CHAPTER 21:

HUMAN
INFLUENCES
ON THE
ECOSYSTEMS
 INTRODUCTION
›Human impact on the environment or
anthropogenic impact on the
environment includes:
›Impacts on biophysical environments,
› biodiversity &

›other resources.
q The term anthropogenic describes an
effect or object resulting from human
activity.
HUMAN ACTIVITIES THAT
HAVE AN ENVIRONMETAL
IMPACT:
› Agriculture (FARMING)
› Fishing
Deforestation
› Irrigation
› Meat production
› Palm oil farming
› Energy harvesting and consumption
› Coal mining and burning
› Manufacturing of products
› Electricity generation
› The use of fertilisers may cause
eutrophication
Food Supply
• Most of the food we eat is supplied from farms and gardens.
Modern technology has increased the quantity of food that
can be obtained from a give area of land.

Chemical fertilisers
Agricultural Machinery – contain mineral
– such as tractors ions such as nitrate
allows farmer to do provide extra
more work. nutrients to growing
crop plants
Herbicides – Chemical
kills the plants. Example
Insecticides – can sprayed onto crops to
chemical used to kill kill weeds. This to reduce
insects. To increase competition for sources.
the yield from the
crop Selective breeding- to
produce new varieties of
animals and crop plats to
grow faster.
NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF FARMING ON
ECOSYSTEMS
• Monoculture contain a single kind of plant. The
number of different species is very small compare
with a natural ecosystem.
• Large-scale monocultures covering huge areas of
land can completely destroy the natural ecosystem
in that area.
• Livestock ( such as cow, sheep) can pose treats to an
ecosystem. Large number of livestock may
overgraze the land. The plants are eaten faster than
they can regrow.
• The soil expose to rain and wind causes erosion.
• Faeces from animals may build up, spread disease
and pollution waterway.
FAMINE
• The more human population grows, the more food we
need to produce and the grater the impact on the
environment.
• In some places, it may not be possible to provide
enough food for all the people who lIves there. This
cause FAMINE.
• Famine happens because :
• Extreme whether events such as draught or flooding.
These situation will become more common when global
warming increases.
• Over growth of human population lead to shortage of
food supplies.
• Poverty preventing people from buying seeds to grow
crops.
• Unequal distribution of food, some people still do not
get food.
HABITAT DESTRUCTION
• A habitat is a place where organisms lives.
• Human destroy the habitats :
• To provide more lands for farming and housing.
• To extract natural resources such as minerals or fossil fuels.
• Pollutants added to the environment such as sewage of oil in
the sea.
• Human activities damage the food webs, by killing the
organism and species.
• Deforestation particularly have large effects.
HOW DOES DEFORESTATION
OCCUR?
›conversion of forests and woodlands to
agricultural land to feed growing numbers
of people;
›development of cash crops and cattle
ranching,
›commercial logging destroys trees as well
as opening up forests for agriculture;
felling of trees for firewood and building
material;
CONSEQUENSES OF
DEFORESTATION
• Alteration of local and global climates
through disruption of the carbon and
water cycle.
• Soil erosion.
• Silting of water courses, lakes and
dams.
• Extinction of species which depend on
the forest for survival.
 OVERGRAZING
› Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to
intensive grazing for extended periods of time, or
without sufficient recovery periods.
› It can be caused by either livestock in poorly
managed agricultural applications, or by
overpopulations of native or non-native wild
animals.
› Overgrazing reduces the usefulness, productivity,
and biodiversity of the land and is one cause of
desertification and erosion.
› Overgrazing is also seen as a cause of the spread
of invasive species of non-native plants and of
weeds.
POLLUTION
• Land and Water pollution à contamination of
water bodies and effects on land.
Insecticides – used by the farmers on the crops may kill beneficial insects. This can slow
down reproduction of plants with insects-pollinated flowers. It may also reduce food
supplies for animals that feeds on the insects, so their population may fall.

