The Impact Humans Has On the Ecosystem Shanty DePriest Everest University Online EVS 1001-44 October 26, 2012 The Impact Humans Has On the Ecosystem There are three Cycles in the Ecosystem that are impacted by Humans. They are the Carbon Cycle, the Phosphorus Cycle, and the Nitrogen Cycle. First cycle that human has a very significant impact on is the Carbon Cycle. The Carbon Cycle is the circulation of carbon between living organisms and their surroundings. For instance Carbon Dioxide from the atmosphere is synthesized by plants, which is ingested and metabolized by animals, which is converted to Carbon Dioxide during respiration and decay.
Fossil Fuels were formed very long ago from plant or animal remains that were buried, compressed, and transformed into oil, coal, or natural gas. The carbon is said to be "fixed" in place and is essentially locked out of the natural carbon cycle (www.koshland-science-museum.org). Humans intervene during by burning the fossil fuels. During combustion in the presence of air, carbon dioxide and water molecules are released into the atmosphere. Phosphorus enters the environment from rocks or deposits laid down on the earth many years ago.
The carbon cycle is a process that transfers carbon among producers, organisms, and consumers to indicate two particular places it comes from and its oceans and the combustion of fossil fuels, which releases CO2 to the atmosphere. Humans are putting a huge impact on the carbon cycle. Humans are expanding business and housing developments and in the process are chopping down timbers and removing plants which releases significant amounts of CO2 to the atmosphere. The Phosphorus cycle represents the cycles of all the biologically important mineral nutrients. Phosphate comes from a rock that gradually breaks down and will release other ions.
Nitrogen fixing bacteria in the roots of leguminous plants reduce atmospheric nitrogen to ammonium using ATP and reduced NAD. The ammonium ions released into the soil are oxidised by nitrifying bacteria firstly to nitrite, and then to nitrate. This oxidation increases the nitrogen content in the soil which plants can use to produces many useful molecules including amino acids, proteins, DNA and ATP. The formation of these ions forms part of the ecological nitrogen cycle which plays a key role in sustaining life on this planet. Plants are the producers for an ecosystem.
Three basic stages in the Calvin Cycle are: fixation, reduction, and regeneration. When in the stroma, there are two other molecules to start up the Calvin Cycle abbreviated as RuBisCO and RuBP. RuBisCO converts a six-carbon compound into a two three-carbon compound called carbon fixation. In conclusion, Calvin Cycle takes in CO2 from their surroundings and photosynthesis makes a cycle that uses the process of cellular respiration. Works Cited Alberts, Bruce.
The rivers then carry the ions on to the sea. In the ocean the sodium ions combine with bicarbonate ions to form calcium carbonate. In the ocean most of the calcium carbonate is made by shell-building (calcifying) organisms and plankton. After the organisms die they sink to the seafloor. Over time layers of shells and sediment are cemented together and turn rock, storing the carbon in rock – limestone and its derivatives.
And the last step is tertiary treatment, where all organic ions, particularly ammonium, nitrate, and phosphate are removed (Abdel-Raouf et al., 2012; de-Bashan & Bashan, 2004). This treatment can be accomplished by the use of bacterial sludge, wetlands, hydroponics and algal cultivation. Biological treatment is interesting due to nutrient assimilation into green biomass (de-Bashan & Bashan, 2010; Larsdotter, 2006). Microalgae in wastewater treatment were firstly used by William Oswald (Oswald et al., 1852). The role of algae was to assimilate plant nutrients and to support bacteria with oxygen.
Power plants are the main resource for the burning of coal and oil. When they are burned it releases a substance called sulfur dioxide and can affect the environment including our live stock, plants, animals, the air that we breathe and our water sources. Recycling becomes more important on large scales. Used consumer goods are collected, converted back into raw materials and are remade into new consumer products. Examples of materials commonly recycled are, office paper, steel from old buildings, plastic containers and aluminum cans.
2. Three ways in which they are different from each other. 3. And how the laws of thermodynamics apply to each system. According to Hopkins (2006), photosynthesis is the process by which green plants and certain organisms transform itself from light energy into chemical energy.
Owing to the development of industry and the use of fossil fuels, the amount of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere has produced and the average global temperature seems to have risen. What’s more, deforestation can affect climate changes. The growing of trees and plants can absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere because of photosynthesis, however, deforestation lead to carbon dioxide emissions. Both of these can lead to global warming of the atmosphere. The report (UNEPWMO, 2004, P10) also pointed out, the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation are altering the composition of the atmosphere and contributing to climate change.