Name:Yean Tze Pua (Angie)

Student Number:42482370
Human Impact on Vegatation

Table of Contents

1.0 Introduction.....................................................................................................................................3
2.0 Nature Impacts...............................................................................................................................3
2.1 Continental Drift Effects..............................................................................................................3
2.2 Nature Hazards............................................................................................................................4
3.0 Human Impacts..............................................................................................................................5
3.1 Human Impacts on post-glacial vegetation............................................................................5
3.2 Fire effects.............................................................................................................................7
3.3 Introduction and Invasion......................................................................................................7
3.4 Role of grazing......................................................................................................................9
3.5 Deforestation.......................................................................................................................10
3.6 Pollution..............................................................................................................................11
4.0 Conclusions - Human or Nature?.............................................................................................12
5.0 References...............................................................................................................................13

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Human Impact on Vegatation

1.0 Introduction

Recently, there are many debates about the environmental issues between human-induced

perturbations and ill-defined natural oscillations. This report examines the impacts of both

human and nature towards the environment vegetation. The highlighted key issues in this

report are continental drifts effects, nature hazards, fire effects, introduction and invasion,

role of grazing, deforestation, and pollution.

1. Nature Impacts

In the geological past, there are large-scale of fluctuations in climate and sea levels occurred

over and over again, long before human activities could possibly have had any impacts

(Rohde, 2013). There are many associated geological events involved in the environmental

changes such as continental drifts and natural hazards.

2.1 Continental Drift Effects

The nature of the continents movement is profound particularly for the distributions of the flowering

plants because they are distributed zonally particular geographic zones comprising ecological systems

that are similar in many respects.

As continental drift began during breakup of Pangaea (~195 Ma), the northward movement of the

major continental masses resulted in changes in global climatic regimes with greatly increased

latitudinal temperature gradients an increased aridity (Rothschild and Lister, 2003). During the

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Human Impact on Vegatation

migration of Africa and India across the climatic zones towards the equator, most of the

plants of southern affinities were lost from these regions (Collinson, 1978).

Besides the climatic changes, continental drift also led to changes in biogeography in two

major aspects. The first is the break-up of continents led to the isolation of communities such

as in Australia and Madagascar. The second is the collisions of continents such as Africa

collided with Eurasia led to combination of two different ecosystems. Thus, the floras of South

America, North America, Eurasia, and Africa during the breakup of Pangeae were more distinctly

different from each other than they are today as well as each continental region has its own distinct

flora today (Rothschild and Lister, 2003).

2.2 Nature Hazards

Natural hazards are threats of natural occurring events that resulted in negative effect on

environments.

Volcanic eruption is one of the major factors that caused environmental changes. It destroys

and modifies existing vegetation over large areas and creates new geological subtrates. Its

impacts can be classified as direct and indirect.

The direct impacts are the extrusion of lava that destroys all vegetation in its path, tephra and ash

deposits that may bury vegetation or alter plant growth, and blowdowns on vegetation by the shock

wave and winds that come with an explosive eruption such as in Mount St. Helens.

The secondary impacts are the climate changes, soil changes, and increases of carbon dioxide. The

eruption of Tambora in 1815 has the largest magnitude of climate change due to volcanic ash that

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Human Impact on Vegatation

encircled the globe and reduces the sunlight. Water or wind that relate to the vegetation can also

be modified by volcanic activities as in Auckland isthmus in New Zealand, where the

accumulation of ash prevented drainage of a swamp and this maintained habitat of wetland

species (Clarkson, 1990).

Natural fire is another factor that has impacts on environment. There are about half the fires

caused by lightning in places such as the forest lands of western USA, pine savanna of Belize

in Central America, and about 8% of the fires in the bush of Australia (Goudie, 2006)

Natural fires may also be resulted from spontaneous combustion and sparks produced by

falling boulders and by landslides.

2. Human Impacts

Since the evolution of human from the homonids (ancestral humans) during Quartenary,

human impact began to increase dramatically upon the biosphere and hydrosphere. Bates

(1956) claimed that human are important agents in the spread of plants and other organisms.

Vegetation are, by far, the greatest impact by human through the many changes humans have

brought about in land use and land cover they have modified soils (Meyer & Turner, 1994),

influenced climates, affected geomorphic processes, and the changes of quality and quantity

of some natural waters.

3.1 Human Impacts on post-glacial vegetation

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Human Impact on Vegatation

Behre (1986) stressed that the human role changed from that of a passive component to an

active element that impinged directly on nature since the Neolithic revolution. This brought

dramatic consequences for the natural environment and landscape development such as

arable and pastoral farming, the actuarial settlements themselves and the consequent changes

in the economy significantly altered the natural vegetation and created the cultural landscape

with its many different and varying aspects.

