That's the Limit

In the natural world, limiting factors like the availability of food,

water, shelter and space can change animal and plant populations.
Other limiting factors like
competition for resources,
predation and disease can also
impact populations. If any of the
limiting factors change, animal and
plant populations change, too.

Some changes may cause a
population to increase. If there are
more plants than usual in an area,
populations of animals that eat that plant
may increase. If one animal's population
increases, the population of animals that
eats that animal might also increase.

Increases in population aren't always good.
Sometimes a population will grow too large
for the environment to support. Other changes in limiting factors
will cause a population to decrease. If a population becomes
diseased, the population may decrease and the population of
animals that eat the diseased animals will also decrease.

In nature, populations usually balance themselves. Sometimes
when man impacts populations, they can't always reestablish a
natural balance.
Limiting Factors

Human
Factors
Humans can impact
animal and plant
populations. When
humans develop
land for houses and
buildings, they cut
down trees and
change animal and
plant habitats.
Some animals like
the raccoon and the
skunk can adapt,
but other animals
can't adapt and
their populations
are affected.

The common loon
nests on land near
large lakes. Some
loon nesting places
have been taken
over by human
development and
the loon population
has decreased.
Pollution can also
hurt animal and
plant populations.
Sometimes hunting
can impact animal
populations. Whale
populations have
been lowered
because of
overhunting.
Natural
Balance
Predator/prey
relationships play a
big role in animal
populations. If the
balance between
predator and prey is
changed,
populations are
changed. Thewhite-
tailed
deer population in
some areas has
grown too large
because there are
no natural
predators. Mountain
lions and wolves are
the natural
predators of the
white-tailed deer.
Wolf and mountain
lion populations
have been lowered
due to over-hunting
and habitat loss.
This loss of a
natural predator for
the white-tailed
deer, along with
other factors, has
led to
overpopulation of
the white-tailed
deer in some areas.
Image Credits: Clipart.com unless
otherwise not





Enhancing the Greenhouse Effect: naturally occurring greenhouse
gases, as described above, keep the Earth warm enough to support life.
However, scientific studies have shown that a variety of human activities
release greenhouse gases. These include the burning of fossil fuels for
producing electrical energy, heating and transportation. By increasing
their concentrations and by adding new greenhouse gases like CFCs,
humankind is capable of raising the average global temperature.
Land Use Change: As humans replace forests with agricultural lands, or
natural vegetation with asphalt or concrete, they substantially alter the
way the Earths surface reflects sunlight and releases heat. All these
changes also affect regional evaporation, runoff and rainfall patterns.
Land use and the changes in the way it is used effect the global carbon
cycle, reduce the worlds forests and woodlands, expand the cropped
land area, and cause tropical deforestation. As well, there is increased
productivity of labor in exploiting land through the application of capital
and new technologies. Conversion of land from natural to agricultural
use also upsets the balance.
Atmospheric aerosols: Humans are adding large quantities of fine
particles (aerosols) to the atmosphere, both from agriculture and
industrial activities. Although most of these aerosols are soon removed
by gravity and rainfall, they still affect the radiation balance in the
atmosphere. Whether this effect adds to or offsets any warming trend
depends on the quantity and nature of the particles as well as the nature


of the land or ocean surface below. The regional effects, however, can be
significant.
Burning of Fossil Fuels for Energy: As humanity burns the organic
matter from past geologic periods (or the forests of today) to power
the engines and economies of modern society, we are re-injecting our
fossil carbon legacy into the atmosphere at incredibly accelerated
rate. Carbon dioxide is dumped into the atmosphere at a much faster
rate than it can be withdrawn or absorbed by the oceans or living
things in the biosphere. The carbon dioxide buildup is a principal
controlling factor of the climate change.






Changes in Solar Output: the amount of energy radiating from the earths
sun is not constant.
Changes in the Earths Orbit: Slow variations in the Earths orbit around
the sun change where and when energy is received on earth. This affects the
amount of energy that is reflected and absorbed.
The Greenhouse Effect: When energy from the sun enters the Earths
atmosphere, about a third of it is reflected back to space. Of the rest, the
atmosphere absorbs some, but most of it is absorbed by the
surfaces of the earth. The Earth emits energy at
longer wavelength. Some of this energy escapes to space but
some is absorbed again and remitted by clouds and the
greenhouse gases such as water vapor, carbon dioxides,
methane and nitrous oxide. This helps to warm the surface and the
troposphere (lowest layer of the atmosphere), keeping it 33C warmer than it
would be otherwise be.
Aerosols: these are fine particles and droplets that are small enough to
remain suspended in the atmosphere for considerable periods of time. They
both reflect and absorb incoming solar radiation. Changing the type and


quantity of aerosols in the atmosphere affects the amount of solar energy
reflected or absorbed.

