THREATENED HABITATS

Habitats are places where plants and animals live, feed and reproduce.
Threatened habitats occur when these places are under threat or destroyed.
Some of the threatened habitats are alpine or sub alpine regions, wetlands,
rainforests, coral reefs, flood plains and may others. Due to threatened habitats
many animals become endangered or extinct such as orang-utan, panda and
pigmy possum. The causes of threatened habitats are natural disasters and
human activities. Natural disasters include hurricanes, tornadoes and volcanoes;
human activities include things such as deforestation, urbanisation, pollution and
alpine resorts.
Natural disasters are hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, bushfires, floods,
draughts and volcanoes. These natural disasters usually happen for no reason
but sometimes are caused by previous human and natural activities. Bushfires
occur when humans are not careful with fire or a volcano erupts to cool down the
inside of the Earth. These disasters are very destructive. They destroy the
habitats of many animals. These animals then have no shelter and food and
slowly die or they are killed by this disaster. Natural disasters are difficult to
control. However, we can try to prevent them by reducing gas emission, pollution;
plant trees; warn and educate people in areas which can be affected from the
disaster and transfer them into a safe region.
Deforestation is the clearing of forested area or the logging down of trees.
People log trees for timber to make many things, mainly furniture, to get land for
farming, pasturing animals and urbanisation. When trees are cut down there are
fewer trees to hold the soil. When there is a rain, water washes off the top fertile
soil and causes erosion. The soil then build up the river bed causing more
frequent floods and pollute the sea. Deforestation causes many problems for
animals. The bad gases (carbon dioxide) increase in the atmosphere. Animals
lose their homes and become endangered and their food chain is changed. In
Brazil, 90-95% of tress in the Amazon forest has been cut. Brazil is losing its
biodiversity and the people are in a great danger of floods. Deforestation can be
prevented by reducing logging trees, log sustainably, recycle papers and plant
more trees.
Urbanisation is the increase over time in population of cities in relation to
rural region’s population. People come to cities to seek the opportunity to
succeed and earn money. In rural areas, the main job is farming. This job
depends on the weather. If the weather changes and unfits for the plants the
farmer’s survival will be difficult. On the contrary, the main job in the cities is
businesses. These businesses can work in different trades such as tourism.
More money is earned in the cities than in the country. Urbanisation creates
problems such as transport congestion, lack of sufficient housing, over-rapid
growth, employment, environmental degradation, deforestation for land and
producing pollution. Due to urbanisation animals are also endangered. Animals
lose their home (deforestation), their habitats are changed into recreational areas
and if any animals go near urban areas they are often killed. When there is a
need for land for an urban area whatever is there will be destroyed. Wetlands are

1
filled and forests are cut. This destroys the homes of many animals and they
become endangered. To solve the problems caused by urbanisation people are
now moving away from the problems created by urbanisation. This is called
counter-urbanisation. Government encourages people to reuse wasteland and
fallow land.
Pollution is the contamination of the natural environment with harmful
substances often produced by human activities. There are three types of
pollution: air pollution, soil pollution and water pollution. Air pollution is caused by
smoke from factories, cars, electrical appliances. Soil pollution is caused by
using fertilisers and chemicals on the soil. Water pollution is caused by waste
materials from factories and ships. Pollution is one of the causes of climate
change. It raises the climate temperature, damages ozone layer, makes the air
dirty, and pollutes the water and soil. If animals drink the polluted water they
would die, hot temperature kills some animals and animals are harmed by the
ultra violet rays. Coral reefs are killed by pollution. This happens because corals
need a warm temperature and specific sea condition but pollution raises the
temperature, blocks the essential sunlight for coral and pollutes the water
surrounding. A good example is the Great Barrier Reef. 16% of this coral reef
was killed due to pollution. Pollution can be prevented by reduction of bad gases
produced, cleansing gases and water before releasing it into the environment
and use natural fertilisers.
Alpine regions are the top of high mountains. Alpine resorts cause the
clearing of alpine or sub alpine regions. The clearance is for skiing field, hotels,
roads and many other facilities. All of these are to earn money. The alpine
regions are destroyed and the animals and plants within it are also endangered.
One animal that was almost extinct is pigmy possum. It was believed to be
extinct but luckily it survived. Many trees are also cut down. In Mount
Kosciuszko’s alpine region, 90 plant species are endangered due to the clearing
of this area. When building alpine resorts, the habitats need to be protected. A
love tunnel has been built for pigmy possum to live and reproduce.
Many habitats have been under threat or destroyed due to human
activities and natural disaster. Animals are also affected and become
endangered or extinct. Humans can plant trees; reduce bad gases; save energy,
water; protect the habitat of animals to protect our home planet and to make a
better world for our future generations.