According to Yorkshire Wolds of northern England pollen analysis, the Mesolithic people

may have caused forest disturbance since 8900 years ago. Bush (1988) declared that these

Mesolithic people may have suppressed forest growth and permitted the relatively open

landscapes of early post-glacial to persist as grasslands. At that time, both Mesolithic and

Neolithic peoples may have caused the expansion of the alder (Alnusglutinosa) through the

removal of natural forest that resulted in reduction of competition, the increased of the runoff

of surface waters, occasioned deforestation and burning of catchment areas, and perhaps the

felling of alder itself promotes vegetative sprouting and cloning of which could result in its

rapid spread in swamp forest areas (Moore, 1986).

One of the most dramatic changes in vegetation during Holocene is the decline of elm

throughout Europe and North America, as evident by the decline of Ulmus pollen. It is is

coincided with the beginning of Neolithic farming along with the presence of cereal and weed

pollen, Ribwort plaintain (Plantagolanceolata) in the fossil profiles (Goudie, 2006; Rackham,

1980). This implies that the elm decline is associated with human settlements.

There are many factors that involved in human impacts on vegetation changes including:

 Fire effects

 Introduction and invasion of alien species

 Role of grazing

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Human Impact on Vegatation

 Deforestation

 Pollution

3.2Fire effects

Humans are known to have used fire since Paleolithic times (Goudie, 2006). Since then, fire has

played a major role in the formation of various major types of vegetation such as tropical

savannas, and mid-latitude grasslands and shrublands for a great variety of reasons (Barlett,

1956; Stewart, 1956; Wertine 1973) such as to clear forest for agriculture, kill or drive

predatory animals or any pests, improve grazing land for domestic animal, provide lights,

cooking, tool-making, smelt ores, and provide warmth.

Fire can affect on vegetation through assists in seed germination, alters of seedbeds, triggers the

release of seeds like Jack pine (Pinusbankdiana) and many woody and herbaceous species, controls

sanitization, stimulates the flowering and fruiting of many shrubs and herbs, and modifies

physiochemical of the environment plants. Thus, a vegetation area with fire effects tends to have

greater species diversity that favours stability.

3.3Introduction and Invasion

The introduction of new plant and animal species is a very common way where human modified and

impact the environment. Jarvis (1979) suggested that human introduced new plant species deliberately

because they have recognized virtues, which can be usefully for economic group and an ornamental or

amenity.

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Human Impact on Vegatation

The number of major threats that invasive plants pose to natural ecosystems (Levine et al., 2003) such

as the replacement of diverse systems with single species stands of aliens can lead to a reduction in

biodiversity. An example of this case is the fynbos heathlands in South Africa invaded by Australian

acacias (Le Maitre et al., 2000) through the alteration of soil chemistry, fire regime, and hydrological

conditions.

In Atoll of Laysan in the Hawaii group 1903, rabbits and hares were introduced in the hope of

establishing a meat cannery. The number of native plant species reduced from 25 to 4 in 1923. In

1961, the number of native plant increased to 16 (Stoddart, 1968). However, there were much changes

around the environment within the time period such as prevented the island from turning into desert.

There are many other cases where humans have initiated change inadvertently and

unintentionally (Goudie 2006) through adhesion to moving objects, crop seed, minerals such

as ballast or road metal, and carriage of seeds for other purposes rather than planting.

In Britain, many elm trees died in the 1970s due to the accidental introduction of the Dutch elm

disease fungus, which arrived on imported timber at certain ports, notably Avonmouth and the

Tahmes Estuary ports (Sarry, 1978). This incident is one of the reasons that explained the event of

Ulumus declined during Holocene.

Roads and railways are also major importance in plant dispersal. It modified ecological systems

through treading, soil compaction, confined drainage, increased runoff, removal of organic matter,

additions of litter or waste material with high nitrogen content (e.g. urine and feces), and any

deposition such as snow. It tends to possess a distinctive flora in comparison with the natural

vegetation of an area by providing a route for the bearers of plant propagules and by furnishing a

highly specialized habitat for plant establishment along their margins.

The study of M1 motorway in England suggests that 30 distinct plant species had been deliberately

planted along the cuttings and embankments. However, more than 350 species appeared in less than

12 years after its constructions (Goudie, 2006).

