Destruction of natural ecosystems. Destruction of natural ecosystems over vast areas of land

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Introduction

The Caspian Sea is an internal closed body of water. Like many other water bodies, it is subject to significant anthropogenic pressure; its ecological state is influenced by many factors, both natural and human activities. Because of this, the Caspian Sea has a number of environmental problems, many of which are common for seas of this type.

The Caspian Sea is a unique ecological natural object with its own ecosystem. Its approximate area is 372 thousand km2, volume is about 78,000 km3, average depth is 208 meters, maximum depth is 1025 meters, salinity is 12%. This transboundary facility surrounds several states: Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Azerbaijan. The safety of the Caspian ecosystem is an issue that should be relevant for all these countries. We cannot allow the Caspian Sea to suffer from the problem of the Aral Sea, which can safely be called a disaster. Nature knows many examples of human indifference, insufficient assessment of the situation, and incorrect measures of influence, as a result of which unique natural systems were lost and rare species of animals and plants were completely exterminated.

The conclusion can be the fact that any thoughtless intervention in natural systems can lead to a completely opposite result. An example is the destruction of the ecological integrity of the ecosystem of the Kara-Bogaz-Gol Bay, as a result of which a number of unforeseen environmental problems arose: desertification, salt storms, loss of natural mirabilite production, unfavorable sanitary, hygienic and environmental conditions. The environmental policy of the Caspian states should work as a single apparatus that will preserve the Caspian Sea and its unique natural ecosystem.

The consequences of environmental problems for society can be divided into two categories - direct and indirect. Direct consequences are expressed, for example, in the loss of biological resources (commercial species and their food items) and can be expressed in monetary terms. Thus, the losses of the countries of the Caspian region from the steady decline in sturgeon stocks, expressed in reduced sales, can be calculated. This should also include the costs of compensating for damage caused (for example, for the construction of fish breeding facilities).

Indirect consequences are an expression of ecosystems losing their ability to self-purify, losing their balance and gradually transitioning to a new state. For society, this manifests itself in the loss of aesthetic value of landscapes, the creation of less comfortable living conditions for the population, etc. In addition, a further chain of losses leads, as a rule, again to direct economic losses (tourism sector, etc.).

Behind journalistic arguments that the Caspian Sea has fallen into the “sphere of interests” of this or that country, the fact that these countries, in turn, fall into the sphere of influence of the Caspian Sea is usually lost. For example, against the background of 10-50 billion dollars of expected Western investment in Caspian oil, the economic consequences of the mass death of Caspian sprat are expressed in the amount of “only” 2 million dollars. However, in reality this damage is expressed at 200 thousand tons of cheap protein food. Instability and social risks generated by the shortage of available products in the Caspian region can create a real threat to Western oil markets, and under unfavorable circumstances, even provoke a large-scale fuel crisis.

A significant part of the damage caused to nature by human activity remains outside the scope of economic calculations. It is the lack of methods for economic assessment of biodiversity and environmental services that leads to the fact that planning authorities in the Caspian countries give preference to the development of extractive industries and the “agricultural industry” to the detriment of the sustainable use of biological resources, tourism and recreation.

All the problems described below are so closely interconnected that sometimes it is simply impossible to isolate them in their pure form. In fact, we are talking about one problem that can be described as “the destruction of the natural ecosystems of the Caspian Sea.”

Now, after a brief story about the Caspian Sea, we can consider the main environmental disasters of this water basin.

1. Marine pollution

The main pollutant of the sea, of course, is oil. Oil pollution suppresses the development of phytobenthos and phytoplankton in the Caspian Sea, represented by blue-green algae and diatoms, reduces oxygen production, and accumulates in bottom sediments. An increase in pollution also negatively affects heat, gas, and moisture exchange between the water surface and the atmosphere. Due to the spread of the oil film over large areas, the evaporation rate decreases several times.

