Chapter 3: Ecosystems3. This article deals with a global environmental issue.
4. Human activities have drastically changed the amount of nitrogen in our ecosystem. Human activities such as burning of fossil fuels and producing industrial and agricultural products. Extra nitrogen that is released into the atmosphere by humans pollute fresh waters and coastal zones, and contribute to climate change. The nitrogen cycle takes non-usable forms of nitrogen and converts them into usable forms such as nitrates during nitrogen fixation. The cycle is mediated by various bacterias in the soil. "No phenomenon has probably impacted the nitrogen cycle more than human inputs of nitrogen into the cycle in the last 2.5 billion years." The main reason there is an excess of nitrogen is because fertilizers are used incorrectly and about 60% of the nitrogen is leached through the soil and goes into water sources. In the water, when there is too much nitrogen eutrophication occurs. Eutrophication is when algae is stimulated to grow on top of the water and take up oxygen which will lead to the death of many aquatic organisms. To help reverse the amount of nitrogen we can use crop rotations that would supply nitrogen instead of fertilizers and in general stop using such a big amount of fertilizers and burning too much fossil fuels.
5. This article talks about what we have been learning recently in class, about the nitrogen cycle and the human impacts we have on the amount of nitrogen in our ecosystems. Human overpopulation is the main reason for this issue, and also many other issues. Although we cannot control how much our population grows we can control how we plant and maintain crops. Instead of using harmful fertilizers we can plant legumes and rotate our crops which seems to be a simple task. If each person took the necessary steps we could eliminate this problem.
6. anthropogenic(adj)- caused or produced by humans.
Perfect article for this unit!
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