...Environmental Health Student’s Name University Affiliation Environmental Health Define food desert and present some reasons why food desert exist. A food desert is a demographic area of any country whereby there is a shortage of fruits, greens among other healthy foods and this is mainly the case in many poor and developing countries. This describes an area where the obtaining of nutritious food is very difficult for people living in the area especially with the lack of automobile to enable them to move around in search of these foods. Food deserts are mainly attributed to some major factors such as the absence of food providers who produce or sell healthy food, absence of stores that sell groceries as well as bad conditions for farming and the lack of a market for farmers (Babu, Gajanan & Sanyal 2014). This problem is mainly but not solely associated with individuals that live in rural and remote areas because they lack means of transport to bring food to them or move around to get the food. This case is very rare in the urban areas mainly due to the presence of so many means of transport. However, this does not mean that urban areas are not affected. The main cause of the few cases of food deserts in the urban areas is economic conditions whereby the grocery stores are evicted out of the urban areas and thus taking they further away from the people. According to research in the United States, the problem is mostly prevalent among the black communities since...
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...Ecosystem of the Mojave Desert Bio/101 March 5, 2012 Ecosystem of the Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert is 54,000 square miles of its own special brand of diversity; it is one desert - rather than a series of separate entities. By becoming aware of the combined identity, appreciation and better understanding of the issues that affect the Mojave Desert can occur on a holistic level. Generally, at the edges of the Mojave are areas where dominant plant and animal species change from one to another and both, to various degrees may be possibly found on the fringes of the other. The Mojave Desert ecosystem evolves from plants and animals which are resources within each other. Adaption to the rough temperatures and little water, these ecosystems finds many ways to survive. This ecosystem plays host to a wide variety of plants and animals living in an environment that humans may think are harsh conditions. Many animals get their energy by eating plants, but desert plants give up the fruit of their production very reluctantly. Sharp spines, such as a cactus, discourage plant-eaters. The Mule deer avoids these obstacles by eating seeds, although safe to eat, they can be hard to find. Many are small and look like grains of sand. The plant's solar energy flows through the ecosystem as Mule deer, and other herbivores like jackrabbits, fall prey to carnivores like great horned owls, coyotes, bobcats, or snakes (Townsend, Harper & Begon, 2000). Survival in the desert cannot occur without...
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...move into habitats which they are not native to, similar to a pioneer. Invasive species can affect the ecosystem that they are occupying in various ways. These effects can be different depending on the specie, but they all may cause damage to the ecosystem. For example, when a blackberry bush invades a habitat, it takes space in the ground under trees and plants and takes their water. An invasive eel, however, would have different impacts on the environment compared to a blackberry...
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...Paper Deserts wide dry lands can sustain wild life and different plant life ecosystems that many different living things depend on. The Mohave Desert like other deserts utilizes solar energy to convert food fuel for life from green plants. The Mohave Desert major structural is its dry massive land and functional dynamics in the deserts ecosystem is how competitive it is for plants retrieve sunlight. Over time most plants are altered to reduce effects of too much energy from the sun. It is common for life of all living creatures that live in any surface of the desert to undergo the process of being part of a food chain which is the linkage of who feeds on whom. An example of a food chain that is part of the ecosystem would be how a hawk eats lizard, scorpion, tarantula, and insects. “Many animals get their energy by eating plants, but desert plants give up the fruit of their production very reluctantly. Sharp spines and chemical-laden leaves discourage plant-eaters….. Many are small and look like grains of sand. With sensitive front paws a kangaroo rat sifts sand to find seeds by touch eats them and transforms them into animal tissue.” -Desert Ecosystem. (n.d). Retrieved from http://digital-desert.com/joshua-tree-national-park/ecosystems.html For centuries, humans have affected biogeochemical cycles in many different ecosystems. Some of the impacts we have made on them are within the carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycle. A desert like the Mohave Desert is affected...
