Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta community. Mostrar todas las entradas
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta community. Mostrar todas las entradas

jueves, 20 de enero de 2011

Indicator Species

Aquatic ecosystems
Oyster: They fed on organic material and pollutants in the water. They filter the water, removing the particles.
Vertebrate and invertebrate species: Found in rivers and streams. Can determine the grange pollution to kept in check.
Lilies: rivers, lakes, ponds and swamps. They absorb oxygen and sunlight. Indicate abundance of nutrients, which leads to eutrophication.

Mayfly larvae: Native specie that are adapted to live in certain biome. When its number decreases it is a very clear sign that the pollution levels are increasing. They reappear downstream as the effects of the discharge are diluted. This help to indicate the level of pollution in water.
Sludge Worm. Common in lakes and rivers. All fresh water ecosystems. They fed on the sediments and bacteria, hence a great population on them might indicate great pollution in the body water and oxygen-poor water. They indicate stagnant water unfit to drink.
Soil Indicator species
The plants that are found in certain soil might indicate the presence or absence of a specific substance.
Besides plants, there are many other indicators.
Birds eggs can be analyze to find out pesticide sin the soil.
Invertebrates:. Indicator species to identify the use of foreign soils, insecticides, pesticides, and other pollutants.
In Canada there are plans to use soil-living arthropods in order to quantify the pollution in the forests.
A good way to measure the healthiness of an ecosystem and to determine the presence of pollution is biodiversity. High biodiversity indicates a strong and healthy environment.

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miércoles, 13 de octubre de 2010

Food Production and Distribution

 We have already begun talking about the food supply and its unequal distribution. Now let’s discuss the issues arose by this problem and how do they are handled.


Stuff and terms that you might want to know Winking smile
Food security. This expression means that every person in a given area has a daily access to enough nutritious food to have an active and healthy life.
Food insecurity. The opposite of the first one. There are not enough food supply or simply people have not the needed resources to access them.



*This two guys are directly related to the poverty and most be treated by the government in order to secure the insecure and maintain the security.


Undernutrition. The food consumed doesn’t provides enough energy.
Malnutrition. Food has enough energy but lacks certain essential vitamins, minerals or proteins.
Overnutrition. The food consumed exceeds energy use and causes excess of body fats. Yeah… Not big deal in the LEDC’s but we need to take it into account.

Some of the essential components needed to avoid malnutrition are:

Lack of Iron: “Derives into a case of anemia (lack of iron). Increases fatigue, risk of infection and mortal danger at childbirth”. It is necessary for the hemoglobin which captures oxygen and derives it around the body.

Lack of Vitamin A.More likely to get sick or die of common infectious diseases (flu, diarrhea, measles). Blindness” - retina, thus eye-sight dependents on it Vitamins are nutrients, but a catalyzer to the absorption of nutrients.

Lack of Iodine. Affect the processes of the metabolism. It causes stunted growth, metal

Famine. A famine is a situation of severe shortage of food supply in an area accompanied by mass starvation, many deaths, economic chaos, and social disruption. It is typically generated by a catastrophic event.

*It is important to analyze famines’ impact over societies and the environment. Obviously there is a great disruption over the social structure of the community. Food becomes the main asset and its acquisition the final goal. The power if for whom has the control over the limited food supply.

The environment is harmed by the reaction of the population against the famine. People start to slaughter their livestock and grains and, instead of rationalized it, they finished up the remaining food supply.


Now that we know what’s the roll with this terms we can analyze the situation and present the actual management of the issues.

ACTUAL SCENARIO
We have already discuss the possible causes of this unequal food distribution in a previous blog entry. Let’s extended this explanation.

Our food supply is generated in both terrestrial and aquatic systems.

From the terrestrial systems we get grains and other crops, and livestock. Most of the world population’s diet is based upon wheat, rice and corn. As the income of certain sectors of the population increases, more meat and livestock's derivate products, such as milk and cheese, are consumed.

Aquatic systems generate food supply based on fish and shellfish.

It depends on the resources of each community or country which is its main source of food. But these three are the BIG THREE of food supply.

Now, the roll must go back a little bit. By talkin’ about the terrestrial systems of food production, we must take into account the different agricultural techniques that are being used…

miércoles, 11 de agosto de 2010

Matter keeps rolling...

Inside the ECOSYSTEMS we find some cool features. Now we'll work with each of the elements that form them.

Living organisms are presented in every ecosystem. They have seven main characteristics:

1. They have/are cells
2. They reproduce
3. Grow and develop (die)
4. Absorb and use energy and materials
5. Maintain homeostasis
6. Respond stimuli
7. They're organized

There are thousands and thousands of organisms around the world. They're classified with different schemes or keys.

Organisms within an ecosystem can be recognized as producers, consumers, and decomposers by the way they obtain matter and energy. This division brings on the trophic levels.

Energy and matter flows through these trophic levels. As it had been told, energy is not completely transfered between levels 'cause some of it is used by each organisms.

Each organism found within an ecosystem is called an individual. Individuals that share similar characteristics and can reproduce between them form can be identify as a specie. A group of organisms of the same specie form and population. When populations are found together in a given area and interact between them they form a community.