This presentation discuss about the human impact on ecosystem, planetary responses to changes and imbalance in the various ecological systems. The main cause of ecological change is the rapid increase in human population which ultimately utilize the non-renewable resources to fulfil their luxurious living standards and to discover various technologies to generate energy.

1. ECOSYSTEM AND HUMAN
TRANSFORMATIONS
Gyanesh SinghA
Helen P EldhoA
Sajal MittalA
Shubham GuptaA
Instructor:
Rajiv SinhaA
A
Department of Civil Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur

2. AREAS TO COVER

3. ECOSYSTEM
• An ecosystem is a community of biotic components
(plants, animals and microbes) in conjunction with
the abiotic components of their environment (things
like air, water and mineral soil), interacting as a
system.
• The study of ecosystem mainly consists of the study of
certain processes that link the living, or biotic
components to non living, or abiotic components.

4. ECOSYSTEM:
•The term ecosystem was first
coined by A.G Tansely.
•It consist of two Words.
Eco : Environment
System : Interaction
Thus
The ecosystem refers to
the things and conditions around
the organism, which directly or
influence the life and
development of the organism and
their populations.
LivingCreatures
Vegetation
Energy from the sun
Rocks and Soil
Climate

5. ECOSYSTEM CHARACTERISTICS
• Ecosystem show large variations in their
 Size
 Structure
 Composition etc.,
However…….
•An ecosystem can be as large as the
Sahara Desert, or as small as a puddle!!!
•Ecosystems are more than just the
organisms they contain. Geography
,weather, climate and geologic factors
also influence the interactions within an
ecosystem.

6. Why are ecosystems important?
•Life cannot sustain without ecosystem
services
•Ecosystem services are the goods and
services derived from natural and
managed ecosystems upon which human
welfare depends, and include
everything from clean air and water to
food and fuel.

7. TYPES OF ECOSYSTEM
NATURAL ARTIFICIAL
TERRESTIAL AQUATIC
MARINE FRESH WATER
LOTIC LENTIC
Stream, river etc., Lake, pond, pools, etc.,
ECOSYSTEM

8. FACTORS AFFECTING ECOSYSTEM
Physical Factors
•The sunlight & shade
•Intensity of solar flux
•Duration of sun hours
•Average temperature
•Maximum & minimum
temperature
•Annual rainfall
•Wind
•Latitude
•Altitude
•Soil type
•Water availability
Chemical Factors
•Availability of essential
nutrients like
Carbon
Nitrogen
Phosphorus
Potassium
Hydrogen
Oxygen
Sulphur
Level of toxic substance
Salts causing salinity
Organic substance present in
soil or water

9. Functional Attributes
• Ecosystem performs under natural conditions
in a systematic way.
• Rate of transformation:
If human transformation is within a threshold limit,
then no effect on ecosystem
If human transformation exceeds the threshold limit,
then it disturbs the ecosystem.

10. HUMAN THREATS TO ECOSYSTEMS
POPULATION
LAND
CONVERSION
INFRASTRUCTURE
DEVELOPMENT
OVER
EXPLOITATIO
N
RELEASE OF
POLLUTANTS
INTRODUCTION OF
EXOTIC SPECIES
Consumption growth
Dams, urban growth, highways
Deforestation, agriculture
Overfishing
Human, agricultural and industrial wastes
Replacing indigenous species

11. ECOSYSTEMS
AND
HUMAN WELL BEING
IMPACTS
POSITIVE NEGATIVE

12. LINK BETWEEN ECOSYSTEM AND
HUMAN WELL-BEING
MINING
Loss of agricultural land
Loss of coral reefs
Loss of plantations
But !!
Impact may not be negative always :
•Compensation are given by the mining
companies.
•The cash can be used to replace lost
services and obtain services not previously
available, like housing, water, food,
medicines etc.

