Ecosystems:
A) A grizzly bear could survive in Biosphere 2 for several years, but I don’t believe a grizzly bear could survive 10 years in those conditions. The Biosphere 2 is a closed structure and the ecological adaptions are made all by humans, except for those things that are inevitable. In my research about grizzly bears I found their life span is typically 20-25 years in the wild, and they are omnivores meaning they eat food made of both plants and animals (defenders.org). In the Biosphere 2 plants and nutrients are created in a closed environment meaning if disease and or a shortage of nutrients comes to play wildlife living and adapting to the ecosystem could die out very quickly. If a shortage of sunlight came into play due to weather, or the inability to get direct sunlight through the glass structure the animals and plants would quickly die off causing the whole biosphere to die. Water could be endlessly supplied due to the humans placing it in the biosphere through manmade rivers and trenches (environment-ecology.com) but for plants and soil they will need rainfall or water ducts to bring the water to them to keep hydration. Without proper nutrients though plants and food the bears will not be able to receive enough energy especially when they begin hibernation which I learned they hibernate for about 2-3 months (defenders.org). If the grizzly’s do not have enough energy and nutrients to satisfy their hibernation and everyday life they will die off. If they reproduce and there may become a shortage of resources in the ecosphere due to too much life, causing them to also die out. With all taken into consideration I do believe grizzly bears could not survive in the Ecosphere 2 for a span of 10 year, possibly 2-4 years but nothing more.
B) I believe a family of mice could live in the Biosphere 2 for 10 years if not many more years. Mice are simple pests and eat what they can, from plants to meat. I also learned that mice when hungry will even eat other mice to make sure their hunger is satisfied (livescience/mice.org). In my research about the Biosphere 2 the scientist stated many pests including cockroaches and mice took over the Biosphere because they can adapt to mostly any conditions (enviornment-ecology.com). The life span of mice is between 5-8 years which is short compared to the grizzly bear (pestworld.org). Since they can adapt to many living conditions, I believe they could adapt if disease spread and many of the biosphere died out. The only concern I would have is that mice can re populate extremely quickly a female mouse can give birth 150 times in one year, meaning overpopulation in the biosphere could be an issue if resources became limited (pestworld.org).
C) In the original experiment of the Biosphere 2 respiration rates were faster than the photosynthesis causing the oxygen levels to lower yet the CO2 levels did not go up. (environmental-ecology.org). I found that due to the CO2 reacting with exposed concreate in the Biosphere 2 causing it to conform to calcium carbonate making the CO2 disappear and just the O2 level drop (enviornmental-ecology.org)
D) In order for a spacecraft to support human life for 600 days it will need many things. For starters it will need exercise equipment, and restraints. Astronauts lose a large amount of bone density and structure when they are in space due to no gravitational pull. To make sure the humans stay strong and do not lose too much bone density they will have to exercise regularly but being restrained to a treadmill or bench to lift weights or run. As for energy there will need to be sustainable meals and a large amount of water in the spacecraft to keep nutrients in the body, and to prevent disease if a human fall sick and may risk the rest of the spacecraft. There will also have to be oxygen supply and a machine to get CO2 out of the air and keep heat trapped inside of the spacecraft which will always keep a healthy supply of oxygen inside the spacecraft. (nasa.gov)
Air pollution:
A) NOx means “the oxides of oxygen in the atmosphere” (dictionary.com). NOx sources in urban atmospheres can come from many things such as car pollutants, lightning, and electricity (apis.ac.uk.com). They can come from car exhaust gas, electrical pollution, and can occur naturally during lightning strikes. (apis.ac.uk.com)
B) NO2 main reason for being in the air is due to pollutants in cars. Cars when driving emit NO2 in the air from their exhaust. There is a peak of NO2 in LA around 8-10am because that is typical rush hour time when people are heading to work. I’m sure this is a typical trend around the globe, most people drive to work around this time causing the most NO2 to be released out into the atmosphere.
C) There is a major decrease from the 1970’s to today in NO2 concentrations in LA due to the innovations in sustainable and reusable energy sources. There are more cars today running on electric energy rather than gas, and there are more ways than ever to carpool today. Through Uber and Lyft riders and carpool with others saving the earth from multiple cares emitting NO2. There are also inventions of electrical cars such as the Tesla which runs completely on electrical energy and emits no toxins into the atmosphere. Also, in 1968 California was the first state to pass the law that all cars must undertake an emissions test to see how much NO2 they are polluting into the air, and each car must meet a standard in order to pass and be drivable (bar.ca.gov).
Watershed:
A) The North and South watershed used to not always be healthy, but it is healthy today. With the help of many committees and people determined to keep these water systems clean the watersheds are as healthy as they have ever been from pollutants (nsrwa.com). The way we can determine watershed health comes in many different forms, but some ways are biodiversity, landscape condition, and water quality. Biodiversity is huge and can determine watershed health because it shows if the watershed is healthy enough to support a large group of different organisms. If the watershed was polluted and unhealthy species would die off and it would not be able to support the ecosystem trying to grow around it. Lanscape condition can determine watershed health because if the watershed is healthy it will allow for a vast array of plants and soil to grow around it, while supplying moisture to it. This also helps with oxygen supply around the watershed through different plants and trees. And water quality is a huge indicator of watershed health because if the water quality is not clean the whole ecosystem around the watershed will not be clean. If the water is full of pollutants the ecosystem would die and the water being drained into the Atlantic Ocean would only further pollute more bodies of water.
B) Five ecosystems good and services that the North and South Rivers watershed provide are water, biodiversity conservation, pollination, crops, and renewal of healthy soil. Water is provided through the watershed to the towns it is through, and biodiversity conservation is a large part of the watershed due to its healthy nature and animals and plants being able to live near the watershed and receive food and water from and around it. Pollination from health plants and soil allow oxygen, crops are used to feed the people and animals around the watershed, and the renewal of healthy soil form the clean water the watershed provides gives the plants and wildlife a healthy living environment.