The most obvious impact of oil pollution is on waterfowl. In contact with oil, feathers lose their water-repellent and heat-insulating properties, which quickly leads to the death of birds. Massive deaths of birds have been repeatedly noted in the Absheron region. Thus, according to the Azerbaijani press, in 1998, about 30 thousand birds died on the protected island of Gel (near the village of Alyat). The proximity of nature reserves and production wells poses a constant threat to Ramsar wetlands on both the western and eastern shores of the Caspian Sea.

The impact of oil spills on other aquatic animals is also significant, although less obvious. In particular, the beginning of production on the shelf coincides with a reduction in the number of sea pike perch and the loss of its resource value (spawning areas of this species coincide with oil production areas). It is even more dangerous when, as a result of pollution, not just one species, but entire habitats are lost.

Examples include Soymonov Bay in Turkmenistan and large sections of the western coast of the South Caspian Sea. Unfortunately, in the Southern Caspian Sea the feeding areas of juvenile fish largely coincide with oil and gas bearing areas, and the Marovsky lands are in close proximity to them.

In the Northern Caspian, pollution from oil development was insignificant until recent years; This was facilitated by the weak degree of exploration and the special reserve regime of this part of the sea.

The situation changed with the start of work on the development of the Tengiz field, and then with the discovery of the second giant - Kashagan. Changes were made to the protected status of the Northern Caspian Sea, allowing oil exploration and production (Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 936 of September 23, 1993 and Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 317 of March 14, 1998). However, this is where the risk of contamination is greatest due to shallow water, high reservoir pressures, etc. Let us recall that only one accident in 1985 at Tengiz well 37 led to the release of 3 million tons of oil and the death of about 200 thousand birds.

The emerging quite obvious reduction in investment activity in the Southern Caspian gives reason for cautious optimism in this part of the sea. It is already clear that a massive increase in oil production is unlikely in both the Turkmen and Azerbaijani sectors. Few people remember the 1998 forecasts, according to which Azerbaijan alone was supposed to produce 45 million tons of oil per year by 2002 (in reality - about 15). In fact, the production available here is barely enough to supply 100% capacity to existing refineries. However, already explored deposits will inevitably be further developed, which will lead to an increased risk of accidents and major spills at sea. More dangerous is the development of fields in the Northern Caspian, where annual production in the coming years will reach at least 50 million tons with projected resources of 5-7 billion tons. In recent years, the Northern Caspian has been at the top of the list of emergency situations.

The history of oil development in the Caspian Sea is at the same time the history of its pollution, and each of the three “oil booms” made its contribution. Production technology has improved, but the positive effect in the form of a decrease in specific pollution was negated by an increase in the amount of oil produced. Apparently, pollution levels in oil-producing areas (Baku Bay, etc.) were approximately the same in the first (before 1917), second (40-50s of the 20th century) and third (70s) peaks oil production.

If it is appropriate to call the events of recent years the “fourth oil boom,” then we should expect at least the same scale of pollution. The expected reduction in emissions due to the introduction of modern technologies by Western transnational corporations has not yet been felt. So, in Russia from 1991 to 1998. emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere per ton of oil produced amounted to 5.0 kg. Emissions from Tengizchevroil JV in 1993-2000. amounted to 7.28 kg per ton of oil produced. The press and official sources describe numerous cases of companies violating environmental requirements and emergency situations of varying severity. Almost all companies do not comply with the current ban on dumping drilling fluids into the sea. Satellite images clearly show a giant oil slick in the Southern Caspian Sea.

Even under the best of circumstances, without major accidents and with emissions reduced to international levels, the expected marine pollution will exceed anything we have previously encountered. According to generally accepted calculations, for every million tons of oil produced in the world, there is an average of 131.4 tons of losses. Based on the expected production of 70-100 million tons, in the Caspian as a whole we will have at least 13 thousand tons per year, with most of it falling in the Northern Caspian. According to Roshydromet estimates, the average annual content of petroleum hydrocarbons in North Caspian water will double or triple by 2020 and reach 200 µg/l (4 MAC) without taking into account emergency spills.