It's dinnertime but there's
no food in the house, so
you get in your car and
drive to the grocery store. You walk the aisles browsing for something to buy. You pick up
chicken and a pre-made salad, then return home to enjoy your meal. Consider the ways your
seemingly simple trip to the market affected the environment.
Driving to and from the store contributed carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. The electricity
required to light the store was powered by coal, the mining of which ravaged an Appalachian
ecosystem. The salad ingredients were grown on a farm treated with pesticides that washed
into local streams, poisoning fish and aquatic plants (which help keep the air clean). The
chicken was grown on a massive factory farm a long distance away, where animal waste
produced toxic levels of atmospheric methane. Getting the goods to the store required trucks,
trains and more trucks -- all of which emitted carbon.
Even the smallest human actions initiate environmental change. How we heat our homes and
power our electronics, how we get around, what we do with our garbage, where our food comes
from -- all of these put a strain on the environment beyond what it's designed to support.
Taken at a societal level, human behavior changes the environment in dramatic ways. The
Earth's temperature has increased by one degree Fahrenheit since 1975 [source: National
Geographic]. The polar ice caps are shrinking at a rate of 9 percent a decade [source: National
Resources Defense Council].
We hurt the environment in more ways than you could possibly imagine. Misguided
construction, irrigation and mining can deface the natural landscape and disrupt important
ecological processes. Aggressive fishing and hunting can deplete entire stocks of species.
Human migration can introduce alien competitors to native food chains. Greed can lead to
catastrophic accidents and laziness to environmentally destructive practices.
So what are the worst offenders? Here are the top 10.



Garbage is a blemish on the landscape, and sometimes hazardous waste ends up in
landfills as well.Image Credit: Digital Vision
10. Dam Follies
Sometimes public works projects don't work out so well for the public. Meant to generate clean
energy, dam projects in China have ravaged their surroundings by flooding cities and
environmental waste sites and increasing the risk of natural disasters.
The re-routed river has also greatly increased the risk of landslides along its banks, home to
hundreds of thousands of people. It's estimated that another half-million people might be
displaced by landslides along the Yangtze by the year 2020 [source: International Rivers]. And
landslides choke rivers with silt, further depleting the ecosystem.
Scientists have recently linked dams to earthquakes. The Three Gorges reservoir is built atop
two major fault lines, and hundreds of small tremors have occurred since it opened. Scientists
have suggested that the catastrophic 2008 earthquake in Sichuan Province, which left 80,000
people dead, was exacerbated by water build-up at the Zipingpu Dam, less than half a mile from
the earthquake's primary fault line. The phenomenon of dams causing earthquakes, known
asreservoir-induced seismicity, is caused by water pressure building up underneath the
reservoir, which in turn increases pressure in the rocks and acts to lubricate fault lines already
under strain. An earthquake caused by Three Gorges Dam would present a humanitarian
disaster of untold proportions.

