The Relationship Between Humans and the Environment Essay

Traditional farming, as we know it today, has been around for between 7 – 10 thousand years. Firestick Farming was invented by the Indigenous / Aboriginal people of Australia tens of thousands of years before the traditional farming of today. Firestick Farming is the burning of small, manageable patches of land to change it for the good of the people using the land. Fires were lit during the early dry season, so that they would not burn out of control. Indigenous people burned away the undergrowth in forests and bushland areas. This helped seed germination in some plants, it helped create more grasslands which attracted many grass-eating mammals to hunt, it helped rejuvenate useful plants and animals, and prevented big uncontrolled fires.

Fire has long been understood to have an impact on the ecosystem of our native woodlands, but it is only recently that we have come to understand its importance in maintaining the ecosystem. This report takes samples of the flora structure and growth in two different areas of Anstey Hill Recreation Park. The first was last burnt in 1995, and the second burnt in 2012. The results of these samples can be compared to data sampled in 2011, when the 2012 burnt area had not been burnt since Ash Wednesday in 1983.

Environmental scanning can be viewed as a way of acquiring information about outside events that can aid organizations in first identifying potential trends, then interpreting them

The origins of controlled fire go back to the Paleolithic Period, by early humans some of the evidence takes us all the way back to East Africa. The use of controlled fire was a big and important development for these early humans, this tool could be handled in so many ways not only provided them food but also shelter, and protection.

The time of the Old Stone Age, which endured from approximately 2.6 million years ago to about 12 thousand years ago.

An increase in elevation sees an abrupt change in vegetation structure and composition, occupied by low growing sub-alpine woodland dominated by snow gums and treeless valleys (Figure 1). Barker (1998) found that post-fire, the woodland consisted of regrowth from lignotubers. However, if fire intensity is too severe, these lignotubers will be destroyed, severely impacting on the regeneration process and vegetation structure (Barker 1998). Such conditions will burn vegetative cover, removing or damaging the vegetation enough that the above ground parts die shortly after the fire event. In seasonal, low intensity fires, woodlands burn slowly, where the above part of the tree survive and the bark at the base of the trunk is damaged due to the

Fire and agriculture were also introduced into the argument. With the discovery of fire, it gave humans power over the landscape. Example, Fire is used to clear landscape such as a forest which will be used for agriculture purposes. Humans activities had a hand in changing earth’s systems, especially agriculture. Another

Wildfire and prescribed burns have a variety of impacts on wildlife and habitats, both direct and indirect (Wasserman 2015). Direct effects include fatality, emigration out of burned areas, immigration into new areas. Indirect effects is changes in vegetative structure, diversity, species composition, and other components of their habitat. Species responses to wildfire depends on these direct and indirect effects of fire and how fire regimes and fire severity impacted the landscape (Fulé et al. 2003, Reynolds et al. 2013). Herbivores, such as elk, deer, and bighorn sheep, respond in post-fire wilderness due to the open dense canopies that allow an increase in understory plants that herbivores feed on (Bailey and Whittam 2002). For example, elk prefer forage quality that provide their required calorie intake to allow them to successfully produce milk. During early succession, mid-succession, and late succession of post fire habitat, forage quality is at its highest during early succession stages in both mesic and xeric sites (Swanson et al. 2011). This suggest that herbivores, like elk, would utilize these early succession post fire areas. Carnivores and mesocarnivores respond to post-fire changes as well. Male american black bears and grizzly bears used burned sites increasing their home range post-fire. Canids, such as the coyote, use both burned and unburned areas due to food availability (Cunningham et al 2002). The Mount Washburn sites are in landscapes that experienced high severity fires and have an abundance of whitebark pine deadfall in the area. This overabundance of deadfall might detter larger herbivores and carnivores decreasing wildlife species diversity. Wildlife species diversity is an intuitive way to determine an ecosystem’s health and status (Edwards and Abivardi 1998). Wildlife species diversity boosts ecosystem productivity due to diversification