Herbicides – used by farmers on crops to kill weeds may kill other plants as well. It may
cause harmful to insects.
Both insecticides and herbicides may be washes into rivers or lakes by rain-fall and harm
aquatic organism.
Nuclear fallout – Radioactivity causes radiation burns, radiation sickness and mutations.
Its remains in the environment for a longer time of period. It can affect the living
organism.

Chemical waste – which release by the factories contain toxic that is harmful to the living
organism. Discarded rubbish may also contain toxic and harmful objects.
• Untreated Sewage – contains pathogens from humans and so spread
diseases such as cholera and polio.
• Both untreated sewage and fertilisers contain nutrients to increase plant
growth if they enter the rivers. This also causes algae blooms. The algae
may produce toxins that can kill animals that drink the water.

• EUTROPHICATION
• When fertilizer and untreated sewage enters a body of water, a sequence
of events called eutrophication.
• The sequence of events :
Nitrates and phosphates from
raw sewage, fertilisers or other
sources enter a water system

Algae absorb the nutrients

and grow rapidly called as
algae bloom.
Algae form a blanket on the surface
of the water, blocking light from
reaching algae below.

Algae die without the light

to do photosynthesis.

Bacteria decompose the dead

algae , using up all the oxygen in
the water for respiration.

Animals in the water die

due to lack of oxygen
• Non- biodegradable plastics – plastic that cannot be
broken down by decomposers.
• When they have been thrown away, they remain in
the environment for a longer period. They can
cause harm to living organism. Living organism may
mistaken them as food , once they ate it block the
alimentary canal where they cannot absorb
nutrients and die.

• Female contraceptive hormones – by mistakenly it

can get into the rivers. They can cause ferminisation
in some aquatic animals. For example, male fish
become female. Exposure to water containing these
hormones can also reduce sperm count in men.
Some of the main contributors
to water pollution are:
› Factories / Refineries
› Waste treatment facilities
› Mining
› Pesticides, herbicides & fertilizers
› Human sewage
› Oil spills
› Failing septic systems
› Soap (washing car)
› Oil & antifreeze leaking from cars
› Household chemicals
› Animal waste
IMPACT OF WATER POLLUTION ON
HUMAN HEALTH
› Increased incidence (tumours, ulcers) à nitrate
pollution.
› Increased incidence (skin disorders) à contact with
pollutants.
› Increased incidence (constipation, diarrhoea,
infections to intestine.
› Dangerous effects on growing foetus à pregnant
women.
› Concentration of pollutants à bio- accumulative
pesticides through secondary / tertiary food chain in
case of non-vegetarians.
› Still births, abortions and birth of deformed children.
HOW YOU CAN HELP TO PREVENT
WATER POLLUTION
› Wash car far away from storm water drains
› Don’t throw trash, chemicals, solvents into
sewer drains
› Inspect your septic system every 3-5 years
› Avoid using pesticides & fertilizers that can
run off into water systems
› Sweep your driveway instead of hosing it
down.
› Use non-toxic cleaning materials.
AIR POLLUTION
What are the sources of air pollution?
› Automobile emissions
› Tobacco smoke
› Combustion of coal
› Acid rain
› Noise pollution from cars and construction
› Power plants
› Manufacturing buildings
› Large ships
› Paint fumes
› Aerosol sprays
› Wildfires
› Nuclear weapons
 ACID RAIN
• Air pollution is caused by sulfur dioxide. This gas
dissolves in water droplets in the clouds, making
the water acidic.
• The acid rain that falls from these clouds decrease
the pH of the water in the rivers and lakes.
• Resulting in killing animals and plants.
• It also damages trees, which may not be able to
absorb minerals from acidified soil.
• Sulfur dioxide is produced when fossil fuel is used
more.
• We can reduced the production :
• Reduce the use for coal for the electricity
generation.
THE IMPACT OF AIR POLLUTION ON
HUMAN HEALTH
› Principally
affect the
body's respiratory
system and the
cardiovascular system.
› The health effects:
› biochemical and
physiological changes
› breathing, wheezing,
coughing
› aggravation of existing
respiratory and cardiac
conditions
OZONE DEPLETION

• Life on Earth is protected from damaging

effects of UV radiation by a protective layer
of ozone molecules in the atmosphere.

