An oil palm plantation in Sabah province Borneo, Malaysia, replaces native forest habitat that a variety of species depended on to live. (credit: Lian Pin Koh)
Biology in action
Preventing habitat destruction with wise wood choices
Most consumers do not imagine that the home improvement products they buy might be contributing to habitat loss and species extinctions. Yet the market for illegally harvested tropical timber is huge, and the wood products often find themselves in building supply stores in the United States. One estimate is that 10 percent of the imported timber stream in the United States, which is the world’s largest consumer of wood products, is potentially illegally logged. In 2006, this amounted to $3.6 billion in wood products. Most of the illegal products are imported from countries that act as intermediaries and are not the originators of the wood.
How is it possible to determine if a wood product, such as flooring, was harvested sustainably or even legally? The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certifies sustainably harvested forest products; therefore, looking for their certification on flooring and other hardwood products is one way to ensure that the wood has not been taken illegally from a tropical forest. Certification applies to specific products, not to a producer; some producers’ products may not have certification while other products are certified. There are certifications other than the FSC, but these are run by timber companies creating a conflict of interest. Another approach is to buy domestic wood species. While it would be great if there was a list of legal versus illegal woods, it is not that simple. Logging and forest management laws vary from country to country; what is illegal in one country may be legal in another. Where and how a product is harvested and whether the forest from which it comes is being sustainably maintained all factor into whether a wood product will be certified by the FSC. It is always a good idea to ask questions about where a wood product came from and how the supplier knows that it was harvested legally.
Habitat destruction can affect ecosystems other than forests. Rivers and streams are important ecosystems and are frequently the target of habitat modification through building and from damming or water removal. Damming of rivers affects flows and access to all parts of a river. Altering a flow regime can reduce or eliminate populations that are adapted to seasonal changes in flow. For example, an estimated 91 percent of river lengths in the United States have been modified with damming or bank modifications. Many fish species in the United States, especially rare species or species with restricted distributions, have seen declines caused by river damming and habitat loss. Research has confirmed that species of amphibians that must carry out parts of their life cycles in both aquatic and terrestrial habitats are at greater risk of population declines and extinction because of the increased likelihood that one of their habitats or access between them will be lost. This is of particular concern because amphibians have been declining in numbers and going extinct more rapidly than many other groups for a variety of possible reasons.
Questions & Answers
I'm interested in biological psychology and cognitive psychology
Communication is effective because it allows individuals to share ideas, thoughts, and information with others.
effective communication can lead to improved outcomes in various settings, including personal relationships, business environments, and educational settings. By communicating effectively, individuals can negotiate effectively, solve problems collaboratively, and work towards common goals.
it starts up serve and return practice/assessments.it helps find voice talking therapy also assessments through relaxed conversation.
miss
Every time someone flushes a toilet in the apartment building, the person begins to jumb back automatically after hearing the flush, before the water temperature changes. Identify the types of learning, if it is classical conditioning identify the NS, UCS, CS and CR. If it is operant conditioning, identify the type of consequence positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement or punishment
nature is an hereditary factor while nurture is an environmental factor which constitute an individual personality. so if an individual's parent has a deviant behavior and was also brought up in an deviant environment, observation of the behavior and the inborn trait we make the individual deviant.
Samuel
I am taking this course because I am hoping that I could somehow learn more about my chosen field of interest and due to the fact that being a PsyD really ignites my passion as an individual the more I hope to learn about developing and literally explore the complexity of my critical thinking skills
Receive real-time job alerts and never miss the right job again
Source:
OpenStax, Concepts of biology univ. of west georgia. OpenStax CNX. Jan 03, 2014 Download for free at http://legacy.cnx.org/content/col11612/1.1
Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google Inc.
Notification Switch
Would you like to follow the 'Concepts of biology univ. of west georgia' conversation and receive update notifications?