Man and Nature: Past, Present and Future (NWIMB023C)
Institution
Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen (RU)
This is a summary of all the lectures for Man and Nature: Past, Present and Future (second year Radboud). I obtained a grade of 7.7 for the exam using these notes.
Man and Nature: Past, Present and Future (NWIMB023C)
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Man and nature: present, past and future
Definition of nature by the Council of Nature Conservation:
“Anything that organizes and maintains itself, whether or not in connection with human activity
but not according to human objectives”
Landscape:
1. The whole of geological, biological/ecological and cultural-historical elements that constitute
a higher order entity in a given area and are visible in a single observation
2. Complex of relationship systems together constituting a recognizable part of the (terrestrial)
earth surface, made and maintained by interactions of living and non-living nature, including
humans
What is nature management:
• Internal vs external management
• Regular management <-> recovery management <-> nature development <-> rewilding
• Mitigating measures vs compensating measures
• Species based management vs system based management
Which natural values are at stake
• Species and ecosystems which are intensively exploited
• Species and ecosystems which are confronted with circumstances they are not adapted
to
What are the ultimate causes
• Enhanced agricultural engineering
• Industrialization
• Increase world population
• Enforced economic market mechanisms
• Globalization
Acidification
• Main causes: NOx (HNO3), SO2 (H2SO4) (form strong acids) and NHx (donates H)
• Sources: agriculture, infrastructure, households and industry
• Overall declining trend in acidic deposition, but not yet below allowed maximum
• Acidification of ponds and fens leads to habitat loss for amphibians
• Some flora and fauna are positively affected by acidification of the environment (soil)
Eutrophication
• Excessive amounts of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) in the water resulting in
increased algae growth, blocking the sunlight leading to a decrease in photosynthesis →
death plants and algae → broken down by bacteria → decrease oxygen levels in the
water → death
, • Algae toxic, disagreeable odours and skin irritation
• Mainly in lakes and streams, but affect also in seas due to water flow
• Sources: manure, fertilizer, waste/sewage, detergents containing phosphate, topsoil
erosion
• Emission correlated with precipitation leading to higher levels of eutrophication in wet
years
• Nitrogen: saltwater
• Phosphorus: freshwater
• Phosphorus and chlorophyll a have decreased in lakes increasing transparency, however
nitrogen is now quite stable. Stable concentrations of phosphorus and algae since 2007
• Target levels not yet reached
Desiccation
• Removal or loss of moisture/dehydration
• Amount of available good ground water is insufficient to grand the natural values
belonging to that area
• Caused by insufficient precipitation and high evaporation (climate change), increased
water use and improper selection of vegetation types. A too high number of trees may
also increase it!
• The Netherlands: agriculture, drinking water, industrial use, irrigation, increase in
impervious surfaces (forestation)
• Effects on flora: dehydration stress – metabolic stress and damage
• Some desiccation tolerant plants: can withstand drought - can rehydrate and still
function
• Dunes dry out decreasing both flora and fauna (decreased habitat)
• Food and water supplies are threatened, osmotic stress (increased salt concentration)
• Require desiccation resistance: eg. Aquatic insects use tracheae to retain water
• Especially butterflies and dragonflies affected: need a moist habitat
Pollution
• Contaminants negatively affect the environment
• Water pollution: emission, sewage, pharmaceuticals, oil spills and drinking water →
negative effects on water fauna: toxicity, change behaviour and reproductive success
(oestrogen from birth control)
• Land pollution: agriculture, industrialization, landfills, toxins: will increase in the future
as the world population will grow (increase use pesticides) → death/dysfunctional food
chain (especially organisms at the bottom of the food chain exposed), also humans are
affected (illness)
• Light pollution: reflection of artificial light into the sky → humans: disruption of sleeping
pattern and impact on mental health. Fauna: desynchronizing of internal clock, distorted
predator-prey relations and migratory patterns change
Fragmentation
, • Division of large continuous habitats into small isolated habitats
• Caused by infrastructure and agricultural developments
• Effects: ecological barriers, decrease habitat space, decrease biodiversity, isolation of
populations, smaller populations, reduced reproductive success, increased chance of
inbreeding and lack of pollination
• Mitigation: fauna pathways, eg. Eco-duct and tunnels
• MJPO: multi-year habitat defragmentation programme: removal of ecological barriers
Climate change
• CO2 levels have never been this high
• Causes: industrial revolution, burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, agriculture
(methane) and cement
• Also, natural cycle!
• → Greenhouse effect
• Effects on flora: beneficial for crop yields within a limit as the growth season has
lengthened; however, risen to such an extent that it has a negative impact (less water
availability)
• Fauna: fires, death animals, dysfunctional food chain, mass extinction of artic animals
• Temperature in the Netherlands rising twice as fast as the global average (1.7 Celsius)
and increase in heavy precipitation = both drier and wetter places
Gathering and interpreting data
• Administrative borders are too broad/general → selected measurement sites
• UTM technique: dots for location of a species
• RD coordinates: dots, but using grids → basis of species distribution
• Amersfoort: 0 degrees, but later changed to a graph like manner
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