​5 Human impacts on the environment

Humans interact and impact the environment in different ways. We will look at pollution, deforestation, global warming, overpopulation, and invasive species.

Cut out the five rectangles and fold them so the vocabulary word on the back faces up. Glue them to the inside of the new folder.​

Humans are a part of the biosphere. We use resources to meet our basic needs for things like food, water, and shelter.

The human population is growing so the demand for food is growing. This need for food forces farmers to clear land for crops and livestock. How does this impact the environment?

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​Humans interact and impact our ecosystem

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The need for food and shelter changes the size of habitats, the quality of resources in a habitat, and the structure or connections between the biotic and abiotic parts.

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​What effect do humans have on the environment?​

Many of the world's grasslands, forests and wetlands are destroyed daily by humans and replaced by farmlands, factories, and neighborhoods. Because of this habitats are decreasing in size which means food, space, protection and shelter resources decrease.

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​What are the results of human actions?

A community is made up of all the populations that live together in the same place. Plants and animals form food chains and food webs. They are interdependent. When humans disturb habitats, the size and amount of resources is affected.

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​Interdependency...

Populations can increase or they can decrease because of human activities.

When man-made fertilizers are added to the water, the amount of algae increases. This causes water plants to die because there isn't enough oxygen. They may even become extinct.​

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​What happens to populations because of humans?

The Amazon Rainforest​

​Deforestation

Let's look at some of these...​

​Resource renewal is when humans protect a species of plant or animal. Seeds can be collected and saved.

Re​​source renewal

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​Habitat management is the protection of plant and animal habitats. This includes setting up national parks.

Habitat management

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​Pollution management involves reducing and cleaning up pollution. This is expected to be one of the fastest growing industries. Everyone can participate in reducing waste and pollution.

​​Pollution management

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​Species monitoring involves keeping a record of the number of different plants and animals in an area over a time.

Species monitoring

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​An invasive species is an organism that causes ecological or economic harm in a new environment where it is not native. What are some invasive species in Virginia?

​Invasive species in Virginia

Let's look at some of these...​