Humans and The Environment

Concept Map

Section 6-1

Human
Activities
that have changed the biosphere include

Hunting and Industrial Urban

Agriculture growth development
gathering

may have once caused often relies on the methods of the

have resulted in

Extinctions of Green
large animals revolution Increased
High standard
of living pollution
which increased

Food supply Pesticide use Monoculture

use

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 Interest Grabber
Leaving
Section 6-1a Mark on the World

• Have you ever seen very old photographs of

the town or city in which you now live? Has
your area changed? Perhaps there are more
buildings or roads than there were many years
ago. Maybe your town or city has more trees
and flowers now than it had years ago.
Humans, like all organisms, have an effect on
their environment.

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• Earth is a kind of island
• Limited resources
• Nature must sustain the resources
• Human populations is growing
• The planet is not
• Demands on
– Air
– Water
– Land
– Living things
• We must protect these resources
• What human activities do you think have an
impact on the earth’s natural resources?
– Hunting and gathering
– Agriculture
– Industry
– Urban development
• Recent study concluded that human activity uses
as much energy as all of earth’s other multicellular
species combined
• Humans are the most influential in changing the
environments of the planet
• HUNTING AND GATHERING
• Hunting and gathering has been the primary
means of human survival for most of human
history
• Fished, gathered seeds, fruits, and nuts
• Lived in small groups
• Early man
– Built dams
– burned grasslands to encourage growth of certain
plants
• Some scientists hypothesize that humans are
responsible for the mass extinction of
– woolly mammoths
– giant ground sloths
– sabertooth cats\
– cheetahs
– zebras
– yaks
Agriculture

• Early humans learned how plants grew, which

were edible, and which were good medicines
• They began to plant those that were important
near their settlements
• 11,000 years ago, humans started farming
(Agriculture)
Agriculture

• Agriculture spread
• With dependable food supply, people started living
in larger settlements – towns and cities
• Domestication of Animals
• Over time, people started keeping herds of
domesticated animals
• List 3 reasons people keep animals
Agriculture

• Milk, meat, hides, wool, companionship, perform

work
• Overgrazing changed grasslands ecosystems –
eroded soils, large demand on water
• Human population grew at an increasing rate.
Green Revolution

• By 1950’s food supply was straining

• Green Revolution – to increase food supply,
governments and scientists introduced new
farming techniques to increase yields of crops
(rice, wheat, corn)
• Relied on new, highly productive strains of crops
Green Revolution

• Monoculture – large fields ploughed, and planted

with a single crop year after year
• Irrigation, fertilization, and pesticides were relied
on to sustain the crops
• Animal and human power was replaced with
machine power
• Within 20 years, Mexican farmers increased
production of wheat 10 times
Green Revolution

• Problems have been introduced by the green

revolution. Can you name a few?
• Depletion of water supplies
• Pollution of water by pesticides and fertilizers
Industrial growth and Urban
Development

• Wastes from manufacturing and energy

production have been poured into the air, water,
and soil
• Tied to high standard of living that we all enjoy
• The question is: How do we control the harmful
effects of human activity on the environment?
Tragedy of the Commons

• Resource is something that can be used to take

care of a need
• When an environmental resource is owned by
many people, or no one, but no one is responsible
for it, it is called a “common resource”.
Tragedy of the Commons

• The Tragedy of the Commons – any resource

open to everyone will eventually be destroyed
because although everyone owns the resource,
no one is responsible for it.
• Air, Water – shared by many countries, but no one
is responsible.
• Whaling – if some countries attempt to protect
whales, but others continue to hunt whales to
extinction, what will eventually happen?
2 types of resources – Renewable and Nonrenewable

• Renewable resources can be regenerated (but not

necessarily limitless)
– Sunlight
– Fresh water
– A tree
– Fish
2 types of resources – Renewable and Nonrenewable

• Nonrenewable – cannot be replenished by natural

resources
– Fossil fuels
– Coal
– Oil
 Interest Grabber continued
Section 6-2

• 1. Examine the list of natural resources shown below. Then,

classify each natural resource as either renewable or
nonrenewable.
a. Wood
b. Fossil fuels
c. Aluminum
d. Wool
e. Gold

• 2. Describe the impact that the loss of nonrenewable

resources would have on the environment.

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 Interest Grabber
Section 6-2

Where Do Natural Resources

Come From?

• Natural resources are materials that are supplied

by nature. A renewable resource is one that is
replaceable. A nonrenewable resource is one that
cannot be replenished by natural processes. Once
a nonrenewable resource is used up, it is gone
forever.

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Land Resources

• Land is a resource
• Provides space for living, raw materials for
building, and industry
• Important for soils crops grow on
Land Resources

• Soil is a renewable resource that can be damaged

by human activities
• Best fertile soil is a mixture of humus, sand, clay,
and rock particles
• Most of the humus is in the top layers called
“Topsoil”
– Absorbs and retains moisture, but allows drainage
– Lots of nutrients
– Low in salts
• Different plants add and use different amounts of
nutrients
• Plowing the land removes the roots that prevent
erosion
• Erosion – the wearing away of the surface soil by
water and wind
• Combinations of farming, overgrazing, and
drought can cause productive areas to become
deserts
• Process is desertification
• Practices that can maintain the soil include
– Contour plowing
– Planting crops that maintain the soil while primary crops
are harvested – rye for example
– Leaving roots and stems of previous year’s crops
 Sustainable Agriculture
Section 6-4
Cover Crops
Legumes, grasses, and other
cover crops recycle soil nutrients,
reduce fertilizer need, and
prevent weed growth.
Contour Plowing
Contour plowing reduces
soil erosion from land runoff.
On hilly areas, plowing is done
across the hill rather than
straight up and down.
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Controlled Grazing Biological Pest Control
By managing graze periods and herd The use of predators and parasites
densities, farmers can improve nutrient to control destructive insects
cycling, increase the effectiveness of minimizes pesticide use as well as
precipitation, and increase the carrying crop damage
capacity of pastures. A B C
Yr. 1
oats alfalfa Crop Rotation
corn
Different crops use and
replenish different nutrients.
Yr. 2 alfalfa By rotating crops, the loss
corn alfalfa (plowed in) of important plant nutrients
is decreased.
Yr. 3
oats alfalfa corn
Forest Resources

