...Balancing Ecosystems Holly Regan SCI/275 August 10, 2014 Stacy Murphy Balancing Ecosystems Glimmerville City Council, It has been brought to my attention that the city of Glimmerville is now faced with the same invasive grass carp population issues as the city of Sparksville. The problem with the grass carp is once they have been introduced they kill off the native species of our local waters. The purpose for the introduction of the grass carp is to remove the overabundance of indigenous aquatic plant life in particular habitats that have taken over due to fertilizer deposits making it to our community waterways thus, making survival hard for other inhabitants. In order to receive the optimal amount of benefits that the grass carp species has to offer, it must be released into a secure environment with no possibility of escape into other waterways. This species has found its way into many reservoirs, lakes, streams, and rivers in our community intentionally and/or by accident; either way it involves some degree of human error. Because the grass carp is native to Asia, it has no natural predators in North America. Another major factor which adds to this problem is their life expectancy is quite a long time and weigh up to 100 pounds, maybe more. The large-mouth bass and a few other species of fish will eat them if they are small enough. Some of the challenges faced in restoring the ecosystem in Sparksville were (a) the farmers grew the food for the community...
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...Balancing Ecosystems Jaclyn Bataclan 10/11/15 Env100 Lori Keller Dear City Council of Glimmerville, Good day to all residing in Glimmerville. I would like to introduce myself, my name is Jaclyn Bataclan, I am a college student that is been assigned to restoring the balance of Sparksville waters by removing the Grass Carp. I understand that Glimmerville is having the same challenges as we were. I am offering you my knowledge of how we removed the Carp, and restored balance in the waters of your lovely town. Let me first explain what an ecosystem is and why it’s important to have a balanced ecosystem. An ecosystems is a balance of all things living and nonliving together in a specific area. For example, a coral reef is an ecosystem is contains substrate, water, microorganisms, fish, plants, and air. Balance within an ecosystem is important because without it will not maintain its stability. Every part of an ecosystem has a job to do, and when a species of an ecosystem disappears the balance is off kilter. If an invasive species is introduced to an ecosystem it can endanger the species that is native to the ecosystem and potentially destroy the ecosystem. An invasive species may pray on the native ones, and remove it from the ecosystem, which in turn can create other species to invade; decease to come and lastly destroy the soil and create erosion. However, the native species helps maintain the stability of the ecosystem, like plants, which are producers, provide food...
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...Balancing Ecosystems Nasirah Halstead ENV/100 August 25, 2014 Sharon White, Instructor Balancing Ecosystems Dear City Council: I am writing you concerning matters of restoring balance to the city's ecosystem. An ecosystem is a factor in the biological community that consists of occurrences locally, chemical factors, as well as physical, make up the environment non-living or abiotic. The unbalanced ecosystem in Sparksville's aquatic system is the situation at hand. The boundaries of this ecosystem are being addressed for reasons having to do with the goal of restoring the lake back to normal. The invasions of Grass Carp have made it almost impossible for the rest of the underwater community to be in existence. The changes in the ecosystem in the lake have influenced all components of living for the community and life under water within the lake. Bass fish are at an all-time low for the community. The resources of Bass fish are so small that the city cannot hold the annual Bass Tournament, leaving the city bankrupt of resources that help the economy. Grass Carp are known as an invasive species meaning it is a non-native species within the Lake. The Carp introduced when the city decided to use an eco-friendly fertilizer to help with the crops. The plants began to grow healthier; however, the Grass Carp begin to come to the Lake and take it over and out-competing the native species. The native species are usually more aggressive in their race to get adequate resources...
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...Virginia is an environmentally diverse state and has five regions known as the Blue Ridge Mountain, Coastal Plain, Piedmont, Valley and Ridge, and Appalachian Plateau. The population of Virginia relies on natural resources and drives the economy through ecotourism, beautiful sceneries, mining, hunting, and fishing. With all the resources come challenges; State of Virginia stresses and urges the public and organizations in protecting environmental quality and preserving natural resources. Assateague Island National Seashore is one of the national parks in Virginia providing a variety of resources to the population and the government aims for its restoration. Assateague Island National Seashore is part of the Coastal Plain Region also known as the Tidewater region of Virginia. The Coastal Plain Region is an important ecological part of Virginia and is home to many productive agriculture, residents, and businesses. Assateague Island National Seashore is comparatively small with less than 18,000 acres, but a surprising range of resources and habitats can be found on the park. The national park stretches for about 37 miles along the coasts of Maryland and Virginia surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the eastside. Assateague Island National Seashore holds prosperity of natural features and habitats. Within the park, there is a variety of ponds that provide water for the natural world well into the dry summer months. These ponds form during rainy periods providing fresh water to the...
