Loss of Habitat
CAUSE:/ Agriculture: much of the habitat loss from agriculture was done long ago when settlers converted forests and prairies to cropland. Today there is increasing pressure to redevelop conservation lands for high priced food and biofule crops.
Land conversion for development: The conversion of land that once provided wildlife habitat to housing developments roads, office park, strip malls, parking lots and industrial sites continues, even during the current economic crisis.
Water Development: Dams and other water diversion off and disconnect waters changing hydrology and water chemistry when nutrients are not able to flow downstream. during the dry seasons the Colorado river has little to no water in it by the time it reaches the sea of Cortez.
Pollution: freshwater wildlife are most impacted by pollution. pollutants such as untreated sewage mining waste acid rain fertilizers and pesticides concentrate in rivers lacks and wetlands and eventually end up in estuaries and the food web.
Pollution from toxic substances: such as industrial chemicals pesticides and motor oil are also a real problem. Dredging ship channels will stir up accumulated sediments and pollutants and the removed material is often dumped on salt marshes, destroying the habitats of creatures that live there.
accidents at sea have also had a profound effect on habitat destruction. Several oil tankers have been involved in major spills and of course there was the Deepwater horizon oilrig disaster in the gulf of mexico. In each case enormous quantities of oil have been released into the ocean devastating the entire ecosystems of the area.
Dams change river flow patterns dissolved oxygen level and water temperatures and may prevent fish from swimming upstream to swamp.
EFFECT:/ Most endangered species are threatened by multiple factors but habitat loss is generally viewed as the largest single cause of biodiversity loss worldwide.
Diversity loss: is yet another feature of habitat degradation. a particular ecosystem is home to a number of species and as these begin to go into a rapid decline following the loss of their habitat a more aggressive species might take the opportunity and move in. As the origanal species struggle to survive in an increasingly hostile enviroment the aggressive invader cause futher vdecline until it eventually reigns supreme
The world is getting warmer and climate change has already had or is expected to have a serious influence on habitat loss. many former habitats have already become an inhospitable.plants that thrive in damp cool conditions now simply wither and die during prolonged dry periods