Environmental Changes

Environmental Changes

Environmental Science

Introduction

The environmental changes in the Glacier Bay in the state of Alaska are mainly influenced by abiotic components. Biotic components are those that originate from the activities of living things while the abiotic changes originate from the non living things example climatic changes. We focus on two cases where in the first case environmental changes are caused by abiotic components which are the Glacier Bay in Alaska and the second case is abandoned land in North Carolina.

Glacier Bay:

This is t where the landscape of the Glacier Bay in Alaska begins changing as a result of abiotic activities. Initially the land was covered by ice which not only covered the high levels but also low lands. As changes continued due to the movement of ice some of the high levels were left bare while others were filled with ice.

Environmental Changes

All the ice deposits itself in the lower regions as it flowed from the high regions to the lowlands. As the ice flowed it caries with it rocks and other sediments which will also be deposited in the lowlands. The area initially covered by these rocks was eroded leading to movement of substances from one region to another.

After some times the ice movements reduced and some areas were left bare but with high levels of sediments, the deposits by the ice made the area to be highly fertile and within a very short period of time there was an increase in organisms, this included the growth of mosses, then after some time shrub trees and then an increase in the plants and living organism in the area.

The eroded areas were left bare and areas that were currently covered by ice were now covered by rocks, the high temperatures during the day and very low temperatures during the night led to an increase in weathering rate of the rocks, this led to increased breaking down of these rocks into smaller particles, due to this the fertility of the low land areas increased as these particles traveled to the low land areas via ice movements and also as being brown by wind to different areas.

North Carolina region:

This is an area that was initially utilized by man for production purposes, before utilization there was destruction of existing vegetation to give way for farming activities; the first step was to clear the land that would give way to farming. Clearing of land led to instability in the eco system of the area where there was a reduction in vegetation cover and biodiversity of the area was lost.

Environmental Changes

The use of fertilizers and other chemicals to enhance crop production also degraded the environment. Biotic processes which are associated with human activities, the use of chemicals to increase productivity and also clearing of unwanted vegetation cover leads to instability in the ecosystem, however according to the picture the area is abandoned after years of use.

Nature will adjust over time to achieve equilibrium, the land was abandoned and after some years some plants start to grow and over time the whole area is completely covered by vegetation and palm trees, this shows that nature will self adjust if human do not interfere with activities.

Discussion:

From the above discussion it is clear that the first case there are environmental activities that occur due to ice movement, for this reason these is an abiotic source of environment changes, however in the second case the changes in the environment are first caused by human and then by nature, humans cause instability in the ecosystem but after abandoning the land the area self adjust to achieve equilibrium.

From the above cases there it is clear that nature will also self adjust if left undisturbed by human activities, in the case of ice melt we find that ice flows and deposits nutrients into the low lands where after the ice flow stops plants start emerging, in the other case man clears vegetation cover in order to farm the land but abandons the land and after some years there is a slow growth in vegetation cover.

Environmental Changes

Conclusion

From the above cases it is evident that the environment will also act to restore stability in the ecosystem, both cases show that if the environment is left undisturbed then equilibrium will be restored, existing problems such as global warming caused by increased carbon emissions can be resolved if human activities stop increasing the carbon levels, however this can only be achieved through collective measures by existing governments and citizens.

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