Facts about Animal

part 6

81. Watersheds are like upside-down umbrellas

Everyone lives in a watershed. This is because when it rains, it drains into a catchment basin.

Think of a watershed like an upside-down umbrella. The canopy catches water to eventually end up at the lowest depression.

These depressions are often well-connected networks of tributaries. They zig-zag all the way to a main body of water like a river or lake. That means everything upstream ends up downstream.

82. Salinity in oceans

Imagine you’re stranded on a raft in the middle of the ocean. All this water. But no fresh water to drink. Oceans are salty because runoff transports minerals and salts from the surface.

When the ocean evaporates from heat, salt remains in the ocean, and water rises. Even though rainwater wakes minerals and salts into rivers and lakes, they are mostly freshwater.

This is because their minerals get washed away and transported to an outlet at the nearest ocean. So unlike the high salinity we find in oceans, lakes, and rivers constantly have the minerals washed away.

83. Deltas are fertile and often overcrowded

Streams and rivers drain into an ocean or lake carrying sediment. Deltas begin to form when they carry too much sediment and clog the entrance into the basin.

At this point, the stream loses energy because of the increased sediment deposits. This forces the basin entrance to widen forming a delta. Deltas take different shapes.

If you have too many sediment deposits, a feature like a bird-foot delta forms. When it floods, sediments spread across the region. When water recedes, soils are rich and fertile for agricultural purposes.

84. Soil formation from weathering

Let’s start with a big boulder on the ground. Then, let it sit for thousands of years. Eventually, it will break down and form into soil. This is mostly due to the percolation of water dissolving rocks.

That’s why from top to bottom, soils get rockier further down. But other types of weathering can peel away at rock as soil formation factors.

Most importantly, soil differs geographically. For example, tropical rainforests have a thick pedosphere because of the abundance of rain in this region.

85. The Nitrogen cycle from the air to soil

Nitrogen makes up about 78% of the air. Plants and animals need nitrogen to make proteins but they cannot take it in from the air. Because nitrogen is unreactive as a gas, it has to be transformed into a new molecule.

When bacteria in the soil take nitrogen from the air, it becomes nitrates and can move through the food chain. For example, legumes like clovers, peas, and beans, their roots can take N2 from the air and transform it into another form called nitrates.

In addition, lightning transforms N2 into NO2, which goes into the soil to form nitrates. Also, synthetic fertilizer from farming can bring nitrate to the soil.

86. Lighting strikes 8.6 million times per day.

When you rub your feet on the carpet, you build a slight negative charge.

You get a shock because you discharge the static electric charge to a positively charged object. Similarly, lightning is an electrostatic discharge that is supercharged from ionized air.

Lightning always finds the fastest route to Earth. By releasing a massive bolt of electricity, lightning is hotter than the sun when it strikes. Lightning strikes 8.6 million times a day. It helps in the production of ozone and nitrogen fixation.

87. Nutrient cycle – From inorganic to organic

Food for thought, the nutrient cycle is constantly exchanging inorganic and organic matter back and forth in an environment.

Because Earth is a closed system, nothing is taken out or in. It’s just recycled back and forth. First, plants uptake nutrients from the soil to grow. Then, animals consume plants and make waste. Eventually, plants die and decay becoming litter in the soil.

Decomposers break it down so it can be recycled to be part of the food chain again. This vital process releases nutrients and replenishes the soil keeping the nutrient cycle in balance. This process of production and decomposition is deep-rooted and is the lifeblood in fully functional ecosystems.

88. Nutrient-deprived soils

It’s true that plants grow from the top down. In other words, it uses water and carbon dioxide from the air to grow. But nutrients like nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) are key elements for plant growth.

If you deplete the soil from these nutrients, this deprives the plants from growing. For example, this is an ongoing problem for farming and tree harvesting areas.

This is why farmers rotate crops and allow periods of rest or “fallow” to replenish soil with nutrients. In addition, farmers use chemical and natural fertilizers to replace nitrogen which is leached from the soil by growing plants or runoff into streams.

89. Koppen climate classification

The Koppen climate classification is the most widely used system to catalog our environment.

In the eyes of Koppen, Earth consists of 5 climate types – tropical, dry, temperate, continental, and polar. Dry climates are characterized by having a shortage of water.

While polar climates endure frigid temperatures (-10 °C), tropical climates sustain a healthy portion of high temperatures (+18 °C). Temperate climates take the middle road for average temperature. Finally, continental climates are usually situated in the interior of continents.

90. Resilient ecosystems from biodiversity

Biodiversity or “biological diversity” refers to the variety of species and genetic diversity in an ecosystem. Ecosystems rely on biodiversity for resiliency, health, and food.

