Human Influences on the

environment
By
Tr. Moe
 Human Population and needs
• The rate of increase of the human
population is steep over last 200
years
• Estimated population in 2050- 10
billions
• Increased demand on food to eat,
space and materials to build
houses and to dump wastes, fuel
to heat and power houses
Early humans influenced their environment, but the
enormous size of the population today and the extent of
our industries mean that we affect the environment much
more significantly.

We make increasing demands on the environment for:

◾ food to sustain an ever-increasing population

◾ materials to build homes, schools and industries
◾ fuel to heat homes and power vehicles
◾ space in which to build homes, schools and factories,
as well as for leisure facilities
◾ space in which to dump our waste materials.
 Modern agriculture - producing the food we
need

A modern farm-a sort of managed ecosystem

• Its interactions are same in natural ecosystem
• It controls the environment of the farm to maximize the yield of crop plants
and livestock
 Improving yields from crop plants
Plants are grown in greenhouse and polytunnels.
• Transparent wall- natural light in summer or
additional light in winter for photosynthesis
• Greenhouse effect- infrared radiation can’t escape and
warm the glasshouse
• The glasshouse can be heated if outside temperature is
too low.
• If heater uses fuel, it produces water vapor (to reduce
transpiration) and CO2 (photosynthesis)
• Hydroponic culture gives plants the right balance of
mineral ions for the particular crop
 Cycling nutrients on a farm
• Quite different from N2 cycle in ecosystem
• N2 source- nitrates from the soil
• N2 lost from ecosystem-via proteins of plant
(sold crops) & of animal (sold livestock)
• N2 recycle- proteins of plant for stock animals
(fodder)& waste products of livestock
• N2 is replaced by using fertilizers (not to excess
for money waste)
 Fertilizers increase crop yields
2 types-organic or inorganic
• Organic-farmyard manure (feaces of animals
mixed with straw)
• Replaces a portion of Lost N2
• Improve soil structure (due to presence of decaying
matters)
• Inorganic-nitrate compounds (potassium of
decaying matters)
• Replaces all lost N2
• Do not improve soil structure
• Replace lost N2 by growing a legume crop
every fourth year because N2 fixing
bacteria in nodules on their roots fix N2 to
proteins of plants and bacteria which is
then returned to soil as ammonia during
decomposition

• Ammonia is oxidized to nitrate by

nitrifying bacteria and made available for
next year’s crop
 Pest control
• Pests are organisms that reduce the yield of crop plants
or stock animals.
• The ‘yield’ of a crop is the amount produced for sale.
• A pest can harm this in two ways:
◾ lowering the amount by reducing growth, e.g. by
damaging leaves and reducing photosynthesis
◾ affecting the appearance or quality of a crop,
making it unsuitable for sale
Pesticides
• Any type of organism – plants, animals, bacteria, fungi or
protoctists, as well as viruses – can be a pest.
• Pests can be controlled in a number of ways.
• Chemicals called pesticides can be used to kill them, or their
numbers can be reduced by using biological control methods.
• Pesticides are named according to the type of organism they
kill:
◾ herbicides kill plant pests (they are weedkillers)
◾ insecticides kill insects
◾ fungicides kill fungi
◾ molluscicides kill snails and slugs.
• Pests are problem in big numbers (if few and use
pesticides>>> not cost effective)
Problems with pesticides
• Major problem-resistance to chemicals (via natural selection)
• Environmental damage
• Slowly decompose >>> persistence in environment>>> bioaccumulation (in
tissue of organisms)>>> biomagnification (in food chain)>>> kill other
harmless species
• e.g., DDT (dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethane) insecticides- to kill mosquitoes
(banned in 2004)
•DDT is very persistent, remaining active in the environment for
many years.

•If DDT is sprayed onto a field, around half will still be there ten
years later.

•To make things worse, the missing half won’t have degraded to
harmless products – some will have broken down to form a similar
compound called DDE, which is also a potent insecticide, and some
will have spread to other habitats.

•DDT is carried all around the world by wind, and has been identified
in polar ice caps and deserts, thousands of kilometres away from
where it was applied.
• By the 1950s, many types of insect began to appear that were
resistant to DDT.

• These insects had developed a genetic mutation that prevented

them from being killed by the insecticide.

• While DDT continued to be used, the resistant insects had an

advantage over the non-resistant ones.

• Their numbers increased with every generation since they were

able to survive exposure to the pesticide.

• They reproduced, passing on their resistance genes to their

offspring. This is an example of natural selection.

• There are now hundreds of examples of pest species that have

developed resistance to different insecticides.
• DDT doesn’t just kill pests.

• It will kill any type of insect, including harmless ones such as

butterflies and useful species such as bees, as well as natural
predators such as wasps, which might themselves kill the pest
insects.

• Insecticides damage ecosystems by disrupting food chains.

• DDT is very soluble in fats.
• When a herbivore feeds on plants that are contaminated with DDT, the insecticide is not broken down or excreted.