Only during the drilling of the Oil Rocks field from 1941 to 1958, artificial griffin formation (uncontrolled release of oil to the sea surface) took place in 37 wells. Moreover, these griffins operated from several days to two years, and the amount of oil released varied from 100 to 500 tons per day.

In Turkmenistan, noticeable technogenic pollution of coastal shallow waters in the Krasnovodsk Bay and Aladzha Bay was observed in the pre-war and war years (Great Patriotic War 1941-1945), after the evacuation of the Tuapse oil refinery here. This was accompanied by mass deaths of waterfowl. On the sandy-shell spits and islands of the Turkmenbashi Bay, “asphalt paths” hundreds of meters long, formed from spilled oil absorbed into the sand, are still periodically exposed after sections of the coast are washed away by storm waves. After the mid-70s, a powerful oil and gas production industry began to be created along almost 250 km of the coastal part of Western Turkmenistan. Already in 1979, the exploitation of the Dagadzhik and Aligul oil fields on the Cheleken, Barsa-Gelmes and Komsomolsky peninsula began.

Significant pollution in the Turkmenistan part of the Caspian Sea occurred during the period of active development of the fields of the LAM and Zhdanov banks: 6 open fountains with fires and oil spills, 2 open fountains with the release of gas and water, as well as many so-called. "emergency situations".

Even in 1982-1987, i.e. in the final period of “stagnation time”, when numerous legislative acts were in force: resolutions, decrees, instructions, circulars, decisions of local authorities, there was an extensive network of local inspections, laboratories of the State Hydrometeorological Service, the Committee for Nature Protection, the Ministry of Fisheries, the Ministry of Health, etc., The hydrochemical situation in all oil-producing areas remained extremely unfavorable.

During the perestroika period, when there was a widespread decline in production, the situation with oil pollution began to improve. So, in 1997-1998. the content of petroleum products in the waters of the south-eastern coast of the Caspian Sea decreased several times, although it still exceeded the maximum permissible concentration by 1.5 - 2.0 times. This was caused not only by the lack of drilling and a general decrease in activity in the water area, but also by measures taken to reduce discharges during the reconstruction of the Turkmenbashi oil refinery. The reduction in pollution levels immediately affected the state of the biota. In recent years, thickets of charophyte algae have covered almost the entire Turkmenbashi Bay, which serves as an indicator of the purity of the water. The shrimp appeared even in the most polluted Soimonov Bay. In addition to oil itself, a significant risk factor for biota (this is a historically established set of species of living organisms, united by a common area of distribution at the present time or in past geological eras. The biota includes representatives of cellular organisms (plants, animals, fungi, bacteria, etc. ), and cell-free organisms (viruses).

Biota is an important component of the ecosystem and biosphere. Biota actively participates in biogeochemical processes. The study of biota is the subject of many sciences, including biology, ecology, hydrobiology, paleontology, biochemistry, etc.) are associated waters. As a rule, separation (separation of water and oil) occurs on land, after which the water is drained into the so-called “evaporation ponds”, which are used as natural relief depressions (takyrs and salt marshes, less often inter-barchan depressions). Since associated waters have high mineralization (100 or more g/l), contain residues of oil, surfactants and heavy metals, instead of evaporation, a spill occurs on the surface, slowly seeps into the ground, and then in the direction of groundwater movement - to the sea.

Against this background, the impact of associated solid waste is relatively small. This category includes the remains of oil production equipment and structures, drill cuttings, etc. In some cases, they contain hazardous materials, for example, transformer oils, heavy and radioactive metals, etc. The most famous are the accumulations of sulfur obtained during the purification of Tengiz oil (6.9 weight percent; about 5 million tons accumulated).

The main volume of pollution (90% of the total) enters the Caspian Sea with river runoff. This ratio can be traced for almost all indicators (petroleum hydrocarbons, phenols, surfactants, organic substances, metals, etc.). In recent years, there has been a slight decrease in pollution of inflowing rivers, with the exception of the Terek (400 or more maximum permissible concentrations for petroleum hydrocarbons), where oil and waste from the destroyed oil infrastructure of the Chechen Republic ends up.