• Satellite studies suggest that the ozone

layer has been gradually thinning since
1975.
 350
Ozone layer thickness (Dobsons)
300

250

200

100

0
1955 ’60 ’65 ’70 ’75 ’80 ’85 ’90 ’95 2000 ’05
Year
Destruction of atmospheric ozone
probably results from chlorine-releasing
pollutants such as CFCs produced by
human activity.
The “ozone hole” has increased in size as
ozone depletion has increased.
› Ozone depletion causes DNA damage in plants &
poorer phytoplankton growth.

› An international agreement signed in 1987 hasresulted

in a decrease in ozone depletion:
› The Montreal Protocol on Substances that
Deplete the Ozone Layer (a protocol to the
Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone
Layer) is an international treaty designed to
protect the ozone layer by phasing out the
production of numerous substances that are
responsible for ozone depletion.
› As a result à ozone hole in Antarctica is slowly
recovering.
› Climate projections indicate that the ozone layer
will return to 1980 levels between 2050 and
2070.
GREENHOUSE EFFECT AND
GLOBAL WARMING EFFECT
q CO2, water vapour & other greenhouse gases
reflect infrared radiation back toward Earth;
à greenhouse effect
q Importantfor keeping Earth’s surface at a
habitable temperature.
q Due to burning of fossil fuels, other human
activities,
q concentration of atmospheric CO2 has been
steadily increasing.
RISE IN [CO2] AND TEMP
• CO2 and methane in the atmosphere allow short-
wave radiation from the sun to pass through to the
ground.
• This radiation heats the ground and re-emitted as
longer wave radiation (infra-red).
• The longer- wave radiation cannot pass through
carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere, so it
doesn't not return to the space.
• The longer -wave radiation is absorbed by the carbon
dioxide and methane, raiding the temperature of the
atmosphere. Some of it is also reflected back to the
ground.
• This is called enhances greenhouse effects. It is
causing a gradual increase in the mean temperatures
on Earth.
›Global warming can be slowed by
reducing energy needs and converting
to renewable sources of energy
›Stabilizing CO2 emissions will require
an international effort.
CONSERVING
Forest :
• Replanting at least one tree.
• Leaving enough of the trunk to allow the tree to
regrow.
• Selective cut down of the tree, so that we remaining
trees seeds are used for regrowing .

Harvesting sustainable by :
• Drawing up international agreement.
• Limiting the areas (for example to avoid breeding
areas).
• Imposing quotas – limiting the number of fish that each
fisherman allowed to catch.
• Limiting the number of people or boats that can fish,
example using permit or licensing system.
• Educate the people.
• Breeding fish to increase numbers.
 RECYCLING
We can reduce the quantity of resources that we take from the
Earth by recycling.
The recycling materials may also reduce the amount of
energy used in manufacturing. In turn this helps to conserve
fuels and reduce pollution.
For example:
• Use paper can be pulped and treated to remove ink, it can
then be made into paper again.

SEWAGE

• Water can also be recycled.

• Sewage can be treated to make it safe to return to waterways.
• Microorganism in the sewage treatment plant break down
organic substances in the sewage.
• The treated sewage will not cause pollution, nor does it
contain pathogens that will make people ill.
CONSERVING
Endanger species :
• Monitoring and protecting species and their
habitat- setting up reserve place to make sure
habitats are not destroyed.
• Educated people about importance of
conserving their environment and how to care.
• Captive breeding programs- breeding
endanger species in safe environment.
• Seed banks – keep the seeds of species or
eggs safe, to keep the species from existence
or eaten by other wild animals.
THE END