Human activities that are indirectly impacting biodiversity

In the past couple of posts, I have discussed how humans have directly affected biodiversity of living organisms in negative ways.  There are,unfortunately, other activities humans perform on earth that can also indirectly affect organisms negatively.  Some of these indirect actions can lead certain species of organisms to become threatened and even endangered.  Once an organism is on the endangered list, they may even become extinct.  Specifically, if an organism has completely vanished from one region, they have become extirpated. This means that they no longer exist in that region but may exist in another region of the world.  One example is the  Elk  (Cervus elaphus) ; it is no longer present in North America but is still found in the northern territories of Canada.

Species like the Elk have become extirpated from North America is because of human activities.  This activity is the removal of forests or deforestation from certain lands to create residential and/or business communities.  Humans have tried to preserve certain areas to native organisms but very little is protected.  These small spaces are not enough for natural organisms to live at.  One example is Central Park in NYC.  This wildlife park is completely surrounded by city.  Before humans came to the island to build massive skyscrapers for business purposes, the whole island of Manhattan was pretty much a forest.  Since that time, the majority of wild forests that were naturally there are now gone.  Even though Central Park seems like a large park, it has lead to a process called habitat fragmentation.    As the definition implies, the habitat that use to exist in Manhattan has now been fragmented into various little natural reserves of parks.  Land species have no way of traveling from one park to another, which means they are very limited on resources.  Even though the Elk is extirpated from North America, it can make a comeback to the region. 

Another major problem is overpopulation of humans.  Since the 19th century, human population  has exponentially increased.  At the Science Council I attended last week in Manhattan, NY, we were informed that we would need approximately six earths right now to accommodate the population we currently hold right now on planet Earth.  So, not only are we abusing the amount of resources on our planet and thus hurting the planet's sustainability, we are also responsible for the high levels of greenhouse gases on the atmosphere.  One, for example, is carbon dioxide.  Too much of this gas has accumulated over the years due to humans releasing it.  Even car, factory and machine emissions have a huge impact on releasing carbon dioxide.  We are pretty much suffocating ourselves to the point with too much carbon dioxide and not enough oxygen in our atmosphere.  Yes, plants do take in the carbon dioxide that we release and convert it into oxygen, but it cannot keep up with the rate of human activities.  Plus, we are chopping down trees for more room to fit people on our overpopulated planet.  This means even less carbon dioxide is being filtered. 

We, as humans, can calculate how heavy of an affect we have had on our planet when it comes to sustainability.  In a class I took in 2011 at Queens College called Ecology 650.  Professor Chabora, who was my instructor for the class, made us calculate our "footprint" of what we have carved onto our planet.  If you are interested in taking this simple test, click on the following link: Calculate your Footprint.  You will be amazed what a major impact you can have on the environment by reducing simple things to facilitate in maintaining biodiversity on planet Earth.  Every little step helps to replenish our renewable resources and slow down the usage of our nonrenewable resources.  

Living things protecting themselves from natural disasters

Just yesterday, unfortunately, it is sad to announce that there was a major earthquake in China yesterday, killing 157 people and injuring thousands.  This disaster has also destroyed the homes of natural living things in China's southwest region of Sichuan.

I tried finding information to see if there was an odd behaviors exhibited by any species living in the area; I did not have much luck.  However, I did want to discuss a little about other natural disasters that unfortunately affected parts of the world since the opening of the new millennium.  

The first one I would like to discuss is about that major tsunami that hit Southeast Asia in 2004.  Animals were able to sense the coming of the natural disaster before it occurred!  This is because certain species have  sophisticated senses that differ from humans.   For instance, some animals detected the vibrations of the earthquake that hit along the floor of the Indian ocean prior to the tsunami.  From this, it would be really interesting to see if we could use animals to help detect or predict upcoming natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, etc.  

We pay the meterologists thousands of dollars to predict weather.  Maybe I should just listen to my pet!

