spite the Clean Water Act and other federal regulations,
pollutants are increasing nationally, and environmental
quality and integrity are decreasing, as exemplified in
recent contaminant surveys of the Mississippi River
drainage (Meade 1995) and reviews of nonpoint sources
of nitrogen and phosphorus (Carpenter et al. 1998).
An especially acute pollution issue, with national and
international consequences now and into the future, is
associated with nitrogen. Human activities have doubled
the rate of nitrogen entering the soil, water, and
atmosphere, and that rate is continuing to climb. Recently,
Vitousek et al. (1997) showed that there are
increased global concentrations of the greenhouse gas
nitrous oxide in the atmosphere as well as regional
increases in other forms of oxides of nitrogen that drive
the formation of photochemical smog. Also associated
with the increased nitrogen loading are losses of calcium
and potassium from soils, acidification of soils
and fresh waters from nitric acid, and greatly increased
export of nitrogen to estuaries and the coastal zone
where it is a major pollutant (Fig. 8). They also suggest
that the increase in nitrogen and its cycling rate may
result in losses of biological diversity, especially
among organisms adapted to low-nitrogen soils and
water, and may contribute to long-term declines in
coastal fisheries. Further, it has been suggested by Asner
et al. (1997) that the nitrogen supply may eventually
lead to a decoupling of the carbon and nitrogen
cycles and perhaps even a loss of nitrogen limitation
in terrestrial systems. The potential disappearance of
terrestrial nitrogen limitation would mean increased Nfluxes
to aquatic systems. Based on the estimated projections
of nitrogen deposition by Galloway et al.
(1994) for early in the next century, the consequences
could be especially severe in North America, Europe,
and Asia.
Exotic invasions.—The homogenization of the
world’s fauna and flora is an increasingly perplexing
issue with multiple, synergetic consequences. Thousands
of exotic plants and animals, as well as pathogens
pathogens,
are already established in North America and
hundreds of others arrive annually. About 15% of the
total have caused widespread problems that are proving
to be ecologically serious as well as costly to remedy
(Simberloff 1996).
Ecological impacts include domination (e.g., red
mangrove, Asian salt cedar), disruption (e.g., zebra
mussel, feral hogs), epidemics (e.g., chestnut blight
fungus, balsam woolly adelgid), competition (e.g., European
brown trout), and hybridization (e.g., mallard
ducks, rainbow trout). Other examples abound. Overall,
introduced organisms pose initially hidden but eventually
monumental problems. The harmful effects are
often subtle and surreptitious but the eventual impacts
on the natural environment are real, and sometimes
disastrous and irreversible, as when native species disappear.
On a general level, exotic species often are
encouraged by the destruction, fragmentation, and alteration
of natural habitat. Sadly, government regulations
remain woefully insufficient to meet the challenge.
Cumulative effects.—Incremental changes when
added to other past, present, or reasonably foreseeable
future impacts can result in significant environmental
changes. The concept is relatively simple to understand
whereas, in practice, it is exceedingly difficult to quantify
even in apparently straightforward cases (Reid
1998). Quantifying cumulative effects is important because
of the increasing number and variety of environmental
impacts.