• Instead it becomes concentrated in the fatty tissues of the animal. This is called bioaccumulation.

• When a carnivore eats the herbivore this process is repeated, so that the insecticide builds up in concentration
along the food chain. This is known as biomagnification (Figure 15.8).

• The levels at the top of the food chain may be toxic, leading to the death of the top carnivores in the chain. This
can disrupt the food web of an ecosystem.
• One problem with using pesticides is that a pest may develop resistance to the chemical. This
happens through natural selection.
• It makes the existing pesticide useless, so that another must be found.
• Other problems are to do with the fact that pesticides can cause environmental damage.
• There are several reasons for this:
◾ they may be slow to decompose – they are persistent in the environment
◾ they build up in the tissues of organisms – bioaccumulation
◾ they build up and become more concentrated along food chains – biomagnification
◾ they kill other insects that are harmless, as well as helpful species, such as bees .
An ideal pesticide should:
◾ control the pest effectively
◾ be biodegradable, so that no toxic products are left in
the soil or on crops
◾ be specific, so that only the pest is killed
◾ not accumulate in organisms
◾ be safe to transport, store and apply
◾ be easy to apply.
 Biological control
• Use another organisms (Encarsia paracites) to reduce pest
numbers (whitefly)
• Problem –never get rid of pest (just reduction) because if all
pests die, no food supply
• Other examples
-ladybirds for amphids,
- moth for cactus weed
-myxomatosis virus to control rabbit population
-sterile males for no reproduction
-male-attracting pheromones to control crops
• introducing a natural predator – ladybirds can be used to control the
populations of aphids in orange groves

• introducing a herbivore – a moth was introduced from South America to

control the prickly pear cactus that was becoming a serious weed in grazing
land in Australia

• introducing a parasite – the wasp Encarsia is used to control whitefly

populations in glasshouse tomato crops
• introducing a pathogenic (disease-causing) microorganism –
the myxomatosis virus was deliberately released in Australia
to control the rabbit population

• introducing sterile males – these mate with the females but

no offspring are produced from these matings, so numbers
fall

• using pheromones – these are natural chemicals produced

by insects to attract a mate. They are used to attract pests
(either males or females) to traps. The pests are then
destroyed, reducing the reproductive potential of the
population. Male-attracting pheromones are used to control
aphids (greenfly) in plum crops.
 Fish farming
• Fastest growing area of animal food
production
• It has many advantages.
• The most commonly farmed fish are various
types of carp, catfish, tilapia, trout, salmon,
cod, bream and sea bass, as well as various
types of crustaceans, such as lobsters and
prawns.
• They are not all used for human food: about
one-quarter of farmed fish is used to make
animal feed.
 Advantages
1. It can monitor water quality (temperature, oxygen level, water clarity, chlorophyll
amount)
• More chlorophyll>>> toxic to fish (due to algal bloom)
• Pump air to increase O2 concentration in water
• Filter water to remove waste products of fish
2. It can control quality and frequency of feeding
3. It can protect fish from predators (large fish)
4. It can use pesticides to kill parasites
5. Selective breeding program improves quality of fish

carp, catfish, tilapia, trout, salmon, cod, bream and sea bass
 Disadvantages
• It can cause greater spread of disease due to very
closeness of animals

• Human can get antibiotic resistant bacteria if fish are

eaten.

• Water pollution problem by fish feaces >>>

eutrophication

• Pesticides to fish parasites are toxic to others.

• Negative impact on ‘wild’ fish stock (salmon eats several

wild fish <herring &sardines>
Air pollution
• ‘Pollution is the contamination of the environment by
harmful substances that are produced by the activities
of humans’.

• Human activities pollute the air with many gases.

• Some major examples are carbon dioxide, methane,

carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide.
 Carbon dioxide and global warming
• CO2 is a greenhouse gas which absorbs infrared
radiation emitted from earth surface

• CO2 rises over the last 100yrs in atmosphere due to

fossil fuel burning (coal, oil & gas)

• Forests are lungs of the Earth and absorb much CO2

• Deforestation causes less CO2 being absorbed and

global warming

• Seasonal fluctuation in CO2 (higher in autumn and

winter due to loss of leaves)

• Other greenhouse gases- natural gases (H2O, CH4, N2O)

&artificial (CFC)
• In the autumn and winter, trees lose their leaves.

• Without leaves they cannot photosynthesise and so do

not absorb carbon dioxide.

• They still respire, which produces carbon dioxide, so in the winter

months, they give out carbon dioxide and the level in the
atmosphere rises.

• In the spring and summer, with new leaves and brighter sunlight,
the trees photosynthesise faster than they respire.

• As a result, they absorb more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

than they produce, so the level decreases.

