Human+Impacts+Desert

** Use of Off-road Vehicles in the Desert: **
According to biologist Jeffrey E. Lovich and ecologist David Bainbridge “[...]large parts of the Mojave and Colorado deserts have been negatively affected by humans and their activities during the course of this century.” they continue, saying “The desert is a fragile ecosystem, [...]. The desert looks tough but it is extremely vulnerable to damage[...].”(I11) Human activities such as the recreational use of off road vehicles that compacts soil, which prevents water from percolating and infiltrating the ground.

(I16)

Because of this local producers can’t get enough water from the ground which affects their growth and production food for consumers. Since the ground is impermeable there is an increase of wind and water erosion. Lovich and Bainbridge estimate that it would take “centuries to for those areas to recover”. The use of these vehicles in the desert also destroys a large amount of the vegetation which keeps the deserts barren. But the main issue about off-road vehicle use in the desert is the increase of oil and gas leaking that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is supposed to be minimizing, but according to EcoFlight (I17)“With their priority focused on oil and gas leasing, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) does little to monitor ORV use, much less enforce regulations.”.

** Non-Native Invasive Species: **
Human interference in the desert biome has also brought non-native invasive species into the desert. Plants such as Buffel Grass, Fountain Grass, Onion Weed and others pose major threats to the desert.(I10) Although all Non-native plant species that are influenced by humans are not invasive such as roses or other flowering plants and don’t affect the environment. Buffel Grass harms many desert’s but the Saguaro National Park has an especially hard time trying to deal with these. The Buffel Grass was initially planted to combat cattle forage and erosion in a specific part of the park, but since its seeds are easily transported through the air it quickly spread. The seeds of the Buffel Grass have bristles on them which allows them to attach to people’s clothing, and vehicles further spreading these seeds. The reason the Buffel Grass is referred to as the “arch enemy of the Sonoran Desert” is because it acts as sustainable fuel for wildfires which can destroy all of the greenery in a desert as well as the biomass. The Buffel Grass also grows in patches and choke out competing, native, plants. This lessens the amount of biodiversity we have among plants in a desert which indicates that the ecosystem is sick.

(I12)

** Human Population Expansion: **
The rapid increase of the human population in recent years has caused unpredictable effects on the environment. The human population is growing at a whopping 75 million people per year; it is predicted that by 2030, there will be 8.4 billion people on this earth! This rapid expansion has lead to the destruction of habitat, endangerment to species, and a fundamental cause of Global Warming in the desert. (I3)

(I14) (I13)

As our population increases, we put stress on the organisms in the desert biome to compete for limiting resources. When humans inhabit areas in and around the desert, we decrease and destroy habitats in the desert. This leads to heavy competition for not only food and water (which is already very hard to obtain), but now organisms have to worry about territory. This increase in competition in the desert leads to the endangerment of many species of animals. (I8)

Many animals in the desert rely on highly specialized ecosystems in order to survive, and when human expansion leads to habitat destruction, it puts a lot of environmental stress on the species. This is a major reason of why many animals are so close to extinction. An example of this is the critically endangered Saharan Cheetah (IUCN Red List). In 2017, there are less that 250 of these elusive creatures in the wild. The biggest reason as to why this species is extinct is habitat loss; as many people in Africa started to inhabit area in and around the Saharan Desert, they took the homes of these creatures. Habitat loss was not the sole culprit when it comes to the Saharan Cheetah; when the African people moved into the area, they started to hunt for animals as a source of food, including the cheetah. The people also hunted the prey of the cheetah, causing a rapid decline in its population.

** Pollution: **
Since the Industrial Revolution, humans have been burning excessive amounts of fossil fuels. This increase in pollution, specifically air pollution, has lead to emissions of gases such as, Carbon-Dioxide, Methane, Nitrous Oxide, and many others; these gases are called “Greenhouse Gases. These “Greenhouse Gases” are the driving force behind Global Warming.( I18)

Global Warming, as we know, has many negative impacts on all regions of the world. Even slight increases in temperature can lead to devastating repercussions; unfortunately, we are facing this problem with desert biomes. Even minute changes in temperature and/or precipitation drastically impact the lives of plants and animals. Increases in temperature enhance incidence of drought, drying up the little water there is in the desert (I5). These temperatures allow the desert to be more susceptible to wildfires, vastly altering the landscape. These fires burn slow-growing trees and shrubs and replace them with faster-growing grasses.

In the Mojave Desert, we are seeing many of the effects of pollution. The three major types being water pollution, air pollution, and litter pollution. Air pollution is the biggest problem as it is causing a problem for both humans and other organisms in the desert. It comes in the form of smog and human activities. Smog creates visual impairment and health problems for the plants and animals. Human activities cause extensive damage to many plants. In an article published in the August 1997 issue of the “Journal of Applied Ecology” (I9), researchers found that windblown dust reduced the photosynthesis rates of three native Mojave plant species by preventing gas exchange and transpiration, and causing reduced efficiency of water use. Litter pollution has proved to be a major problem for the desert tortoise, being the leading cause to its endangerment. Water pollution is also a very big problem, as the desert already has scarce amounts of water, and chemical pollution in this can lead to the endangerment or extinction of many organisms in the desert.( I4)

(I15)

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