CoevolutionOver the ages, many species have become irremediably .docx
- 1. Coevolution Over the ages, many species have become irremediably linked. Whether in the context of an arms race or cooperation to conquer new ecosystems, they have no choice but to evolve together . According to Paul Ehrlich and Peter Raven, who introduced the term in 1964, "Coevolution is the evolution of two or more entities caused by the action between these entities of reciprocal selective factors. Organizations must therefore influence each other (Thompson, 1989). Coevolution relates to this week’s theme by the how natural selection affects the ecosystem. The book compares coevolution to an ecological arm race (Bensel & Turk, 2014). One example is a case of bats as stated in the book and their use of echolocation to be able to find insects. One insect that tries to outsmart it is a tiger moth which blocks out and jam’s the bats signal with a high frequency clicks and the bat fly’s erratically to confuse the moth. This is important in adaptation and of evolution of any new biological species. There are two kinds of interactions that happen that can lead to competitive coevolution. One interactions is predation in which one organism kills another organism. The second one is parasitism in which one organism benefits by damaging but not killing another organism. This term affects living things and the physical world because if we didn’t have the natural selection all our ecosystem who would be extinct including human beings. Many recent studies state that environmental changes have messed with the balance between interacting species and leading to their extinction. When we use the three models of coevolution such as competition, predation, mutualism in organizing and synthesizing ways to modify species interaction when there is climate change in favoring one species over another. Coevolution reduces the effects of climate change and leads to lowering chances in extinction. By getting an understanding of our nature of coevolution in how they interact with different
- 2. species and our communities interact and respond to the changing climate. We as human kind must take action and not let our natural system and ecosystem suffer because of our greed for economic growth (Cairns, 2007). We must also be careful of our matriac consumption and forget about ecological and sustainability ethics. (Cairns, 2007). Humans need to take action to better take care of our ecosystem and environment. Morowitz (1992) stated in this journal, “Sustained life is a property of an ecological system rather than a single organism or species.” There are no species that can exist without the ecological life support system even humans (Cairns, 2007). We need to put more effort in taking care of our environment by creating more organizations in getting our communities involved. In achieving sustainability they must guide through ecological and sustainability ethics. There are many challenges that will come but with achieving sustainable use of our planet our environment will be better for it. References Bensel, T., & Turk, J. (2014). Contemporary environmental issues (2nd ed.). Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu Cairns, J. (2007). Sustainable co-evolution. International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology,14(1), 103-108. doi:10.1080/13504500709469711 Thompson, J. N. (1989). Concepts of coevolution. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 4(6), 179- 183.
- 3. Week 3 Assignment Sustainable Living Guide Contributions, Part Three of Four: Sustaining Our Water Resources Term: Septic System A septic system is a sewage treatment solution for buildings that are not connected to a communal sewerage system (usually the sewer system ). We have an obligation to treat our wastewater. This is essential for the environment. The septic tank is a set of elements that can treat wastewater so that it can be recycled in nature and no longer pose a health hazard to the animal and human population or the environment. It is also important to know that wastewater includes black water and greywater. The greywater comes from toilets and greywater from the rest of the house (shower, kitchen, washing machine ...). The two kinds of water, greywater and greywater, are domestic waters. The septic tank treats these two types of water in a primary way, depending on whether it is an all-water pit or only for black water. All plumbers-heating engineers are not able to install it. In the septic tank, which is a kind of big tank, we recover the water to be treated. The size of the tank will be evaluated according to the number of inhabitants. This tank is also equipped with a grease trap that recovers water from the kitchen before it is poured into the tank. Then, a filtration system in place discharges the treated water into a sheet of sand using a network of pipes (Richards, Paterson, Withers & Stutter 2016). The way that septic systems affect living things is by poisoning rivers, lakes or the oceans with was that flows into them thus poisoning them putting life in danger. It was determine that over 230 instances of polluted water caused beach to close . In a (Withers, Jordan, May, Jarvie, & Deal, 2014).). This not only have an effect on human life, but tourism as well. These coastal regions depend on tourism as open beaches are seasonal and this is the time of increase tourism. Most septic systems have not
- 4. change in almost 70 years which challenge environmental sustainability (Yates, 1985). We have to develop new technologies to combat the inneficiencies that are caused by septic systems. We still have community that depends on septic systems instead of sewer system so the risk of overflow still exist. We can create environmental sustainability with a few actions. A better monitoring system of septic tank on routine basis is needed to be implemented. When septic tank are properly maintained in a regular basis they are an excellent way of managing waste system, when not properly manage they can create real environmental issues. Homeowners need to be educated on the pros and cons of having septic systems as well need to learn to plan accordingly for maintenance annually to avoid polluting groundwater. Pollution of groundwater can lead to public health issues. One other way to help promote environmental sustainability is to educate people on what materials should be disposed through the system. Product such as feminine product s, kitty litters, baby diapers and grease should not be disposed through the system due to the fact they will decrease the systems chances of effectiveness. This will help homeowners to take better care of the system and help their properties and keep the environment clean for all of us.
- 5. References Richards, S., Paterson, E., Withers, P. J., & Stutter, M. (2016). Septic tank discharges as multi- pollutant hotspots in catchments. Science of the Total Environment, 542, 854-863. Withers, P. J., Jordan, P., May, L., Jarvie, H. P., & Deal, N. E. (2014). Do septic tank systems pose a hidden threat to water quality?. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 12(2), 123-130. Yates, M. V. (1985). Septic tank density and ground‐water contamination. Groundwater, 23(5), 586-591. Chemical herbicides and pesticides A pesticide is a most often chemical substance designed to destroy one or more species of living things. The most common are herbicides (against weeds), insecticides (against insects ) and fungicides (against fungi ). There are, however, many other varieties of pesticides: rodents , crows, etc. The dangers of pesticides on the environment are numerous. In addition to killing the target species, they can also very well contaminate and kill other actors in the food chain . Birds, for example, are very often affected by pesticides by eating contaminated insects. In addition, pesticides pollute the air we breathe, and this may be the case of water reserves to the point of making the latter not drinkable. (Cork & Krueger, 1991). This relate to this week theme to show that the affect that pesticides and
- 6. herbicides have on living and non-living organism such as soil, sand and clay. These chemicals have the possibility of killing everything that they touch.. Pesticides break down into different categories and therefore can kill anything from plants to animals and even have health effects on humans. Chemical herbicides and pesticides benefit crops but are horrible for the environment and therefore present a challenge when trying to achieve environmental sustainability. Due to the nature of these chemicals, their toxic chemical mixture being released into the environment doesn’t allow for global stability within the environment. The term chemical herbicides and pesticides does represent an obstacle to the goal of sustainability because the effect that this chemical puts out, is completely opposite for what the world needs. Two specific actions that we can take to promote environmental sustainability in relation to chemical herbicides and pesticides are by using appropriate tools for ecological based pest management that determines the best chemical products for a certain and find a way to reduce health and environmental risks of pesticide use. There is a group called “Beyond Pesticides” that conducts research on the many different types of pesticides. This organization has links to national and international organizations and prides themselves in protecting health and the environment with science, policy and action (Pesticides, 2007)On a national level if we took the two specific actions named above and had policies created on behalf of them, then that could change the huge risk that these chemicals impinge on environmental sustainability.
- 7. References Cork, D. J., & Krueger, J. P. (1991). Microbial transformations of herbicides and pesticides. Adv. Appl.Microbiol, 36, Pesticides, B. (2007). National coalition against the misuse of pesticides. https://www.beyondpesticides.org/resources/state- pages/links-to-organizations