It should be noted that the share of river pollution tends to decrease, to a lesser extent due to a reduction in production in river valleys, and to a greater extent due to the increase in offshore oil production. It is expected that in the future 2010-2020. the river-sea pollution ratio will reach 50:50.

Conclusion. An analysis of the situation with pollution shows that they are relatively little affected by the development of environmental legislation, the introduction of modern technologies, the availability of emergency equipment, the improvement of technology, the presence or absence of environmental authorities, etc. The only indicator with which the level of pollution in the Caspian Sea correlates is the volume of industrial production in its basin, primarily hydrocarbon production.

2. Diseases

Myopathy, or separation of muscle tissue in sturgeons.

In 1987-1989 In sexually mature sturgeons, a massive phenomenon of myopathy was observed, consisting in the separation of large sections of muscle fibers, up to their complete lysis. The disease, which received a complex scientific name - “cumulative polytoxicosis with multisystem damage”, was short-term and widespread (it is estimated that up to 90% of fish during the “river” period of their life; although the nature of this disease is not clear, a connection is assumed with pollution of the aquatic environment ( including volley discharges of mercury on the Volga, oil pollution, etc.). The very name “cumulative polytoxicosis...”, in our opinion, is a palliative intended to hide the true causes of the problem, as well as indications of “chronic sea pollution.” , according to observations in Turkmenistan, according to Iranian and Azerbaijani colleagues, myopathy was practically not manifested in the South Caspian sturgeon population. In general, signs of myopathy were rarely recorded in the South Caspian, including the “chronically polluted” western coast. The newly invented name of the disease is popular with researchers. Caspian Sea: it was later applied to all cases of mass death of animals (seal in the spring of 2000, sprat in the spring and summer of 2001).

A number of experts provide convincing information about the correlation of the proportion of the Nereis worm in the diet with the intensity of the disease in various sturgeon species. It is emphasized that Nereis accumulates toxic substances. Thus, the stellate sturgeon, which consumes the most nereis, is most susceptible to myopathy, and the least susceptible to this is the beluga, which feeds mainly on fish. Thus, there is every reason to assume that the problem of myopathy is directly related to the problem of river runoff pollution and indirectly to the problem of alien species.

For example:

1. Death of sprat in the spring and summer of 2001.

The amount of sprat that died during the spring-summer of 2001 is estimated at 250 thousand tons, or 40%. Taking into account the data on overestimation of the ichthyomass of sprat in previous years, it is difficult to believe in the objectivity of these figures. It is obvious that not 40%, but almost all sprat (at least 80% of the population) died in the Caspian Sea. It is now obvious that the cause of the mass death of sprat was not a disease, but a banal lack of nutrition. Nevertheless, the official conclusions include “reduced immunity as a result of “cumulative polytoxicosis.”

2. Distemper of carnivores in the Caspian seal.

As reported by the media, since April 2000, mass deaths of seals have been observed in the Northern Caspian Sea. Characteristic signs of dead and weakened animals are red eyes and a clogged nose. The first hypothesis about the causes of death was poisoning, which was partly confirmed by the finding of increased concentrations of heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants in the tissues of dead animals. However, these contents were not critical, and therefore the hypothesis of “cumulative polytoxicosis” was put forward. Microbiological analyzes carried out “hot on the heels” gave an unclear and ambiguous picture.

Canine distemper (canine distemper). Only a few months later it was possible to conduct a virological analysis and determine the immediate cause of death - morbillevirus

According to the official conclusion of CaspNIRKh, the impetus for the development of the disease could have been chronic “cumulative polytoxicosis” and extremely unfavorable winter conditions. An extremely mild winter with an average monthly temperature in February 7-9 degrees above normal affected ice formation. Weak ice cover existed for a limited time only in the eastern sector of the Northern Caspian Sea. The animals moulted not on ice haul-outs, but in conditions of greater crowding on the shalygas of the eastern shallow waters, the periodic flooding of which under the influence of surges aggravated the condition of the molting seals.