In the following article mentions about how certain animals behaved differently in the recent event of a natural disaster:  Animal Behaviors.  Some of the ones I found most interesting were the following:

• Catfish in the area started to jump out of the water in massive packs and moved violently through the water
• Chickens stop laying their eggs due to environmental stress 
• Bees leaving their hives in response to sensing 
• Herds of elephants begin to run inland and higher north away from India's waters 

These are just some of the few examples of animals exhibiting these behaviors in response to upcoming natural disasters.  Now, all the animals mentioned above are typically not pets and are not found in the home.  So, are they domesticated animals that could detect or sense the coming of an earthquake?  The answer is YES! Dogs and cats also exhibit behaviors that can let their owners know something is not right. 

Something anecdotal I would like to share goes back to the year 2002.  It was around 7:30 AM when all of a sudden, Lady, my Jack Russell Terrier started to bark ferociously.  She ran towards the back of the house to bark for a good 5 minutes.  I had never seen this type of behavior from her before.  I then got to school a little later hearing that NYC had just experience some after shock activity that morning. It was not until the evening that I made the connection and wondered why Lady had been acting so weird that morning.

This is a picture of Lady back in 2003 at three years old.  That was the year she detected the after shock New York experienced.  

    Ten years later, at 13 years old now, Lady is still alive and well.  However, her senses may not be as acute at her older age.  

Jack Russell terriers are very territorial animals and have an amazing sense for smell and hearing.  When the after shock occurred in 2003, it was not that impacting but I would have had no idea it occurred with Lady.  Now in the year 2013, would she have sensed the same things as she did in 2003? That I am unsure about but it definitely proves that dogs can definitely sense or detect the upcoming of unfortunate natural disaster that transpire all around planet Earth.  This is just another reason it is crucial to maintain stability of biodiversity on this planet; animals can help to and have that "sixth sense".      

  

The Eastern Oyster in NYC

Just this past weekend, I attended the Science Council of New York City (SCONYC) at Stuyvesant High School.  There were some very useful workshops/lectures given throughout the day based on various sciences taught at the secondary level.

One lecture I found most insightful was one given by a college professor named Thomas Greene from Kingsborough Community College.  His lecture was centered around a Marine Biology course that he currently teaches at the undergraduate level.  He specifically got into studies about certain mollusks such as the Eastern Oyster (Cassostrea virginica).  The Eastern Oyster thrives off phytoplankton and are filter feeders.  Since they do eat plants, we would considers these filter feeders primary consumers.  They rapidly reproduce and are mainly hermaphroditic.  To learn more about this oyster, click on the following link: Eastern Oysters

Mr. Greene's class goes out on certain semesters to their oyster garden located behind the school's campus in Sheepshead Bay, NY.  Students are required to do various types of water quality tests such as pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen levels, salinity etc.  He, unfortunately, informed us that due to Hurricane Sandy this past October (2012), 9 of 15 current gardens located in NYC were wiped out.  Luckily, his class was able to save their garden by relocating them to a more suitable place on campus in the water.  Mr. Greene claimed that anyone in NYC can form an oyster garden in the area; there are few restrictions, however. Click here if you are interested on forming your own oyster garden! 

                                          Picture taken by author : Jamaica Bay 

The Eastern oyster's population in NYC is actually high, but they are not sold to consumers in the area due to the high amounts of pollution in New York's waters.   This occurred in the early 1900s when tons of raw sewage was thrown into Jamaica Bay (picture above), causing the surrounding waters in the area to become very polluted.  Any of the Eastern Oysters served at restaurants, Thomas Greene claimed, is caught from Long Island waters (Nassau and Suffolk county areas).  The waters surrounding the islanders of Manhattan, Long Island and Staten Island have become cleaner.  However, it is still not safe to consume these oysters until the water has recovered enough for it to be considered not polluted. 

SCONYC was a very interesting council and I am glad to have gone.  That's all for now.