Built to control the Yangtze River's flooding, the Three Gorges Dam in central China
has instead caused flooding in surrounding areas and a host of other problems.Image
Credit: AP Photo/Xinhua/ Du Huaju
9. Overfishing
"There are plenty of fish in the sea" might not be so true anymore. Mankind's appetite for
seafood has emptied our oceans to such a degree that experts worry many species can't
replenish themselves.
According to the World Wildlife Federation, the global fishing fleet is 2.5 times larger than what
our oceans can support. More than half of the world's fisheries are already gone, and one-
quarter are "overexploited, depleted or recovering from collapse." Ninety percent of the ocean's
large fish -- tuna, swordfish, marlin, cod, halibut, skate and flounder -- have been fished out of
their natural habitats. It's estimated that unless something changes, stocks of these fish will
disappear by 2048 [source: Worm et al.].
Advances in fishing technology are the main culprit. Today's commercial fishing boats are
basically floating factories equipped with fish-finding sonar. They drop massive nets the size of
three football fields that can sweep up an entire school of fish in minutes. Once a commercial
fishing boat stakes a claim on an area, it's estimated that the fish population will decline by 80
percent within 10 to 15 years [source: World Wildlife Federation].
Aquafarming
Aquafarming, or harvesting fish in land- or shore-based tanks or cages, has become a billion-
dollar industry worldwide, and it's estimated that as much as 50 percent of marine life consumed
in the world comes from farms [source: Live Science]. While seemingly beneficial to wild fish,
aquafarms require tremendous amounts of feed made from wild fish harvested from the sea,
which further depletes ocean populations.
8. Invasive Species
We've been moving species around the globe since the dawn of the Age of Exploration. While
bringing your favorite pet or plant along may make a new place feel a bit more like home, it can
also throw the natural balance out of order. Introducing invasive flora and fauna has proven to
be one of the most damaging things mankind has done to the environment.
In the United States, 400 of the 958 species listed as endangered under the Endangered
Species Act are considered at risk because of competition with alien species [source: Pimentel,
Zuniga and Morrison]. The Dodo bird is a good example. The Dodo went the way of the dino in
part because cats, rats and pigs brought by European sailors to the Americas feasted on its
nest and eggs. The wingless bird couldn't defend itself.
The problem of invasive species is most pronounced with non-vertebrate species. In the first
half of the 20th century, a fungus from Asia wiped out more than 180 million acres (73 million
hectares) of American chestnut trees. Blight such as this causes a domino effect: Ten moth
species that depended on chestnut trees for survival became extinct as a result
[source:Simberloff].
Smallpox
Some academics estimate that as many as 20 million Native Americans, or 95 percent of the
population of the Americas, died within a few generations of Europeans arriving in the New
World [source: PBS]. Only one thing could have inflicted such catastrophe on a population:
germs. The primary threat was smallpox, a viral infection that enters the body through the nose
or throat, then travels to the lungs and throughout the lymphatic system. Because nothing like
the virus existed in the New World, Native Americans didn't have the immunity to resist the
invasive species.
7. Coal Mining
The greatest risk to the environment presented by coal is climate change, but mining for the
valuable resource endangers local ecosystems as well.
Market realities create grave risks to mountains in coal -- heavy regions, especially in the United
States. Coal is a cheap source of energy - one megawatt of energy produced by coal costs $20
to $30, versus $45 to $60 for one megawatt of energy produced from natural gas
[source: Moyers]. And one-quarter of the world's coal reserves are in the U.S.
Two of the most environmentally destructive forms of mining are mountain top removal and strip
mining. In mountain-top removal mining, up to 1,000 feet (305 meters) might be shaved off the
peak in order to scoop out the coal inside. The mountain is hollowed out as minerals are
extracted. Strip mining is used when the coal is closer to the surface of the mountain. The top
layers of the mountain face -- including trees and any creatures living in them -- are scraped
away to extract valuable minerals.
Each practice lays waste to everything in its path. Vast swaths of old-growth forest are removed
and dumped in nearby valleys. It's estimated that more than 300,000 acres (121,405 hectares)
of hardwood forest in West Virginia have already been destroyed by mining [source: PBS]. By
2012, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that an additional 2,000 square miles
(5,180 square kilometers) of Appalachian forest will disappear through mountain top removal
and strip mining [source: Goldenberg].
The question of what to do with the refuse compounds the environmental consequences.
Usually the mining company simply dumps the rocks, trees and wildlife in a nearby valley. In
West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee, more than 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) of
streams have been buried by strip mine refuse [source: PBS]. Not only does this destroy the
natural ecosystem of the mountain and stream, it also dries up larger rivers and strangles
ecosystems that feed on the higher-elevation streams. Industrial waste from the mine washes
into river beds. In West Virginia, more than 75 percent of streams and rivers are polluted by
mining and related industries [source: PBS].

Coal generates a lot of electricity, but is a fossil fuel that produces vast amounts of
carbon emissions.Image Credit: Thinkstock/Comstock
6. Human Accidents
While most of the ways humans damage the environment occur over the course of years, some
events can happen in an instant -- an instant with long-reaching consequences.
The 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska has had a lasting impact.
Releasing almost 11 million gallons of crude oil into an otherwise unspoiled stretch of
wilderness, the accident killed an estimated 250,000 seabirds, 2,800 sea otters, 300 harbor
seals, 250 bald eagles, up to 22 killer whales and billions of salmon and herring eggs
[source:Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council]. At least two species, Pacific herring and pigeon
guillemots, have not recovered from the disaster. As recently as 2006, scientists continued to
find traces of oil on beaches around the Sound [source: Weise].
It's too soon to estimate the damage to wildlife caused by the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico,
but the scope of the disaster appears unmatched in American history. At its peak, 60,000
barrels of oil, or 2.5 million gallons (9.5 million liters), leaked into the Gulf every day -- the
highest volume spill in American history. Most early estimates place the damage to wildlife
below that of the Exxon Valdez because of the lesser density of local species in the Gulf
compared to Prince William Sound. Regardless, there's no question that traces of the spill will
be around for years to come.

