El océano es clave para alcanzar los objetivos climáticos y sociales
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As the human population continues to grow and use resources, we must be mindful of our planet’s natural limits. Sustainable development provides a pathway to maintain and improve human life now while also ensuring that future generations will have the resources that they need. The long-term success of sustainability efforts rests on understanding the interplay between human actions and ecological systems.
The oceans are one important focus of global conservation efforts. Overfishing,...
Throughout its ~4.5 billion year history, the Earth has experienced periods of warming and cooling. However, the current drastic increase in global temperatures is well outside of the Earth’s cyclic norms, and evidence for human-caused global climate change is compelling. Paleoclimatology, the study of ancient climate conditions, provides ample evidence for human-caused global climate change by comparing recent conditions with those in the past.
Past Periods of Warming and Cooling
In...
Climate refers to the prevailing weather conditions in a specific area over an extended period. As the saying goes, “Climate is what you expect. Weather is what you get.” Climate is influenced by geographic factors, such as latitude, terrain, and proximity to bodies of water.
Weather and Climate
Weather and climate are related, though they differ in terms of time scale and predictability. Weather refers to the state of the atmosphere at a specific time and place, whereas climate...
Carbon is the basis of all organic matter on Earth, and is recycled through the ecosystem in two primary processes: one in which carbon is exchanged among living organisms, and one in which carbon is cycled over long periods of time through fossilized organic remains, weathering of rocks, and volcanic activity. Human activities, including increased agricultural practices and the burning of fossil fuels, has greatly affected the balance of the natural carbon cycle.
Biological Carbon Cycle
All...
The Earth’s hydrosphere includes all of the areas where the storage and movement of water occurs. Since water is the basis of all living processes, the cycling of water is extremely important to ecosystem dynamics.
The water cycle begins as the sun warms surface water on the land and in oceans, causing it to evaporate and enter the atmosphere as vapor. The water vapor condenses into clouds and eventually falls as precipitation in the form of rain, snow or hail.
After falling back to the...
Overview
An ecosystem is the interaction between all abiotic and biotic factors in an environment and can be classified as terrestrial or aquatic. Terrestrial ecosystems are categorized based on the climate, including annual temperature, rainfall, and seasonality. Aquatic ecosystems are separated further into freshwater and marine, and then by depth, which influences water temperature and the amount of sunlight that penetrates the water.
Terrestrial Ecosystems
Terrestrial ecosystems are...

