Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Individual Questions 2

Does climate play a role in the biomes of Latin America? by Macall M

Climate definitely plays a role in the biomes of Latin America. It influences how biomes grows. When it is rainy and cold, the biomes are negatively effected, but rain isn’t all bad because all plants need water to live. When it is sunny and warm plants and grass can dry out. But the climate of Latin America creates an equal amount of weather so that biomes can grow each year. Not all years are the same though for the biomes.

Individual Questions 1

Why is Latin America referred to as Latin? by Aidan T

Latin America is referred to as "Latin" for one reason. The main languages spoken there, Spanish, Portuguese, and French, are originated
from Latin. When Europeans came to what is now Latin America, they brought languages that came from the Latin language. For example, Spanish is a "Romance" language. A romance language is a language that is directly related to the Roman Language, Latin.



What types of animals live in which regions of Latin America? by Melissa M


South America Rain Forest:

Some insects that live in South American rain forests are: the Morphy butterfly, the Julia butterfly, the Monarch butterfly, and millions of other insects.

Some mammals include: jaguars, ocelots, didelphid opossums, sloths, howler monkeys, spider monkeys, cascaras, many bats, marmosets, Procyon, and peccaries.

Some birds include: quetzals, macaws, tinamous, curassows, hoatzins, hummingbirds, eagles, ovenbirds, ant birds, flycatchers, puff birds, toucans, jacamars, tanagers, tapirs, troupials, honeycreepers, cardinal grosbeaks, and xenops.

Some reptiles include: the anaconda, the caiman, iguanas, lizards, microteiid lizards, boas, and coral snakes.

One amphibian is: the poison arrow frog.

Some fish include: electric eels, piranhas, and millions of other fish.

Mexico:

Mammals: Collared Anteater
Jamaican Fruit Bat
Cottontail Rabbits
Spider monkey
Pocket Gopher
Spotted Skunk

Birds: Great Horned Owl
Aztec Parakeet
White-crowned Parrot
Snowy Plover
Yucatan Quail
Lesser Roadrunner
Clay-colored Robin

Amphibians: Leopard Frog
Giant Toad
Gulf Coast Toad
Milky Treefrog

Reptiles: Common House Gecko
Black Iguana
Mountain Spiny Lizard
Spiny Lizard
Four-lined Skinks
Red-eared Turtle
Black Coffee Snake
Indigo Snake
Green Vine Snake
Scorpion-eating Snake

Insects: Army Ant
Leafcutter Ant
Maya Bees
Straight-snouted Weevil

Group 4

How have people of Latin America negatively impacted to there environment?
Holli T, Colby T, Celine H, Macall M, Patrick M

People of Latin America negatively impacted their environment because:

* Venezuela is the biggest oil produce out side of the middle east
* Brazil is the biggest producer of hydroelectric power
* Because of the cutting down of rain-forests, global warming is increasing. The rain-forest holds a large amount of carbon, so when trees in the rain-forest are cut down, it is not good for the environment
* They need wood to use for furniture, buildings, food products, and even paper.
* They are now causing extinction to animals which causes extinction to other animals and so on.
* they are oil drilling in rain forests and this is one of the main reasons why rain forests are being destroyed.
* Half of the worlds animals live in the rain forest and if there's no more rain forests it will create extinction for all of the other animals because if the animals get extincted it would effect other animals in the world over time.
* Global warming is one of the most urgent issues for our time and some of this is by cutting down and burning rain forests and which causes co2 and this causes global warming.
* Global Warming: One of the main greenhouse gases is carbon dioxide (CO2). As trees grow they take in CO2 from the air. When the wood dies the CO2 is returned to the air. Forest clearance and wood burning (such as happens in tropical rain forests) is increasing the latter half of the process, adding to the CO2 in the atmosphere. Deforestation is now out of control. For example in 1987 an area of the Amazon rain forest the size of Britain was burned, adding 500 million tonnes of CO2 to the atmosphere. The loss of the forests also means that there are fewer trees to absorb CO2.
* File:Global Warming Predictions Map.jpg



The people of Latin America negatively impact the environment in a number of different ways. For instance, rain-forests. The trees in the rain-forest are being cut down and burned to put nutrients in the ground for the grass to grow taller and better for cattle ranching. This releases a large amount of carbon, which is unhealthy for the environment. Also, when animals that live in the rain-forest loose their habitat, they become endangered and eventually will die out if there is nowhere else to live. This will effect other species in the food web. Venezuela is the biggest oil produce out side of the middle east, also many oil companies come and drill and use many acres of land. Which means they are oil drilling in the rain-forests and this is one of the main reasons why forest are being destroyed. This means all of the homes of the animals and peoples are being destroyed which leads to the food chain when all of the animals die off because they don't have anywhere to live. Now all of our animals will disappear forever like the dinosaurs. Now all of the oil companies are taking a large portion of the rain-forest. Global warming is one of the most important things that is going on and that have a negative effect on the world from the humans.