The 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico caused headlines and environmental
concerns worldwide. This is an oil sheen off the coast of Louisiana.Image Credit: AP
Photo/Gerald Herbert
5. Cars
America has long been considered the land of the automobile, so it should come as no surprise
that one-fifth of all greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. comes from cars. There are more than
232 million vehicles on the roads in this country -- only a tiny portion of which are electric-
powered or hybrid. And an average American car consumes 600 gallons (2271 liters) of
gasoline a year [source: Environmental Defense Fund].
A single car emits 12,000 pounds -- that's right, pounds -- of carbon dioxide (or 5443 kilograms)
every year in the form of exhaust [source: Environmental Defense Fund]. It would take 240 trees
to offset that amount. In America, cars emit around the same amount of carbon dioxide as the
country's coal-burning power plants. In 2004, U.S. cars and light trucks emitted 314 million
metric tons (346 million tons) of carbon, which is one third of the nation's total carbon dioxide
output. It would take a 50,000-mile-long (80,467-kilometer-long) coal train -- equal to 17 times
the distance between New York and San Francisco -- to match the amount of carbon released
into the environment by American cars every year. [source: Environmental Defense Fund].
Combustion in the car's engine produces fine particles of nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons and
sulfur dioxide. In high quantities, these chemicals interfere with the human respiratory system,
causing coughing, choking and reduced lung capacity. Cars also generate carbon monoxide, a
poisonous gas formed by combustion of fossil fuels that blocks the transport of oxygen to the
brain, heart and other vital organs.
And then there's all the oil required to keep our cars moving. Drilling for oil has significant
environmental consequences in its own right. Land-based drilling displaces local species and, in
remote regions, requires that roads be built out of dense forest. Marine drilling and shipping not
uncommonly results in spills like the BP Gulf of Mexico catastrophe -- there have been a dozen
spills of more than 40 million gallons (151,416,471 liters) across the world since 1978.
Dispersants used to mitigate the effects can also kill marine life.

A single car emits 12,000 pounds of carbon dioxide every year in the form of
exhaust.Image Credit: AP Photo/Toby Talbot
4. Unsustainable Agriculture
One common trend emerges in all the ways mankind hurts the environment: We fail to plan for
the future. Nowhere is this seen as much as in how we raise our food.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, current farming practices are
responsible for 70 percent of the pollution in the nation's rivers and streams. Runoff of
chemicals, contaminated soil and animal waste from farms has polluted more than 173,000
miles (278,417 kilometers) of waterways [source: Horrigan et al.]. Chemical fertilizers and
pesticides increase nitrogen levels and decrease oxygen in the water supply. Even before the
BP Oil Spill, the Gulf of Mexico suffered a "dead zone" the size of New Jersey from industrial
run-off from factories and farms along the Mississippi River.
Pesticides used to protect crops from predators endanger bird and insect populations. For
example, the number of honeybee colonies on U.S. farmland dropped from 4.4 million in 1985
to less than 2 million in 1997 [source: Horrigan et al.]. Exposure to pesticides weakened the
bees' immune systems, making them more vulnerable to natural enemies.
Large scale industrial agriculture also contributes to global warming. The vast majority of meat
in the world comes from industrial farms. On any given farm, tens of thousands of livestock are
concentrated in small areas for economy of scale. Factory farms emit harmful gases from
unprocessed animal waste, including methane, which contributes to global warming. Livestock
literally wade in pools of their own waste, which ravages the soil and nearby forests -- not to
mention creating a ghastly odor.

Farming is responsible for 70 percent of the pollution in U.S. rivers and
streams.Image Credit: AP Photo/Mike Fiala
3. Deforestation
There was a time, not that long ago, when the majority of the land on this planet -- almost half of
the United States, three-quarters of Canada and nearly all of Europe -- was covered in forests.
Today, the world's forests are disappearing before our eyes.
The United Nations estimates that more than 32 million acres (12,949,941 hectares) of forest
are lost each year, including 14.8 million acres (5,989,348 hectares) of primary forest -- lands
not occupied or affected by human beings [source: FAO]. Seventy percent of the planet's land
animals and plants live in forests, and the loss of their homes threatens the existence of an
untold number of species [source: National Geographic].
The problem is particularly acute in tropical forests, especially rainforests. Rainforests cover 7
percent of the Earth's land area and provide a home to half of all the species on the planet
[source: Lindsey]. At the current rate of deforestation, scientists estimate that the world's
rainforests could disappear in 100 years [source: National Geographic].
Deforestation contributes to global warming. Trees absorb greenhouse gases -- so fewer trees
means larger amounts of greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere. They also help
perpetuate the water cycle by returning water vapor to the atmosphere. Without trees, former
forests can quickly become barren deserts, leading to more extreme temperature swings. When
forests are burned down, carbon in the trees is released, contributing to global warming.
Scientists estimate that Amazonian trees contain the equivalent of 10 years worth of
greenhouse gases produced by humans [source: NASA].
Poverty is a root cause of deforestation -- most tropical forests are in Third World countries -- as
are policies to encourage economic development in undeveloped areas. Loggers and farmers
drive deforestation. In most cases, a subsistence farmer, crowded into pioneer lands by
overpopulation, will cut down trees for a farm plot.
The farmer typically burns the trees and vegetation to create a fertilizing layer of ash. This is
called slash-and-burn farming. The risks of erosion and flooding are increased. Soil nutrients
are lost, and in a few years, the land often proves unable to support the very crops for which the
trees were cut down [source: Lindsey].

