From time immemorial, the role of man in the ecosystem has meant his active intervention in the natural chain in order to carefully study it. At the same time, interest was constantly fueled by the constant evolution of the ecosystem, which proceeded independently of human activity, which sometimes led to irreversible consequences for both the environment and people.
Man and Nature
Today, human impact on the ecosystem has become almost absolute. Over the past few centuries, thanks to the significant development of technological progress, environmental pollution has reached a critical point and has begun to pose a serious danger.
The carbon cycle in nature has a significant impact on atmospheric changes, since it is contained in significant quantities in the composition of most minerals on earth. When mineral fuel is burned at enterprises, dioxide (carbon dioxide) is released from it, which hasproperty to accumulate in the air, because as a result of large-scale deforestation, the remaining plants do not have time to cope with its cleaning.
As a result of the steady increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide on Earth, there is an increase in the global greenhouse effect, in which the dioxide traps heat on the surface, causing excessive heating, the effect of which is increasing every day.
Analysis and evaluation of human activities in the ecosystem allow us to properly judge that if decisive measures are not taken to normalize the ecological situation, the immune system will not be able to properly cope with pollution that has a detrimental effect on the human body, which in the future may lead to irreversible consequences. The thing is that a pollutant can affect the body both directly and indirectly, easily moving through various elements of the ecosystem.
Deserts
All terrestrial ecosystems can be conditionally divided according to climatic and plant characteristics, while each ecosystem has its own individual characteristics, mainly associated not with rare animals and plants that live there, but with climatic factors. First of all, deserts can be attributed to this category of ecosystems.
The main feature of this area is that the strength of evaporation in it is much higher than the level of precipitation. As a result of such conditions, vegetation in the desert is very scarce. This area is characterized by clear weather and the predominance of low-growing plants, as a resultwhich at night the soil begins to intensively lose the heat accumulated during the day. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that deserts occupy more than 15% of the land surface and are located in almost all earthly latitudes.
Deserts can be:
- Tropical.
- Moderate.
- Cold.
Plants and animals living in them, regardless of climatic conditions, are able to accumulate and retain deficient moisture in the body. The destruction of vegetation in the area leads to the fact that it will take a huge amount of time and effort to restore it.
Savannas
Natural ecosystems also include the savannah area, the territories of which, in fact, are grassy ecosystems. This category includes areas that experience several long dry spells followed by excessive rainfall. It is this category of ecosystem that occupies wide areas on both sides of the equator, meeting even in areas adjacent to the Arctic deserts.
Despite the fact that people are extremely rare in such areas, the oil and gas reserves discovered in these areas provoked a high anthropogenic impact, because as a result of low rates of decomposition of organic matter, the growth rate of vegetation is minimal, due to which this particular ecological the area is one of the most vulnerable.
Forest Ecosystems
All forests, regardless of species, alsobelong to the category of terrestrial ecosystems.
They are represented by:
Decidated forests. The main feature is the rapid restoration of vegetation after cutting. Therefore, this area is best able to counteract the negative impact that people have on it
- Coniferous. Basically, these forests are presented in the taiga regions. It is in this area that most of the timber for industrial needs is mined.
- Tropical. The trees in these forests keep their foliage almost throughout the year, which ensures a stable cleaning of the atmosphere from carbon dioxide. As a result of human destruction of vegetation, the topsoil is completely washed out due to prolonged exposure to rains, and forests are almost impossible to regenerate after clearing.
Artificially created ecosystems
Artificial ecosystems, or agrocenosis, include ecosystems artificially created by man, the main task of which is to maintain and stabilize the ecological situation in the world, as well as to provide people and animals with affordable food. This category includes:
- Fields.
- Hayfields.
- Parks.
- Gardens.
- Gardens.
- Forest plantings.
In most cases, artificial ecosystems are required for humans to obtain agricultural products for their normal life. Despite the fact that they are not very reliable in environmental terms,high productivity allows, using the minimum amount of land, to provide food for the whole world. The main criteria that a person invests in their creation are the preservation of crops with maximum productivity indicators.
The population size in an agrocoenosis is mainly due to the care that a person can provide to increase the level of fertility that an artificial ecosystem so badly needs. Man, whose nature is associated with constant discoveries in the most important areas for life, has long understood that it is this type of ecosystem that constantly needs the supply of useful elements. Among them, water and mineral fertilizers play a decisive role, some of which constantly disappears from the soil as a result of the water cycle in nature. This is the only way to preserve yields and prevent starvation in a constantly deteriorating ecological environment.
At the same time, in the agrocenosis, as in any other area, there are food chains of the ecosystem, an obligatory component of which is a person. At the same time, it is he who plays a decisive role, because without him not a single artificial ecosystem can exist. The fact is that without proper care, it retains its properties for a maximum of a year in the form of grain fields and up to a quarter of a century in the form of fruit and berry crops.
The best way to increase and maintain the productivity of these ecosystems is soil reclamation, which helps to clear the land fromforeign elements and stabilize the natural growth of plants.
Influence on natural ecosystems
Natural ecosystems include both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. At the same time, humanity must take significant measures to protect water bodies from the penetration of harmful substances. The number of living organisms for which water is the main source of life directly depends on the content of s alts in it and temperature factors. Unlike terrestrial ecosystems, animals that live underwater require constant access to oxygen, and as a result, they try to stay on the surface of the water.
