Are expanding forests here to stay?

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8AJACr1PMMJwXwprEwln8mraMGEXoz-lE864VRP1MpzuUCRyZO8pwOlU-nvmcIC84w5EKJeq-qIIqc7AaO6UDQ7LTjW0obl6vY5fUoCDXASo1OCEyQwHe1_9vpT5Z8ef1JrLMCbMJbiie/s1600/f-temperate.jpg

Over the past century, there has been a drastic increase in the logging industry. This increase has resulted in many forests being completely demolished in order to harvest the logs for buildings and commercial projects, as well as for allowing for more land that can be used for agriculture. However, on March 23, 2011 there was a very interesting story published on the Environmental News Network that shows forests in the Northern Latitudes are actually expanding. The Northern Latitudes include North America, Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus. In the past 20 years, it has been determined that these forests have grown by 25 million hectares. To put that into perspective, a hectare is just shy of two football fields in size. One of the main reasons why researchers have seen this increase in forests is due largely to the conservation efforts of the surrounding countries. There has been more land dedicated back to forests, and they have been properly taken care for and maintained.

http://www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/42501

This is such an important issue because these forests play a huge role in the daily carbon cycle of our world. These trees act as a repository for carbon dioxide, which helps to improve the air quality. With the increase in forest size, there is an increase in the number of trees that take part converting the carbon dioxide to oxygen. There is however, one issue standing in the way of these forests, and that is climate change. Researchers have warned that due to the increasing variability of the climate, the trees may not see this positive growth in the future. An example is that the mountain pine beetle in North America has devastated over 11 million hectares of forest since the 1990’s due to the warmer climate in the winters.

This topic relates to almost everything we have been talking about in class. Ecology is the study of how the environment and organisms interact with each other. This article is a study of how climate change has drastically affected forests all over the world. The climate change has allowed species like the mountain pine beetle to thrive in the forest while devastating it at the same time. In on of the case studies, we looked at how the introduction of a jelly fish to the Black Sea allowed it to thrive but, devastated the rest of the environment around it. The environment is affecting how the forests grow or shrink around the world, and the forests are affecting the environment by being a major player in the respiratory system.

http://www.permaculture.org.au/images/rain_forest.jpg

This is a very important issue that the world needs to take seriously. The forests have grown by 25 million hectares in the last 20 years but, due to the increasing climate change, one mountain pine beetle can destroy over 11 million hectares in 20 years. There have been some major strides taken to improve the forest with World Forest Day, and more forest conservation but, there are so many other things that can be done to help. The World Future Council is trying to help sponsor the International Policy Award for Visionary Forest Policies in order to increase the number of expanding forests. I believe that people need to become more aware of the environment changing around them and really look at the drastic changes that are happening. We have made a lot of progress helping the forests that we have destroyed re-grow, and now we may loose them again. I don’t have a solution to help these forests but, I do think that increasing the amount of policies that help protect them and increasing research will drastically help. Anyone that has ever been to a forest knows its beauty and significance to the world, we can not loose anymore of them. The forests must be protected from further destruction and deterioration.

Source: Environmental News Network, March 23, 2011

http://www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/42501

Where's the Fish?

Fish are a critical part of the human diet because they have a great deal of protein. However you might have realized that the amount of fish in fisheries across the world has been on a steady decline. Currently there are about 80 million metric tons of fish made availible across the world per year. According to http://www.wri.org/publication/content/8385. This might seem like a very large number to the point of there being plenty of fish to eat but it is not. In reality this has been on a slow decline over the past few years while the global population has been on the steady incline. So with one going upward and the other going down eventually there will be a shortage of fish to eat. This shprtage would affect the developing weak countries before it will bother any established one because the weaker countries need the fish in the ocean to survive while the stronger ones have many other options to eat and get their protein.

This relates to our course because we had an entire case study on how the Atlantic Cod is being overfished and run to extinction. To control this they put on a limit on the size of the fish they can keep along with the amount of fish each boat can catch over a set period of time. In the long run limiting the number of fish they can catch will help repopulate the Atlantic Cod population it is also limiting the number of fish that can be eaten by the humans on this planet.

My view on this subject is that people just need to be smarter in how they live. For example 80 million metric tons of fish are made available each year but i doubt that every last fish is eaten. I feel like there are a lot of people over buying fish when they go to the store. This causes the fishermen to try to catch more fish because in business you never want to run out of your product. So by people buying more than they will eat it forces the companies to catch more fish than they want to catch. And that is the cause of overfishing across the world.

Andrew Whyte

Endangered

The extinction vortex of a species can best be defined as a pattern in which a population falls below a certain size just may decreased even more in size and eventually ends in wiping out the entire species. This is the path that endangered North Atlantic Right Whale's will be heading if researchers cannot figure out what exactly is going on with the mothers. To date, there are only about 300 whales left as a result of the high mortality rates that are faced by almost all of its female population. The declination of mothers is a very serious issue, if all mothers were to die out, it will only be a matter of time until the rest of the surviving members of the species do so as well. Through studies and research, the species is expected to become extinct within about the next 200 years unless prevention measures can be discovered and acted out. Scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution narrowed down the causes of death in the population to: (1) entanglement in fishing gear; (2) ship collisions; and (3) limited food sources due to climate change. If changes within fishing systems, locations and a limit on what kinds of fish and how many are caught were to be enforced, it can make a considerable difference. These will make it possible to protect the North Atlantic Right whales from extinction or at least stabilize the current population. It is still unsure why female whales are dying in such ways. Some researchers have said that after giving birth, they reside in shallow waters where it is very likely that they come in contact with a ship or fisherman and do not realize what exactly it is or what they are doing until the last minute. This endangered species deserves to live just as much as every other species. We need to step up and work to fix these issues, for it seems the whales cannot do it on their own.

Ecology is the study of the interactions between organisms and the environment in which they live in. Organisms come in all shapes and sizes, as well as with different backgrounds. The North Atlantic Right whales are organisms that fall under the category of an endangered species. This is a very serious topic for researchers work to figure out what exactly is causing populations of species that were once abundant and flourishing to decline at rapid rates. So far, it has been discovered that part of the reason as to why these whales are lowering in numbers is that they have been colliding with humans. If humans were not around in the areas in which the whales inhabit, it's said that they would not be suffering such a drastic loss. They would not be on the endangered species list and they would be multiplying and surviving, rather than reproducing, and the mother dying off a short time later.

This is such a sad issue that I'm pretty interested in. I find it fascinating that a species that at one time had a surplus of individuals and decades later, they are dying off. It's almost a mystery. The problem is species falling under the category of being endangered and we need to figure out why this is happening. It's sad that because of human interactions with the environment that we are causing the lives of sea creatures to come to an end. I believe that we need to become more vocal and be strict about where and when fisherman can be with their ships and gear, for if it weren't for their activities, these whales would not be in such a dilemma.