Sources:
Rain-forest Action Network; www.Ran.org; Facts about beef; Facts about oil
Mr. Biederbeck in Social Studies Class
www.Google.com; www.Wikipedia.com; rain-forest

Group 3

What Kind of Human Interactions have a Negative Effect on Latin America
Aidan T, Jake N, Lacey H, and Evelyn V


There are many human interactions that have a negative effect on Latin America. These are some that we have found. First, farmers burn down the rain forest for cattle ranching. There is not very much nutrients in the ground, so they burn down the trees because all the nutrients are in the trees. All of the nutrients then go into the ashes which helps make the grass grow, perfect for cattle ranching. It takes 55 square feet just for a quarter pound of hamburger.


Another interaction is oil drilling. Oil drilling is a negative effect on the land because the drillers cut down the rain forests for space for drilling. It's not just killing the trees though either, because when they cut down the trees, they take away the habitats of animals and the homes of the people living there.

Cutting down trees for paper and other products is a negative effect on the rain forest. Cutting trees down can destroy animals habitats and peoples homes. It is also a negative effect because it can destroy research that scientists do on rain forests to learn more about them and there products.

Those are the negative effects that humans can have on the rain forests.

Source(s): Rainforest Action Network; ran.org

Group 2

How people have negatively impacted Latin America
Jake M, Melissa M, Tyler F, Katie B

They have impacted it in many ways. One thing they have done is cut down the rain forests. That is a huge part of it. The rain forest is one of the world main suppliers of oxygen and medicine, and the Latin America people are cutting them down to get oil, land, or space to keep their cattle to sell.If that happens, less medicine can be found, and there might be a cure to cancer, or diabetes in there. Another thing that they have done to harm their environment is to produce part of global warming. Global warming is caused by fossil fuel burning, and industrial agriculture. Both cause millions of tons of greenhouse gases to be launched into the atmosphere, weakening the ozone layer, and changing the climate. This can and will change and destroy many ecosystems and populations if this continues. Large oil companies use millions of acres of rain forest to get oil. Another problem is that when companies drill for oil in the rain forests, the oil often gets spilled onto the soil and into the rivers and streams. These poisons can hurt the environment, and all the people that have lived in the rain forest. Fifty five square feet of the rain forest is being destroyed, for each quarter pound of a hamburger. Not only that, but since the soil in the rain forest does not contain many nutrients, after a few years of cattle ranching it becomes very difficult to grow anything on the land— even grass. What was once a beautiful, lush, living rain forest becomes a dry, desert-like wasteland. When this happens, even more rain forest is slashed and burned for cattle ranching. Temperatures in the troposphere have increased between .22 degrees F and .4 degrees .F per decade since 1979. The troposphere is the lower portion of the atmosphere.

Sources: Wikipedia; RAN.org

Group 1

Madison S, Meaghan F, Kelsey W, Jarret C

Our opinion of people in Latin America is that if they keep polluting the environment is that it will kill all of the animals and species and it will also end up affecting a lot more than just the rain forest.


Some of the ways that people are hurting their environment is by doing it to sell things to make more money, such as cutting down trees to get meat and oil and they also get wood to sell in America. In my opinion is that it is bad to cut down trees and hurt the environment because i think that they could find an alternate way to get meat and other things to sell.
Hunters kill the animals for their fur and meat. If you cut down trees you could kill species that we haven't discovered. Plus we don't know were their fit in the food web. When you drill oil you have to cut down trees in the rain forest which will kill animals. when they drill spills oil on the ground and into the lake. If this keeps up it will kill all the fish.
They pollute the air by drilling the oil. They cut down trees for farm land to grow lots of food. In my opinion I don't think its good to cut down the trees though, I understand they need food to eat, also they should be careful before they cut just in case there is an animal habitat.


oil drilling is one of the ways rain forests are being destroyed. Large oil companies use millions of acres of rain forests to get oil. If the oil companies keep ruining the rain forest for oil there won't be anymore rain forest floor and there won't be enough room for the animals and their habitats. When people cut down trees it will end up affecting a lot more than just the rain forest. When animals die or become extinct the food chain will soon collapse. Then the world will be affected not just the rain forest but other places as well. The most common thing that is negatively affecting Latin America is drilling holes to get oil.






Sources:

Wikipedia; rain forest
Rainforest action network; ran.org;facts about wood; facts about oil
google.com; rain forest
Mr.Biederbeck
Rainforestbiomes.com

Picture Attributions: