I got a 3/5 on my AP Drawing exam, rip
Anyway, here's the stuff, all of it's rushed to varying degrees
My Sustained Investigation topic was environmental destruction/the Holocene extinction. I had to do a ton of research for this, so I will force you to also sit through animal & environment facts.
Pics with sensitive content will be linked & not directly posted
1. Atlas bear
Minor blood/injury warning - DA link
Atlas bears were captured in large quantities by the Roman Empire to fight people & other animals, and were generally heavily hunted. This ultimately led to their extinction.
2. Fox and Wallaby
Blood & animal death warning - DA link
Invasive species have taken a heavy toll on many ecosystems, especially in Oceania. The toolache wallaby was one species which was driven to extinction because of a variety of factors, including the introduction of foxes.
3. Algal Bloom
DA link
Climate change & an excess of nutrients from runoff makes harmful algal blooms more likely. These can poison and/or choke wildlife living in or near the contaminated water.
4. Elephant
Blood & animal death warning - DA link
Poaching seriously harms elephants, both directly because it means fewer of them, and because elephants rely on older members for knowledge gained over time. (un)Fun fact: This piece is very tame compared to what actual poached elephants look like.
5. Red Panda
DA link
Never finished this one.
Red pandas suffer from habitat loss & fragmentation, leading to difficulty finding food & mates. They're also poached because of their fur. Paved roads likely aren't the biggest factor causing habitat loss/fragmentation for red pandas, it's just easier to visualize. Maybe should've gone with a different animal.
6. Pinta Giant Tortoise
DA link
People thought they went extinct, but it turns out some living ones seem to be hybrids of it, so potentially not. People want to find them to start a breeding program.
7. Coral Bleaching
DA link
I know the background sucks, but it's several months too late to bother changing.
Rising water temperatures & ocean acidification hurt many corals, and can lead to bleaching. This makes the coral much more susceptible to death. They can also be harmed by overfishing, coral harvesting, etc.
8. Oil Spill
DA link
Oil spills cause major damage to wildlife. Petroleum is highly toxic, and is often ingested by animals when they try to clean themselves. It also hurts their ability to regulate their body temperature.
9. Agent Orange
DA link
Politics? Affecting things? Impossible. /s
Agent Orange & other toxic defoliants used in & near Vietnam during the Vietnam war unsurprisingly killed the plants where they were used. This drove away animals who, also unsurprisingly, needed those plants to live. The defoliants also poisoned the people & wildlife living there with toxins that are very resistant to degradation, meaning they will stick around in the environment for an extremely long time. Soil erosion from lack of trees makes it harder for those trees to return, making recovery extremely slow and difficult.
10. Light Pollution
DA link
Too much artificial light, especially at night, can harm wildlife. Some insects may be drawn to lights which can kill them. Other animals may be disoriented due to relying on the moon or stars for navigation. Light pollution can also disrupt the sleep of diurnal animals, including humans.
11. Noise Pollution
DA link
Noise pollution can have a variety of negative effects on animals, such as difficulty hunting or avoiding predators, difficulty finding mates, and hearing damage. Certain pitches are known to make whales more likely to beach themselves, which is often fatal.
12. Something Something Capitalism
DA link
Individual action can be good, but it's not enough.
Many large corporations, such as BP, have taken to creating propaganda designed to make the general public focus less on regulating their environmental impact. This usually takes the form of convincing people to focus on their individual impact instead. This has been massively successful, with people often talking about things like reducing your carbon footprint, despite the fact that companies emit far more greenhouse gases than anyone could dream of offsetting without tighter regulation.
13. Livestock
DA link
You can put away your pitchforks, I'm not saying you're evil for your diet.
Raising livestock for food is inherently inefficient, since they need to eat food themselves to survive and produce what we eat. Land needs to be devoted to either letting the animals graze themselves, or to growing food for them to eat, both of which contribute to habitat loss for wildlife. Livestock needs to breathe, obviously, which leads to higher greenhouse gas emissions. Cattle is also notorious for emitting lots of methane as well, which is even more potent than carbon dioxide.
14. Mercury Pollution
DA link
People have released large amounts of mercury into the environment. It's been deliberately sought out for things such as cinnabar dyes, as well as incidental to other activities like burning coal. Mercury that gets into waterways can turn into a more toxic form called methylmercury, which poisons aquatic life & people who eat it.
15. Climate Change
DA link
Didn't finish the plants, but it's still my favorite
The Bramble Cay melomys was the first known mammal to go extinct because of anthropogenic climate change. Greenhouse gas emissions led to higher global temperatures, melting ice, and rising sea levels. More exposure to ocean water made it more difficult for vegetation to grow where the Bramble Cay melomys lived, meaning less food, and ultimately extinction. |