• Forests provide
– Wood
– Paper
– Fuel
– Remove CO2 and add O2
– Food
– Sore nutrients
– Moderate climate
– Limit soil erosion
– Protect fresh water supplies
Forest Resources

• Deforestation – Loss of forests

• Soil erosion – topsoil and nutrients washed away
• Grazing and plowing after deforestation can add
to problems
• Sustainable use strategies
• Harvesting mature trees selectively
• Plant, manage, harvest, and replant tree farms
• Geneticists breeding faster growing varieties
Ocean Resources

• Food
• Fish catch has risen from 20 million tons/year to
over 90 million tons / year
• As fish catches rose, fish stocks declined
• Overfishing
• Techniques to moderate include
– Limits
– Aquaculture
– Temporary closing of areas to fishing
 Growth of Fish Catch
Section 6-2

World Fish Catch World Fish Catch per Person

Amount of Fish per Person

(million tons)

(kilograms)
Total Catch

Year Year

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Air Resources

• Air is a resource – we breath it

• Smog – smoke and fog
• Auto and industrial exhaust include Nitrogen oxides and
sulfur dioxides that are transformed into nitric and sulfuric
acids
• Cause acid rain
• Pollutant – a harmful material that can enter the biosphere
through land, air, or water
• Acid rain can kill plants, and cause soil chemistry to
change
• May release Hg, or other dissolved toxic elements
 Figure 6-12 The Formation of
Acid Rain
Section 6-2

Chemical Transformation Condensation

Nitric acid
Emissions to Atmosphere Sulfuric acid
Nitrogen oxides
Sulfur dioxide
Dry Fallout
Precipitation
particulates, gases Acid rain, fog,
snow, and mist

Industry Transportation Ore smelting Power generation

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Water Resources

• Water is a resource
• Drinking, washing, watering crops, industry
• 71% of the earth is covered by water
• 97% of the water is sea water (salty)
• 2% more is frozen
• 1% of all water is liquid fresh water
Pollution

• Wastes discarded (on purpose or not) can

• Seep into water supplies
• Sewage
– Contains nitrogen and phosphorus
– Cause algal and bacterial growth
– Spread disease
Pollution

• Wetlands such as swamps and estuaries can help

to protect water supplies
• Purifies water as it passes through
• Holds soil in place
 What Is Interest Grabber
Biodiversity?

• Biodiversity is the sum total of the variety of

organisms in the biosphere. Sometimes humans
can reduce biodiversity, which is considered a
natural resource.

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Section:
Biodiversity

• 1.5 million species identified so far

• Food
• medicine – painkillers, heart drugs, antibiotics
• industrial products
 Species Diversity
Section 6-3

Insects
54.4%

Protists Other Animals

4.2% 19.7%
Plants
18%

Fungi Bacteria
0.3%
3.4%

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Section:
Biodiversity

• Human activity can reduce biodiversity

• May cause extinction
Biological magnification

• Biological magnification– toxins may be

concentrated from one trophic level to the next.
• DDT is an example
• DDT is a pesticide that was used extensively
• DDT is not biodegradable
• Organisms do not eliminate it
 Figure 6-16 Biological
Magnification of DDT
Section 6-3

10,000,000
Fish-Eating Birds
Magnification of
Large
Fish 1,000,000 DDT Concentration

Small Fish 100,000

Zooplankton 10,000

Producers 1000

Water 1

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Biological magnification

• Concentrates as herbivores eat plants sprayed

with DDT, then carnivores eat the herbivores etc…
Introduced species

• Organisms transferred from one area to another

that did not have them before
• Zebra Mussel, Phragmites, Japanese shore crab
 Interest Grabber continued
Section 6-1

• 1. Choose an animal other than a human

and describe at least two ways in which it
may change its environment.

• 2. What events might have led to the

changes that occurred in your town or city?

• 3. What positive effect have humans had on

their environment? What negative effect have
humans had on their environment?
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 Interest Grabber continued
Section 6-3

• 1. List three ways in which other organisms have

proved to be a benefit to humans.
• 2. Compare biodiversity with other natural
resources, such as wood and fossil fuels. Do you
think biodiversity is a renewable or a
nonrenewable resource? Explain your answer.
• 3. What can be done to preserve the biodiversity of
organisms?

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 Interest Grabber
How Much Should It
Cost?

• You may have read that when something

becomes hard to obtain, its price usually
increases. Such is the case for materials like gold
and diamonds, which are nonrenewable
resources. Using similar thinking, some
researchers believe that all the valuable services
provided by a healthy ecosystem should be
assigned a dollar value.

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 Interest Grabber continued
Section 6-4

• Rank the following items in order of their importance to you. Then, next
to each item, write down how much you would be willing to pay for it.
• 1. Fresh, clean drinking water
• 2. Clean air to breathe
• 3. An endangered plant containing a substance that can cure cancer
• 4. Gas for your family car

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 Section 6-4 Figure 6-22 Ecosystem Services

Solar energy

Production of oxygen
Storage and recycling of
nutrients
Regulation of climate
Purification of water and air
Storage and distribution of
fresh water
Food production
Nursery habits for wildlife
Detoxification of human and
industrial waste
Natural pest and disease
control
Management of soil erosion
and runoff

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Section: