Chapter 6: Continued: 6.

2
Case Study: Oxygen levels in the gulf of Mexico
- In 1974, Eugene Turner confirmed that there were low oxygen levels (hypoxia) in the
gulf of Mexico.
- The cause was unknown.
- He hypothesized that it might have something to do with oil rigs.

I. Water pollution:
a. The addition of any substance to water that may cause harm.
b. Point/non-point source pollution
i. Point source:
1. Easy to identify the source of the pollution.
a. Sewage treatment plants
b. Factories
ii. Non-point source:
1. Difficult to identify
a. Land runoff
b. Air pollution
c. Animals
II. What are the causes and consequences of eutrophication?
a. Dissolved oxygen (DO):
i. The amount of oxygen in water.
ii. Hypoxia: a situation in which the body contains inadequate levels of
oxygen.
1. Water holds less oxygen than air.
2. Dead zones: areas of depleted oxygen.
b. Eutrophication:
i. A process by which excess nutrients in aquatic systems feed biological
productivity, ultimately lowering the levels of oxygen in a body of water.
ii. Nitrogen and phosphorous from runoff enter the water and trigger
explosions of algae growth. (algal blooms)
iii. Oxygen levels fall as underwater photosynthesis declines.
iv. Plants at the bottom die.
c. NOAA estimates that the dead zone in the gulf of Mexico costs millions of dollars
in revenue for fisherman.
i. Commercially important species die off.
ii. Some species move away from the coast.
d. Algal blooms:
i. Nutrient pollution trigger the growth of cyanobacteria that produce deadly
toxins.
ii. Coming into contact with these toxins can lead to deadly consequences.
 e. Case study:
i. The figured out that nitrogen and phosphorous pollution was what was
leading to the formation of the dead zones in the gulf of Mexico.
f. Watershed concept:
i. The land area surrounding a body of water over water such as ran can flow
from the land into the river.
ii. The entire Mississippi watershed drains into the gulf of Mexico.
1. Approximately 1.5m tons of phosphorous flow from the
Mississippi watershed into the gulf.
iii. Fertilizers can sink into the aquifers and contaminate the ground water.
iv. Land use impacts the watershed:
1. Water streams have been channelized and their water diverted for
other uses.
2. Wetlands have been completely drained to make room for
development.
III. How is water quality assessed?
a. Monitoring pH and DO, and other pollutants included in chemical assessment.
b. Biological assessment:
i. The process of sampling an area to see what lives there as a tool to
determine how healthy the area is.
1. Netting, identifying, and counting benthic macroinvertebrates
2. Abundance and diversity of pollution-tolerant and pollution-
sensitive species in the sample to rate the stream quality.
IV. What public policies are in place to protect water quality?
a. Case study:
i. The Cuyahoga river:
1. The Clean Water Act was inspired by the Cuyahoga river which,
due to many pollutants, caught fire in 1969.
ii. Clean Water Act (CWA):
1. Enacted in 1972
2. Administered by the EPA
3. Establishes performance standards: allowable levels of pollutants
that can be present in environmental waters or can be released over
a period of time.
4. Safe Drinking Act (SDA)
V. What role does watershed protection play in preventing water pollution?
a. Watershed management:
i. Management of what goes on in an area around streams or rivers.
ii. Requires restoration in riparian areas: land areas close enough to a body
of water to be affected by water’s presence.
VI. How can runoff be reduced from farms?
a. Increase the density of plant life near watershed areas to minimize erosion.
b. Use controlled drainage systems
 c. Tilling fertilizer directly into the soil as opposed to spreading it on the surface.
d. Plant winter crops in the off season to hold soil in place.
e. Use GPS technology to guide farm equipment and reduce overlap when working
on a field. (precision agriculture)
VII. What can be done to reduce urban and suburban storm water runoff?
a. Suburban:
i. Limit fertilizer use
ii. Plant native plants/grasses.
iii. Plant a rain garden.
b. Urban:
i. Replace hard surfaces with more permeable surfaces.
ii. Installing green roofs.
iii. Install curb cutouts in roadways that direct storm waterflow to more
appropriate areas.
c. Increase infiltration of storm water into soil.

Chapter 7: Forest resources:

Case study:
- The forests surrounding Haitian cities are shrinking. Trees are being rapidly consumed
for food and for construction materials.
- Volunteers are planting trees in Haiti.
- Trees that are nearing peak ripeness are less likely to be uprooted because it would
eliminate the chance of profiting off the food from those trees.
I. The Forest Biome:
o Boreal Forest (Taiga):
 Coniferous forest found at high altitudes and low temperatures with low
annual precipitation.
 High latitudes.
o Temperate forest:
 Deciduous broad-leaf trees found in areas with four seasons and moderate
climate with 30-60 inches of rain a year.
 Oak, hickory and maple trees.
 Covers wet areas of the midlatitudes.
 Not as expansive as boreal forests because these areas have high
human populations.
o Tropical forests:
 Diverse mix of trees and undergrowth species found in equatorial areas
with minimal-changing annual climate.
 Lower latitudes.
II. Forest structure:
a. Most forests consist of four distinct layers:
 i. Canopy
ii. Emergent layer
iii. Understory:
iv. Forest floor
III. What ecosystem services do forests provide.
a. Due in part to deforestation, Haiti has become the poorest and most
environmentally degraded country in the Western hemisphere.
b. Forests provide many essential services to the plant including:
i. Formation and maintenance of soil.
ii. Reducing impacts of storm runoff
iii. Adding oxygen to the atmosphere.
iv. Acting as the world’s largest terrestrial carbon sink.
v. Providing food and habitat for plants and animals.
c. Forests provide many sociocultural benefits
d. They provide many economic benefits.
i. Humans have relied on forests for thousands of years for economical
means.
IV. What threats do forests face?
a. Rates of deforestation:
i. Global deforestation rates have slowed from about 20m ha/yr in the 90’s
to about 19m ha/yr.
ii. Ha: Hectares
b. Reasons for deforestation:
i. Harvesting of forests for wood products.
ii. Agriculture and mining.
iii. Urban and suburban sprawl.
iv. Fire suppression
v. Climate change
vi. Poverty
c. Threats to forests:
V. How do different methods of harvesting timber reduce deforestation?
a. Maximum sustainable yield:
i. Harvesting as much as sustainably possible for the most economic benefit.
b. Multiple use sustained yield:
c. Mandates that a variety of uses be balanced.
i. Accounts for future sustainability.
d. U.S. National forest service:
e. Clear-cut:
i. Cuts all the trees in one area in one take.
1. Very damaging.
f. Strip harvesting:
i. Clear cuts only a small section of the forest at a time.
ii. Less damaging
 g. Selective harvesting:
i. Harvesting only the highest value trees.
1. More environmentally friendly.
2. Used in temperate forests.
h. Shelterwood harvesting:
i. Selecting only the best trees and letting the rest recede.
1. More environmentally sound.
VI. Solutions for protecting forests:
a. Solutions:
i. Pricing the ecosystem services themselves.
1. Water bills that offset the costs of maintaining those forests.
ii. Seeking out sustainable wood products
1. Forest stewardship council
iii. Use alternatives to wood products
iv. Support reforestation projects
v. Support ecotourism to inform the public.
b. Protecting forests:
i. Assign monetary value to ecosystem services.
ii. Sustainable harvesting
iii. Use alternatives
iv. Designate forests as protected areas.
v. Promote ecotourism.
c.