...instrumental value a biotic community may have to human beings, it is also of paramount importance to preserve biotic communities based on our “obligations to land”2. This concept of a prima facie responsibility to protect our environment and the communities within it is known as the preservationist intuition3. We certainly attribute this value to our fellow man, putting laws in place to prevent harm and maltreatment in our communities, and breaking these laws would indeed render the culprit to be considered morally wrong. We attribute value (be it intrinsic or instrumental) to sentient animals, even plant-life. But what of ecosystems? Can we consider ecosystems to be morally considerable, and therefore attribute any value to them? It is a question that has many variables, and in this essay I will be evaluating various arguments for and against the premise that ecosystems command any value with regards to an environmental ethic. First we must consider what it means for something to be morally considerable. It would appear that this definition would depend on what moral determinant we deem appropriate in pursuing an environmental ethic. Many philosophers, including K.E.Goodpaster adopt Joel Feinberg’s view that a thing may be morally considerable if and only if it is a living thing4. Those things which do not have the necessary condition of life are not morally considerable, and are known as ‘mere things’5. This eliminates any inanimate object from our moral consideration, as inanimate...
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...Ecosystem 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...
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...In this essay I will give a brief overview of the natural ecosystem of Cedar Hill State park. I will examine the major structural and functional dynamics of that ecosystem and how it has evolved over time, how humans may have affected biogeochemical cycles in that ecosystem, how knowledge about that ecosystem’s structure and function can help or has helped to develop plans for its management and restoration. Cedar Hill State Park is a 1,826 acre nature preserve located on the Joe Pool Reservoir. Cedar Hill State Park has a climax ecosystem meaning that the environment consists of a variety of plants and animals which through the process of succession the development of vegetation has reached a steady rate. The park is dominated by upland forests that include cedar elm, honey locust, mesquite and juniper trees. This park host a variety of common animals that include bobcat, coyote, fox, and raccoon, as well as aquatic species ranging from large- mouth bass, white bass, and crappie. Over the years this ecosystems functional dynamics have changed because of the development of homes and retail shopping centers that have diminished the cedar forest that covered the land. The Golden-cheeked Warbler suffered due to habitat destruction and was on the verge of extinction but because of the unique habitat found at Cedar Hill State Park the Golden-Cheeked Warbler was spotted in 2004. The tall grass prairie was a migratory habitat for the Eskimo Curlew now thought to be extinct. These are...
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...Rosy Mound Essay Succession; the process by which a biological community grows and evolves over time. This process of succession was seen throughout the trip to Rosy Mound Natural Area. During the trip kids from the Macbay biology classes were able to explore Rosy Mound. They saw large amounts of nature, largely untouched by humans. It was amazing to walk through the woods and see the beautiful landscape and hear the quietness of nature. Students also enjoyed seeing the interesting aspects of each zone at Rosy Mound such as the unique flora and fauna. Abiotic and Biotic Factor Trends: In the Rosy Mound area, there is a big connection between the Biotic and Abiotic factors. The biotic factors such as the trees and marram grass are able...
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...may say it is just merely a number of species within an ecosystem. However this is not the case, as majority aspects of our lives solely depend on biodiversity. Water, food and air are produced directly by different species and the quality of these resources depend on other species activities. According to the convention of biological diversity "Biological diversity means the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems” The important question however, is can we put a value on biodiversity? The total value in many ways is infinite. Earth’s economies “would grind to a halt, without the services of ecological life-support systems” (Costanza et al 97). According to Freeman. (1998) to understand the true value of something, one must first define what that thing is and what the world would possibly be like without that particular entity. The following essay will review the methods available to assign value to biodiversity. This will be done in terms of its ecosystem services,...
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...8th Grade Science Mid-Term Review Short Answer and Essay Questions Name Angelina Sustayta Date 1/13/15 Period 4 Chapter 2: The Chemistry of Life 1. What accounts for water’s properties of adhesion and cohesion? Two hydrogen’s of water are covalently bound to oxygen, which means they share electrons. 1. Explain the 4 groups of macromolecules. What are each composed of? What are the monomers and polymers involved with each? How does your body use them? Carbohydrates are compounds made up of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms. Lipids are made up of carbon and hydrogen atoms. Nucleic acids contain hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, and phosphorus. Proteins contain nitrogen as well as carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. 2. 1. How would you determine whether something is living or nonliving? You can determine if something is living or nonliving by if something can reproduce asexually or sexually. Also if they can respond to stimuli or if the something has cells. You can also tell if they have grown or can develop. Plus if they have homeostasis or can simply just move. Chapter 3: The Biosphere 1. Compare and contrast photosynthetic producers with chemosynthetic producers. Chemosynthesis get energy from oxidation of inorganic substances. Photosynthesis gets energy from light. 2. Give an example of how the biotic factors in an ecosystem can affect the abiotic factors. Abiotic objects are pretty much resources to biotic factors. 3. Describe...
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...Joshua 11/18/13 After school essay There are many things that different people like to do when they get home from school so today I will be telling you guys about the many different things I do after school and all of them will fall under three categories: Outdoors, School and last but not least, Friends. So let’s get started with Outdoors. Outdoors is one of three categories of things I do after school there are many different things I do that are outdoors but for you the readers sake I will name a couple, Scouts is the first one now I have been a scout for 4 years now and I always enjoy it we do a lot of cool trips and campouts, Now scouts has been something that I find interesting it’s a combination of sports and physical labor and learning half of scouts is about learning like you learn a lot about different things for example I have learned a ton of different things in scouts that I would have never learned in school like in scouts I learned CPR which is part of the first aid merit badge and also its required in a couple other merit badges, I have also learned many different poisons plants and trees and berries and also a couple of edible ones, mainly we learned how to survive in a lot of scenarios like storms and animal attacks, also in outdoors I love to go on hikes if I have the time because I love to be able to see all the nature in its purest form I have seen a lot of different ecosystems and different big landmarks. School the one topic that is going to be...
