Human Activities that Affect the Ecosystem

Human survival depends on the health of the ecosystem. An ecosystem is comprised of communities of
plants, animals and other organisms in a particular area that interact with each other and their surrounding
environment. Both living and non-living things are considered part of an ecosystem. Humans threaten
ecosystems by producing waste, damaging habitats and removing too many species without giving the
ecosystem time to naturally regenerate.

Overhunting

When humans over-hunt key predators such as lions, tigers and bears, they remove the very animals that
keep plant consumers in balance and prevent overgrazing. A healthy ecosystem has a balance of predators
and prey that naturally cycle through life and death sequences. Over-hunting often results in ecosystem
species imbalance and environmental stress. Humans also practice commercial overfishing, where
massive fishing nets result in “bycatch,” in which unwanted fish are caught in nets and then thrown away.
Bycatch results in the death of one million sharks annually. Large weights and heavy metal rollers that are
used with the commercial fishing nets also drag along the bottom of the ocean, destroying anything in
their path including fragile coral reefs.

Deforestation

Humans have always cut down trees throughout history. However, they now have the resources of
multimillion-dollar equipment that drastically increases the rate of tree removal. The world’s rainforests
are being destroyed at a rate of 78 million acres per year, resulting in vegetation degradation, nutrient
imbalance, flooding and animal displacement. Trees also act as a natural air filter in the carbon cycle by
taking in carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen, so deforestation contributes to global warming. Some
estimates indicate that canopy forest species will be reduced by 35 percent by 2040 if deforestation
continues at the same rate.

Pollution

Vehicles, trains and planes emit toxic gases that include carcinogenic particles and irritants, creating air
pollution. Humans have also dumped large amounts of pesticides, such as organophosphates, onto crops
that migrate into groundwater and bodies of water, poisoning ecosystems. Plants and animals die from
exposure to pollutants such as excess nutrients from chemical fertilizers and other harmful chemicals.
Pollution is increasing around the world and results in loss of biodiversity causing severe damage to self-
sustaining ecosystems.

Land Conversion

Through urban development, the continued rapid construction of road systems and buildings has changed
the Earth's natural surface, removing soil nutrients, surface vegetation and trees that filter the air and
equalize the carbon cycle. Urbanization also displaces animals and increases environmental pollution
from vehicles and factories. A system of highways also causes serious migratory obstacles for animals
and replaces native plants with impermeable concrete, resulting in habitat destruction. Since the concrete
is impermeable, it doesn’t allow water to seep through, resulting in increased vulnerability to flooding.
This practice of human construction continues at a rapid pace, leading to urban sprawl, where cities are
essentially forever expanding outside the traditional inner-city limits.
Organelles of the cells involved in Cell division

Centrioles
are paired organelles that are in the cytoplasm only to take part in cell division. As you will see in the diagrams of
mitosis, first they duplicate and then each pair moves to a place called the pole of the cell and seems to anchor
the spindle fibers.

Process of Mitosis
Interphase

Gap 1=The cell increases in size in preparation for division.

Synthesis= DNA synthesis (replication) occurs.
Gap 2= the cell continues to grow and synthesize RNA proteins.

Process of nuclear division of cells.

Prophase
Prophase = The DNA molecules progressively shortenand condense by coiling, to form chromosomes. The nuclear
membrane and nucleolus are no longer visible.

Metaphase
Metaphase= The spindle fibres attach themselves to thecentromeres of the chromosomes and align the the
chromosomes at the equatorial plate.

Anaphase
Anaphase= The spindle fibres shorten and the centromere splits, separated sister chromatids are pulled along
behind the centromeres.

Telophase
Telophase= The chromosomes reach the poles of their respective spindles. Nuclear envelope reform before the
chromosomes uncoil. The spindle fibres disintegrate.

Cytokinesis
Cytokinesis= This is the last stage of mitosis. It is the process of splitting the daughter cells apart. A furrow forms
and the cell is pinched in two. Each daughter cell contains the same number and same quality of chromosomes.

Schematic Presentation of Mitosis

Wordmeans
A chromosome is an organized structure of DNA, protein, and RNA found in cells
Cell nucleus= In cell biology, the nucleus (pl. nuclei; from Latin nucleus or nuculeus, meaning kernel) is a
membrane-enclosed organelle found in eukaryotic cells.

The cytoplasm comprises cytosol – the gel-like substance enclosed within the cell membrane – and
the organelles – the cell's internal sub-structures.
In cell biology, an organelle is a specialized subunit within a cell that has a specific function, and it is usually
separately enclosed within its own lipid bilayer.
The cell membrane, or plasma membrane, is a biological membrane that separates the interior of all cells from
theoutside environment.
Eukaryotic cells are structurally complex, and by definition are organized, in part, by interior compartments that
are themselves enclosed by lipid membranes that resemble the outermost cell membrane.
Prokaryotes are not as structurally complex as eukaryotes, and were once thought not to have any internal
structures enclosed by lipid membranes.
The Stages of Mitosis

Mitosis is simply described as having four stages—prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase; the steps follow
one another without interruption. The entire four-stage division process averages about one hour in duration, and the
period between cell divisions, called interphase or interkinesis, varies greatly but is considerably longer.

