Posts Tagged ‘ecology’

Mudflats Ecology - A Feast For The Birds

Wednesday, November 30th, 2011

The upper region of the Bay of Fundy features extensive mud flats and a large number of expansive salt marshes. These exist as a result of the tides. During each tidal cycle, enormous amounts of fine sediments are brought in to flood the tidal area. Lots of the sediment remains in the sheltered areas along the coast, forming the popular red mudflats of the upper Bay. The mud flats and salt marshes are critical pieces of the Bay’s food production system.

As the tides churn the water up everyday the water is rather turbid, or cloudy. The rays of the sun cannot reach terribly deep into the water, therefore phytoplankton can’t photosynthesize. But, when the tide ebbs, it leaves behind a wealth of nutriments on the mud flats totally exposed to the sun. As a result, phytoplankton production is awfully low in the water but extremely high on the mud flats and salt marshes. Additionally, both intertidal areas contribute crucial nutrients to the Fundy Bay ecology.

The mud flats also offer a large amount of food to hungry migratory shorebirds. Every year up to 2,000,000 semi-palmated sandpipers and other shorebirds stop over in the Fundy area during July and August on their annual migration from their spring breeding zones, far to the north on the arctic tundra near Hudson Bay, to their wintering zones along the coasts of South America.

The semi-palmated sandpipers that feed in the Minas Basin and other areas represent 75-95% of the entire planet’s population of this species. They build up their body fat on tiny crustaceans found only in mud of a certain consistency.

Because of the strength of the tide, the Bay acts as a enormous nutrient pump for the remainder of the Gulf of Maine, sending its waters rushing out past Grand Manan Island to mix in the current of the Gulf. It is around Grand Manan Island that one can see the great whales frolic in the early fall each year.

Just to the south of Grand Manan Island is Machias Seal Island, a speck of rock on which a rising population of puffins lives. Their presence is testament to the relatively undisturbed character of this corner of the Gulf of Maine.

For more information about the Fundy Bay tides and other Bay of Fundy facts visit bayoffundy.com

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Is Green Living Truly Worth The Effort?

Tuesday, May 10th, 2011

In this article about green living we look at how to reduce our personal energy footprint and ask whether doing so is worthwhile.

Green living is gradually becoming more appreciated in our society because of increased awareness on the positive effect it has on our ecosystem. Regrettably, there are still people who are unsure how to successfully incorporate this into their life.

A lot of people imagine that green living requires you to live as a nomad, just using the bare minimum and foregoing many things like lights and running water. But then, this is not true at all. When you opt to alter your way of life with the purpose to help our planet, you don’t really have to give up all the essentials and luxuries you’re used to. So you may think how you can accomplish this. Can this actually be possible?

A few of the chief focus of living green involves saving electric power and subduing pollution where possible. Air conditioner units are one of the biggest energy wasters so you can save a lot of electricity by obtaining a ventilating system that is more energy efficient. Likewise, when you live in an place with very cold temperatures, you appreciate how warm you can stay with a heated floor. However, you can do this without utilizing so much energy if you use heated water that runs through pipes to keep it nice and warm. There are a few excellent reasons why it is worth taking the time and money to put in such a floor heating system. To begin with, heating the floor helps to make your feet warm, and when your feet are warm the rest of your body tends to stay warm too. In addition, as heat rises, you can actually use a low speed ceiling fan to keep the warmer air diffusing and thus warming your house. The water that is used is cycled the same manner as it does in a car radiator so you are not squandering it in any way. Utilizing less energy to heat your floor will reduce your total carbon footprint as well as save money on your monthly utility bill.

Even tiny steps are important when it comes to following a greener way of life. You can lower how much electricity you use to heat water by wrapping your water heater with certified thermal blankets. You can avoid wasting energy and save money by flipping off lights and electric devices when they’re not being used. One more thing you can do is to turn down the temperature on your water heater to help reduce your electricity bills.

Take some time to find several easy things that you can add into your lifestyle so as to make it more friendly to the environment. Take the first step to living a more green life right now and you will be amazed at the impact you can make in the long run.

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Ecotourism For Conservation

Sunday, July 12th, 2009

Recreation is a leisure time activity. It has a therapeutic effect on the body and mind which is important in a life of stress and strain.  Skiing, bungee jumping, snowboarding, hang gliding, sky diving, rock climbing, canyoning, backpacking, adventure tourism, motor sport and ecotourism are some of the popular recreational activities now. Ecotourism deals with travel to fragile and pristine areas. There are two types of ecotourism. The first has as its main aim to appreciate and learn from nature with the flora, fauna and cultural heritage as the focus. It appeals to the socially and ecologically conscious people. The experience is to provide appreciation of natural habitats and to reflect on human impact on nature. This is also called responsible ecotourism. The second is the crass commercial tourism targeting natural destination. This category of tourism dominates the ecotourism sector.

Neither ecology nor local cultures are the concern for the indiscriminate ecotourism that is practiced. Ecotourism is just a marketing tool. These rich natural habitats are the location for resorts, hotels and lodges with all its luxuries and wasteful lifestyle. These ecologically sensitive areas are neither the focus of conservation nor respect. The ecology deteriorates and the forests degrade when such infrastructure is established in the name of ecotourism. The more is the waste that is generated when more are the facilities. More visitors mean more pollution and generation of garbage. The tourists who frequent such facilities are also not aware or concerned about the impact their visit have on ecology with their lifestyle in such facilities.

In contrast to this type of tourism is the responsible ecotourism which is typically carried out singly or in small groups. They carry with them as little as possible and only just their survival needs. These include first aid kit, flashlight, utensils, personal care products and map amongst others. The most important is the camping tent and the sleeping bag. Camping tents come in different sizes suited for different seasons. There are camping tents manufactured by many companies such as MSR Hubba Hubba Tent and Marmot Aeros Tent, and many more designs from Black Diamond, Eureka, Kelty and Sierra.

Normally camping is considered to be responsible tourism. There is a minimal negative impact on nature. The campers give adequate attention to recycling, energy efficiency and water conservation. They also make sure that the economic benefits accrue to local communities.

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