Environmental change

Animals and plants are exposed to environmental change. These changes may be caused by living factors, such as a change in a predator, a food source or a competitor. Environmental changes may also be caused by non-living factors, such as a change in temperature or rainfall.

Effects of environmental change

Changes in the environment affect the distribution and behaviour of living organisms. For example, humans have been cutting down trees for thousands of years. We do this to clear land for farming and building, and for wood to use as a fuel or building material. This deforestation can have local effects, such as a reduction in food and shelter for animals. It can also have more widespread effects, such as changes in rainfall and temperature. These changes may change the distribution of bird species, for example.

The world's forests 8000 BC

The world's forests 2000CE Human activities can pollute the air and water. The presence or absence of certain living organisms acts as an indicator of the amount of pollution.

Air pollution
The most common source of air pollution is the combustion of fossil fuels. This usually happens in vehicle engines and power stations. Sulfur dioxide is released if the fuel contains sulfur compounds. This gas contributes to acid rain. Lichens can be used as air pollution indicators, especially of the concentration of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere.

Factories can cause air pollution Lichens are plants that grow in exposed places such as rocks or tree bark. They need to be very good at absorbing water and nutrients to grow there. Rainwater contains just enough nutrients to keep them alive. Air pollutants dissolved in rainwater, especially sulfur dioxide, can damage lichens, and prevent them from growing. This makes lichens natural indicators of air pollution. For example:

bushy lichens need really clean air leafy lichens can survive a small amount of air pollution crusty lichens can survive in more polluted air.
In places where no lichens are growing, it is often a sign that the air is heavily polluted with sulfur dioxide.

Water pollution

Oil spills cause a lot of harm to the environment, both at sea and on land Water pollution is caused by the discharge of harmful substances into rivers, lakes and seas. Many aquatic invertebrate animals cannot survive in polluted water, so their presence or absence indicates the extent to which a body of water is polluted. Climate change is a huge issue. It can mean different weather patterns. Hurricanes can become larger and can occur at abnormal places like above or below 30 degrees lat. Drought and floods can occur at abnormal places. Entire ecosystems can alter, like deserts forming or tundras turning to deciduous forests... The very continents can reshape. There are a million things that can happen. Most of these things are related to global warming. Global cooling can have similar and different results.