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Human Impact on Vegatation

3.4Role of grazing

Introduction of pastoral economies is another way that affects vegetation (Coupland, 1979; Adams

1996). Light grazing may lead to increase productivity of wild pastures (Warrens and Maizels, 1976),

increase species diversity, assists in seed germination, and alters seedbeds. Heavy grazing with

trampling, which reduce the size of soil aggregates and break up plant litter and accelerate soil

deterioration and erosion, may be detrimental and kill plants or lead to a marked reduction in their

level of photosynthesis. All these factors that resulted from heavy grazing can lead to shrub

dominance (Archer et al., 1999).

Another importance about role of grazing is that the domestic animals consume certain

species of vegetation may give rise to another species as conflicts for resources reduce.

During Holocene, the Neolithic peoples introduced a new technique of keeping stalled

domestic animals. The role of grazing comes into play when these animals were fed by

repeated gathering of heavy branches from elms. This is another interpretation for the

enormous pollen reduction of elms (Troels-Smith 1956), while giving rise to other distinct

types of species.

In Australia, the widespread adoption of sheep grazing led to significant changes in the nature of

grasslands over extensive areas. The introduction of sheep led to the removal of kangaroo grass and

replaced the essentially winter-growing species such as Danthonia and Stipa (Goudie, 2006).

In the northern part of Australia where the areas of tropical savanna occurred, large herds of

introduced feral animals have resulted in overgrazing and alteration of native habitats.

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Human Impact on Vegatation

3.5Deforestation

Deforestation by human activity is one of the greatest processes of landscape transformation

(Williams, 2003) due to agriculture development, constructions, fuel locomotives, mining,

government policies, socio-economic mechanisms, and any physical factors.

During the Mesolithic and Neolithic times, the removal of forests at an accelerating rate is evident by

pollen analysis. Goudie (2006) claimed that it is possible for three men to clear 600m^2 of woodland

in four hours for cereal cultivation purposes such as the polished stone axes equipped by the Neolithic

peoples.

The forests in temperate North America that originally stretched from the Atlantic seaboard as far as

the Mississippi River are found to be about 10 million hectares remaining today since the arrival of

the first colonialists in Mayflower. Today, the average rate of deforestation is 0.2% per year.

Consequences of deforestation may contribute to crucial global environment concerns, such as

climatic change and loss of biodiversity, as well as causing regional & local problems, such as

lateritization, increase rates of erosion, and accelerated mass movements through the increasing

amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. In January 2012, the emission of equivalent CO2 related

to the deforestation totalled 20 million tonnes (Hayashi et al. 2012).

The mountains of High Asia in Nepal have been suffering a whole suite of environmental

consequences, including accelerated landsliding, flooding in the Ganges Plain and sedimentation in

the deltaic areas of Bengal due to a wave of deforestation.

Often, rainforests cannot be recuperated and replaced by a more open vegetation assemblage that is

dominated by the notorious Imperatasavanna grass whenever the system of agriculture breaks down.

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Human Impact on Vegatation

3.6Pollution

Since the industrial revolution, human pollution also became one of the greatest processes causing

grave and irreparable damage to the environment.

The main types of pollution are air, water, and soil. The forms of these pollutions are mainly sulphur

dioxide, carbon monoxide, insoluble and soluble components, acidic, and heavy metals elements. It

usually occurred around the areas of mining, industrial, and city.

Some pollution affected the vegetation by covering leaves and plugging plant stomata to reduce both

the photosynthesis process and the adsorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Apart from

suppressing the growth of vegetation, most pollution forms are extremely toxic to them.

In 1913, both Cohen and Rushton (1974) carried an experiment on the relationship between the

pollution and the growth of plants in different parts of Leeds, England with similar types of soil. It

turns out that there is a close relationship between the amount of sulphate in the air and in the plants.

Lichens are found to be rare in central areas of cities such as Stockholm, Paris, and London as they

are sensitive to air pollution. Hawksworth (1990) believes that there are many evidence suggests that

sulphur dioxide is the major pollutant responsible for impoverishment of lichen communities over

wide areas of Europe.

In California, the extents of ponderosa pines (Pinus ponderosa) from San Bernadinomountains to the

east of Los Angeles have been damaged extensively by smog and ozone (Diem, 2003).

One of the dominant source of pollution is the mining industry that emits toxic fumes and acid mine

drainage. The smelters of the Sudbury mining district of Canada emitted 2 million tonnes of noxious

gases annually that affected 1900km^2 of the area. This resulted in about 7-8% of white pine

remaining in productive land.

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Human Impact on Vegatation

The area of the lower Swansea Valley in Wales became a virtual desert due to fumes from a century

of coal burning that resulted in almost complete destruction of the vegetation with concomitant soil

erosion.

