Systems ecology

Sea Otters are a very well known example of a keystone predator and often utilized by textbooks to illustrate the concept. Sea Otters “Enhydra Lutris” are involved in maintaining the population of macrobenthic grazers such as sea urchins “Strongylocentrotus polyacanthus” and mussels. Sea urchins and mussels are the dominant species in these shallow water benthic ecosystems. Left unchecked, the sea urchins overgraze the benthic vegetation and the kelp forests. Kelp forests provide habitat for…

The region I’ve chosen to do a biological threat assessment for is the Memphis metropolitan area. This area is approximately 4,984 square miles and has a population of over 1.3 million people (America, 2016). The potential threats for this area are quite overwhelming. It is overwhelming because of the potential types of attacks and the availability of needed items. Not to mention the number of potential casualties and potential locations to target that would result in large numbers of casualties…

Annotated Bibliography Source: "Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’ Of The Holy Father Francis On Care For Our Common Home (official English-language text of encyclical)". Retrieved 18 June 2015 Pope Francis chooses to share his own personal concern for the enviroment in his writings towards the industrialised world. Francis spoke deeply on his theological perspective of embracing the beauty of God’s precious earth by reducing pollution and aknowlodging the tragic realities of climate change. His…

In the short film, Among Giants, Chris Cresci, Ben Mullinkosson, and Sam Price emphasize the importance of preserving the wilderness by broadcasting the tree sitting lifestyle of an environmental activist that risks his life and gives up years of his time to protect a redwood forest from being cut down. As stated in the film, farmers and activists that are part of an environmental advocacy group called Humboldt try to ward off a company that is trying to clear-cut and log a large area inhabited…

“Forget Shorter Showers” Summary and Response Something that can seem so obvious to the majority of the world and has a very high chance to be the truth, can be heartbreaking to find out that it is not the truth. In a short article titled “Forget Shorter Showers”, Derrick Jensen illustrated to the viewers that saving the Earth should be a personal goal to all individuals in the world. He expressed this my stating a lot of ways in which the plant is suffering due to the lack of caring for the…

The Barangaroo development brought up different aspects in relation to sustainability, social Justice and Equity. They affect the development in both positive and negative ways. Ecological sustainability means a capacity of ecosystems to preserve their vital purposes and processes, and retain their biodiversity in the full measure over the long-term and keep them going for next generation. Social Justice can be defined as the distribution of advantages and disadvantages within a society.…

do to help. A major component of sustainability is for us to recognize that a lot of human activities can end up degrading natural capital by using normally renewable resources faster than nature can restore them. This leads to overloading natural systems with pollution and wastes (Miller & Spoolman, 2011). For example, we cannot keep cutting down forests faster than we can replenish the trees. There are three important principles of sustainability. These can also be known as lessons from nature…

Most people think “What is out for me in the world?” The answer is a decomposing ecosystem, a polluted ocean, and a carbon dioxide filled air. Yet with all of these issues surrounding us and growing daily, individuals do not take action to combat them. They instead come to terms with the issue or believe that it is not their job to fix it. Wrong. It is every single living thing’s responsibility to care for his or her environment. Especially living in the thriving urban location of South Florida,…

Individuals have been estranged from nature for quite a while. Consequently a reaction that arrangements just with late improvements won't get the job done. In any case, distance from nature isn't incorporated with people thusly. For countless years human contrasts from different species did not lead individuals to consider themselves isolated from nature. That feeling of separateness appears to have created with horticulture and the working of urban communities. Human advancement is likewise…

The Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team or COASST has been around for 17 years. The team of volunteers is considered a citizen science project and the main hub of the program makes its home at the University of Washington. COASST is a program that trains local people right in the home community. After the citizens have been trained, they promise to collect data from monthly surveys. They choose based on where they want to provide value. They can basically collect info on local…