Global Map of Human Impact on Marine Ecosystems. Key observations- Nearly all the worlds Oceans are affected by human influence High levels of impact around developed countries due to fishing, nutrient run off and general waste pumping. The only areas with low impact are in the poles of the Earth Concerns- Impacts on ocean communities are more concerning because the organisms are surrounded by the medium meaning it’s harder for them to escape Ocean productivity is concentrated in small areas of the world meaning that these small areas are especially susceptible to changes due to their small size  As the CO2 concentrations increases the amount of carbon going into the oceans increases which has been suggested will affect the food chain and ecosystems If you’re interested the paper can be found here
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Global Map of Human Impact on Marine Ecosystems.

Key observations-

  • Nearly all the worlds Oceans are affected by human influence
  • High levels of impact around developed countries due to fishing, nutrient run off and general waste pumping.
  • The only areas with low impact are in the poles of the Earth

Concerns-

  • Impacts on ocean communities are more concerning because the organisms are surrounded by the medium meaning it’s harder for them to escape
  • Ocean productivity is concentrated in small areas of the world meaning that these small areas are especially susceptible to changes due to their small size 
  • As the CO2 concentrations increases the amount of carbon going into the oceans increases which has been suggested will affect the food chain and ecosystems

If you’re interested the paper can be found here

The Decade of Diversity

You may not know it but we are actually living in the Decade of Diversity.  What this means is that over the coming years from 2011-2020 the strategic plan for biodiversity is being implemented. This working across sectors from businesses to NGO’s to communities to work to save biodiversity (variety of life) in plants & animals.

Diversity is important for everyone for these reasons:

Ecosystem services. To quantify it can provide us with food, fibre, pollution control, water filtration, flooding barriers, tourism income and lots more.

Loss of functioning. Biodiversity is essential for ecoystems to function if we lost all the pollinators all the flowering plants would struggle to reproduce and our future is quite dependent on plants to survive. 

Intrinsic Value. Because its pretty & it makes the earth interesting have a peek

So diversity in plants and animals is so so so important for everyone if you want to get invovled in saving species or want to know more right here.

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