• However, because there are fewer trees overall, it doesn’t quite

return to the low level of the previous summer.
 Effect of global warming
• A rise in the Earth’s temperature of only a few degrees
would have many effects.
• Polar ice caps would melt and sea levels would rise.
• Warm water flow to cooler areas (A change in the major
ocean currents would result in warm water flowing into
previously cooler areas. )
• Climate change (A change in global rainfall patterns could
result. With a rise in temperature, there will be more
evaporation from the surface of the sea, leading to more
water vapour in the atmosphere and more rainfall in some
areas. Other areas could experience a decrease in rainfall.
Long-term climate change could occur.)
• Extinct species due to rapid changes of ecosystem
nature (If species could not migrate quickly enough to a
new, appropriate habitat, or adapt quickly enough to the
changed conditions in their original habitat, they could
become extinct)
• Changes in farming practices would be necessary as some
pests became more abundant. Higher temperatures might
allow some pests to complete their life cycles more quickly.
Methane (CH4)-an organic gas
• Fermentation of organic molecules by
microorganisms produces methane
gas (at landfill sites, in rumen of cattle
or other ruminants, in rice field by
bacteria)

• It is a greenhouse gas (small amount in

atmosphere but larger effect than CO2)
Carbon monoxide (CO)
• Incomplete combustion of hydrocarbons
(petrol &disesel) produces CO

• CO is colourless, odorless, tasteless and

poisonous

• CO binds to haemoglobin tightly than O2 and

interfere O2 binding, causing lack of O2 to
cells (brain and heart)
Sulfur dioxide (SO2)
• Combustion of sulfur in fossil fuels produces SO2 which
causes acid rain

• natural rain is slightly acidic (pH=5.5) because of dissolved

carbon dioxide)

• (Acid rain is due to sulfuric acid and nitric acid when sulfur
dioxide and oxides of nitrogen dissolve in rainwater)

• Different lichens (moss like organisms) indicate different level

of sulfur dioxide pollution due to their different tolerance
 Deforestation
• Tropical rainforest (near equator-
south America, central America
and Indonesia) is last natural
forests
• It is a consequence of population
growth (to provide wood and land
for farming)
• Slash and burn method is used to
get land for farming
• Deforestation causes
• Climate change and global warming
• Destruction of habitats and reduced biodiversity (50-70% species live in
forests)
• Reduced soil quality (due to no roots of trees to hold the soil and minerals)
• Flooding (due to lack of tree cover or canopy)
• Water cycle imbalance (no transpiration through the leaves)
• Loss of undiscovered medicinal plants
• Urgent conservation of remaining rainforests is needed ( like
sustainable timber production and small-scale farming near
rainforests instead of large-scale one)
• Apart from adding to global warming, there is a wide range of other problems caused by deforestation – some
of these are listed below.

• ◾ Destruction of habitats and reduced biodiversity. Rainforests are home to millions of species of plants,
animals and other organisms. It has been estimated that 50–70% of species on Earth live in rainforests.

• ◾ Reduced soil quality. There are no trees and other plants to return minerals to the soil when they die, and
no tree roots to hold the soil together. Crops planted in deforested areas rapidly use up minerals from the soil,
and rain washes the minerals out (leaching).
• ◾ The soil is exposed due to lack of tree cover (canopy), and is blown or washed away (Figure 15.17). Soil
may be washed into rivers, causing rising water levels and flooding of lowland areas.

• ◾ Deforestation may produce climate change. Trees are an important part of the Earth’s water cycle,
returning water vapour from the soil to the air by transpiration through their leaves. Cutting down the forests
will upset the water cycle.

• ◾ In the past, rainforests have been a valuable source of many medicinal drugs, as well as species of plant
that have been cultivated as crops. There are probably many undiscovered drugs and crop plants that will be
lost with the deforestation.
Water pollution
• 2 major pollutants (sewage &fertilizers)
Pollution of water by sewage
• Sewage is wet waste from houses, factories and farms
• Sewage treatment of industrial & agricultural and house hold are done
separately
• Household sewages (waste waters, human urine and faeces, soaps and
detergent etc.) must be treated before it enters waterways (river or sea).
• If not, two major problems occur
• Aerobic bacteria of sewage use O2, as they break down organic materials and
cause the death of large animals in fresh water>>> later more anaerobic bacteria
• Pathogenic bacteria cause human diseases
• Aim of sewage treatment- to remove organic materials and
pathogenic microorganisms

• The level of pollution with organic materials can be

monitored by the presence or absence of indicator species
Eutrophication
• Eutrophication –well-fed or large amount of nutrients in water
• 2 main sources of excess minerals
• From untreated or treated sewage
• From artificial nitrate or phosphate fertilizers
• Leaching (wash out the soil by rain) causes high concentration of nitrates
and phosphate in stream and river because agriculture uses artificial
fertilizers
• Excess minerals (mostly nitrate) causes rapid growth of algae (algal bloom).
• When algae dies, aerobic bacteria (decomposers) use up oxygen causing
fish and other animal die.