Human Impact on Acadia National Park
Acadia National Park is one of the most visited parks in all of America boasting over 2 million tourists every year. (21) The popularity of the park has lead to environmental issues and its location downstream of an urban area is polluting the air supply. The polluted air is easily trapped in the tall mountains and deep valleys of the park. The air pollution is directly attributed to: elevated levels of nitrogen and sulfur, acidic rain, unhealthy ozone levels and an occasional haze. The human impact can be traced to the 1700's time period when European settlers began to disturb the area by tearing down sections of forest for colonization. Large trees were cut down and used to build ships and building by the hundreds. After years of human activity much of the coast of Maine was stripped almost completely of its once bountiful tree population. The range of human impact extends beyond impact on vegetation. During the colonial period, the Beaver became popular game. Beaver was in high demand in Europe and as a result the beaver was hunted to dangerously low population levels. The beaver, being the keystone species has a significant impact on the ecosystem its absence during extensive hunting damaged the ecosystem dependent on the animals. The beaver was not the only animal subject to overhunting the regions "sea-birds" were hunted for their meat and one species the great auk was hunted until extinction. This hunting persisted until the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 allowed the remaining sea bird populations to recuperate their numbers. Another way humans have impacted the environment is by introducing new species of plants that have come to thrive in the Acadia ecosystem. These relatively newly introduced species of plants have thrived in the Acadia ecosystem and are creating competition for the other native plant species in the park. (8)
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Human Impact on the Nitrogen Cycle
The carbon cycle is the cycle that tracks the moment of nitrogen throughout an ecosystem. The carbon cycle begins with Atmospheric Nitrogen that is deposited into the soil where the nitrogen undergoes a series of reactions that ultimately are deposited into the roots of plants. Acadia national park is directly downwind of a large urban area and the pollutants it produces are impacting Acadia national park in a negative way. The increased air pollution from the urban center has increased the Nitrogen count in the atmosphere which is accredited which harming both the soil and the water. Airborne nitrogen can be deposited into the soil and water by means of acid rain. The rain that falls on Acadia national park was found to have a pH of 4.4-4.9 that is 10 times more acidic than unpolluted rain. The acidic pH balance of the soil has come to harm many of the plant species in the park. Specifically the red spruce has seen a drastic decline in its population since the development of the urban area. The high levels of nitrogen lead to a high growth of faster growing species and a subsequent decrease in the slower growing species that has an end result in the loss of ecosystem richness. (8) |