Monitoring environmental changes
- Created by: hannahadams
- Created on: 26-05-15 23:12
View mindmap
- Monitoring environmental changes
- this requires studying and analysing both abiotic and biotic data
- abiotic factors such as carbon dioxide levels, size of polar ice caps, ice density and sea levels can be measured as indicators of the extent of global warming
- Biotic Data
- such as the number and distribution of plants and animals can also be useful in identifying changes in the environment
- lichens are a common biological indicator used to measure the level of air pollution
- lichens are the crusty organisms that grow in inhospitable places such as on rocks and bricks and on the side of trees
- they range in colour from grey-green to orange and red
- they are a mixture of two organisms - an algae and a fungus
- some lichens are very sensitive to air pollution, particularly to the sulfur dioxide has that's produced when fuel like coal and oil are burned
- only a few species can survive in areas of high pollution, so they act as an indicator of air quality
- in severe polluted environmentsonly a couple of species survive
- as lichens only grow very sowly, even if a previously polluted area becomes clean, it will take a long time for the more delicate lichens to re-establish themselves
- Biotic Data
- water pollution can be measured by the number of bloodworms present
- these worms are called bloodworms due to their red colour and they are particularly common in polluted water
- they are a good indicator of eutro-phication as they are particularly abundant in water with low oxygen levels
- this requires studying and analysing both abiotic and biotic data
- lichens and bloodworms are examples of indicator species
Comments
No comments have yet been made