A LONELY PLANET

The Earth is home to multiple species beyond us human beings. But we have destroyed many and endangered others. Our treatment of the world’s fabulous ecosystems is now creating Marshlands. 

Marshlands

Freshwater marshes are found at lakes and river mouths. Marshes are characterized by herbaceous flora like reeds, sedges and long grasses which prevent soil erosion. Covering over 6% of the Earth’s surface, marshlands dot Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and North and South America.

These regions are rich with biodiversity, from tiny insects to wading birds. However, with climate change altering water levels, alongside fishing, hunting and dam building, marshland species now confront extinction. Some endangered species include the whooping crane, the whistling duck, the western swamp tortoise, the pirate perch and the glorious kingfisher bird.

Mangroves

A mangrove is a tidal swamp which forms along lagoons, islands and tropical deltas. It is marked by high salinity and its ecology combines both freshwater and oceanic ecosystems. Over 60,000 square miles of mangroves are found across the tropics and subtropics, along coastal Central America, India, Brazil, Australia, etc., forming a crucial buffer against storms.

Mangroves house fascinating varieties of fish, algae, crustacean, reptile, bird and mammal species. However, these stunning beings, from the whiskered smooth-coated otter to the red-fur Probocis monkey and the Bengal tiger to the Dugong ‘sea-cow’, face threats from climate change raising sea levels around the world. Alongside, agrochemicals and oil spill pollution are also destroying mangrove habitats.

Oceans

Aquatic ecosystems are located in the five oceans spread over the world, namely the Arctic, Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Southern or Austral oceans. These cover about 70% of the Earth’s surface.

The rich ocean ecosystem is home to the smallest living creatures, like plankton and bacteria, right upto the world’s largest living structure, the Great Barrier Reef, composed of corals, found in Australia. Ocean life, which extends over three depths of waters, the top-most and sunlit Euphotic Zone to the middle-level Disphotic Zone and the dark and cold Aphotic Zone at the bottom, includes fish, dolphins, walruses, crustaceans to tiny sea anemones and huge whales.

This magical world is under grave threat from fishing and whaling, plastic pollution, oil spills and pesticides, destroying the habitats of the hawksbill turtle, the fin whale, the sea otter, the whale shark and the monk seal.

Deserts

The dry desert ecosystem is based on very low rainfall. Spread over 20% of the Earth, across Africa, the Middle East, America and West and Southern Asia, the desert supports tough flora and fauna, like heat-resistant zerophyte plants which store water, including cacti and oleanders, and small, often nocturnal animals, birds and reptiles.

However, global warming now threatens desert species like the Rosa involucrata plant, bighorn sheep, fringe-toed lizards and desert gazelles, facing drying water pools and growing wildfires, alongside hunting and human encroachments.

Polar Region

Located around the North and South Poles, polar ecosystems, characterised by floating ice caps amidst frozen lands and oceans, are composed of polar barrens and tundra. Polar vegetation features tussock-forming grasses, lichens and mosses and hardy animals and birds that can survive temperatures dipping to -50 degrees Celsius in the Arctic and -89 degrees Celsius in the Antarctic. These include the polar bear, seals, penguins, the Arctic falcon, the white whale, the caribou, the Arctic fox, the musk ox and the Pacific walrus.

However, these species face severe extinction risks with climate change causing atmospheric warming and the melting of ice caps, thawing Arctic permafrost and destroying habitats, shrinking food supplies and limiting access to hunting and breeding grounds. Further threats are posed by unceasing oil and gas explorations, commercial hunting and dangerous chemical pollution.

Tropical Rainforests

The tropical rainforest, with very high rainfall and humidity, is found in lowlands and uplands around the Equator, in Asia, South and Central America (particularly the Amazon basin) and West and Central Africa.

With astounding biodiversity, tropical rainforests house vibrant species like the gorilla and orangutan, the poison dart frog, the chimp, the toucan and macaw. These now face the threat of extinction from the burning of rainforests for commerce as well as from pollution and poaching.

Why eco-systems matter?

• An ecosystem’s balance of life- bacteria to plants, animals, birds, etc.- maintains the global balance of temperature, water and air.
• Ocean ecosystems contain one-celled phytoplankton plants which, via photosynthesis reportedly produce half the oxygen in the world.
• Marshland ecosystems store carbon within their plants and soil, functioning as a ‘carbon sink’.
• Marshland and Mangroves, with long grasses rooted in soils covered by very slow-draining waters, are a natural guard against soil erosion.
• The polar regions maintain the world’s water in balance. About 90% of the fresh water on the Earth’s surface is held in the polar ice-sheet.
• Covering about 1/3^rd of the Earth’s dryland, desert biomes act as a ‘carbon sink’, scientists finding that bacteria located in desert aquifers capture and store carbon from the atmosphere.
• The rich tropical rain forest ecosystem works as a carbon sink for about 50% of all atmospheric carbon released annually.
• Tropical rain forests recycle water vapour and thus impact cloud formation and rainfall.
• Scientists find tropical rainforest ecosystems also power about 28% of the world’s oxygen turn over, transforming CO₂ into oxygen through the process of photosynthesis.

{Research: National Geographic, Scientific American, The New York Times, The Guardian, IPCC, environmentalscience.org, Scott Polar Research Institute (Cambridge)}

Why eco-systems matter?

• An ecosystem’s balance of life- bacteria to plants, animals, birds, etc.- maintains the global balance of temperature, water and air.
• Ocean ecosystems contain one-celled phytoplankton plants which, via photosynthesis reportedly produce half the oxygen in the world.
• Marshland ecosystems store carbon within their plants and soil, functioning as a ‘carbon sink’.
• Marshland and Mangroves, with long grasses rooted in soils covered by very slow-draining waters, are a natural guard against soil erosion.
• The polar regions maintain the world’s water in balance. About 90% of the fresh water on the Earth’s surface is held in the polar ice-sheet.
• Covering about 1/3^rd of the Earth’s dryland, desert biomes act as a ‘carbon sink’, scientists finding that bacteria located in desert aquifers capture and store carbon from the atmosphere.
• The rich tropical rain forest ecosystem works as a carbon sink for about 50% of all atmospheric carbon released annually.
• Tropical rain forests recycle water vapour and thus impact cloud formation and rainfall.
• Scientists find tropical rainforest ecosystems also power about 28% of the world’s oxygen turn over, transforming CO₂ into oxygen through the process of photosynthesis.

{Research: National Geographic, Scientific American, The New York Times, The Guardian, IPCC, environmentalscience.org, Scott Polar Research Institute (Cambridge)}

Matter referenced:

Times of India, Ahmedabad, Saturday, 25th January, 2020.

By: Dr. Bhawana Asnani.

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