3. Death of seals

A similar epizootic (albeit on a smaller scale) with 6,000 seals washing ashore took place in 1997 on Absheron. Then one of the probable causes of the death of the seal was also called carnivorous plague. A feature of the 2000 tragedy was its manifestation throughout the sea (in particular, the death of seals on the Turkmen coast began 2-3 weeks before the events in the Northern Caspian Sea). It is advisable to consider the high degree of exhaustion of a significant part of the dead animals as an independent fact, separately from the diagnosis.

Most of the seal population feeds fat during warm periods, and during cold periods migrates to the north, where reproduction and molting occur on the ice. During this period, the seal goes into the water extremely reluctantly. There is sharp variability in feeding activity between seasons. Thus, during the period of reproduction and molting, more than half of the stomachs of the studied animals are empty, which is explained not only by the physiological state of the body, but also by the poverty of the under-ice food supply (the main objects are gobies and crabs).

During feeding, up to 50% of the total body weight lost during the winter is compensated. The annual food requirement of the seal population is 350-380 thousand tons, of which 89.4% is consumed during the summer feeding period (May-October). The main food in summer is sprat (80% of the diet).

Based on these figures, the seal consumed 280-300 thousand tons of sprat per year. Judging by the decrease in sprat catches, the lack of nutrition in 1999 can be estimated at approximately 100 thousand tons, or 35%. This amount can hardly be compensated by other food items.

It can be considered very likely that the epizootic among seals in the spring of 2000 was provoked by a lack of food (sprat), which, in turn, was a consequence of overfishing and, possibly, the introduction of the ctenophore Mnemiopsis. Due to the continuing decline in sprat stocks, we should expect a repeat of the mass death of seals in the coming years.

In this case, first of all, the population will lose all its offspring (animals that have not gained fat will either not begin breeding or will immediately lose their young). It is possible that a significant portion of females capable of reproduction will also die (pregnancy and lactation - exhaustion of the body, etc.). The population structure will change radically.

One should be wary of the abundance of “analytical data” in all of the above cases. There was almost no data on the sex and age composition of dead animals, or on the methodology for estimating the total number; data from samples taken from these animals were practically absent or not processed. Instead, chemical analyzes are provided for a wide range of components (including heavy metals and organics), usually without information about sampling methods, analytical work, standards, etc. As a result, the “conclusions” are replete with numerous absurdities. For example, the conclusion of the All-Russian Research Institute for Control, Standardization and Certification of Veterinary Drugs (disseminated by Greenpeace in many media) contains “372 mg/kg of polychlorinated biphenyls.” If you replace milligrams with micrograms, then this is a fairly high content, typical, for example, of human breast milk in people who eat fish. In addition, the available information about morbillevirus epizootics in related seal species (Baikal, White Sea, etc.) was not taken into account at all; The status of sprat populations as the main food item was also not analyzed.

3. Penetration of foreign organisms

The threat of alien species was not considered serious until the recent past. On the contrary, the Caspian Sea was used as a testing ground for the introduction of new species intended to increase the fish productivity of the basin. It should be noted that these works were mainly carried out on the basis of scientific forecasts; in a number of cases, the simultaneous introduction of fish and food was carried out (for example, mullet and the Nereis worm). The rationale for the introduction of a particular species was quite primitive and did not take into account long-term consequences (for example, the appearance of food dead ends, competition for food with more valuable native species, accumulation of toxic substances, etc.). Fish catches decreased every year; in the structure of catches, valuable species (herring, pike perch, carp) were replaced by less valuable ones (small fish, sprat). Of all the invaders, only mullet gave a small increase (about 700 tons, in the best years - up to 2000 tons) of fish production, which cannot compensate for the damage caused by the invasion.

Events took a dramatic turn when mass reproduction of the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi began in the Caspian Sea. According to CaspNIRKH, mnemiopsis was officially first recorded in the Caspian Sea in the fall of 1999. However, the first unverified data date back to the mid-80s; in the mid-90s, the first warnings about the possibility of its occurrence and potential damage appeared, based on the Black Sea-Azov experience .

