Week 5 - Conservation, Biotic and Abiotic, Studying the Environment, and Ecological Footprint

Within Alberta Environment we can find two departments that look after the management of our forests and our wildlife. These departments have many ongoing studies of Alberta's ecosystems. Let's look at their study on bear feeding behaviour.

Billions and billions of pieces of data must be fed into super computers daily to make daily and five forecasts. We just don't have all the information (data) about how the atmosphere or any other global system works. Scientists have created computer models so that they can test their theories. But these models aren't perfect because we don't know everything about these systems. As we collect more information about the biotic and abiotic systems on earth we can create better models. To give you a better idea about how complicated these global systems can be let's look at some of the investigations around the world.

NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in the United States looks after, and does research on the atmosphere and anything in, on or over the oceans around the United States. They have a very interesting web site you can explore. It is very difficult and expensive to study ocean ecosystems, especially those in really deep water.

Studying the Oceans can be Costly and Very Dangerous

Water covers over two thirds of the Earth and until the last fifty years we weren't able to investigate in very well. The development of scuba gear, deep submersibles like the submarine Alvin, and robotic explorers now allow us to probe some parts of the ocean.

But below two hundred feet, there is no light, so exploring the ocean is like exploring the Grand Canyon with a flashlight in the middle of the night. At those deep depths many organisms communicate with light and sound. High adventure still awaits anyone that wants to study the Earth's oceans.

The Unseen World of Microorganisms May Well Control Most Ecosystems on Earth!

There is yet another unseen world that awaits more scientists. Scientists are discovering that ecosystems maybe held together by the activities of microorganisms. Thousands of scientists worldwide are probing into what goes on inside a living cell. Many cell activities are still unclear to scientists.

You may have overheard adults talking about how the weather seems so strange. For example, meteorologists, scientists who study the weather, say that Alberta's weather for January 2001, is the warmest on record. On the east coast of Canada they suffered through the largest snow fall on record. In other areas in the world they are suffering droughts, floods and even larger than normal hurricanes. Most meteorologists agree the world is getting warmer but they can't agree what is causing it. We just don't have enough data (information).

Have you ever got into a car that has been sitting out in the sun with the windows closed? If you have, you would have noticed that it was much warmer than the outside temperature. This warming is caused by a natural action called the greenhouse effect.

Take a few minutes now to watch the animated explanation of the greenhouse effect and then read the article on the greenhouse effect.

Click THIS to watch the video.

Click THIS to view the article.

Click on the link below to learn more about the greenhouse effect.

They're both right! Small amounts of greenhouse gases have kept the Earth warm enough for life to flourish. But as we put more of these greenhouse gases into the atmosphere more and more heat is being trapped.

To learn more about Global Warming and Global Climate Change  click on this website and then go on to the activity and answer in the exercise below.

Conclusion

All these activities cost a great deal of money. But if we don't do the research, we will never be able to really understand how our Earthly home works.

As you can see, we still have much to learn about the world around us. Meanwhile, we are still dramatically changing these ecosystems faster than we can study them. For most ecosystems, we don't even understand what sustainability means. To be on the safe side, we need to put less stress and wear and tear on these systems. How do we do that? What's what the next lesson is all about.

As you can guess, our footprint is much too large and we all must reduce our footprint if we are to create a sustainable balance with the Earth's ecosystems.

Calculating Your Family's Ecological Footprint. Complete the calculation activity on the web site and record your metric footprint size.

The easiest method is to judge everything you do, and purchase, by the 3 R's.

Read the article: 'What do the 3Rs Mean?', and answer the questions below.