13. LINK BETWEEN ECOSYSTEM AND
HUMAN WELL-BEING
Converting forests
to croplands
Ensure food supplies
But !!
•Causes disruption of hydrology
•Loss of biodiversity
•Loss of scenic beauty

14. CONSEQUENCES OF IGNORING
(The Link Between Well-being And Ecosystem Condition)
LOSS
GENETIC
VARIATION
BIODIVERSITY
AESTHETIC
BENEFITS
ENVIRONMENT
STABILITY
RECREATIONAL
BENEFITS
CLEANSING
CAPACITY

15. FOCUS: ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
(The Benefits People Obtain From Ecosystems)

16. MILLENIUM ECOSYSTEM ASSESSMENT
FRAMEWORK
Direct
Drivers
Indirect
Drivers
Ecosystem
Services
Human
Well-being
Direct Drivers of Change
 Changes in land use
 Species introduction or removal
 Technology adaptation and use
 External inputs (e.g., irrigation)
 Resource consumption
 Climate change
 Natural physical and biological
drivers (e.g., volcanoes)
Indirect Drivers of Change
 Demographic
 Economic (globalization, trade,
market and policy framework)
 Sociopolitical (governance and
institutional framework)
 Science and Technology
 Cultural and Religious
Human Well-being and
Poverty Reduction
 Basic material for a good life
 Health
 Good Social Relations
 Security
 Freedom of choice and action

17. CONSEQUENCES
• LARGE COAL SUBSIDIES
• RISING CO2 EMISSIONS
• NEW COAL MINES, COAL SEAM GAS FRACKING
• DEGRADATION OF SOILS AND ECOSYSTEMS
• DREDGING NEAR GREAT BARRIER REEF
• CONTINUING DEFORESTATION
• NEGLECT OF RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE
• NEGLECT OF RENEWABLE ENERGY POTENTIAL
• NEGLECTED SUSTAINABLE HOUSING/ AGRICULTURE
• UNDERMINING SUPPORT FOR SUSTAINOCENE
• DENIALISM

18. ECOSYSTEM
HUMAN IMPACT
ON

19. THE GREAT ACCELERATION – A PLANET
UNDER PRESSURE
Figure 1: A conceptual model
illustrating humanity’s direct and
indirect effects on the Earth system
Source: J. Lubchenco et al
These relatively well-
documented changes in
turn altered ecosystem,
most notably by
driving:
•Global climate change
•
•Irreversible losses of
biological diversity

20. POPULATION
Source: Steffen et al 2004
TOTAL REAL GDP FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT
DAMMING OF RIVERS
WATER USE FERTILISER CONSUMPTION
URBAN POPULATION
PAPER CONSUMPTION
MOTOR VEHICLES
INCREASING RATE OF HUMAN ACTIVITIES

21. ATMOSPHERIC
CO2
CONCENTRATION
Source: Steffen et al 2004
ATMOSPHERIC
N2O
CONCENTRATION
ATMOSPHERIC
CH4
CONCENTRATION
NORTHERN
HEMISPHERE
AVERAGE SURFACE
TEMPERATURE
OZONE DEPLETION
TROPICAL
RAINFOREST AND
WOODLAND LOSS
NATURAL CLIMATIC
DISASTERS
FISHERIES EXPLOITATION BIODIVERSITY LOSS
CHANGES IN EARTH SYSTEM

22. PLANETARY RESPONSE
Figure 2: Human domination or alteration of several major
components of earth systems (expressed as percentage)
Source: P. M. Vitousek et al
Land Transformation
• 10-15% of Earth’s surface occupied by row-crop agriculture and 6-8% by
pastureland
• The fraction of land transformed or degraded by humanity fall in the range of
39-50%.
• It directly effects the biodiversity loss and indirectly to climate change by
contributing 20% to current anthropogenic emissions

23. UNPRECEDENTED CHANGE
(Land Transformation)
More land was converted to cropland since 1945 than in the 18th
and
19th centuries combined
Cultivated Systems in 2000 cover 25% of Earth’s terrestrial surface
(Defined as areas where at least 30% of the landscape is in croplands, shifting cultivation,
confined livestock production, or freshwater aquaculture)

24. OCEANS
Trophic level of fish captured is declining in marine and freshwater systems
Marine fish harvest
declining since the late
1980s
• As of 2004
 3% are underexploited
 20% are moderately exploited
 52% are fully exploited
 17% are overexploited
 7% are depleted
 1% are recovering from depletion
• 27 million tons of non target animals discarded in
fisheries
• 50% of mangrove ecosystems destroyed globally
every year.
• Human use >8% of primary production of oceans.

