Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Human impact on biodiversity - Coggle Diagram
Human impact on biodiversity
Extinction
Description
Decrease in biodiversity
Natural selection
Evolution, species replaced by others
Loss of species
Endangered species
Species at risk of extinction
Reasons
Habitat destruction
Hedge removal
Wetland drainage
Deforestation
Pollution of environment
PCBs oil
Pesticides
Introduction of alien species
May out-compete native species
For food
For spcae
No natural predators
No natural grazers
May have diseases that affect native species
Monoculture
Growing large numbers of species in an area
Species which are genetically identical
Buidling
Roads
Houses
Factories
Unsustainable harvesting
Over hunting
Overfishing
Conservation
Creation, management and protection of habitats
Maintaining the biosphere
Enhances biodiversity locally
Conservation of gene pools in wild and captivity
Vital for biodiversity maintaining in future
Habitat protection
By nature reserves
By SSSI
International cooperation
From governments and organisations
Restricting trade in animal parts
Ivory
Ensures trade of species, do not threaten their survival
Restricting activities that threaten endangered species
Whaling
Legislation (law)
Overfishing
Poaching
Collecting bird's eggs
Picking wild flower
Breeding programmes
By zoos
By botanic gardens
Banks
Sperm
Seed
Reintroduction programmes
Red kit - mid Wales
Pollution control
Conserving gene pools
When a species is conserved, the gene pool is conserved
In the wild it is important
Genetic diversity required for
Survival to changing environments
Natural selection dependant on variation in species
Some organisms have useful alleles
May benefit us
Domestic animals and plants
Their relatives may have useful alleles
That can be rebred, into their domestic varieties
Disease resistance
Some plants have medicinal properties
If extinct, resource is lost
Some plants have medicinal properties
If extinct, resource is lost
The reason for
Rare breeds
Frozen zoos
Sperm banks
Seed banks
Captive breeding programmes
Moral
Ensures diversity of species
Agricultural
To meet human demand
Hedge removal
For larger fields
Provides habitats for wildlife
Pest
Predators
"Wildlife corridors"
Allows mobile species to travel
Dispersing species
Finding mates
Cultivated monocultures
Easy to harvest mechanically
Yields disease-free seeds
Issues
If a pest invades
Rapid increase in their numbers
No pest predators
Cannot keep numbers in control
Increased use of fertilisers and pesticide
Fertilisers cause eutrophication
Pesticides harm beneficial species
Bees
Environmental monitoring and political
Physical and biological measurements
Over a period of time
Physical includes
pH
Drainage
Water flows
Environmental impact assessments
Required for the construction of
Rail-ways
Roads
Wind farms
Tidal barrages
Airports buildings
Why monitor and assess?
Helps political bodies
Make decisions on scientific data about the impact of a project
Consider alternative to projects
Environmental monitoring
Monitors effects
Assess effectiveness
Measures environmental impact of
Conservation and re-introduction programmes
Aspects that are monitored
Chemicals
pH
CO2
Nitrates
Ammonium
Biotic
Animals and plants
Ones sensitive to change
e.g. brown trout + salmon
Indicators of
Water quality
Oxygenation
Radiation
Microbes
Especially areas for recreation
Lakes
Rivers
How to measure
Transects
Random sampling
Repeated over time
In different seasons
Environmental issues
Deforestation
Impacts
Desertification
Woodland cleared using
Fire
Machinery
Compacts the ground
Less succession occurs
Soil erosion
Trees cannot grow
Destruction of habitats and niches
Decrease in native biodiversity
Soil erosion leads to nutrient loss
Succession from cleared land doesn't occur
Top soil has been lost
Increased sediment deposits in waterways
Loss of valuable plant materials
Could have been used for medicinal
Contributes to global warming
More CO2, Less trees to absorb
Conservation
Sustainable management
Timber is still extracted
Doesn't destroy the forest
Allows succession to occur
Forest can regenerate
Protected areas and replanting native species
Coppicing
Woodland divided into different areas
Cut down in rotation
Trees cut down to stumps
So, wood can re-grow
trees produce a long straight stem
Harvestable
Overfishing
Bottom trawling
Seabed
Destroys habitats
Midwater trawling
Near the top
Catches unwanted species
Solutions / Reducing impacts
Fish quotas
Limits number of one species caught
Heavy fines for exceeding quotas
Reducing fish fleet size
Fewer boats catching fish
Restricting seasons for fishing
Breeding seasons
Fish stock can replenish
Increasing mesh sizes
Smaller mesh size
Can catch more fish
Small
Large
Higher minimum mesh size
Larger fish is caught
Smaller fish can escape
Breed
Exclusion zones
No fishing in some zones
Fish population at sustainable levels
Fish farming
Isolating an area of the sea
Breeding
Growing
Conditions
Fed
Chemically treated
Pest and disease free
Problems with fish farming
Excess nutrients leak out
Eutrophication
Overuse of antibiotics
Resistance in pathogenic bacteria
Non-specific pesticides leak out
Affects marine food chains
Overcrowding
Diseases and pests spread easily
Genetically modified
Larger sizes
Growth rates
If they escape
May breed with wild, and outcompete
Prevented by genetically modifying fish
3 sets of chromosomes
Triosomy