Page 702 - Geosystems An Introduction to Physical Geography 4th Canadian Edition

THEhumanDENOMINATOR 20 Anthropogenic Environments
BIOMES HUMANS
• Natural plant and animal communities are linked to human cultures, providing resources for food and shelter.
• Earth’s remaining undisturbed ecosystems are becoming a focus for tourism, recreation, and scientific attention.
20a 20b
HUMANS BIOMES
• Invasive species, many introduced by humans, disrupt native ecosystems. • Tropical deforestation is ongoing, with more than half Earth’s original rain
forest already cleared.
20c
Irrigated villages. Satpara, Pakistan. [Dave Stamboulis/Alamy.]
Urban. London, England. [Justin Kaze zsixz /Alamy.]
Residential cropland. Prince Edward Island, Canada. [All Canada Photos/Alamy.]
Settlements
Urban
Dense settlement
Rice villages
Irrigated villages Cropland and pastoral Pastoral villages Rain-fed villages Rain-fed mosaic villages
Croplands
Residential irrigated cropland Residential rain-fed mosaic Populated irrigated cropland Populated rain-fed cropland Remote cropland
Rangelands
Residential rangelands Populated rangelands Remote rangelands
Forested lands
Populated forest
Remote forest
Wildlands
Wild forest
Sparse trees
Barren or ice-covered
Anthropogenic biomes.
[Courtesy Erle Ellis, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and Navin Ramankutty, McGill University/NASA.]
20e
Remote rangelands. Northern Chile. [Independent Picture Service/Alamy.]
ISSUES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
20d
Populated forest. Raja Ampat Islands, Indonesia. [Images & Stories/Alamy.]
• Species and ecosystem management for conserving biodiversity must become a priority to avoid species extinctions.
• Shifting of species distributions in response to environmental factors will continue with ongoing climate change.
• Population control and global education (including women and minorities in all countries) is key for sustaining natural and anthropogenic biomes.
geosystemsconnection
All of Earth’s physical systems combine to produce the biomes into which all regions on Earth can be classified. We see the patterns of these interactions throughout the biosphere and in the diversity of life. Real issues abound regarding preservation of this diversity and the influence of climate change on communities, ecosystems, and biomes. Physical geography and Earth systems science are especially well suited to study these changes.
As our exploration of Geosystems concludes, your journey now leads onward into the 21st century. Study well and travel safely—with the wind at your back.
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