0.19 Higher order interactions

Higher order interactions

Introduction

Although humans have had the capability to monitor earth's systems effectively only relatively recently, previous global environmental events have not gone unrecorded. Climate indicators exist in various forms (e.g., pollen in lake-bottom sediments, patterns in tree-rings, air bubbles frozen in glacial ice and growth rings in coral). These indicators show that significant environmental changes have occurred throughout earth's history. These changes occurred slowly, over relatively long periods of time. However, human activities are altering earth's systems at an accelerated pace. Large-scale pollution, increased natural resource consumption and the destruction of plant and animal species and their habitats by humans are causing significant changes of global proportions.

Human-caused global changes include: depletion of stratospheric ozone, increased carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere and habitat destruction. The consequences of these changes include: global warming, increased levels of solar UV radiation, increased sea levels and loss of biodiversity. The ramifications of these phenomena are far-reaching and potentially devastating to all life on earth, including humans. Awareness of this has prompted an international effort to increase scientific understanding of global changes and their effects. Most scientists agree on certain points:

• Greenhouse gases absorb and then emit infrared radiation.
• Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) have increased significantly above pre-industrial levels, and the increase is directly attributable to human activities.
• Increased concentrations of greenhouse gases produce a net heating effect on the earth.
• Globally, average surface air temperatures are about 0.5°C higher than those in the 19th century.
• Many centuries will pass before carbon dioxide concentrations will return to normal levels, even if all human-caused emissions are stopped entirely.
• The return of CFC concentrations to their pre-industrial levels will take more than a century, even with a halt in human-caused emissions.

While a general consensus has been reached on the above points, no such consensus has been reached on the extent to which these changes are affecting the global environment and what course they will follow in the future. The scientific community can only infer what will happen from predictive models based upon their knowledge of relevant environmental processes. This knowledge is often limited because the processes involved and their relationships are exceedingly complex. Moreover, the distinct possibility exists that not all processes are even known.