Light pollution describes the addition of excessive, prolonged, or poorly designed artificial light to the natural world. As a consequence of an increasingly industrialized world, light pollution has increased dramatically over the past decades as more people have gained greater access to electricity. Behavioral disruption is perhaps the most well-known consequence of increased light pollution—consider …
Soil pollution occurs when the soil encounters foreign chemicals and other pollutants. This type of pollution is often associated with industrial activities that extract agricultural and land resources, runoff, pesticide use, oil spills, acid rain, improper sewage treatment, and improper waste disposal. People and wildlife can therefore become ill through direct contact with contaminated soils, …
Air pollution by hydrocarbons often manifests itself in the form of photochemical smog. Hanging like a thick cloud over industrial areas, people sometimes confuse it with natural mist in the early morning. In the past, people and industries believed that the atmosphere was so vast that it contained gases or particles released into the air, …
Water pollution, the accidental or intentional dumping of pesticides; herbicides; oil products; fertilizers; sewage; industrial waste; detergents; and other foreign chemicals and objects into aquatic environments is arguably the biggest current pollution concern. Biomagnification The dumping of products containing heavy metals into aquatic environments is particularly concerning because heavy metals are toxic even in small …
The Definition of Water Pollution; Water pollution effects and causes Read More »
Pollution does not always lead to immediate mortality but instead can have sublethal impacts that compromise organisms’ fitness over time, with population declines as the end result. Many pollutants take many years to biodegrade and thus continue to pose a threat to wildlife and humans long after entering the environment. Rachel Carson’s 1962 book Silent …
Generalist species with high genetic diversity and rapid reproduction are likely to benefit from climate change. Many species that exhibit these characteristics are carriers of agricultural pests and diseases. To be clear, not all species will suffer equally from climate change. Indeed, there are species that will be resilient and others that will even benefit …
Climate change interacts with habitat loss, by impeding species’ ability to adapt, and by bringing dispersing wildlife into conflict with humans. Habitat loss and climate change each cause negative impacts on biodiversity; however, these threats also interact to have an overall larger negative impact than the sum of these threats independently. Prominently, because of habitat …
Climate change is causing sea-level rise and increased seawater temperatures, with broad implications for marine ecology and people living in coastal areas. Like rainforests, the world’s oceans have historically provided a relatively stable environment in which marine organisms have evolved. While this stability promotes species diversity, it also makes marine species more vulnerable to environmental …
Climate change will alter water temperature, volume, and flow variability, the three main predictors of freshwater ecosystem composition. With Africa’s freshwater ecosystems already strained by the demands of a growing human population, freshwater biodiversity will face many additional stressors associated with climate change, which are expected to significantly affect the composition and functioning of freshwater …
One may think that reptiles—often seen basking on sun-drenched rocks to obtain active body temperatures—may benefit from climate change. Yet, as a group, they are also expected to suffer under climate change. One reason is because many reptiles will also have to adapt their ranges to shifting climates. Even more important, climate change will increase …