25. UNPRECEDENTED CHANGE:
(Biogeochemical Cycles)
Human-produced Reactive Nitrogen
Humans produce as much biologically
available N as all natural pathways and this
may grow a further 65% by 2050
Nitrogen Cycle
•Before human intervention annually 90-130
million metric tons of N were fixed biologically.
•Industrial fixation of N fertilizer
<10Tg/year(1950) increased to 80Tg/year(1990)
and expected to increase to >135 Tg/year by
2030.
•Cultivation of legume crops and fossil fuels
combustion fix 40Tg/year and 20Tg/year
respectively.
•Human individually add >50Tg/year as much as
all natural sources combined.
•Alterations to N cycle cause:
 Increase in concentration of
greenhouse gas nitrous oxide
globally.
 A significant contribution to acid
rain.

26. Greenhouse Gas Emissions
CO2
CH4
Furnass et al. 2012
Carbon Cycle
•CO2 increased steadily from
315 to 393.31ppm since 1957
till now.
•Fossil Fuels adds 5.5±0.5
billion metric tons annually.
•Average annual accumulation
is 3.2±0.2 billion metric tons.
•Human caused CO2 increment
nearly 30% causing green
house effect.
•The growth of plants also
altered by increase in CO2.

27. UNPRECEDENTED CHANGE
(Fresh Water)
Intercepted Continental Runoff:
3-6 times as much water in reservoirs as
in natural rivers
(Data from a subset of large reservoirs
totaling ~65% of the global total storage)
Water Cycle
•Human uses half of runoff i.e. fresh and
of this 70% use in agriculture.
•6% of Earth’s river runoff is evaporated
due to human intervention.
•Amount of water in reservoirs
quadrupled since 1960
•Irrigation increases atmospheric
humidity in semi-arid areas thus
increasing precipitation and thunder
storm frequency.
•Land transformation from forest to
agriculture causes increase in albedo and
decrease surface roughness, it effects
increase in temperature and decrease
precipitation.

28. IRREVERSIBLE CHANGES TO SPECIES
DIVERSITY
LOSSES
•100,000,000 different species
on Earth.
•The extinction rate is 0.01%
per year.
•At present , 11% of remaining
birds, 18% of mammals, 5% of
fish, 8% of plant species are
threatened with extinction.
•Land Transformation is the
single most important cause of
extinction.

29. BIOTIC CHANGES
Growth in Number of Marine Species
Introductions in North America and
Europe
INVASIONS
•The distribution of species on Earth is
becoming more homogenous
•On many islands, more than half of
plant species are non indigenous and in
many continental areas this figure is 20%
•In the San Francisco Bay of California,
an average of 1 new species invaded
every 36 weeks since 1850, every 24
weeks since 1970, and 12 weeks for last
decade.
•In India: Spotted Deer, introduced in the
Andaman Nicobar island by Britishers,
number has proliferated, there large
number is affecting forest regeneration as
they overexploit certain plant species.

30. Furnass et al. 2012
One dangerous
result has been the
melting of the
Arctic ice cap,
satellite photographs
indicating that this
has been more
extensive than the
highest of IPCC
computer
projections
HUMAN EFFECT
ON
ARCTIC ICE CAPS

31. ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION
– Ecosystems in some regions are returning to conditions similar to their pre-
conversion states
– Rates of ecosystem conversion remain high or are increasing for specific
ecosystems and regions

32. CHANGES TO ECOSYSTEMS HAVE
PROVIDED SUBSTANTIAL BENEFITS
– Food production has more
than doubled since 1960
– Food production per capita
has grown
– Food price has fallen

33. DEGRADATION OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
OFTEN CAUSES SIGNIFICANT HARM TO
HUMAN WELL-BEING
– Degradation tends to lead
to the loss of non-
marketed benefits from
ecosystems
– The economic value of
these benefits is often
high and sometimes
higher than the marketed
benefits
Timber and fuel wood generally
accounted for less than a third of
total economic value of forests in
eight Mediterranean countries.