One of the most successful mining in Tasmania, which located at southern part of Australia, has

highly acid mine drainage into the King River. This resulted in approximately 1500 hectares of land

around Queenstown has been completely bereft of vegetation (Locher 1997) because the entire river is

a resource for the environment.

4.0Conclusions - Human or Nature?

It is difficult to distinguish between human-induced pertubations and ill-defined natural

oscillations in considering the environment issues. For many examples given in this report, it

is apparent that humans rather than climate are responsible for the changes of environment.

Despite of devastation brought by natural hazards, they do not always resulted in significant

ecosystem impacts. In fact, some extreme events have positive impacts on ecosystems such as lava

can enrich soil nutrients after cool. Often, the influence of comparatively slow climatic changes on

ecological systems led chiefly to their gradual rearrangement, thus accelerating the evolution of living

organisms. Unlike anthropogenic pressure that accelerating change in ecosystems and that many

species did not have time to adapt it, even if they could adapt to the amplitude of change over longer

time periods. The rate species extinction is now well beyond the natural rate. There have been more

changes by human in the last 20 years than in the last 200 years.

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Word Count: 2576

5.0References

1. Adams, S 1996, Humans have been changing the environment since Prehistoric times,

University of Florida, viewed 18 October 2013, <http://news.ufl.edu/1996/05/31/exploit/>.

2. Archer, S, Mackay, W, Mott, J, Nicholson, SE, Moreno, MP, Rosenzweig, ML, Seligman,

NG, West, NE & Williams, J 1999, Arid and semi-arid land community dynamics in a

management context, University of Illinois Press, Urbana and Chicago.

3. Bates, M 1956, Man as an agent in the spread of organisms. In Thomas, WL. (ed.), Man’s

role in changing the face of the earth. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

4. Bartlett, HH 1956, Fire, primitive agriculture, and grazing in the tropics, University of

Chicago Press, Chicago.

5. Behre, K-E (ed.) 1986, Anthropogenic indicators in pollen diagrams, Rotterdam, Balkema.

6. Bush, MB 1988, ‘Early Mesolithic disturbance: A force on the landscape’, Journal of

Archaeological Science, vol.15, pp.453-462.

7. Clarkson, BD 1990, ‘A review of vegetation development following recent (<450 years)

volcanic disturbance in North Island’, Journal of Ecology, vol. 14, pp.59-71.

8. Coupland, RT (ed.) 1979, Grassland ecosystems of the world: Analysis of grasslands and

their uses, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

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Human Impact on Vegatation

9. Diem, J 2003, ‘Potential impact of ozone on coniferous forests of the interior southwestern

United States’, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, vol.93, pp.265-280.

10. Goudie, A 2006, The human impact on the natural environment: Past, present, and future,

6thedn, Blackwell Publishing, MA.

11. Hawksworth, DL 1990, The long-term effects of air pollutants on lichen communities in

Europe and North America, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

12. Hayashi, S, Souza, CJ, Sales, M, Verssimo, A 2012, Forest Transparency for the Brazilian

Amazon January 2012, Imazon, viewed 27 Oct 2013,

<http://www.imazon.org.br/publications/forest-transparency/deforestation-report-sad-

january-2012>

13. Meyer, WB & Turne, BL II (ed.) 1994, Changes in land use and land cover: a global

perspective, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

14. Moore, PD 1986, ‘Unravelling human effects’, Nature, vol.321, pp.204.

15. Jarvis, PH 1979, ‘The ecology of plant and animal introductions’ Progress in physical

geography, vol.3, pp.187-124.

16. Le Maitre, DC, Versfield, DB & Chapman, RA 2000, ‘The impact of invading aline plants on

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‘Mechanisms underlying the impacts of exotic plant invasions’, Proceedings of the Rocyal

Society of London, vol.270, pp.775-781.

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18. Locher, H. 1995, Sediment Transport in the King River, Tasmania, Working

Document 95/5, ‘Cooperative Research Centre for Catchment Hydrology’, Melbourne

19. Rhode, K (ed.) 2013, The balance of nature and human impact, Cambridge University Press,

Cambridge.

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environment, Elsevier, Macleod.

21. Richens, RH 1983, ELM, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne.

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Press, Chicago.

23. Troels-Smith, J 1956, ‘Neolithic period in Switzerland and Denmark’, Science, vol.124,

pp.876-879.

24. Warren, A & Maizels, JK 1976, Ecological change and desertification, University College,

London.

25. Wertine, TA 1973, ‘Pyrotechnology: Man’s first industrial uses of fire’, American Scientist,

vol.61, pp.670-682.

26. Williams, M 2003, Deforesting the Earth. From prehistory to global crisis, The University of

Chicago Press, Chicago.

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