During interphase the chromosomes are dispersed in the nucleus and appear as a network of long, thin threads or
filaments, called the chromatin. At some point before prophase begins, the chromosomes replicate themselves to
form pairs of identical sister chromosomes, or chromatids; the deoxyribose nucleic acid (DNA) of the chromosomes
is synthesized only during interphase, not while mitosis is in process.

During prophase the two chromatids remain attached to one another at a region called the centromere, but each
contracts into a compact tightly coiled body; the nucleolus and, in most cases, the nuclear envelope break down and
disappear. Also during prophase the spindle begins to form. In animal cells the centrioles separate and move apart,
and radiating bundles of fibers, called asters, appear around them. Some sets of fiber run from one centriole to the
other; these are the spindle fibers. In plant cells the spindle forms without centrioles.

During metaphase the chromosomes congregate at a plane midway between the two ends to which the spindle
tapers. This is called the equatorial plane and marks the point where the whole cell will divide when nuclear division
is completed; the ends of the spindle are the poles to which the chromatids will migrate. The chromatids are attached
to the spindle fibers at the centromeres.

During anaphase the two chromatids of each chromosome separate and move to opposite poles, as if pulled along
the spindle fibers by the centromeres. During telophase new nuclear envelopes form around the two groups of
daughter chromosomes (as they are now called), the new nucleoli begin to appear, and eventually, as the formation
of the two daughter nuclei is completed, the spindle fibers disappear. The chromosomes uncoil to assume their
dispersed distribution within the interphased nucleus. Cytokinesis, which may begin before or after mitosis is
completed, finally separates the daughter nuclei into two new individual daughter cells.

A considerable variance in the degree and timing of these stages exists across species, and cells can be classified by
their mitotic characteristics. Despite the relative ease of observation of the physical stages of mitosis under the
microscope (primarily because the chromosomes stain readily when in their coiled state), the exact chemical and
kinetic nature of mitosis is not yet fully understood. For instance, the spindle has been determined to consist largely
of thin, elongate tubules called microtubules, but their functions have yet to be understood.
Stages of Meiosis

Meiosis Stages

Meiosis occurs in eukaryotic organisms that reproduce sexually. This includes plants and
animals. Meiosis is a two-part cell division process that produces sex cells with one half the
number of chromosomes as the parent cell. There are two stages or phases of meiosis: meiosis I
and meiosis II. At the end of the meiotic process, four daughter cells are produced. Before a
dividing cell enters meiosis, it undergoes a period of growth called interphase.

 G1 phase: The period prior to the synthesis of DNA. In this phase, the cell increases in mass in
preparation for cell division. Note that the G in G1 represents gap and the 1 represents first, so
the G1 phase is the first gap phase.
 S phase: The period during which DNA is synthesized. In most cells, there is a narrow window of
time during which DNA is synthesized. Note that the S represents synthesis.
 G2 phase: The period after DNA synthesis has occurred but prior to the start of prophase. The
cell synthesizes proteins and continues to increase in size. Note that the G in G2 represents gap
and the 2 represents second, so the G2 phase is the second gap phase.
 In the latter part of interphase, the cell still has nucleoli present.
 The nucleus is bounded by a nuclear envelope and the cell's chromosomes have duplicated but
are in the form of chromatin.
 In animal cells, two pair of centrioles formed from the replication of one pair are located outside
of the nucleus.

At the end of interphase, the cell enters the next phase of meiosis: Prophase I.
Mendelian inheritance

Mendelian inheritance is inheritance of biological features that follows the laws proposed by
Gregor Johann Mendel in 1865 and 1866 and re-discovered in 1900. It was initially very
controversial. When Mendel's theories were integrated with the Boveri–Sutton chromosome
theory of inheritance by Thomas Hunt Morgan in 1915, they became the core of classical
genetics while Ronald Fisher combined them with the theory of natural selection in his 1930
book The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection, putting evolution onto a mathematical footing
and forming the basis for Population genetics and the modern evolutionary synthesis.[1]

Mendel's laws of inheritance

Law Definition
During gamete formation, the alleles for each gene segregate from each
Law of segregation
other so that each gamete carries only one allele for each gene.
Law of independent Genes for different traits can segregate independently during the formation
assortment of gametes.
Some alleles are dominant while others are recessive; an organism with at
Law of dominance
least one dominant allele will display the effect of the dominant allele.