34. Source: Rockström et al. 2009
HUMAN IMPACT ON ECOSYSTEM

35. FROM ANTHROPOCENE TO
NOOSPHERE
The teleology, or end point,
of the biosphere was to
provide the physical
conditions for the ultimate
destination of evolution, the
transformation of the
biosphere into the
noosphere. Just as the
biosphere transformed the
earlier geosphere, the
noosphere would transform
the biosphere, extending the
culminating destiny of
humanity.
(From W. Hayes, The Noosphere)

36. STRESSORS TO ECOSYSTEM

37. OPERATING BOUNDARIES
Source: Rockstorm et al. 2009

38. Source: Rockstorm, J. et al. Ecol. Soc 2009

39. Fresh Water Resources
Water covers 71% of the Earth's
surface
• 96.5% of the planet's water
is found in seas and oceans
• 1.7% in groundwater
• 1.7% in glaciers and the ice
caps of Antarctica and
Greenland
• a small fraction in other
large water bodies, and
0.001% in the air as vapour,
clouds and precipitation
only.
 2.5% of the Earth's water is
freshwater
 98.8% of that water is in
ice and groundwater

41. GLOBAL THREAT TO HUMAN WATER
SECURITY
• “Nearly 80% of total world’s population is exposed to
high level of threat to water security”- Vorosmarty C.J.
• Freshwater is directly threatened by human activities and
further by anthropogenic climate change
• 14 out of 47 worlds largest river are under high threat
level
• Developing countries are more vulnerable to threat

42. (Source: Vorosmarty et al. 2010)

43. ADJUSTED HWS THREAT
Fig: Shift in spatial patterns of relative human water security threat after accounting for water
technology benefits.
(Source: Vorosmarty et al.

44. HUMAN INTERVENTION ON RIVERS
Human’s negative impact on river ecosystems
River flow withdrawal
River flow redistribution in time
River flow redistribution in space
Physical disturbances of river bed
Pollution
Water clogging
Thermal pollution

45. River flow
redistribution in time
Source: USGSFig. Three Gorges Dam, China
• Soil Erosion
• Species Extinction
• Spread of Diseases
• Changes to Earth’s Rotation
• Temporal Employment versus
Permanent Displacement
• Dams emit greenhouse gases.
• Dams impact to the rivers
hydrology and ecosystems
• The control and the
unscheduled releases of
waters from dams threaten the
lives of people living near the
banks.

46. River flow redistribution in space
Its impact can be described by using three zones which differ from each other in impact made
upon natural habitat :
Zone of Water
Withdrawal
Zone of Water
Transportation
Zone of Water Usage
Characterized by :
•Decrease of river flow
•Lowering of water level
•Intensification of river bed
processes
•Reduction of water logged sites
•Expansion of salty sea waters’
penetration
Characterized by :
•Increase of river flow
•Rise of water level
•Under flooding and waterlogging
of nearby lands
•Intensification of erosion and
evaporation
Characterized by :
•Intensification of erosion
and evaporation
•Worsening of surface
waters’ quality
Fig. Sharda Sahayak
Canal, UP
Source: Google Earth

47. River flow withdrawal
• Increase in turbidity of
river water.
• Increase in salinity.
• Siltation and heavier
sediment load in rivers.
• Reduces quantity of
sediments reaching
delta.
• Increase in water
pollution
Physical disturbances of
river bed
• Affects hydrobionts’ natural
habitat
• Water becomes muddier
• Extraction of massifs of
riverbeds’ ground causes
deepening of river beds thus
causing lowering of water
level during low water
season.