A loss in biodiversity is like a soccer team without a defense. If you lose specific habitats like wetlands, grasslands, and forests, then you threaten biodiversity. It’s from the richness in species that we can derive certain pharmaceutical products.

For example, 1/4 of the drugs we commonly use today were originally derived from plants. Most of these were discovered in rainforests where biodiversity is immense.

91. Coral reefs as biodiversity hotspots

For ocean life, coral reefs are biodiversity hotspots. Remarkably, about 1/4 of marine species reside in coral reefs.

These are like the rainforests of the oceans. From an environmental standpoint, there’s been a race to protect them. Not only does overfishing threaten coral reef health, but stress from rising temperatures, ocean acidity even sunscreen can harm coral reefs.

Scientists argue that coral reefs face extinction in 50 years. So the spotlight is on coral reefs. For example, replanting is just one way scientists are restoring these underwater biodiversity hotspots.

92. The food chain and you

All living things rely on each other because they are part of the food chain.

At the bottom of the food chain, plants are natural producers and provide food and nutrients to consumers. Herbivores nourish plants and insects. Then, predators prey on herbivores or other predators.

When an animal dies, scavengers and decomposers break them down. Afterward, it can be recycled to be part of the food chain again.

93. Your body is 90% bacteria

By 10 to 1, colonies of bacteria outnumber your human cells. In other words, we are borderline bacteria. But there shouldn’t be a negative connotation to this.

Bacteria are instrumental in breaking down sugars, digesting food, and protecting against infections. And the reason is that your body functions best by evolving with both human cells and bacteria.

You wouldn’t be who are you today if it wasn’t for the underappreciated bacteria.

94. Humans have existed for

Earth was a lonely place for most of its history. If you hold out your arm and clipped a fingernail, that’s less than the duration that humans have existed in Earth.

The earliest modern human fossil found was dated to be about 200,000 years old. Humans migrated and spread throughout the continents.

Like an insurance policy, this helped prevent humans from extinction during cold spells. But our distinct advantage was our enormous brains and ability to communicate.

95. We are made of stardust

At the start of the universe, the Big Bang created all the hydrogen and helium in the universe. Afterward, all the heavier atoms were made during a supernova.

This is the dying last stage of a star when the star explodes. Heavier elements like copper and zinc get flung out into space.

We find these elements in our bodies and the food we eat. So that means we are composed of bits of old supernova and cosmic dust.

96. Energy conversion through cellular respiration

The single most important biochemical reaction human beings need is cellular respiration. Without it, we wouldn’t exist. Our cells require oxygen to break down the food we consume.

From glucose and oxygen, cellular respiration is the mechanism that gives us the energy we need to live.

All the chemical reactions in living things run off ATP. Basically, sugars, fats, and proteins turn into ATP which is the usable form of energy for biological systems like ours.

97. 8 billion humans live on Earth and counting

In flesh and blood, 8 billion humans call Earth their home. The emergence of humans has left a profound impact on the planet.

We customize our environment by erecting cities, chopping down forests, and altering the chemical makeup of the atmosphere.

Unequivocally, humans are transforming the landscape at an unsustainable rate.

98. The greatest gift for your children

97% of scientists agree that humans are causing recent climate change. For example, the evidence includes rising sea levels, warming oceans, and shrinking ice sheets.

Like a one-man wrecking ball, humans emit methane, carbon dioxide, and aerosol greenhouse gases. These are the heavy hitters that continue to fill the air at unprecedented rates.

Overall, we need a new strategy. Not wishful thinking.

99. Sea levels constantly change

As temperatures surge, sea levels rise with it. This is because melting ice sheets and glaciers add to total water volume.

Scientists estimate the sea level will rise 32 to 68 inches by 2100. This rise in sea levels could swallow parts of coastal cities like Shanghai, Olympia, and New York. How do we slow down the massive supply of water?

First, we reverse deforestation to capture more carbon from the atmosphere. Second, we reduce greenhouse gas emissions to help stabilize temperature. Finally, we all have to consider the environment in our daily lives.

100. Earth will be fine

Earth is on autopilot. It has the potential to support life for over a billion years longer.

Eventually, continental drift will assemble another supercontinent called Pangaea Ultima. The universe’s age is 13.7 billion years ago. Stars will continue to form for another 100 trillion years.

We talk about terraforming Mars. But we can’t even take care of our own. In a game of cat and mouse, the clock is ticking. Just like 99% of species that ever existed, we’re not extinction-proof. Earth will be fine. But we won’t.

the ends