Biodiversity Loss
Mass Extinction:
There have been five mass extinction events throughout Earth’s history:
- The end of the Ordovician ( 60% of all genera of both terrestrial and marine life worldwide were exterminated)
- Late Devonian period (360 million years ago the environment that had clearly nurtured reefs for at least 13 million years turned hostile)
- Permian mass extinction : about 80–95% of all marine species went extinct. Reefs didn’t reappear for about 10 million years, the greatest hiatus in reef building in all of Earth history.
- The end Triassic mass extinction (about half of all marine invertebrates and 80% of all land quadrupeds went extinct).
- The end Cretaceous mass extinction (65 million years ago: demise of the dinosaurs
Timeline of mass extinction events. The five named vertical bars indicate mass extinction events. Black rectangles (drawn to scale) represent global reef gaps and brick-pattern shapes show times of prolific reef growth (Veron 2008).
http://www.skepticalscience.com/Earths-five-mass-extinction-events.html
There are many reasons that have contributed to the 6th Great Mass Extinction ( Anthropocene extinction) and they are all due to human activity. For example: over-hunting, deforestation, introduced invasive species, introduced disease, domesticated animals, pollution, over-fishing, greenhouse gas pollution, and water diversion.
The background rate of extinction is the number of extinctions that would be occurring naturally in the absence of human influence. Estimates range from one to ten species per year for the past 600 million years. It is difficult to estimate this rate, in part because the number of species in existence is not known. This is affected by the anthropogenic factors today because the background rate of extinctions establishes a baseline from which the severity of the current extinctions crisis can be measured. The current rate of extinction appears to be hundreds, or perhaps even thousands, of times higher than the background rate. It is difficult to be precise because most of the disappearing species today have never been identified by scientists.
Habitat loss and its effects on biodiversity is a growing global concern. Loss of habitat is a major cause of the decline of coastal species. These habitats support key communities within estuarine, coastal, and/or marine subsystems and have a high biodiversity, tourism, human use and conservation value. The health of coastal waterways depends on the maintenance of a diverse range of coastal habitat types.
http://www.ozcoasts.gov.au/conceptual_mods/stressors/habitat_model.jsp
ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT (EF)
Biocapacity : The capacity of ecosystems to produce useful biological materials and to absorb waste materials generated by humans, using current management schemes and extraction technologies.
Ecological Footprint : A measure of how much area of biologically productive land and water an individual, population or activity requires to produce all the resources it consumes and to absorb the waste it generates, using prevailing technology and resource management practices. The Ecological Footprint is usually measured in global hectares. Because trade is global, an individual or country’s Footprint includes land or sea from all over the world. Ecological Footprint is often referred to in short form as Footprint. “Ecological Footprint” and “Footprint” are proper nouns and thus should always be capitalized.
http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/trends/unitedstates/
Comparing LPR 2010 and LPR 2012
LPR 2010 LPR 2012
Ecological Footprint per person 8.00 7.19
Ecological Footprint ranking 5 5
Biocapacity per person 3.87 3.86
Biocapacity ranking 25 24
4 Additional Countries EF: Canada, Congo, China, United Kingdom
Canada
Congo
United Kingdom
“National Footprints Accounts, 2011 Edition” to check what is the most recent estimate of the World Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity
For a clearer/ more detailed image: http://www.footprintnetwork.org/images/uploads/NFA_2011_Edition.pdf
My Personal Ecological Footprint
If everyone on the planet lived my lifestyle, we would need: 5.76 Earths
http://myfootprint.org/en/quiz_results/
(In global acres) Footprint Country Average
Carbon Footprint 72.29 91.43
Food Footprint 76.46 65.74
Housing Footprint 31.29 31.58
Goods and Services Footprint 43.25 57.66
My total footprint 223.29 246.41
(in global acres) Footprint Country Average
Cropland footprint 26.78 29.61
Pastureland footprint 61.84 68.02
Marine fisheries footprint 44.86 49.33
Forestland footprint 89.82 99.45
My total footprint 223.29 246.41
I used the United States, living with my parents and 2 brothers instead of living by myself Greece to compare my Ecological Footprint. My personal EF is very high especially compared to other more poor countries.
I do feel that since I have been in Greece, my EF has reduced because I am using the public transit instead of the bus, eating/ wasting less, using less electricity/energy…etc.
“Ecological Footprints”: Weighing the issues
I think the variation in sizes of per capita ecological footprints among societies is accounted by mainly how much energy they use/waste, income, population, the extent of effort that is put in to help recycle/renew…etc. I really do believe that nations with larger footprints have a moral obligation to reduce their environmental impact so as to leave more resources available for nations with smaller footprints; however, not only for that reason. I believe nations with large EF need to reduce it for simply the sake helping of the environment itself.
I found this assignment and section very interesting. I actually took the Ecological Footprint test 3 years ago in my freshman environmental course… I keep all the papers from any class I take so I want to see if I can find those results and compare then to now.
ACTmessi 