BIOS1301 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Blue Mountains National Park, Tea Tree Oil, Antifragile
29 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
BIOS1301 – Ecology and Sustainability – Part 6
LEC 13:
• North Pacific Gyre
o End point of the ocean currents, where all the ocean pollutants have clumped
together in an ongoing cycle. (twice the size of France)
• Marine pollution, characteristics of marine pollution, sources
o Oil spills
o Micro plastic (large plastic breaking down, cosmetic and beauty products
[sunscreen, exfoliators, clothing]), plastic bags, bottles
o Pump sewerage into ocean
o Seafood becoming polluted with heavy metals affecting fertility
• Experimental design
o BACI test (Before/After/Control Impact).
o Most important aspect of test is CI, as before is rare, after is uncommon (usually
ongoing)
• Homebush bay: fourth most polluted waterway due to manufactures (DDT, Agent
Orange, abattoir, paints) dumping their waste into the ocean. A lot of pollutants settle
into the sediment and when the sediment is disturbed it becomes mixed into the top
of the water.
LEC 14:
• What will the world look like in the future?
o In Australia:
• More destructive weather patterns, extreme at both ends (heatwaves)
• Frequent bushfires
• Intense tropical cyclones
• Shift in rainfall patterns
• Droughts increase
• Acidification
• Rising sea levels
• How will biodiversity respond?
o Extinction
o Adaptation and evolve (require a period of time in order to do this, but rate of
change has drastically increased)
o Migration (somewhere suitable to go to, capacity to get there fast enough, no
insurmountable barriers which is unlikely)
• What can we do?
o Reduce pollution in an environment
o Find suitable habitats they can go to, areas to move through
o Ex. cane toads are moving down
LEC 16:
• Challenges ahead
o Mass extinctions, drought, bushfires
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