48. Pollution
• Industrial waste
causing disaster(eg:
accidents on tailing
dumps of ore mining
• Agricultural waste
poses a great threat to
river habitat.
• Municipal wastes are
notable for high
concentration of
pathogenic organisms.
Water clogging
• Depletion of oxygen in root
zone and increase of CO2
due to water clogging
• Enhanced higher level of
turbidity
• Creates flow resistance
• Water quality changes

49. Thermal pollution
Thermal pollution emerges as a result of
functioning of heat and power engineering and
heat exchanging plants.
It causes:
•Increase in amount of blue-green algae
•Decreases amount of oxygen, nitrogen and CO2 in
water
•Slowing of photosynthetic phytoplankton activity
•Effects the hydrobionts

50. What will happen when all
Glacial Ice will melt
down…???
Present Day
Shoreline
Source: NASA
IMPACT OF SEA LEVEL RISE
• Increased storm damage to coastal infrastructure
• More rapid coastal erosion
• Shoreline change including the possibility for total loss of
protective natural barriers
• Saltwater intrusion into aquifers and surface waters
• Rising water tables
• Changes in tidal prism

51. Learning from History & Its Importance
(WADDEN SEA CASE STUDY)
• Very first human impact and ecological changes observed
• Large scale transformation affected
– Freshwater
– Brackish
– Marine habitats
(Source: Reise et al. 2005)

52. DAMS
“Dams have made an important and significant contribution
to human development, and the benefits derived from them
have been considerable.
In too many cases an unacceptable and often unnecessary
price has been paid to secure those benefits, especially in
social and environmental terms, by people displaced, by
communities downstream, by taxpayers and by the natural
environment.”
— WCD Report, November 2000

53. DAM: A BOON OR A CURSE

54. Source: Dammed Rivers, Damned Lives, International River Network
IMPACTS OF DAM

55. DAM’S IMPACT TO PEOPLE
AND COMMUNITY
•Temporal Employment versus Permanent Displacement.
•Dams deprived and displaced people.
 40-80 million people displaced till 2005.
Three Gorges in China, the level of displacement has increased substantially.
•Resettlement focused only on physical relocation.
In India, 75% of the displaced people have not been
rehabilitated and are impoverished.
•No lands, no titles, no compensation.
•The control and the unscheduled releases of waters from dams
threaten the lives of people living near the banks.

56. CASE STUDY OF INDIAN DAMS
AND THEIR IMPACTS
Picture showing Mullaperiyar Dam, Kerala
Mullaperiyar Dam, Kerala
‘A Ticking Water Bomb’
•One of the Oldest dam in the world operating since
118 years
•Constructed in 1895 with a height of 50 meter
•Located in Kerala but Operated and Maintained by
Tamil Nadu state
•Now under dispute between the Kerala and Tamil
Nadu government over rising the reservoir level
Safety Issues
•Mullaperiyar dam has a direct impact on the safety
of Idukki project on the downstream side.
•Risk is such that it’s own failure can cause failure of
Idukki Dam which can have ecological impact of
catastrophic nature
•Dam lies within the wildlife century, now a part of
tiger and elephant reserve in a protected ecosystem
•increasing water level will submerge critical
grasslands of the Periyar ecosystem

57. Source: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/blunder-999?quicktabs_1=0
REBUILT MULLAPERIYAR DAM
SAVE KERALA

58. SUBANSIRI BASIN STUDY
• 3180 ha of land, including 1333 ha forest land,
and 2867 ha area under submergence.
• Approx. 10, 032 ha area to be submerged of
eight proposed HEPs.
• Gangetic dolphin or Susu are under high
threat due to human adverse activity on the
river
• 62 out of 105 species (Mammals), 50 out of
175 (Aves) and 2 out of 6
(amphibians) are listed in Schedules of
Wildlife Protection Act, 1972
• 99 out of 105 (Mammals), 57 out of 175 Aves,
1 out of 19 (Reptilian), 28 out of 32 (fishes)
reported to be assessed as per IUCN’s
threatened categories

59. BODHGHAT HYDROELECTRIC
PROJECT
•Could impose a great stress on the ecology of the
Indravati Tiger Reserve, Bhairamgarh Wild Buffalo
Sanctuary
•Would result in the forced displacement of some
10000 tribal people
•Inundation of a large area of forest
•Result in a total loss of 20,000 hectare of wildlife
habitats.