Judging by fragmentary information, the number of ctenophores in a given area is subject to sudden changes. Thus, Turkmen specialists observed large accumulations of Mnemiopsis in the Avaza region in June 2000; in August of the same year it was not recorded in this area, and in August 2001 the concentration of Mnemiopsis ranged from 62 to 550 org/m3.

It is paradoxical that official science, represented by CaspNIRKH, until the very last moment denied the influence of Mnemiopsis on fish stocks. At the beginning of 2001, the thesis of “schools moving to other depths” was put forward as the reason for the 3-4-fold drop in sprat catches, and only in the spring of that year, after the mass death of sprat, it was recognized that Mnemiopsis played a role in this phenomenon.

The comb jelly first appeared in the Sea of Azov about ten years ago, and during 1985-1990. literally devastated the Azov and Black Seas. It was most likely brought along with ballast water on ships from the coast of North America; further penetration into the Caspian Sea was not difficult. It feeds mainly on zooplankton, consuming approximately 40% of its own weight in food daily, thus destroying the food base of Caspian fish. Rapid reproduction and the absence of natural enemies put it out of competition with other plankton consumers. By also eating planktonic forms of benthic organisms, the ctenophore also poses a threat to the most valuable benthophagous fish (sturgeon). The impact on economically valuable fish species is manifested not only indirectly, through a decrease in the food supply, but also in their direct destruction. Under the main pressure are sprat, brackish-water herring and mullet, whose eggs and larvae develop in the water column. The eggs of sea pike perch, silversides and gobies on the ground and plants may avoid being directly eaten by a predator, but during the transition to larval development they will also become vulnerable. Factors limiting the spread of ctenophores in the Caspian Sea include salinity (below 2 g/l) and water temperature (below +40C).

If the situation in the Caspian Sea develops in the same way as in the Azov and Black Seas, then the complete loss of the fishery value of the sea will occur between 2012-2015; the total damage will be about 6 billion dollars per year. There is reason to believe that due to the great differentiation of the conditions of the Caspian Sea, significant changes in salinity, water temperature and the content of nutrients across seasons and water areas, the impact of Mnemiopsis will not be as devastating as in the Black Sea.

The salvation of the economic importance of the sea may be the urgent introduction of its natural enemy, although this measure is not able to restore the destroyed ecosystems. So far, only one candidate for this role is being considered - the ctenophore beroe. Meanwhile, there are serious doubts about the effectiveness of Beroe in the Caspian Sea, because it is more sensitive to temperature and salinity of water than Mnemiopsis.

4. Overfishing and poaching

There is a widespread opinion among specialists in the fisheries industry that, as a result of economic turmoil in the Caspian states in the 90s, stocks of almost all types of economically valuable fish (except sturgeon) were underutilized. At the same time, an analysis of the age structure of the fish caught shows that even at this time there was significant overfishing (at least of anchovy sprat). Thus, in the sprat catches of 1974, more than 70% were fish aged 4-8 years. In 1997, the share of this age group decreased to 2%, and the bulk were fish aged 2-3 years. Catch quotas continued to increase until the end of 2001. The total allowable catch (TAC) for 1997 was determined at 210-230 thousand tons, 178.2 thousand tons were mastered, the difference was attributed to “economic difficulties.” In 2000, the TAC was determined at 272 thousand tons, the harvested amount was 144.2 thousand tons. In the last 2 months of 2000, sprat catches fell 4-5 times, but even this did not lead to an overestimation of the number of fish, and in 2001 The TAC was increased to 300 thousand tons. And even after the massive death of sprat by CaspNIRKH, the catch forecast for 2002 was reduced slightly (in particular, the Russian quota was reduced from 150 to 107 thousand tons). This forecast is completely unrealistic and only reflects the desire to continue exploiting the resource even in a clearly catastrophic situation.

This makes us cautious about the scientific justification of quotas issued by CaspNIRKh over the past years for all types of fish. This indicates the need to transfer the determination of limits on the exploitation of biological resources into the hands of environmental organizations.