al, 2007). The human’s utilization of this open grass landscape might have likely been the precursor for human’s use of fire; after the opens grass savannas began to expand, we see homo erectus and bipedal movement which has been suggested to be the first time humans used controlled fire (Wrangham et al., 1999). After humans began to control fire they have influenced fire in varying levels, from negligible effects to altering natural fire regimens and ecosystems (Bowman et al., 2011). Native people all over the world have since used fire as a tool, for example, in Australia the Aboriginal’s method of lighting spinifex grasses on oyster beds to coax them to open as a quick and energy efficient way to gather food (Koji, personal communication, May 2012). Here in America, Native Americans also used this command of fire to exploit the land and increase productivity of hunting and gathering, among other uses (Boyd, 1999). In the early 1900’s, the Forest Service decided to make fire control a priority and thus began the public and agency trend of fire suppression which greatly altered the historical ecological course of many ecosystems (Van Lear and Harlow,

I believe that the ways human beings behave can affect the environment in good and bad ways. The environment is a reflection of us and we are a reflection of the environment. Since everything is interconnected, it is a given that if there is something abnormal going on in the environment then it is because we are not doing things in harmony with the ecosystem. For example, Living in an urban setting like a city is very different than living in a suburban setting or rural setting. I believe the air quality is much different compared to both because there are factories and industrial companies in the urban environment and much more trees in the suburban/rural setting; In the major cities in the U.S for example, we can make that distinction. In

Human Impact on the Environment I. Human Population and Industrialization A. By-products of industrialization 1. Industrialization is driven by energy consumption from coal, petroleum, and natural gas a. Fossil fuels were formed by decomposition and pressure on remains of plants and animals millions of years ago b. Oil is the fuel most widely used, both as starting material for making gasoline and for other products 2. Pollution is any environmental change that adversely affects the lives and health of living things a.

According to Auid and Denham (2006), burning is believed to be useful in removing parasitic insects from grassland and also to prevent the encroachment of undesirable invasive species. In the developing countries, fire is used as the major tool in clearing of land for agricultural purposes or shifting cultivation method. It has been listed as a major threatening process for biodiversity (Robinson et al., 2003) According to Rowe et al., (1992), if it is well applied and controlled, it can be a useful tool in agricultural and forest management but if abused it can be a major cause of deforestation but its Frequent usage has been generally considered to be of negative effects on biodiversity (Trainor and Woinarski, 1994; Bradstock et al., 1997). Preece (1989) stated that the intensity and duration of fire, the pre- fire condition of the biota, the period since the last fire occur and the pre- and postweather especially rainfall which influences soil moisture are all factors that determine that rate of a particular fire on an individual species. Akinsoji (2013), recorded highest diversity index

Ways in which humans had affected the environment in my area was by dumping drums containing paints and burying paint thinners and many other solvents into the landfill which worsened the grounds and soils of the area. The conditions though in this environment are under control and do not show any high signs of exposures to humans or creatures, meaning they have a low risk of being affected. The only actual organisms that were harmed but only in small portions included shrubs and trees in the wetlands. The site came to be polluted because of the groundwaters underneath the site, which had been contaminated by pollutants leaching from the landfills. Some ways in which we have been attempting to correct this problem was by selecting modified

In the start of the 21st century, human beings have made a huge impact on the global ecosystem. Many people believe that the Anthropogenic epoch has been caused by all humans, while there is the conflicting idea that it is only because of some people. There have been several claims and evidence used with sources that concur and sources that conflict. The use of “Geology of mankind,” by Paul Crutzen, Wild Ones by Jon Mooallem, “The Anthropogenic: Are Humans Now Overwhelming the Great Forces of Nature?” by Steffen et al, “The Anthropogenic Review” by Malm and Hornborg, and the National Museum of Natural History are all used to address these claims and evidence. There is no conclusion of who is responsible for the Epoch, but it is debated. Also, there is no conclusion on how to save the animals in danger. If they are saved, then they would no longer be the animals that were before.

I am writing this paper to say that I will explain how the factors produced urbanization and changing the population size to the birth rate and the death rate as well as identify three benefits and three challenges of urbanization that provide the current or the historical event of each example of each of the benefits of the challenges. And explain to my reader whether I believe the benefits outweigh the challenges, or vice versa.