60. YETTINAHOLE DIVERSION PROJECT
• Scheme involves 8 dams
• Will submerge 1200 hectares of land
and 2 villages.
• Majority of the project falls in
Ecologically Sensitive Zone.
• Project plans to divert 24.01 TMC
water
Fig. Yettinahole, a tributary of Netravathi River

61. Rate of siltation in some selected Indian reservoirs
RESERVOIR
Rate of silting (in ha m 100 km-2
yr-1
)
Assumed Actual
Gobindsagar 4.29 6.00
Nizamsagar 0.29 6.57
Tungabhadra 4.29 6.11
Hirakud 2.52 3.98
Shivajisagar 3.24 15.24
Gandhisagar 3.61 10.05
(Modified from Joshi, 1990)

62. Pollution in Reservoirs
Reservoir Name of river Sources of pollution
Getalsud Subarnarekha
Heavy engineering, chemicals and
sewage.
Gandhisagar Chambal
Textile, chemicals, trade effluents
from Indore, Ujjain and Kota.
Tungabhadra Tungabhadra
Paper, iron and steel, rayon,
chemicals and sewage.
G.B.Pantsagar Rend
Thermal power plant, coal washery,
chemicals.
Bhavanisagar Bhavani Viscose factory effluent.
Hussainsagar Musa
Trade effluents and sewage from
Hyderabad city.
Hirakud Mahanadi Paper mill
Byramangala Vrishabhavati Industrial effluents and city sewage
Sandynulla - Animal products
(Modified from Joshi, 1990)

63. Source: http://www.indiawaterportal.org

64. PLANETARY STEWARDSHIP
2020 2040 20502030

65. – The changes that have been made to ecosystems have contributed to substantial net
gains in human well-being and economic development, but these gains have been
achieved at growing costs.
– diversification, protection, and restoration helps in recovering the original state of
ecosystem
– These problems, unless addressed, will substantially diminish the benefits that
future generations obtain from ecosystems
– The environmental impact assessment process highlights the need to monitor the
human activities.
– A better understanding of the interplay between development and the natural
environment in which development takes place is necessary at the time of project
planning to ensure environmental security and economic prosperity.
– Public pressure can often help environmental conservation especially if political
will is wanting or found wavering.
CONCLUSION

66. REFERENCES
• Peter M. Vitousek, Harold A. Mooney, Jane Lubchenco, Jerry M. Melillo,
Human Domination of Earth’s Ecosystems. Science vol.277 July 1997.
• Heike K. Lotze, Karsten Reise, Boris Worm. Human transformations of the
Wadden Sea ecosystem through time: a synthesis. Springer-Verlag and AWI
2005.
• Anthony McMichael, Robert Scholes. Linking Ecosystem Services and Human
Well-being. Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Sub-global pg.45-59.
• C. J. Vorosmarty, P. B. McIntyre, M. O. Gessner, D. Dudgeon, A. Prusevich,
P. Green1, S. Glidden, S. E. Bunn,C. A. Sullivan, C. Reidy Liermann8 & P.
M. Davies. Global threats to human water security and river biodiversity.
doi:10.1038/nature09440.
• Will Steffen, Jacques Grinevald, Paul Crutzen and John McNeill. Perspectives
The Anthropocene: conceptual and historical. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 2011
369, 842-867. doi: 10.1098/rsta.2010.0327.
• Govorushko, S.M., Effect of human activity on rivers. International Congress
of river basin management. pg. 464-476.
• Asian Development Bank and Dams, Annual Report on Dam’s Impact and
effectiveness 2011.