Rj's BIO BLOG

Many scientists consider humans as the most invasive species, humans can greatly change and environment and impact the living things that reside there. Are we being stewards of the world? Take a look at an issue in which human intervention has positively or negatively affected the biodiversity of our ecosystems?

As humans we are the most invasive, and destructive species on this planet, and this is solely because we are at the top of the food chain, and when your on top you can't help but beat up and laugh at everyone under you right? All organisms on this planet depend on resources to maintain their existence. As the population rises, the dependency on these resources increase, this consumption of resources; greatly impacts the environment. As humans, we depend on the various resources this planet has to offer, and sometimes we manipulate the environment to help meet our needs. The destruction of forests and the extinctions of various animals can all be attributed to man's need to survive. I read somewhere, that it would take a planet twice the size as earth to provide the same type of standard living we find here in the west.

we took his habitat, now we're taking his bucket.

I saw that a lot of people picked issues that negatively impacted biodiversity; so I decided to find one where our species have had a positive effect on the ecosystem by our intervention. We as humans have seen our impact on ecosystems and have begun changing. There are thousands of wildlife reserves around the world used to preserve the various wildlife, and unique geological features in the land. There are over 200 national nature reserves in the United kingdom, spanning a total area of 879 square kilometeres, nearly every rural county has one. In Egypt, there are 27 nature reserves, representing 12% of the land; used to protect the natural resources, culture and history of the area, Egypt is planning on building another 40 nature reserves from 1997-2017. Germany has an outstanding 5,314 nature reserves scattered around the country coveringa total of 6,845 square kilometres. And lastly, the U.S has the National Wildlife Refuge, used to "to manage a national network of lands and waters for the conservation, management, and where appropriate, restoration of fish, wildlife and plant resources and their habitat." The total amount of land being protected by them is a staggering 388,385 square kilometres. Countries like South Africa, Poland, Russia and New Zealand also contain nature reserves, and soon more countries could follow. The preservation of these various lands, has helped preserve the biodiversity of these ecosystems from human intervention.

Nature Reserves: the perfect screensaver.

THIS IS POSSIBLE.

But it would be awesome.