Impact of Human on the environment

1. What are the ways in which humans destroy their environment?

 Deforestation
 Pollution- land, air and water

2. Give reasons for reforestations?

 To obtain and for buildings and cultivation
 For timber
 For fuel
 Paper making

3. Describe the effect of deforestation on.

I. Soil fertility
 No roots to hold soil particles together
 Soil freely exposed to rain and wind
 Leaching
 Washing away of ions from soil
 Loss of humus (loam) that is soil layer consisting decomposing organic matter.
II. Climate
 Desertification- less transpiration takes place releasing less water vapour to the atmosphere. This
gives rise to fewer clouds, less rainfall.
 Global warming- less CO2 taken up for photosynthesis so the level of CO 2 in the atmosphere
increases leading to increased temperature of the atmosphere.

III. Ecosystem
 Loss of habitat results in loss of animal and plant species.
 Food chains and food webs get affected.
 Loss of biodiversity.

IV. Local human population

 They will become homeless
 Loss of livelihood
 Loss of resources (food, remedy and fuel)

4. describe how humans pollute the environment and the effects of these pollutions?

i. Air pollution- Harmful gases are released from factories and vehicles

 CO2- global warming

 CO- poisonous gas which binds to haemoglobin forming carboxyhemoglobin and reducing the oxygen carrying
capacity of blood.
 SO2 and oxides of nitrates- acid rain which leads to destruction of aquatic habitats, marble buildings and
sculptures etc.…Reduces the PH of soil thereby affect the crop growth.
 CFCs [chloro flouro carbon]- Depletion of ozone layer allows harmful UV rays to reach the surface of the earth.

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ii. Water pollution

 Excessive use of fertilizers can give rise to eutrophication due to leaching

 Release of untreated sewage and domestic waste to water bodies can also result in eutrophication
 Release of poisonous heavy metals can destroy aquatic life.
 Use of insecticides and pesticides can accumulate long food chains and become toxic to top carnivores.
 Oil spillage can affect aquatic life
 Release of radioactive wastes can give rise to mutations and cancers.

iii. Noise and light pollution.

5. What are the effects of global warming?

 Extreme weather- floods, droughts

 Melting of polar caps-rise in sea level
 Loss of habitats- leads to extinction of species
 Invasive species become more successful
 Increased temperature and acidity of water bodies.

6. What are the causes of water pollution?

 Leaching-washing away of nitrates and phosphates in fertilizers

 Disposal of untreated sewage and domestic wastes containing organic nutrients and phosphates from
detergents
 Insecticides/pesticides

7. What are the effects of water pollution?

i. Pesticides may accumulate in the food chain and become toxic to top carnivores.

ii. Eutrophication

 Excessive growth of algae due to increase concentration of nutrients and ions.

 This blocks lights to the plants at the bottom
 Plants die and are decomposed to release more nutrients
 Population of microorganisms increase, and they consume oxygen creating an biological oxygen demand in the
water
 Other aquatic organisms die and provide more nutrients, making the situation worse.

iii. contamination of drinking water.

8. How to prevent water pollution?

I. Reduce the use of artificial fertilizers

Use alternative techniques to enrich the soil.
E.g. Use organic manure or crop rotation method.

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 II. Prevent untreated sewage from entering water sources
Sewage can be used in anaerobic digester to produce biogas
III. Adopt farming methods to prevent ion run offs from field.
IV. Use biodegradable pesticides
V. Use biological pest control.
VI. Grow genetically modified pest resistant crops.

9. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using insecticides?

Advantages

 Increase crop yield by controlling the population of pests that destroy crops.
 Controlling the population of vectors of disease

Disadvantages

 Can accumulate along food chains and become toxic to top carnivores.
 Expensive
 Pollution of human food
 Pests can become resistant to insecticides
 Non-specific- they may kill important insects such as pollinators.

10. What is recycling?

 Reusing waste products or throw away materials

E.g. plastics, glass bottles, metals, clothing etc…
 Materials are melted or pulped down to use as raw material in industry.

