humans and our effect on biodiversity

Over the many years, humans have greatly changed the environment and left huge impacts on the species and its biodiversity. But in what way do we affect the biodiversity in our ecosystems? Personally, I think that we, humans, have made many negative affects - as we hear much about possible extinction, huge declines in species and destruction of habitats. From the humid Philippines to the freezing Arctic, our impact has left huge dents.

In these regions, the marine biodiversity has taken a huge toll. Down in the Philippines, many fishermen use the method of "destruction fishing". Which is the method of throwing dynamite in the water, which destroys all of the species within a certain distance of the explosion. This method causes many species of fish to be at risk of extinction because of the constant uses and over fishing of the industry. On the other side of the world, in the Arctic, the disappearances of the many baleen whales and the heavy exploitation of fish, have a huge toll on the biodiversity in the Arctic waters aswell. Drainage of the Arctic wetlands also contribute to negative effects on the diversity, as water decreases slowly from these habitats, leaving some species without homes and plants without a source of water.


The marine biodiversity isn't the only diversity at risk. The amount of trees being cut down in the many forests of the Philippines, contributes to teh negativity of our interventions. All of the logging, mining and land conversion going on in the region, have led to less habitats of the land animals. Excessive hunting and oil pollution in the Arctic has also been a reason for the decline of species in our ecosystems. The oil pollution causes extinction and has toxic effects on the plants, birds and other animals - creating no positive affects.


Lastly, land and water management for both regions have been poor. Our human intervention has led to many negative affects on our ecosystems. If we don't change our routines the biodiversity will continue to decline leaving not much left in the future years. Although humans can also affect the biodiversity in a positive way, I see our actions as negative. In the news, we hardly hear about positive affects and aside from that, we have social groups who are fighting to protect the environment (i.e Green Quest). Are we really stewards of the earth, if most of our actions lead to extinctions, and declines?


source(s)
- http://www.biodiversityhotspots.org/xp/hotspots/philippines/Pages/impacts.aspx
- http://www.eoearth.org/article/Human_impacts_on_the_biodiversity_of_the_Arctic

first entry, how exciting ;)

hi, i'm ana abad :)
and this is a test entry for my bio blog.

i like biology.
the end.
bye!