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...Jessica Hilliard December 07, 2015 Environmental Science Glimmerville City Council To Whom It May Concern: This letter is to inform on balancing the ecosystem and offering solutions for the ongoing problem of grass carp, in Glimmerville. A balanced ecosystem is when natural animals, plant life, and non-living elements are in sync with one another. When the ecosystem is disturbed by increasing pollution, population, and migrating patterns they lose their coherence. When introducing invasive species to native species it creates an unbalanced ecosystem. Invasive species are aliens to the new habitat. When an invasive species are introduced they potentially kill off the native species and can even cause changes in the chemistry of the soil. Succession happens when the ecosystem has been disturbed naturally or by man-made. Gradually over time the ecosystem’s structure and biodiversity will change. When invasive species compete against native species it is like “survival of the fittest”. The invasive will compete against the native species for the same resources. One small change changes the balance of an ecosystem which results in the change of the flow of energy. Invasive species can directly kill native species by feeding on them and drastically eliminating their population. Invasive species hold to their name they invade. There are several solutions for eliminating the population of grass carp to the area of Glimmerville. One favorable solution is incentive...
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...Energy Flow in Ecosystem and Its Importance in Crop Production By gachura10@gmail.com Course Tutor Institution, City Date Energy Flow in Ecosystem and Its Importance in Crop Production Introduction An ecosystem is made up of of the organic community that take place in some area, and the bodily and biochemical influences that make up its lifeless or abiotic environs (Fraham, 1984: 143). There are several instances of ecosystems: a fish pond, a plantation, a river mouth, a savannah. The limits are not static in any impartial way, even though occasionally they look clear, as with the water's edge of a small fish pond. Typically the margins of an ecological unit are selected for real-world aims having to do with the objectives of the specific study. According to Perry (2008), study of ecological unit mostly comprises of the study of sure procedures that relates the living, or biotic, constituents to the inorganic, and abiotic constituents. Energy changes and biogeosubstance transformation are the key procedures that include the area of environment conservation. Ecology normally is well-defined as the connections of creatures with one another and with the environs in which they are living. Ecology can be studied at the level of the separate organism, the inhabitants, the community, and the environment. studies of ecology at individuals are concerned generally about composition, reproduction, growth or performance, while studies of ecology at inhabitants...
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...assumption, they developed the company’s first product, the F5 BIG-IP controller, a load balancer that distributed Internet traffic across multiple servers. BIG-IP kept websites up and running when servers failed or were overloaded, accelerated traffic, and provided some basic security features. In June 1999, the company went public as F5 Networks and was listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange (NASDAQ: FFIV). As it was in 1999, corporate focus in 2013 remains on providing network intelligence that enables customers to respond quickly to change, streamline business processes, reduce costs, and provide differentiated offerings that help increase revenue. Through internal development and acquisitions, F5 extended its reach beyond load balancing, producing a range of integrated products for Application Delivery Networking. These products seek to improve the delivery of web-based applications by attempting to make them run faster and more securely. F5 Networks is a leading provider of Application Delivery Networking (ADN) technology that secures and optimizes the delivery of network-based...
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...("What Is Sustainable Furniture", 2013). However, there are two sides to every coin. Sustainable furniture still has an impact on the environment by utilizing fossil fuels for the necessary operations and the potential to damage the ecosystems and habitats within the forest. Native trees can be cut down to grow the sustainable varieties which disrupts the natural processes of the ecosystem. Tree farms can be treated with pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers and can be genetically modified in order to grow more sustainable trees. Practices that lead to deforestation and clear-cutting, where whole forests are leveled at once and the ecosystem is demolished are not very sustainable. Bamboo is not a tree at all, it is an incredibly fast-growing and versatile grass that has become the unofficial poster material of environmental designers and builders. The majority of bamboo comes from China and is often grown with no pesticides, however, there are some growers that do use pesticides and other chemical inputs. Bamboo also uses a lot of water because it is so fast growing, it and harvesting it too fast can deplete soil fertility ("How To Go Green: Furniture", 2013). When bamboo is grown outside of its natural habitat it disturbs that areas ecosystems and food webs and has an accelerated potential for soil erosion because of the excessive amount of care to keep the soil clear of undergrowth. Even though it...