C) One ecosystem good that the watershed supplies is water. Water is relatively cheap due to it being easily accessible. Water cost about 1.50$ a gallon, and on average Massachusetts residents pay 70$ a month for their water bill (creditdonkey.com). Depending on how much water a household uses the price of water may be expensive or inexpensive. I determined the value due to the ability of Massachusetts residents having easy access to water and how much a gallon of water cost and how much an average family uses water.
Water:
A) The USGS flow gauge from Town Brook in Quincy shows that the average flow in Quincy does not fluctuate a lot except for in Sep there is a steep decrease in flow and a spike in October and July. Compared to Wellesley, Quincy has a lot more spikes of flow while Wellesley has fluctuations between months. Quincy goes in a pattern of high spikes and smaller spikes while Wellesley goes from very low to very high flow.
B) USGS Charles River gauge shows that Wellesley has a large fluctuation in flow. The gauge goes up and down from steep inclines in rainfall to low levels of flow. Towards the begging of the year there is very little flow, this might be due to frigid temperatures. During March and May there was a severe decline in flow of the Charles River and in June there was a small spike, but in Oct there was a large spike of flow bigger than any other spike.
C) The difference between the two hydrographs is that the Town Brook Watershed has a very similar pattern, the spikes mostly stay close and do not fluctuate very often they are very close. While in the Charles River Watershed in Wellesley the spikes are very spread apart. Quincy has moths where there is still movement, but some has slowed down while Wellesley has months where it seems no water is flowing. The similarities are that both have a decline in water flow in colder months due to frigid temperatures. And both watersheds have higher flow gauges when the warmer months begin such as May, June, and July.
D) The Charles River in Wellesley is more impermeable due to the low flow gauge during most months of the year. Even in the warmer months the Charles River has a significantly lower flow gadgue than Town Brook. This could mean that flooding becomes a big problem if one half of the water freezes and another doesn’t the water will have nowhere to go and if it rains the flooding could become severe if the water is not flowing properly.
Energy Sources:
A) Some of the benefits of using hydroelectric power is that it is emission free, clean energy. It is also sustainable since it reuses the water that is powering the electricity and there is a vast supply of water on earth. It is also less expensive than emission energy due to the easy access of water. The limitations are that there could be a drought and limited availability of water causing disturbance to the power system and leaving many without power. Another limitation is that in order for the energy to be harnessed the water has to be flowing, if there is no wind the water cannot be used for energy. It also can severely disrupt ecosystems. Due to the need to build plants close to the water to create this energy it can cause displacement of many land species and can cause marine life to be affected by the water being used if there become a short supply of water.
B) Hydroelectric power is generated through turbines and reservoirs or dams. The water current pushes against the turbine and the turbine turns and turns on a generator to harness and release the energy (renewablenergy.com).
C) Some environmental impacts of hydroelectrical energy is that it can cause wildlife to be displaced. In order to harness this energy many times dams and other water supplies have to be built along with plants and that can cause pollution and occupation of land near marine and other wildlife. It can also change the flow of water causing the marine life in the water to change, if they cannot adapt to the change of flow.
Households:
A) If I used 1100 kilowatt hours of electricity in a month that would convert to 25.025 gallon of automotive gasoline energy (onlineconversionenergy.com). My car has a 13-gallon tank which means I could drive almost a full month with the number of gallons the energy conversion gave me.
B) If I brought 45 pounds of groceries into my home each week, I suspect that 5 pounds goes to recycling, 3 pounds goes to waste, 10 pound goes to being thrown away and 27 pounds is consumed. This does add up to 45 pounds, due to there being 5 people living in my house not a lot of food goes to waste, but some does. The various forms end up as fuel and energy for my family’s bodies, or in a landfill, or being recycled. We recycle as much as we can through plastic, and paper.
C) If I installed a low flow showerhead that produced 1.1 gallons a minute instead of 2.8 like a normal shower head and showered for 18 min, I would save 30.6 gallons of water with every 18-minute shower I took. If I showered every day and used the 1.1-gallon showerhead instead of the 2.8-gallon showerhead I would save 620.5 gallons a year!
Climate:
A) Two examples of the climate system are air pollution and the melting of the ice caps in the artic. Air pollution is so common in today life, from electricity to cars we are burning fossil fuels at too fast of a rate. Our earth is becoming more and more polluted and the air we are breathing is becoming more and more not safe. We are realizing CO2 gases into the air and hurting ourselves, wildlife, and plant life around us. Along with that comes the temperature rise due to the ozone not being able to take the pollution this is causing extremely high temperatures in the artic causing the ice caps to melt and induce sea level rise across the globe hurting marine, wild, and human life.
B) Two positive feedback to global climate system are carbon cycle and the rainforest drying up. Carbon in our air has become extremely high due to the pollutants we cause and emit into the air when we burn fossil fuels. And the vegetation is collapsing in the rainforest due to the lack of rain and precipitation. Negative feedback in respect to the global climate system are cloud coverage. An increase in temperature increases cloud thickness keeping strong UV and other harmful rays from hitting the earth (globalchange.umich.edu).
C) Sea level rise will result from climate change because the ice caps are melting at an extreme rate. Due to global warming the ozone is getting hotter and hotter causing record-breaking temperatures over the world. The ice caps are melting at a faster and steadier rate than ever before and the water in the ocean has nowhere to go. Eventually if us humans don’t do something about sea level rise and climate change the sea levels will rise to historic highs and tsunamis and typhoons will become common and destroy the land we live on.