Terrestrial ecosystems differ from aquatic ones not only in the root system of vegetation, but also in the main components of nutrition. At the same time, depending on the depth of the waters, food sources become much smaller. Even if waste emissions from enterprises are not made into water sources, but onto the Earth's surface, due to atmospheric precipitation, pollution penetrates into groundwater. And already with them it reaches the main sources, destroying most of the living organisms in them and having a harmful effect on the human body in the course of drinking water by people.
Varieties of air pollution
The consequences of human activities in ecosystems have primarily affected air pollution. Until recently, it was considered the largest environmental problem of all major cities, however, thanks to a thorough study of the problem, scientists were able to find out that air pollutantscan travel considerable distances from the immediate source of release. Therefore, we can conclude that even living in an extremely favorable ecological environment, people are as little insured against harmful influences as those who live in close proximity to industrial sources.
The most common air pollutants that significantly affect the environment are:
- Increase in the air composition of the concentration of its main element - carbon dioxide.
- Nitrogen oxides.
- Hydrocarbons.
- Sulfur dioxide.
- A gas mixture of chlorine, fluorine and carbon compounds, called CFCs.
Such human impact on the ecosystem has led to the fact that the fight against environmental pollution has acquired a global level, becoming the most important task for all countries without exception. Only in conditions of close international cooperation is it possible to achieve optimally rapid stabilization of the environmental situation.
Negative Consequences
Negative human activity in the ecosystem has led to the fact that the concentration of natural atmospheric components in the air annually decreases, and the upper atmospheric layer suffers the most from this, in which the concentration of ozone sometimes reaches a critical level. At the same time, the main difficulty in restoring its stable indicators lies precisely in the fact that ozone itself can significantly increase air pollution on the earth's surface,having a detrimental effect on most agricultural crops. In addition, when ozone is mixed with hydrocarbons and nitric oxide, photochemical smog is formed, which is the most harmful mixture that has a detrimental effect on the environment.
Today, the best minds in the world are working on the problem of reducing the negative consequences of human activity. Of course, human-made ecosystems partially normalize indicators, but there is a steady increase in harmful emissions from industrial enterprises that accumulate in the atmosphere.
In addition, there are also side factors in the form of dust, noise, increased electromagnetic fields and climate change, as a result of which the ambient temperature has risen significantly in recent years, thereby causing irreversible climate change.
Measures to support the environment
Since human influence on the ecosystem has led to serious climate change, and in particular to global warming, humanity must develop serious measures to combat pollution, increasing the number of ecosystems on Earth, regardless of whether they are natural or artificial. Due to the accumulation of various gases in the atmosphere, of which only a small part is dissipated in outer space, and the rest cause a greenhouse effect on earth, scientists assume that in the future a significant increase in temperature on the planet will have a detrimental effect on all living things. However, it must be borne in mind that without suchinfluence that has undergone little change over millions of years, modern ecosystems directed by man to support the ecological situation could not exist.
Nevertheless, humanity must seriously reduce emissions of harmful elements into the air, as well as at least stabilize the process of deforestation with the formation of new green spaces, because a steady increase in the greenhouse effect will further lead to water evaporation and deterioration of weather systems. It is important that certain measures in this area have already been taken. First of all, this concerns the creation of an Intergovernmental Group, whose task is to monitor climate change and identify the location of powerful gas emissions, throwing all their efforts into correcting the environmental situation in this area.
In addition, the World Environmental Congress, better known as the "Earth Summit", was created. He is carrying out full-scale work aimed at concluding an international agreement between all countries in order to reduce emissions of gas and other harmful elements into the atmosphere.
Despite the fact that there is no convincing evidence of modern anthropogenic warming today, most scientists believe that an irreversible process has already begun. That is why it is so important that the whole world unite to stabilize the ecological situation on Earth.
The human impact on the ecosystem can be partially eliminated through the development and further implementation of powerful installations that willbe used for thorough air purification. Today, such structures are installed only at the most progressive enterprises, but their number is so small that the reduction in emissions is almost imperceptible against the global background.
An equally important role is played by the development of alternative energy sources that do not have a harmful effect on the environment. In addition, industrial production must reach a new level of work with the use of waste-free industrial technology, and measures to combat exhaust gases produced by cars must be strengthened as much as possible. Only after the situation has been stabilized as much as possible will global environmental organizations be able to properly identify and deal with all violations.
Steps to stabilize the situation
The negative human impact on the ecosystem can be observed not only in the pollution of nature with chemical waste, as, for example, in the case of Chernobyl, but also in the widespread extinction of the rarest species of animals and plants. All these factors contribute to the deterioration of human he alth, regardless of age groups. In addition, environmental disturbances affect even unborn children, significantly worsening the general condition of the global gene pool and affecting the death rate of the population.
Detailed analysis and assessment of human impacts on ecosystems make it possible to judge that the main deterioration of the ecological state on Earth is mainly associated withdeliberate human activity. This area includes poaching and an increase in the number of chemical enterprises, the emissions of which have a strong impact on the environment. If in the near future humanity does not realize what result its actions will eventually lead to, and does not begin to actively use cleansing technologies, including an increase in the number of green spaces, especially in large industrial cities, in the future this may lead to irreversible consequences throughout the world.