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...Fresh Food Draft Access to affordable and nutritious food has become a topic of interest to the residents of Colorado. Food deserts, as defined by the Nutrition Digest, are “parts of the country vapid of fresh fruit, vegetables, and other healthful whole foods, usually found in impoverished areas. This is largely due to a lack of grocery stores, farmers’ markets, and healthy food providers” (Gallagher). Areas of Colorado such as this exist in largely rural and urban or low-income neighborhoods throughout the state. In these underserved communities, the issue lies with the ability to reasonably travel to get fresh food and the, often, non-existent retail food presence. In an article published by International Health Geographics, authors Joseph Sharkey, et al. explain that “Individual and community concerns with food security, limited access to supermarkets, higher costs for food (food...
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...Desert SCI/230 11/11/2012 Yasmin Henry Desert biomes can be defined as sandy regions that have very little rainfall as less than 50 cm a year with extreme temperatures and very scare vegetation. The fact that deserts are so dry the temperatures can change drastically, during the day temperatures can be as hot as 32 degrees Celsius, but at night temperatures can drop as low as -4 degrees Celsius because when the sun goes down there is no moisture in the air to trap the heat so it escapes into space creating cool temperatures. The organisms that can be found in this ecosystem are the following: Organisms in Ecosystem Cactus Wren | Desert Lark | Fat Sand Rat | Gila Monster | Great Jerboa | Horned Lizard | Rattlesnakes | Roadrunner | Thorny Devil | Camel | Lappet Faced Vulture | Sidewinder | Fennec Fox | Great Mouse Tailed Bat | Addax | There is not much benefit of this biodiversity within this ecosystem. The extremely hot temperatures and the very little rainfall makes it hard for trees to grow. Because there is limited water the few animals that live in this ecosystem have adaptations that help them survive. Major organisms in Ecosystem (P) Producers | (C) Consumers | (D) Decomposers | Cactus | Horned Lizard | Earthworms | Desert Shrubs | Great Mouse Tailed Bat | Millipedes | Soap tree Yucca | Desert Tortoises | Bacteria | Jumping Cholla | Water-holding frog | Fungi | There are three major categories of all living organisms’ producers...
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...Tropical Niche to Sub-Saharan Desert Niche Tropical Niche to Sub-Saharan Desert Niche Every living organism has a niche. Niche defines the organism’s “job,” or role in the community (Ireland 2013, p. 51). Since every niche is different organism must find ways to adapt to its particular niche. Adaptation is a must to ensure survival in any niche so let’s take a look at two different niches and see what adaptations could take place to help ensure survival. My personal niche at the current time is the great state of Hawaii. Hawaii is located in the tropics with mild summers in the upper 80s and winters that in the high 70s to low 80s. I can expect rain often here just depending on the location that I am currently in. Within this niche I am the sole provider for the family. I help provide the military with knowledge and leadership. My family and I are often found outside playing by the beaches and enjoying the water. In the sub-Saharan desert I would not be able to enjoy the ability this water as water is scarce. When I look at the similarities between the tropics and sub-Saharan desert there are not very many if any that really stand out. One similarity that the tropics does have with the sub-Saharan desert is sand. The desert is made up mostly of sand while often found on areas near water in the tropics. Now when I look at the differences there are a lot but a few that come straight to mind. The amount of rain fall. The tropics receives more rain also allowing for the vegetation...
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...Mojave Desert Food Web The life of the organisms in the Mojave Desert originates with the light and energy that the sun provides. In combination with the solar energy, rainfall, carbon, and nutrients the miracle of life begins with plants growing from seeds from the parent plant. Scientists refer to these plants as autotrophs, or producers because they make their own food energy by using the process of photosynthesis. A heterotroph cannot produce energy, and therefore are dependent on the producers and other herbivores to receive their source of energy. The first type of heterotroph is the primary consumer, which are the herbivore that eat only plants. These herbivores are one of the food sources of the omnivores, the secondary consumers, which consume plants and herbivores. Omnivores will also consume carnivores. Carnivores consume omnivores and other carnivores as their primary food sources. The connections of each species within this cycle are the networks that scientists call the food chain, and connected food chains a food network or food web. Another important connection in this cycle is the process of energy passing from one organism to the next. This process is the energy flow, and the food web illustrates the energy flow among the organisms in the food chain for the Mojave Desert ecosystem. The Pathways of Energy Flow Scientists identify food chains and food webs as the pathways that energy and matter pass from each link in the chain beginning with the...
