Natural Capital Degradation: Find Examples of Major Human Impacts on Terrestrial Ecosystems Across the Globe Using GE

In this installment, you will be able to use Google Earth (GE) to "fly to" examples of how humans have degraded terrestrial ecosystems across the surface of the earth. The point of this exercise is to visually and spatially connect to the concept of how humans have decreased the natural capital of their habitable space, thereby decreasing the planet's carrying capacity (k) for all the organisms that its supports.

The four common flavors of terrestrial ecosystems are listed below along with the major human induced impacts common to each kind of ecosystem. After using GE to visit examples of each kind of impact, use the comments feature of this blog to either suggest additional examples of impacts that have been overlooked, the coordinates for additional example of the impacts already listed or, provide the coordinates for locations where humans have reversed or mitigated former impacts.

As always, lets start our trip in the AAE's backyard, the Mojave Desert, a temperate desert. Assuming that you have opened GE and made the changes addressed above, find the Search arrow in the upper left corner of the GE window and open it by clicking on it. Once open click on the "Fly To" option. To travel on GE to AAE's campus in the middle of the Mojave Desert of Southern California, copy and paste the following latitude and longitude (lat, long) of 34°31'58.81"N, 117°16'44.16"W into the text box in GE's Fly To search engine (click on the magnifying glass/or tap the enter key to activate your search... hop). You will be "flown" to the middle of the our Mojave River Campus. Zoom out using the "-" minus key (zoom in using the "+" key) and explore around the campuses environs, getting close enough to see some of its surface features and plant life. The arrow keys will also help you navigate in any compass direction (ie. NEWS). Use some of the features of GE to "mess around" a bit and see what GE can add to your experience before leaving the campus and visiting examples of terrestrial degradation.

Deserts

• Large Desert Cities

1. Dubai, Uniited Arab Emirates ( 25° 6'41.23"N, 55°17'37.79"E )
   

• Soil Destruction by Off-Road Vehicles

1. Johnson Valley, California, USA ( 34°26'27.92"N, 116°41'7.69"W )

• Soil Salinization from Irrigation

1. Central Valley, California, USA ( 35°27'15.56"N,119°24'2.83"W )

• Depletion of Groundwater

1. Rogers Lake, Edwards Air Force Base, California, ( 34°50'41.88"N, 117°52'14.08"W ) The fissure has been attributed to land subsidence related to ground-water pumping in the Antelope Valley
   

• Land Disturbance and Pollution from Mineral Extraction

1. Limestone & Cement mining and manufacturing, Victorville, CA, USA ( 34°36'0.02"N, 117°17'58.64"W )

Grasslands

• Conversion to Croplands

1. Tall Grass Prairie National Preserve, Kansas, USA ( 38°26'13.39"N, 96°35'40.87"W )

• Release of CO2 to Atmosphere from Burning Grasslands

1. 
   

• Overgrazing by Livestock

1. Fort Pierre National Grassland, South Dakota, USA ( 44° 7'43.04"N, 100°16'37.32"W )

• Oil Production and Off Road Vehicle use in Arctic Tundra

1. Center of North Slope oil productions, Prudhoe Bay, Alaska ( 70°13'53.92"N, 148°24'12.79"W )

Forests

• Clearing for Agriculture, livestock grazing, timber, and Urban Development

1. Brazilian agriculture, rainforest deforestation, Para Brazil ( 4° 6'26.67"S, 54°22'4.63"W )

• Conversion of Dense Forest to Tree Plantations

1. Eucalyptus Plantation, Ribeirao Preto, Sao Paulo State, Brazil (21°22'22.20"S, 47°33'29.28"W )

• Damage from Off-Road Vehicles

1. Cleghorn Canyon Area, San Bernardino National Forest, CA, USA (34°18'47.81", 117°26'23.67"W )

• Pollution of Forest Streams

1. Iron Mountain Mine, Redding California,USA ( 40°39'26.57"N, 122°29'8.53"W )
2. Leviathan Mine, Sierra Nevada, Alpine County, California, USA ( 38°42'20.40"N, 119°39'15.00"W )

Mountains

• Agriculture

1. Nepal, Nuwakot District ( 27°53'13.26"N, 85°14'39.50"E )

• Timber Extraction

1. Placer and El Dorado Counties, High Sierra, California, USA ( 38°55'5.47"N, 120°32'0.06"W )

• Mineral Extraction

1. Iron Mountain Mine, Redding California,USA ( 40°39'26.57"N, 122°29'8.53"W )

• Hydroelectric Dam and Reservoirs

1. Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, California, USA ( 37°56'46.64"N, 119°44'15.69"W )

• Increasing Tourism

1. South Lake Tahoe, California, USA ( 38°54'57.33"N, 119°58'25.67"W )

• Urban Air Pollution

1. San Gabriel Mountains, California, USA ( 34°18'49.71"N, 117°57'34.44"W )

• Increased Ultraviolet Radiation from Ozone Depletion

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• Soil Damage from Off-Road Vehicles

1. Páramo de Piedras Blancas, Venezuelan Andes ( 8°50'32.60"N, 70°57'41.99"W )