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...The Value and Importance of the Everglades "Lions, and Tigers, and Bears! Oh my!" Just kidding! There aren't any Lions, Tigers, or Bears in the Florida Everglades. The Florida Everglades is home to many fascinating creatures and plants such as pythons, alligators, fish, insects, and mangrove trees. The Everglades is a really important ecosystem and habitat for these plants and animals. They all work together and help each other out. For one example, the mangroves provide housing for fish, and the fish keep poisonous plants off the mangroves. There are many more reasons why the Everglades is so important and read on to see. Biodiversity plays a huge role in the ecosystems of wetlands such as the Florida Everglades. From the article, "Are the Everglades Forever," it says that "Biodiversity is a good thing. Having many different kinds of plants and animals means that species have different choices for survival....
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...What is biodiversity? Why does it change? Why is it important to conserve it? INTRODUCTION Presently these days, lots of people live in urban areas. In this case they are separated from the environment. But another important reason why humans will always depend on the environment is because our lives depend on biodiversity. Meaning that we get clothing, medicines, food and furniture from other species. Just because that people rely on biodiversity they have to conserve biodiversity and can save it for future generations (www.scienceclarified.com). But before knowing all the damage this can cause to us, firstly we should know what biodiversity is. Why does it change? Why we have to conserve biodiversity? The aim of this essay is to answer these three questions, so in this paper I will try analyze most important things about biodiversity. MAIN ARGUMENTS The definition of biodiversity has many different connotations, description of species composition interactions between organisms and their environment (Orians, G. H. 1996, p.49). But the major definition of biodiversity is: the variety of life in all its manifestations (Lecture notes). This modern definition can sound like the variety of life on earth, variety of species, and the communities in which they occur. The major elements of diversity are: genetic, taxonomic, and ecological. The first one is Genetic (populations, individuals) – individuals of the same species. It means genetic variations between individuals...
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...Essay on Water Pollution Water pollution has become an issue of great concern in our society. Many of today’s water ecosystems and drinking water are being polluted and destroyed as we speak. There are many types of water ecosystems such as oceans, rivers, lakes, and ponds witch provide homes to many different organisms. There are overwhelming factors that contribute to the problems of water pollution such as sewage, radioactive wastes, improper disposal of trash on land, and careless beachgoers. These are all significant problems that people do not realize until all of the damage is done. There are very few methods of controlling this pollution and more need to be developed in order to try and control these problems immediately. The first few causes of water pollution include sewage and nutrients from fertilizers being dumped into water. This causes a problem for all the organisms because the nutrients cause the algae and water plants to grow to abnormally large sizes. This can eventually block waterways. As the wastes decompose it uses up oxygen and blocks the flow of water in natural rivers and streams. Also, as these nutrients decompose in the water, they use up oxygen which can harm all the organisms living in the environment. Fish and other organisms living in water need oxygen just as much as humans need it. Since all aquatic organisms depend on oxygen in the water, without a sufficient supply they will not be able to survive. This would be a very dangerous thing. Anything...
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...Plant succession is the process by which one plant community replaces another over time. Human activity can have an impact on the succession of plants in a number of ways these are known as arresting factors. A plagioclimax community is a habitat in which the impact of humans has subsequently meant that the ecosystem has been prevented from developing further. The plagioclimax with which I will give reference in this essay is heather moorland. It must be noted that much of the present vegetation in the UK is a plagioclimax as a result of clearance. Heather moorland provides a choice example of a plagioclimax in the UK. The areas where heather moorland is most prominent are the North York Moors, the Pennines and Eastern Scotland. Much of the land where Heather moorland now exists was once covered by deciduous woodland, the UK’s climatic climax, yet humans have had a critical impact on the way in which heather moorland has manifested itself in these areas. One must acknowledge that heather had featured in these areas prior to the suspension of succession. Humans removed deciduous woodland in these areas to make way for farmland as a result of the need to increase food production. By chopping down vast swathes of deciduous woodland, the soil in these areas began to deteriorate without the much needed nutrients associated with the deciduous woodland biome. Heather and other hardier plants such as Bracken, Grasses and Scrub Woodland began to dominate upland areas which had been impacted...
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...the essay will discuss further on how it is started and evidences of its existence, how to minimize or prevent it from eventuating, and how it affects the environment in which we live in and give a real case study of its effects. Eutrophication began to develop on the lakes of PAU when the campus department stopped cleaning the lakes in order to let the birds to lay their eggs on the flowers growing in the lakes. This is evident in lake two. This has led to eutrophication due to the overcrowding of plant life in the lakes. Some proof that the lakes are becoming entropic are that they smell, overgrowth of plants means the level of oxygen is depleted and less penetration of sunlight, algae are starting to cover the surface of the lakes. Therefore, this shows that lakes here at PAU are starting to become eutropic. Prevention is better than cure therefore it is better to prevent the lakes from becoming eutropic than to cure it after it has become eutropic. As stated in the article, ‘How to cure Eutrophication’ (2012, May 17) that a pond that has become eutropic is hard to rehabilitate. This is because not only will you have to fight the nutrients that are currently running off into the pond, but you also have to undo all of the problems that have compounded over the past number of weeks, months, years. By this point, the nutrient load has been built to astronomical proportions, and it will certainly take some time for the pond to return to the state of a balanced ecosystem. Hence...
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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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...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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