Miscalculations of industry science have had the greatest impact on the condition of sturgeon. The crisis was obvious back in the 80s. From 1983 to 1992, catches of Caspian sturgeon decreased 2.6 times (from 23.5 to 8.9 thousand tons), and over the next eight years - another 10 times (to 0.9 thousand tons in 1999 .).

For populations of this group of fish, there are a large number of depressing factors, among which three are considered the most significant: removal of natural spawning grounds, myopathy and poaching. An impartial analysis shows that none of these factors were critical until recently.

The last factor in the decline of sturgeon populations requires particularly careful analysis. Estimates of poaching catch have grown rapidly before our eyes: from 30-50% of the official catch in 1997 to 4-5 times (1998) and 10-11-14-15 times during 2000-2002. In 2001, the volume of illegal production by CaspNIRKH was estimated at 12-14 thousand tons of sturgeon and 1.2 thousand tons of caviar; the same figures appear in CITES assessments and in statements by the State Fisheries Committee of the Russian Federation. Given the high price of black caviar (from $800 to $5,000 per kg in Western countries), rumors about the “caviar mafia” allegedly controlling not only fishing, but also law enforcement agencies in the Caspian regions were widely spread through the media. Indeed, if the volume of shadow transactions amounts to hundreds of millions - several billion dollars, these figures are comparable to the budget of countries such as Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan.

It is difficult to imagine that the financial departments and security forces of these countries, as well as the Russian Federation, do not notice such flows of funds and goods. Meanwhile, the statistics of detected offenses look several orders of magnitude more modest. For example, in the Russian Federation, about 300 tons of fish and 12 tons of caviar are seized annually. During the entire period after the collapse of the USSR, only isolated attempts to illegally export black caviar abroad were recorded.

In addition, it is hardly possible to quietly process 12-14 thousand tons of sturgeon and 1.2 thousand tons of caviar. To process the same volumes in the USSR in the 80s, there was an entire industry; an army of business executives was involved in the supply of salt, dishes, packaging materials, etc.

Question about sea fishing for sturgeon. There is a prejudice that it was the ban on sea fishing for sturgeon in 1962 that allowed the populations of all species to recover. In fact, two fundamentally different prohibitions are confused here. A real role in the conservation of sturgeon was played by the ban on seiner and driftnet fishing for herring and small fish, which resulted in the mass destruction of juvenile sturgeon. The ban on sea fishing itself hardly played a significant role. From a biological point of view, this ban makes no sense, but it makes great commercial sense. Catching fish going to spawn is technically simple and allows you to get more caviar than anywhere else (10%). The ban on sea fishing allows production to be concentrated in the mouths of the Volga and Ural and makes it easier to control it, including the manipulation of quotas.

Analyzing the chronicle of the fight against poaching in the Caspian Sea, two important dates can be identified. In January 1993, it was decided to involve border troops, riot police and other security forces in this problem, which, however, had a slight effect on the volume of fish seized. In 1994, when the actions of these structures were coordinated to work in the Volga delta (Operation Putin), the amount of fish seized almost tripled.

Sea fishing is difficult and has never yielded more than 20% of the sturgeon catch. In particular, off the coast of Dagestan, which is now considered perhaps the main supplier of poached products, no more than 10% was caught during the period of permitted sea fishing. Sturgeon fishing in estuaries is many times more effective, especially when populations are low. In addition, the “elite” sturgeon stock is killed in the rivers, while fish with impaired homing accumulate in the seas.

It is noteworthy that Iran, which conducts mainly marine sturgeon fishing, has not only not reduced its catch in recent years, but is also gradually increasing its catch, becoming the main supplier of caviar to the world market, despite the fact that the South Caspian stock should be exterminated by poachers from Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan . To preserve juvenile sturgeon, Iran even went so far as to reduce the country's traditional kutum fishing.

It is obvious that sea fishing is not a determining factor in the decline in sturgeon populations. The main damage to fish is caused where its main catch is concentrated - at the mouths of the Volga and Ural.

