Essay on Climate Change and Biodiversity
Introduction
Biodiversity is the variability within the living world and is expressed according to levels of biological organization: genes, species, populations, communities or ecosystems that are in a geographical portion of the territory, that is, a locality, a region, a country or inThe balloon. Tropical ecosystems are the most biodiverse of the planet, however, during the last century biodiversity in these ecosystems has been deteriorating due to the advancement of urbanization and industrialization processes.
The landscape level includes the different types of ecosystems in a region. In Colombia, more than 300 ecosystems are reported, two of which are a priority in this project: the tropical dry forest and the mangrove;Because they occupy a vast area of the Magdalene territory.
Tropical forests are a very valuable natural resource, with high biological, social and economic value, as well as essential for the adaptation and mitigation of the effects of climate change. Tropical forests contain about half of the global carbon biomass (c) and 14% of the C stored in soils in the world.
The tropical dry forest (BST) is one of the most fragile ecosystems throughout the tropics, it is estimated that the current extension of the BST in the neotropic is approximately 519,597 km2, but of this extension, only 4 only the 4.5 % (23,417 km2) are under some protection category, this added to the pressures to which it is subjected makes it one of the most threatened ecosystems. The BST provides a wide variety of ecosystem services, where water regulation, soil retention and carbon capture that regulates the weather and availability of water and nutrients, among others, are highlighted, among others. Among the pressures facedoriginal. According to the DANE, for the Department of Magdalena, activities such as agriculture, livestock, hunting, forestry and fishing, contribute to 13.2% of GDP and 0.2% to the national GDP, this being the direct consequence of the fragmentation and loss of many forests.
For their part, mangrove forests are one of the most productive ecosystems in the world, generate great productivity that export to neighboring ecosystems such as marine pastures and coral reefs (Kathiresan and Bingham 2001; Krumholz and Jadot 2009; Valle et al., 2011;Wylie et al., 2016). In the department of Magdalena, values are recorded in the Ciénaga Grande Ecoregion of Santa Marta (CGSM), of which the Pajales (CP) complex that is considered one of the most productive in the world is part of. Said production estimated at 982 GC /m2 /year and 990 GC /m2 /year (Hernández and Gocke, 1990) for CP and CGSM, respectively, supports an important artisanal fishery, constituting the main source of food and income of approximately 30000 inhabitants. On the other hand, when the shadow is not excessive, the roots of mangroves themselves can also be very productive. Production values have been recorded in support roots of 0.14 and 1.1 gcal/m2/d.. Mangroves provide a large number of ecosystem services, such as food provision and construction elements, refuge for migratory species, genetic resources, medicinal resources, recreation and tourism areas, prevention of erosion and mitigation of extreme events, among others. However, these forests are one of the most threatened by the intense use of their wood, mining and constructions for tourist purposes and are degraded or destroyed at an alarming speed.
The activities of man have led to the deterioration of forests by adding other associated indirect causes such as population growth, land tenure the social, political and economic changes of a country. In Colombia, the deforestation rate, loss of species habitat and landscape fragmentation has been constantly increasing. For example, between 2005 and 2010, the first forestry loss factor and fragmentation of the Colombian Amazon was the transformation of forests to pastures. The disappearance of vegetation coverage affects the flow and movement of organisms in the landscape, stability and fertility of soils and hydrological cycles.
The landscape is the product of numerous interactions between biotic, abiotic and social factors, in which the use and management of the territory is the most determining factor in the processes of deforestation, fragmentation and degradation of forests, mainly in the easy -scaleaccess.
The landscapes are formed by a mixture of local ecosystems or land uses that are spread in a region, their ecology focuses on its structure, functioning and change, they are studied from their patterns and their processes, their structure, dynamic and organizationThe main topics are their ecology, and the spatial organization in its elements influences many ecological processes, such as the viability of species and the functioning of ecosystems.
Deforestation has led to the elimination and fragmentation of natural ecosystems, this situation being the main cause of biodiversity loss. An alteration in landscape patterns can therefore compromise this functional integrity by interference with critical ecological processes necessarily due to the persistence of the population and the maintenance of biodiversity and ecosystem. This anthropogenic footprint has generated the transformation and fragmentation of the landscape, leaving incalculable losses in the country’s biodiversity.
Research on landscape changes is focused on how to handle landscapes for biodiversity conservation and howof conservation strategies are based on the fact that many of the ecological processes take place at space -temporal scales and, therefore, it is necessary to recognize the complexity and importance of these processes for decision -making at local, regional or even national scale.
Leave feedback