Air Pollution
Where is it coming from?
The beautiful landscape of northern California is constantly attracting new businesses and people to move and develop here. These people further develop the land for their personal economic benefit. However, this can serve as a great problem for the surrounding ecosystems, specifically the chaparral. Not only do these developments eliminate the space for nature to grow, but they release pollution, specifically ozone, into the air. The environment now has constantly increasing levels of ozone (and greenhouse gases) in the air. However, what differentiates this from other air pollution issues is the landscape of California. Because the mountain ranges are so close to the coast, there are drastic changes in altitude. Furthermore, the emissions are coming from the cities that are at or below sea level. This means that the ozone is trapped in a sort of valley where it will decrease the health of the environment for the ecosystems.
What effects will it have?
The high ozone levels will now be polluting the air in the California chaparral area. As a result of this, the organisms of the ecosystem will suffer because of the lack of high quality air. The high ozone levels are tied to premature death, asthma, bronchitis, heart attack, and other cardiopulmonary problems while the long term exposure to these abnormally high levels generated an increased chance of death from respiratory illnesses. All of these examples will decrease the population sizes of the biotic species (bobcats, squirrels, shrubs, etc) as they will suffer from these cardiopulmonary issues because of their exposure. Overall, this will generate a decrease in the health of the ecosystem because the polluted air is severely harming the ecosystem.
The beautiful landscape of northern California is constantly attracting new businesses and people to move and develop here. These people further develop the land for their personal economic benefit. However, this can serve as a great problem for the surrounding ecosystems, specifically the chaparral. Not only do these developments eliminate the space for nature to grow, but they release pollution, specifically ozone, into the air. The environment now has constantly increasing levels of ozone (and greenhouse gases) in the air. However, what differentiates this from other air pollution issues is the landscape of California. Because the mountain ranges are so close to the coast, there are drastic changes in altitude. Furthermore, the emissions are coming from the cities that are at or below sea level. This means that the ozone is trapped in a sort of valley where it will decrease the health of the environment for the ecosystems.
What effects will it have?
The high ozone levels will now be polluting the air in the California chaparral area. As a result of this, the organisms of the ecosystem will suffer because of the lack of high quality air. The high ozone levels are tied to premature death, asthma, bronchitis, heart attack, and other cardiopulmonary problems while the long term exposure to these abnormally high levels generated an increased chance of death from respiratory illnesses. All of these examples will decrease the population sizes of the biotic species (bobcats, squirrels, shrubs, etc) as they will suffer from these cardiopulmonary issues because of their exposure. Overall, this will generate a decrease in the health of the ecosystem because the polluted air is severely harming the ecosystem.