into the seas and oceans. The material like plastics, when becomes in contact with marine life like fish, they chock it and the result is a decline in their species. Discarded ballast water from ship tends to generate the organisms that hinder the production of naturally existing marine animals. The oil spilled or discarded in oceans covers he wings and gillsof marine fishes and other marine animals causing them to die slowly and painfully.

Ocean acidification:

The rise in the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is causing an upsurge in ocean acidification. The acidification is much harmful to marine life and is also affecting the human being as marine animals are being consumed by the human for protein intake.

 Ozone Depleting Substances:

The ship releases the pollutant chemicals like CFC, Halogens and other hydrocarbons that destroy the ozone layer. The ozone layer protects the earth from the harmful effects of the ultraviolet radiation emitted from the sun.  The harmful polluting chemicals emitted from the ship destroys the ozone layer and thus adverse are faced by the marine biomes.

Release of SOx and NOx from ships :

Ships traveling in the ocean from one place to another emit two harmful gasses (NOX) and (SOX). These gasses destroys the ozone layers and also results in global warming. Both these actions affect the marine life adversely.

 Fishing and hunting of marine life stock:

 The marine animals are also hunted for domestic and commercial purposes. The net is spread in the sea unattended and many marine predators like shark, turtles got stuck in them. Such fishing practices are the cause of overfishing of ninety percent of globe’s voracious fish .Profitable hunting of whales, sharks and dolphins are also a reason for the decline of marine mammals .annually approximately 1 million sharks are killed for the sake of shark finning activity which quite in human practice.

How To Protect Our Environment

Environment refers to ecosystem surrounding us containing habitats and other physical factors interacting with each other. All the living organisms including the human being depend on the environment for their existence.  If the environment is clean and pure the life of the ecosystem inhabitants is sure to be healthy. They are certain to be provided with the better air and better food and water   resulted in leading a healthy life.  With the rapid growth in the population of an environment, we can see that the environmental health is getting distorted. We need to take some necessary steps individually and collectively to avert the distortion in our environment else we will be liable to many health and environmental issues.

Nowadays whatever we are buying or doing is affecting our environment, for instance, we purchase the diesel to run our car, the diesel burn to produce the hydrocarbon that is greenhouse gas we cut the trees that are the source of fresh oxygen in the atmosphere.  So we need to take a few necessary actions to sustain the good health our ecosystem.

Plantation of more trees:

We need to plants more and more trees in the public areas as well as in the forests to keep the environment clean and pure. Because tree gives oxygen to the atmosphere.

Clean our home :

Home and hometown is our main environment we reside on it for our basic living need so we need to protect and clean it. Home is the first priority in his clean need to clean the home and the nearby areas so that we and our children get the better sanitary condition on more green plantation should be done in that place.  Litter should be discarded in bins not on the roadside or in any such place.

Think before buying a product:

Make sure when you go shopping that you are buying an inorganic material. Even assess the fabric before buying a cloth piece whether possess the organic dye or organic polyester fabric material in it the eco-friendly relation will be not buying any such product unless needed at urgent.

Promote the 3Rs of recycling:

Recycling of the products should be practiced more. Instead of discarding the materials that can be used again make them reuse.   Products made from the natural resources and raw materials should be recycled again to make new material once they are discarded.T transport should be shared by the people  instead of using separate and individual automobiles  the smoke from the automobile caused the air pollution besides cigarettes and tobacco products smoking should be reduced at the earliest as they have serious malfunctioning effects on the air around us.

Use biodegradable products :

Make the use of biodegradable and eco-friendly material instead of organic material like when you go shopping , use biodegradable shopping bags instead of plastic polymer based synthesized shopping bags.

Effecting environmental cleaning can remove the unwanted waste material from environment to great extent and will provide people living in an ecosystem with the better and healthy living.