11. Why do we recycle?

I. Reduces the need for waste disposal

II. Makes scarce resources last longer
III. Avoids pollution
 Recycling paper reduce deforestation
 Recycling plastic reduces the use of fossil fuel and reduces threat to animals due to accumulation of non-
biodegradable plastics
 Recycling sewage avoids eutrophication.
IV. Cheaper- recycling of glass or metal will only need less energy than produce newly.
V. Can be used to make useful substances- sewage can be used to make compost or to produce biogas in an
anaerobic digester.

12. Why do we need to conserve species?

 To prevent extinction of species

 To maintain ecological balance
 To maintain biodiversity
 May have future values (such as cure for diseases)
 Moral values- all organisms have the right to live.
 Avoid climatic changes- e.g. conserving forests prevents global warming

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  Aesthetic values – ecotourism can bring financial benefits
 Conservation programs provide employment opportunities

13. Describe different ways of conservation of forests

 Governments can refuse to give permits license for cutting trees

 Selective logging
 Reforestation
 Educating people and creating awareness of conserving forests
 Recycling paper and timber
 Using alternative sources of energy -e.g. solar energy
 Coppicing

14. Describe the possible harmful effects of human activity on the ecosystem of a tropical rainforest?

 deforestation
 soil erosion / flooding / landslides
 desertification / less rainfall / drought / less transpiration
 loss of habitat
 extinction / loss of species / endangered species / loss of biodiversity
 loss of potential medicines
 carbon dioxide increase / oxygen decrease
 greenhouse effect / global warming / climate change AW
 effect on food chain
 effect on local people
 release sulfur dioxide / nitrogen oxides
 acid rain damage to trees / acidification of soil / acidification of rivers

15. How to conserve fish stocks?

 Avoid overfishing - keep behind a proportion of fish population so that they can reestablish the normal
population for sustainability.
 Fish farming- breed them in hatcheries and release them in their aquatic habitats.
 Banning fishing of rare or endangered species
 Governments can impose restriction on the quantity of the fish that can be caught

16. Discuss the reasons for the conservation of species with reference to the management of fishery.

 Fish farming helps to prevent extinction of species (rare ones) and helps to prevent overfishing in the wild.
 This helps to maintain food stocks of that species
 Helps to maintain biodiversity and ecological balance
 There are also employment opportunities and economical benefits

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 Genetic engineering
1. What is genetic engineering?
Altering the genetic material (DNA) of an organism to form a genetically modified organism.

2. Describe the stages of genetic engineering

 Isolation of desired gene (e.g. gene for insulin)
Extract DNA from human donor cells and cut the desired gene from the chromosome using restriction
endonuclease enzyme.
 Cut the bacterial plasmid using the same restriction enzyme.
The cut plasmids and the desired gene have complementary sticky ends, so they join up when they are
mixed.
 DNA ligase is added to link the two strands firmly together.
 Transfer the plasmids into the bacteria.
 Select the transformed bacteria with the modified plasmid.
 Culture them in a fermenter providing suitable temperature, P H and sufficient aeration (enough oxygen)
 The bacteria reproduce and the genes make insulin
 Extract and purify the product(insulin)

3. What are the advantages of using insulin from genetic engineering?

 Conditions can e controlled to give large amount of hormone to meet the world demand.
 No harm to animals/humans
 Insulin is exact match of human insulin so no allergies/ less effect
 Cheaper
 Safer (no disease transmission)

4.What are the advantages and disadvantages of producing genetically engineered crops?
Advantages
 Produce plants with higher yield of crops and therefore can produce cheaper food to meet the world’s
demand for food.
 Can produce plants which are resistant to disease
 Can incorporate genes so they can grow in extreme environmental conditions.
 Crops can be visually and nutritionally improved.
 Ability to transfer beneficial genes between different genes.

Disadvantages

 Expensive crops
 Possibility of spread of genes to other species
 Possible unknown risk to health of other species
 Possible unknown risk to genes of other species.