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...that provide affordable healthy foods are far and few in between. Along with the issue of not having quality grocery stores available to low income neighborhoods; can we really say that food deserts are the main cause of poor nutrition and diets in urban and rural areas? Indianapolis the city where I live ranked number one as the worst city for limited access to healthy food. Food deserts have become a big problem in low income communities largely due to the lack of grocery stores. These desert areas are short on healthy food providers, and heavy on local quickie marts, and explain the link between hunger, poverty, and obesity, in low income communities. Innovative solutions to this problem include supporting a petition for the Food Deserts Act Bill, bring fresh produce and healthy affordable snacks to the local quickie marts, and start education programs on buying and cooking healthy foods. If the people can’t get to the healthy foods we have to find a way and help bring the food to them. (Brundage-Moore,5 2016) The United States Department of Agriculture defines food deserts as parts of areas in the city lacking access of fresh fruits, vegetables, and other healthful whole foods, usually found in impoverished areas. Food deserts are largely due to lack of grocery stores, farmers’ markets, and healthy food providers. This has become...
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...Karakum Desert - Turkmenistan Location: The Karakum Desert is located in Turkmenistan in the Middle East and lies to the east of the Caspian Sea, between Uzbekistan to the north and the Iranian border to the south. The Karakum Desert has a latitude of 39⁰09’N and a longitude of 63⁰34’E which indicates that this desert is in the northern hemisphere. Source 1: World Atlas.com, http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/asia/meoutl.htm (28/02/10) Topography: Covering almost 90% of Turkmenistan today, the Karakum Desert is approximately 350,000 square km in area. The Karakum Desert is bordered by many varying natural landscapes such as valleys, mountains, plains, basins and salt marshes. This desert is divided into three parts: the elevated northern Trans-Unguz Karakum, the low-lying Central Karakum and the southeastern Karakum. Sand ridges are formed over time and so depending on the age, sand ridges in the Karakum Desert may range from 75 to 90 metres. More than 10% of the area consists of barchans which are crescent-shaped dunes which are often 9 meters or more in height. The inter dune depressions are covered by clay deposits up to 9 meters thick and act as catchment basins for the areas rainfall. The water collected in the basins allows fruits such as melons and grapes to be grown. Barchans Sand Ridges of the Karakum Desert Source 2: Turkmenistan: Deserts, http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://turkmenistan.gov.tm/_rus/uploads/posts/1215786990_3...
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...To what extent do you agree that the human causes of desertification in the sahel are more important than the physical causes? Desertification is when formerly productive land becomes a desert due to a combination of natural and human factors. It’s a long term change that results in land degrading or becoming poorer, vegetation dying and soil becoming exposed to erosion by wind and rain. The Sahel is an example of where desertification has happened. The sahel is a semi arid region of north central Africa south of the sahara desert. It passes through countries such as Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia and Chad. The sahel has been turning in to the desert since the late 1940s, this has been caused by drought, population increase, overcultivation, over grazing and cutting firewood. There is only one physical cause of desertification in the Sahel and that is climate change. There have been frequent and very intense droughts that occurred from 1968 to 1974 and then again from 1979 to 1984. Without water for a long period of time the vegetation will die and the soil will turn to dust thus making it more easily eroded by the wind. The intense and frequent droughts are said to be caused by global warming which leads to higher temperatures and an increased evapotranspiration, therefore you could say that the droughts are caused partially by humans as they burn the fossil fuels causing global warming. The other four causes of desertification; population increase, over cultivation, overgrazing...
