Topic 2:Human Impacts on Ecosystems

•What did Alberta look like before humans?•Before European settlement?•Before Cars?

•How have humans changed our ecosystems?•Drained wetlands•Recreation

•Roads, dams•Homes, farms, cities•Air, land, water pollution•Populations

•Then our Needs

•How is this different from natural changes:

• Fire-natural fires leave materials behind

• Beavers-much smaller then our river dams

Alberta Oilsands

Humans activities impact the environment in many different ways.

Can you think of some of the effects we might have on our surroundings?

Natural Resources are materials and products that are found in nature to meet our basic needs. ◦ Humans: drives most of our economy and in

some way affect everyone's income. Oil in Alberta? Forestry? Water? Mining? Fishing?

◦ Other Organisms: water, trees, other animals to eat, sunlight, nutrients

Renewable Resources Non-renewable Resources

•Those that nature replaces.•Used forever as long as not overexploited in short term.

•Natural processes do not replenish these within a reasonable period of time.•Present in limited supply•Depleted by use

•Trees, animals •Fossil fuels: coal, oil,

Natural Regions: ◦ 6 in Alberta

Natural Regions in Alberta

48% Boreal forest15 % Foothills14 % Grassland12% Parkland8% Rocky Mountain3% Canadian Shield

Boreal Forests

Rocky Mountains

Foothills

Canadian Shield

Parkland

Grasslands

Habitat: physical location where an organism lives.◦ Living things can share habitats without incident◦ When humans have the same habitat needs as other

living things the needs of humans often conflict, resulting in some type of impact or change to the ecosystem

◦ What needs of humans may impact the surrounding ecosystems?

People and Nature

Indigenous Native Organism-occurs in an ecosystem naturally, they were not introduced by anyone such as early settlers or gardeners. Organisms that are indigenous form part of an interconnected chain, keeps the population in balance naturally (has organisms that feed on it and it competes with other plants for its survival)

Cane toads? Zebra mussels? Fire Ants?

Land Use cascade/land use conversion◦ Process whereby wild lands are converted for

other uses 1) Wild land-containing native flora and fauna 2) Starts to be used extensively-lightly grazed

grasslands 3) Extensively used lands become intensively used-

crop fields or urban areas 4) Intensively used lands become degraded lands

beyond value to anyone.

Needs: one of the 4 necessities for living things to sustain life (food, water, suitable habitat, exchange of gases)

Wants: those things that make an organism’s life more comfortable, entertaining, and convenient

Needs vs. Wants

◦ Economic problems People go into dept spending money on wants and

then don’t have money for needs. Market/economy crashes because of borrowed

money people can not afford their way of life

Understanding Needs vs. Wants

◦ Resource problems-not enough to go around 1st world countries vs. 3rd world countries Negative impacts, using non-renewable resources Pollution

Shipping foods from other places (having bananas year round is a LUXURY, pesticides,

100 km challenge

Decreased Biodiversity-never get some organisms back

◦ Physical wellbeing Lots of “wants” give us quick and superficial

satisfaction (Big Mac, new clothes, a facial, sparkly jewellery) but may not be good for us

Lots of tasty highly advertised food is high in sugar, fat, cholesterol

New material things go out of style/date and are then wasted (therefore wasting money)

Many “wants” may make life easier but then may increase laziness, obesity, other health concerns

**Is health care a need or want?◦ Mental wellbeing

Were our brains made to be thinking and processing information up to 18 hours a day with blackberries, Facebook, Twitter, radios, televisions, text messaging...

Increase in wants, increase in need for money, increased human time working jobs, less time for managing needs, INCREASED STRESS

◦ Mental wellbeing Were our brains made to

be thinking and processing information up to 18 hours a day with blackberries, Facebook, Twitter, radios, televisions, text messaging...

Increase in wants, increase in need for money, increased human time working jobs, less time for managing needs, INCREASED STRESS