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...WHAT IS ECOSYSTEM An ecosystem consists of the biological community that occurs in some locale, and the physical and chemical factors that make up its non-living or abiotic environment. There are many examples of ecosystems -- a pond, a forest, an estuary, grassland. The study of ecosystems mainly consists of the study of certain processes that link the living, or biotic, components to the non-living, or abiotic, components. Energy transformations and ecosystem components are the two main topics that comprise the field of ecosystem ecology. COMPONENTS OF ECOSYSTEM ABIOTIC COMPONENTS | BIOTIC COMPONENTS | Sunlight | Primary producers | Temperature | Herbivores | Precipitation | Carnivores | Water or moisture | Omnivores | Soil or water chemistry (e.g., P, NH4+) | Detritivores | etc. | etc. | These include the non-living, physico - chemical factors such as air, water, soil and the basic elements and compounds of the environment. Abiotic factors are broadly classified under three categories. Climatic factors which include the climatic regime and physical factors of the environment like light, humidity, atmospheric temperature, wind, etc. Edaphic factors which are related to the structure and composition of soil including its physical and chemical properties, like soil and its types, soil profile, minerals, organic matter, soil water, soil organisms. It comprises the living part of the environment, which includes the association of a number of interrelated...
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...pristine environment left on the earth. Unfortunately this is no longer the case because of multiple human activities that have led to environmental issues and concerns such as pollution, ozone layer thinning, global warming etc. Human impact is a serious threat to ecosystem and food chain of Antarctica. In the last few decades, various marine species of Antarctic ecosystem have been brought close to extinction because of human activities in various forms such as pollution from sewage and other contaminants, overfishing and other mixed activities and interference like global climate change caused by human emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, ozone layer depletion, global warming etc. This all leads to damage of food web and ecosystem of the Antarctica. Another serious impact of emission of carbon dioxide is ocean acidification, which is serious damage to the marine ecosystem of Antarctica. These activities are the main causes of disturbed environment of marine ecosystem of Antarctica. Another factor contributing to Antarctica's ecosystem disturbance is the commercial aspect of human activities. Human are harvesting krill to feed their animals and fishes which is negatively affecting the ecosystem of Antarctica. It is affecting the volume of krill and other fishes which are important source of food chain of Antarctica. Because of less krill, food chain of Antarctica is getting disturbed. Researches have shown that due to global warming, sea temperate is rising...
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...“Green energy, our planet needs you” The Earth is our home, but it has been contaminated. Scientifics are concern with our planet which is dying everyday. It is our responsibility to take care the planet. The temperature has increased since the middle of the 20th century as a result of increasing concentrations of greenhouse due to human activity. As a consequence of the global warming many ecosystem are affected, has created climate variation, and many health diseases in the population. First of all, global warming has affected many ecosystems .The marine ecosystem is dying, many fishes and mammals that live in the ocean is disappearing due to the high temperature. The arctic is defrosting and the bear polar can not found what to eat. For polar bears to stay alive, they need sea ice. Not to eat the ice itself, of course, but because the animal that represents their main victim item, the ringed close, requires sea ice as its primary habitat for resting. Another ecosystem that is affected is the coral reefs. The coral reefs, which are the filter of the sea, are bleaching. The bunch of bleaching incident that followed kill a fifth of coral communities worldwide. And while many have recovered the global loss is attributed to the mass bleaching stand. At the instant the reefs seem to be recuperating fine, but it's only an issue of time prior to another mass of bleaching. The temperature has demonstrated high level of records since 1980.The increase...