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...Desert Survival paper The method I used to choose the priority of the items in the virtual desert assignment was based on the outside elements. I took into consideration the possibilities of what could be the cause of a loss of one of our team members. Since we were in a desert I classified the most dangerous issues as dehydration, the harmful sunrays, lack of food, fatigue, and dangerous wildlife. These five concepts seem to be most relevant to what could use the items for to protect ourselves. My first choice was the 1 Qt of Water per Person which is most important because it is the most urgent. Surviving without water in such high temperatures is unlikely and can lead to immediate problems such as dehydration and fatigue. The next two selections that seemed most urgent was the magnetic compass and sectional air map to help guide us to the nearby civilization. This choice was based on fleeing these conditions as quickly as possible. The longer we are in the situation the higher the risk becomes. If there are only enough supplies to last a short period of time then it is critical to get out of those conditions rapidly. My fourth choice was for the protection of the group against wildlife. Surly one night spent in a desert is enough time to encounter dangerous wildlife. The pistol is important for protection and to capture possible food to eat. The parachute seemed to be a relevant item since it is red and white it can possibly attract attention for a rescue while...
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...Food Deserts-The Impact Food Deserts Have on Today’s Society Abstract Food Deserts is defined as large and isolated geographic areas in which mainstream grocery stores are absent or distant. The research has demonstrated the statistical link between Food Deserts and worse diet-related health outcomes, after controlling other key factors. The actual term ‘food deserts’ is quoted, by S. CUMMINS (British Medical Journal, 2002, Vol.325, p.436), as having been originally used by a resident of a public sector housing scheme in the west of Scotland in the early 1990s. There are several ways to look at food deserts. 1). low- Income Project 2). The independent. 3). The observer 4). The guardian. This research paper will elaborate on the ways foods deserts are defined and what affect it has on the health and well being of cultural families and communities. Table of Contents Page Abstract …………………………………………………………………………………………...2 Table of Contents ………………………………………………………………………………....3 Chapter One Context of the Problem ……………………………………………………………………......5-10 Statement of the Problem ……………………………………………………………………10-16 Research Questions ……………………………………………………………………………...16 Significance of the Study ……………………………………………………………………16-19 Objective of Study …………………………………………………………………………...19-20 Research Design and Methodology ……………………………………………………………..20 Materials ………………………………………………………………………………………...20 Organization of the Study………………………………………………………………………..21 Limitation of...
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...The motivation for this study is two fold in that food insecurity is a principal public health challenge facing the nation (Gunderson 2013) and food insecurity in Lane has not improved with significant community efforts over the past decade (USDA, ERS b 2015; Smith 2003). Food security is the state of all people having access to “sufficient, safe, and nutritious” food to support health (WHO 1996). Food is an imperative for survival, though many communities both urban and rural struggle with limitations in terms of accessibility, quality, and variety. A variety of healthy foods, which increase diet quality increase quality of life by acting as a proactive measure for reducing chronic diseases. Diets have changed with food environments where...
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...Introduction The Bighorn Sheep, once native to the state of Texas was extirpated and now takes reintroduction efforts in order for survival. Many causes aided with the Bighorn Sheep die out in Texas, such as unregulated hunting, predation, and competition for resources. Reintroduction began in the 1990’s and has been an experimental but yet successful program and has drawn the interest of the wildlife community because not only do managers want to see a species back in its native habitat but it draws the interest of hunters who are willing to pay big money for a trophy animal like a Bighorn Sheep. This paper goes over past and current populations, management strategies, as well as issues such as escape cover and diet availability that must be taken into consideration for the success of the effort. It is important that Bighorn Sheep are properly reintroduced and can flourish in Texas so the species will have a wide range of places to live to prevent endangerment. Literature Summary One key...
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