“To address the global decline in biodiversity there is, therefore, a need to identify the drivers leading to conflicts between human activities and the conservation of biodiversity” (Young, J et al; 2003).
The late quaternary period is defined as the earth’s most recent 2.6 million years. (National Geographic; 2018) Biodiversity is the variety of life at all levels biological level. There is truth in the fact that the decline in biodiversity has a direct and at times indirect link to human activity. “the root cause is invariably some form of human activity” (Young, J et al; 2003) but there are many direct; where there a no intervening influences relating to the consumption of resources and indirect; where there are interceding factors as it is conducted through intermediaries. This related to invasion of foreign species or disease that cause biodiversity decline. It is important to note that “More than 80 percent of marine pollution comes from land-based activities” (National Geographic; 2018). In this essay, I will be exploring the relationship between human activity and biodiversity decline on a national and international scale, in order to understand how consequences such as large resource consumption and invasion of species…etc affect biodiversity decline.
One of the main direct causes of the decline in biodiversity is due to overexploitation. Overexploitation is a direct consequence of human activity and comes from the higher demand for resources at a large scale. There are a number of ways that over population affect biodiversity. Population growth over the past number of decades has only increased the demand for resources. There are more people which means there is a bigger demand for and food, medicine, industrial materials ( e.g. building materials, rubber oils) and simple infrastructure.
One overexploitation of resources which leads to the decline in biodiversity is through common enterprises such a tourism. “Globally, tourism, and more recently eco-tourism, is a fast growing economic sector due to the fact that, now more than ever, European societies can afford to spend more time and money on leisure activities. These activities require space and infrastructures, forcing habitats to become increasingly more multi purpose to cater for the recreational needs of citizens” (Young, J et al; 2003). Although positive through various social and economic gains, tourism is a negative effect on biodiversity because it gives people the gateway to formerly exclusive places. This opens gateways to exploitative habits, littering, trampling, deforestation and effectively biodiversity loss. One example is Costa Rica. “Our semi-structured interviews with park officials and guides highlighted that within the MANP and immediate surrounding areas, forest fragmentation and uncontrolled development of hotels were perceived as the most important factors negatively impacting wildlife populations ” (Broadbent, E.N., Zambrano, A.M.A., Dirzo, R. et al.). As the quote mentions, tourism affects biodiversity because of the growing need for the development of buildings such as hotels, shops, tourist centres. This occurs when there is a lack of environmental concern and a more economic investment. This is often problematic as
Hunting, a human activity, is a cause of biodiversity decline because of the increasing overexploitation due to population growth. Hunting occurs due to the need for medicine; for example, 60% of the world’s population relies on plants for natural remedies. This includes, the willow trees which contain salicylic acid which is used to make aspirin. Although we have adapted over the years to know how to be able to use these resources. It comes at the risk of losing species by overexploiting resources. This counts towards the issue of biodiversity decline based on human activity.
Another important cause in the decline of biodiversity due to human activity is land degradation due to deforestation as this leads to the certainty for habitat loss and degradation. Agriculture is one of the most prominent ways that land is used on a large scale. “represent a threat to biodiversity as they are established on disturbed forests or old croplands (Koh and Wilcove 2007).” Growing populations need the land. One major example of habitat loss is the Amazon Rainforest in South America. The tropical equatorial rainforest has been subject to various occupations, one being agri-business. One example is Cargill, an Agro-business that works mainly in the Amazon Rainforest growing soy plantations. Although they have made These agro-businesses thrive in areas like the Amazon Rainforest because of the poor governmental policies, public attitudes towards ideas such as sustainability and economic gains. It is not just soy plantations but also oil palm plantations are one of the most rapidly expanding forms of agriculture in tropical regions today” (Tilman et al. 2001; Fitzherbert et al. 2008)
Logging is another way of destroying habitats in the Amazon. Provides jobs for the local people on the ground, but when executed to a large extent creates large problems. For example, Japan is one of the leading countries in the world with a market in timber industry worth 11 million a year. These practises are a negative influence on biodiversity because they are destroying the natural habitats. Deforestation causes a loss of habitats, which is a grand importance to the conservation of biodiversity (Young, J et al; 2003). This growing demand in
Introduction of invasive species is a indirect cause of the extinction of species due to human activity. “Invasive species can be defined as species that have overcome geographic or reproductive barriers and which threaten ecosystems, habitats or species with economic and/or environmental harm.” Humans deliberately and perhaps accidentally do cause the decline of biodiversity through the introduction of foreign species into areas. For example, the grey squirrels of North America introduced to the European climate in the late 19th century. The grey squirrels effectively were stronger as they are twice as heavy and quickly adapted to the landscape more successfully than the previous red squirrels. The grey squirrels had the ability to get food quicker than red squirrel as they were able to feed from the unripened acorns far quicker than the red squirrels were able to. This is because of their ability to process “tannin-rich seeds” giving them a much better advantage. (Rsne.org.uk, 2018)
A secondary effect of invasion of foreign species is the potentiality for extinction cascades. This is when the extinction of one animals leads to the extinction of another. One example of this case is the blackfooted ferret which was once very abundant in the western prairies. It preyed upon prairie dogs and used their burrows to nest in. Poisoning of prairie dogs has greatly reduced their abundance, and the blackfooted ferret is now the rarest mammal in North America. (Www-personal.umich.edu, 2018)
Other causalities is hunting which kills off a species within an ecosystem triggers the extinction of other animals too.
Overall, human activity and the decline of biodiversity are inextricably linked. The increase in population has only accelerated the decline in biodiversity over the past number of decades. Ultimately I believe that the common link is the rate of overpopulation and the exploitative conduct of industries. Deforestation is an important instigator of biodiversity decline, the many effects of deforestation begin an almost domino effect in terms of secondary effects. It is made far severe by the looming effects of climate change. Human activity is the driving force of biodiversity decline and possibly extinction. It is a hard conflict between economic gain and sustainability in relation to resources. One way to change this is by maintaining sustainable practices and more controlled government regulations. This is important and this can be done in many ways through the ideas of conservation and sustainable development. One way is by reducing the impact made by unsustainable slash and burn methods of farming and instead adapting methods such as alley cropping. Which means that instead of constantly cutting down forests and destroying habitats. Thus preventing further biodiversity loss.
Bibliography:
- The effect of land use change and ecotourism on biodiversity: a case study of Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica, from 1985 to 2008
- Broadbent, E.N., Zambrano, A.M.A., Dirzo, R. et al. Landscape Ecol (2012) 27: 731. https://doi-org.ezproxy.lib.gla.ac.uk/10.1007/s10980-012-9722-7
- Young, J, Watt, A et al, Towards sustainable land use: identifying and managing the conflicts between human activities and biodiversity conservation in Europe, 2003
- Santicchia F et al, Stress in biological invasions: Introduced invasive grey squirrels increase physiological stress in native Eurasian red squirrels
- Anon, (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/prehistoric-world/quaternary/ [Accessed 11 Nov. 2018].
- Www-personal.umich.edu. (2018). Domino Effects and Secondary Extinctions. [online] Available at: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~dallan/nre220/outline8.htm [Accessed 11 Nov. 2018].
- Rsne.org.uk. (2018). Threats | Red Squirrels Northern England. [online] Available at: https://www.rsne.org.uk/threats [Accessed 12 Nov. 2018].