The difficulty of quantification is evident in the following
example for Pacific salmon (Fig. 9). Let’s assume
that two adult salmon (a spawning pair) produce
2000 eggs. Further, if there is a 20% survival rate to
the juvenile stage, a 10% survival to smoltification,
and a 5% survival over several years at sea, then two
adult salmon will return to spawn again. However, if
the survivorship is reduced by only 2% at the juvenile
and smolt stages and by only 1% at the sea stage, then
only one adult salmon will return, leading to eventual
spite บัญญัติน้ำสะอาดและกฎระเบียบอื่น ๆ ของรัฐบาลกลางสารมลพิษเพิ่มผลงาน และสิ่งแวดล้อมคุณภาพและความสมบูรณ์จะลดลง เป็น exemplified ในสารปนเปื้อนการสำรวจล่าสุดของแม่น้ำมิสซิสซิปปีระบายน้ำ (Meade 1995) และรีวิวแหล่ง nonpointของไนโตรเจนและฟอสฟอรัส (ช่างไม้และ al. ปี 1998)เฉียบพลันโดยเฉพาะอย่างยิ่งมลพิษปัญหา แห่งชาติ และผลกระทบระหว่างประเทศในปัจจุบัน และ ใน อนาคต เป็นเกี่ยวข้องกับไนโตรเจน กิจกรรมต่าง ๆ ของมนุษย์มีสองเท่าอัตราของไนโตรเจนที่ใส่ในดิน น้ำ และบรรยากาศ และที่อัตราต่อการปีน ล่าสุดVitousek et al. (1997) พบว่า มีเพิ่มความเข้มข้นที่สากลของก๊าซเรือนกระจกไนตรัสออกไซด์ในบรรยากาศรวมทั้งภูมิภาคเพิ่มขึ้นในรูปแบบอื่น ๆ ของออกไซด์ของไนโตรเจนที่ไดรฟ์การก่อตัวของหมอกควัน photochemical นอกจากนี้ยัง เกี่ยวข้องโหลดไนโตรเจนเพิ่มขึ้นมีความสูญเสียของแคลเซียมและโพแทสเซียมจากดินเนื้อปูน ยูดินเนื้อปูนและสดเตอร์สจากกรดไนตริก และเพิ่มขึ้นอย่างมากส่งออกของไนโตรเจนบริเวณปากแม่น้ำและเขตชายฝั่งซึ่งเป็นมลพิษหลัก (Fig. 8) พวกเขายังแนะนำเพิ่มไนโตรเจนและอัตราการขี่จักรยานอาจผลขาดทุนของความหลากหลายทางชีวภาพ โดยเฉพาะอย่างยิ่งระหว่างสิ่งมีชีวิตดัดแปลงในดินเนื้อปูนต่ำไนโตรเจน และน้ำ และอาจจะลดอัตราการระยะยาวประมงชายฝั่ง มีการแนะนำ โดย Asner เพิ่มเติมal. ร้อยเอ็ด (1997) ที่จัดหาไนโตรเจนอาจในที่สุดlead to a decoupling of the carbon and nitrogencycles and perhaps even a loss of nitrogen limitationin terrestrial systems. The potential disappearance ofterrestrial nitrogen limitation would mean increased Nfluxesto aquatic systems. Based on the estimated projectionsof nitrogen deposition by Galloway et al.(1994) for early in the next century, the consequencescould be especially severe in North America, Europe,and Asia.Exotic invasions.—The homogenization of theworld’s fauna and flora is an increasingly perplexingissue with multiple, synergetic consequences. Thousandsof exotic plants and animals, as well as pathogenspathogens,are already established in North America andhundreds of others arrive annually. About 15% of thetotal have caused widespread problems that are provingto be ecologically serious as well as costly to remedy(Simberloff 1996).Ecological impacts include domination (e.g., redmangrove, Asian salt cedar), disruption (e.g., zebramussel, feral hogs), epidemics (e.g., chestnut blightfungus, balsam woolly adelgid), competition (e.g., Europeanbrown trout), and hybridization (e.g., mallardducks, rainbow trout). Other examples abound. Overall,introduced organisms pose initially hidden but eventuallymonumental problems. The harmful effects areoften subtle and surreptitious but the eventual impactson the natural environment are real, and sometimesdisastrous and irreversible, as when native species disappear.On a general level, exotic species often areencouraged by the destruction, fragmentation, and alterationof natural habitat. Sadly, government regulationsremain woefully insufficient to meet the challenge.Cumulative effects.—Incremental changes whenadded to other past, present, or reasonably foreseeablefuture impacts can result in significant environmentalchanges. The concept is relatively simple to understandwhereas, in practice, it is exceedingly difficult to quantifyeven in apparently straightforward cases (Reid1998). Quantifying cumulative effects is important becauseof the increasing number and variety of environmentalimpacts.The difficulty of quantification is evident in the followingexample for Pacific salmon (Fig. 9). Let’s assumethat two adult salmon (a spawning pair) produce2000 eggs. Further, if there is a 20% survival rate tothe juvenile stage, a 10% survival to smoltification,and a 5% survival over several years at sea, then twoadult salmon will return to spawn again. However, ifthe survivorship is reduced by only 2% at the juvenileand smolt stages and by only 1% at the sea stage, thenonly one adult salmon will return, leading to eventual
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