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...An important ecosystem service provided by forests is the ability to counter-act the effects of global warming. Carbon dioxide, a contributing factor to global warming, is taken up by the plants and vegetation contained in forests through photosynthesis and the resulting carbon is stored in both living and dead plant biomass. This process, known as carbon sequestration, greatly reduces the potential for global climate change (IPCC 2001). Forest cover also affects the albedo, that is, the proportion of incident solar radiation that is reflected by the earths surface. The dense green coloured canopy of tropical forests have a low albedo when compared with grasslands or deforested areas. This allows for more incident solar radiation to be absorbed and cooler air termperatures (O’Brien 1996). Perhaps the most important ecosystem service provided by forests, which is a basic requirement for life, is the supply of clean water. Forests facilitate the storage of clean water through filtering precipitation through the tree canopy. This, in effect, slows the rate at which precipitation collects at the ground surface allowing it to remain unsaturated. It is estimated that over 2/3 of the clean water supply is United States is contained within stream water, which was filtered through forests, with a direct value exceeding $27 billion per year (Snail 2009). This clean water can be captured and stored in watersheds that in turn, can be used for variety of purposes including agriculture,...
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...biodiversity for the tundra forest is low. For each organism that sees any kind of fluctuation, you will see fluctuation in the organisms that consume it. For example, if a hare’s population, for whatever reason, was to decrease, you would also see a decrease in population for the Brown Bear, Arctic Fox, and Polar Bear. The variation of plant and animal life in the tundra is important in order to sustain life as well as a means to control the population of each organism. Biodiversity Biodiversity is the variety of all living things. It is made up of the following: Genetic Diversity -The raw material that makes adaptation and microevolution possible in an environment. Species Diversity - The variety of species in an environment. Ecosystem diversity - The organisms and abiotic factors of an environment. Trophic Structure A trophic structure is the feeding relationship among the various species in a community. Producers use light energy to power the synthesis of organic compounds. They are called autotrophs and are the base for all food chains. Consumers, also known as heterotrophs, depend on producers, either directly or indirectly. Herbivores are plant eating consumers and primary consumers. Carnivores, meat eating consumers, and omnivores, both meat and plant consumers, are secondary consumers. Tertiary consumers are carnivores that eat secondary consumers and quaternary consumers are carnivores that eat tertiary consumers. Not all consumers eat other living organisms...
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...It contains all the living things in the world: plants, animals and bacteria. It includes other layers of the atmosphere which are called the lithosphere, the troposphere and the hydrosphere. The lithosphere is the other region of the earth, the troposphere is the lower region of the atmosphere and the hydrosphere is the region of lakes, oceans, streams, ice and clouds that make up earth's water resources. There are over 30 millions species on this region of the planet, and the number of different organisms in an ecosystem is called biodiversity. The more biodiversity the more stable the ecosystem is.But it is still inevitable for each and every organism to adapt to their surroundings and even change it at times. But the biosphere never remains the same, no matter what. And the effects can either be negative or positive. The top species on the biosphere are humans, and they affect the area in both good and bad ways. Humans are the only species that make their ecosystem adapt to them instead of the other way around. This is why they have the most effect on the biosphere. Some things humans have done that improves the condition of the biosphere would be selective breeding. By putting the best of the best together, which normally cannot occur in nature naturally, this gives species a better opportunity to survive. In regards to crops, this allows them to survive harsher weathers and insect invasions that they would normally die out in. It also improves taste, size and amount given...
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...Biodiversity Biodiversity is important in ecosystems because every life form works together in order for them to function. When these ecosystems are disrupted or altered, or even lacks biodiversity, it poses major threats to all the life forms in it, whether it happens quickly or over a long period of time. When we lack biodiversity, our ecosystems become unstable, which in turn makes them more vulnerable to disasters and they cannot contribute to our well being. Although policy makers may be faced with challenges, many considerations need to be taken into account to preserve biodiversity and to protect these areas so that these ecosystems can function properly and prosper. When we hear the word ‘biodiversity’, it pretty much explains itself. It is the amount of variation of life forms within a given biome, ecosystem, species, or even the entire plant. Many considerations need to be taken into account to preserve biodiversity and to protect these areas so that these ecosystems can function properly and prosper. With respect to the ecosystem and biodiversity, we need to remember that once our natural resources run out and when most ecosystems are destroyed, it is very hard to restore it to what it was. We need to consider our well being, as well as all the other organisms that we share the earth with. We use biodiversity all the time, whether it is direct or indirect. In order for us to live happy and healthy, we need a healthy ecosystem and it is our job to preserve it as much...
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