Pollution and its effects on the Ecosystem Life Sciences Essay (Essay Sample)

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Pollution and its effects on the Ecosystem
One of the most significant concerns that have existed in the ecosystem for decades now is the issue of pollution. Pollution in itself is the destruction of the normal concentration and manifestation of factors such as water, soil, air and others in the ecosystem. This destruction largely arises from the human activities that often lead to misbalance, increased wastes concentration and improper positioning of the necessary and unnecessary additions to the environment. This often leads to the destruction of biodiversity, which is an important balance to the whole cycle of living organisms in that they support each other for their co-existence. If at all the number of animals reduce in the world to a very small number then a threat is posed to the human race since it will translate to it having to reduce also ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "DOI" : "10.1126/science.1256014", "ISBN" : "1095-9203 (Electronic)\\r0036-8075 (Linking)", "ISSN" : "0036-8075", "PMID" : "25324372", "abstract" : "Sophisticated networks are required to make the best use of biodiversity data from satellites and in situ sensors", "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Turner", "given" : "W.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "container-title" : "Science", "id" : "ITEM-1", "issue" : "6207", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2014" ] ] }, "page" : "301-302", "title" : "Sensing biodiversity", "type" : "article-journal", "volume" : "346" }, "uris" : [ "http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=bd34b777-001e-4ca8-8ec8-2bdd182a7e01" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "formattedCitation" : "(Turner, 2014)", "manualFormatting" : "(Turner 2014)", "plainTextFormattedCitation" : "(Turner, 2014)", "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(Turner, 2014)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(Turner 2014).
Human activities pose a challenge to the other living organisms because they threaten their natural habitats ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "DOI" : "10.1126/science.1246752", "ISBN" : "1095-9203 (Electronic)\\n0036-8075 (Linking)", "ISSN" : "0036-8075", "PMID" : "24876501", "abstract" : "Recent studies clarify where the most vulnerable species live, where and how humanity changes the planet, and how this drives extinctions. We assess key statistics about species, their distribution, and their status. Most are undescribed. Those we know best have large geographical ranges and are often common within them. Most known species have small ranges. The numbers of small-ranged species are increasing quickly, even in well-known taxa. They are geographically concentrated and are disproportionately likely to be threatened or already extinct. Current rates of extinction are about 1000 times the likely background rate of extinction. Future rates depend on many factors and are poised to increase. Although there has been rapid progress in developing protected areas, such efforts are not ecologically representative, nor do they optimally protect biodiversity.", "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Pimm", "given" : "S. L.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Jenkins", "given" : "C. N.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Abell", "given" : "R.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Brooks", "given" : "T. M.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Gittleman", "given" : "J. L.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Joppa", "given" : "L. N.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Raven", "given" : "P. H.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Roberts", "given" : "C. M.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Sexton", "given" : "J. O.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "container-title" : "Science", "id" : "ITEM-1", "issue" : "6187", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2014" ] ] }, "page" : "1246752-1246752", "title" : "The biodiversity of species and their rates of extinction, distribution, and protection", "type" : "article-journal", "volume" : "344" }, "uris" : [ "http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=3b04f4e4-c228-4893-a7f4-7e449d0c7ec9" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "formattedCitation" : "(Pimm et al., 2014)", "manualFormatting" : "(Pimm et al. 2014)", "plainTextFormattedCitation" : "(Pimm et al., 2014)", "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(Pimm et al., 2014)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(Pimm et al. 2014). For instance, due to the rapid increase in population humans feel as if they are congested in their settlements and have now ventured deeper into the forest searching for land to settle. This is both trait-mediated indirect interaction, where human beings and their activities lead to the destruction of the forests, as well as a density mediated indirect interaction where unknowingly, the increase in human population around and inside forests lead to destruction as the people look for food and other services.
The world before the increase in the population of the human race and the need to acquire land in the deep forest it had a large percentage of it covered by the forest. Recently a research was carried out, and the scientist found out that there was only 31% of the forest cover in the world ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "DOI" : "10.1080/17538947.2013.856959", "ISBN" : "10.1080/17538947.2013.856959", "ISSN" : "17538955", "abstract" : "Six widely used coarse-resolution global land cover data-sets \u2013 Global Land Cover Characterization (GLCC), Global Land Cover 2000 (GLC2000), GlobCover land cover product (GlobCover), MODIS land cover product (MODIS LC), the University of Maryland land cover product (UMD LC), and the MODIS Vegetation Continuous Fields tree cover layer (MODIS VCF) disagree substantially in their estimates of forest cover. Employing a regression tree model trained on higher-resolution, Landsat-based data, these multisource multiresolution maps were integrated for an improved characterization of forest cover over North America. Evaluated using a withheld test sample, the integrated percent forest cover (IPFC) data-set has a root mean square error of 11.75% \u2013 substantially better than the 17.37% of GLCC, 17.61% of GLC2000, 17.96% of GlobCover, 15.23% of MODIS LC, 19.25% of MODIS VCF, and 15.15% of UMD LC, respectively. Although demonstrated for forest, this approach based on integration of multiple products has potential for improved characterization of other land cover types as well.", "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Song", "given" : "Xiao Peng", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Huang", "given" : "Chengquan", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Feng", "given" : "Min", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Sexton", "given" : "Joseph O.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Channan", "given" : "Saurabh", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Townshend", "given" : "John R.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "container-title" : "International Journal of Digital Earth", "id" : "ITEM-1", "issue" : "9", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2014" ] ] }, "page" : "709-724", "title" : "Integrating global land cover products for improved forest cover characterization: An application in North America", "type" : "article-journal", "volume" : "7" }, "uris" : [ "http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=2b1edff8-2910-4599-922a-8d067e587495" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "formattedCitation" : "(Song et al., 2014)", "manualFormatting" : "(Song et al. 2014)", "plainTextFormattedCitation" : "(Song et al., 2014)", "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(Song et al., 2014)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(Song et al. 2014). The percentage shows that over half of the world’s forest cover has been consumed over the years and things are not getting any better since people are still venturing the forest ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "DOI" : "10.1080/17538947.2013.856959", "ISBN" : "10.1080/17538947.2013.856959", "ISSN" : "17538955", "abstract" : "Six widely used coarse-resolution global land cover data-sets \u2013 Global Land Cover Characterization (GLCC), Global Land Cover 2000 (GLC2000), GlobCover land cover product (GlobCover), MODIS land cover product (MODIS LC), the University of Maryland land cover product (UMD LC), and the MODIS Vegetation Continuous Fields tree cover layer (MODIS VCF) disagree substantially in their estimates of forest cover. Employing a regression tree model trained on higher-resolution, Landsat-based data, these multisource multiresolution maps were integrated for an improved char...