In slash-and-burn agriculture, forests are decimated make room for crops. Here
forest rangers confiscate wood after a raid on an illegal logging site in Aceh
province, Indonesia.Image Credit: AP Photo/Heri Juanda
2. Global Warming
The average surface temperature of the Earth has increased by 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8
degrees Celsius) in the last 130 years, and by 1 F (0.56 C) since 1975 [source: National
Geographic]. Global ice caps are melting at an alarming rate - since 1979, more than 20 percent
of the global ice cap has disappeared. Sea levels are rising, causing flooding and, according to
a bevy of scientists, influencing catastrophic natural disasters around the globe.
Global warming is caused by the greenhouse effect, in which certain gases trap heat from the
sun in the atmosphere. Since 1990, yearly emissions of greenhouse gases have gone up by
about 6 billion metric tons (6.61 billion tons) worldwide, an increase of more than 20 percent
[source: National Geographic].
The gas most responsible for global warming is carbon dioxide, which accounts for 82 percent
of all greenhouse gases in the United States [source: Energy Information Administration].
Carbon dioxide is produced through combustion of fossil fuels, mostly in cars and coal-powered
factories. In 2005, global atmospheric concentrations of the gas were 35 percent higher than
they were before the Industrial Revolution [source: Environmental Protection Agency]. America's
transportation and industrial sectors each account for around 30 percent of the country's
greenhouse gas emissions [source: Pew Climate].
Global warming could lead to natural disasters, large-scale food and water shortages and
devastating outcomes for wildlife. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,
the sea level could rise between 7 and 23 inches (17.8 and 58.4 centimeters) by the end of the
century. Rises of just 4 inches (0.9 meters) of sea level, and much of the world's population lives
near coastal areas. More than a million species face extinction from disappearing habitat,
changing ecosystems and acid rain.

Since 1979, more than 20 percent of the global ice caps have disappeared.Image
Credit: AP Photo/John McConnico
1. Overpopulation
Overpopulation "is the elephant in the room that nobody wants to talk about," says Dr. John
Guillebaud, professor of family planning and reproductive health at University College in
London. "Unless we reduce the human population humanely through family planning, nature will
do it for us through violence, epidemics or starvation." [source: Guardian]
The world's population has grown from 3 billion to 6.7 billion in the past 40 years. Seventy-five
million people -- the equivalent of the population of Germany -- are added to the planet every
year, or more than 200,000 people every day [source: peopleandplanet.net]. The Earth's
population is projected to exceed 9 billion by the year 2050.
In that same time period, the population of the U.S. grew from 200 million to more than 303
million. By 2050, it's projected to be 420 million.
More people means more waste, more demand for food, more production of consumer goods,
more need for electricity, cars and everything. In other words, all the factors that contribute to
global warming will be exacerbated.
Increased demand for food will force farmers and fishermen to exploit already-fragile
ecosystems. Forests will be cleared as cities and suburbs expand, and to make room for more
farmland. Strains on endangered species will increase. In rapidly developing countries such as
China and India, increasing energy demands are expected to accelerate carbon emissions. In
short, more people means more problems.
For more on environmental issues, visit the links on the following page.
How Cities Are Good for the Environment
Moving away from agrarian living can actually promote a more environmentally sustainable way
of life. Denser living quarters in cities makes heating and cooling more efficient. Public
transportation decreases the percentage of people driving cars. In developing countries, cities
draw people away from subsistence farming -- a practice that is devastating for the environment
because farmers encroach on forests, burn wood (releasing heavy amounts of carbon), and add
to the quantity of methane from animal waste.