5. Regulation of river flow. Changes in natural biogeochemical cycles

Massive hydraulic construction on the Volga (and then on the Kura and other rivers) starting in the 30s. The 20th century deprived the Caspian sturgeon of most of their natural spawning grounds (for beluga - 100%). To compensate for this damage, fish hatcheries were and are being built. The number of fry released (sometimes only on paper) is one of the main grounds for determining quotas for catching valuable fish. Meanwhile, the damage from the loss of sea products is distributed to all Caspian countries, and the benefits from hydropower and irrigation are distributed only to the countries in whose territory the flow regulation took place. This situation does not stimulate the Caspian countries to restore natural spawning grounds or preserve other natural habitats - feeding areas, wintering grounds for sturgeon, etc.

Fish passage structures at dams suffer from many technical shortcomings; the system for counting fish going to spawn is also far from perfect. However, with the best systems, juveniles that migrate down the river will not return to the sea, but will form artificial populations in polluted and food-poor reservoirs. It was dams, and not water pollution, along with overfishing, that were the main reason for the decline in the sturgeon stock. It is noteworthy that after the destruction of the Kargaly hydroelectric complex, sturgeon were seen spawning in the highly polluted upper reaches of the Terek. Meanwhile, the construction of dams entailed even greater problems. The Northern Caspian was once the richest part of the sea. The Volga brought mineral phosphorus here (about 80% of the total supply), providing the bulk of the primary biological (photosynthetic) production. As a result, 70% of sturgeon stocks were formed in this part of the sea. Now most of the phosphates are consumed in the Volga reservoirs, and phosphorus enters the sea in the form of living and dead organic matter. As a result of this, the biological cycle has radically changed: shortening of trophic chains, predominance of the destructive part of the cycle, etc. The zones of maximum bioproductivity now are in the upwelling zones (this is a process in which deep ocean waters rise to the surface) along the Dagestan coast and on the slopes of the depths of the Southern Caspian Sea. The main feeding grounds for valuable fish have also shifted to these areas. The resulting “windows” in food chains and unbalanced ecosystems create favorable conditions for the penetration of alien species (comb jelly mnemiopsis, etc.).

In Turkmenistan, the degradation of the spawning grounds of the transboundary Atrek River is due to a complex of reasons, including a decrease in water availability, flow regulation in the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and siltation of the riverbed. Spawning of semi-anadromous fish depends on the water content of the Atrek River, which leads to a tense state of commercial stocks of the Atrek herd of Caspian roach and carp. The effect of regulation of the Atrek on the degradation of spawning grounds is not necessarily expressed in a lack of water volumes. The Atrek is one of the most muddy rivers in the world, therefore, as a result of seasonal withdrawal of water, rapid siltation of the riverbed occurs. The Ural remains the only unregulated large river in the Caspian basin. However, the condition of the spawning grounds on this river is also very unfavorable. The main problem today is siltation of the riverbed. Once upon a time, the soils in the Ural valley were protected by forests; Later, these forests were cut down, and the floodplain was plowed almost to the water's edge. After navigation was stopped in the Urals “in order to preserve sturgeon,” work on cleaning the fairway stopped, which made most of the spawning grounds on this river inaccessible.

6. Eutrophication

Eutrophication is the saturation of water bodies with nutrients, accompanied by an increase in the biological productivity of water basins. Eutrophication can be the result of both natural aging of a reservoir and anthropogenic impacts. The main chemical elements contributing to eutrophication are phosphorus and nitrogen. In some cases, the term “hypertrophization” is used.

The high level of pollution of the sea and the rivers flowing into it has long raised concerns about the formation of oxygen-free zones in the Caspian Sea, especially for areas south of the Turkmen Gulf, although this problem was not considered a top priority. However, the latest reliable data on this issue dates back to the early 1980s. Meanwhile, a significant imbalance in the synthesis and decomposition of organic matter as a result of the introduction of the ctenophore Mnemiopsis can lead to serious and even catastrophic changes. Since Mnemiopsis does not pose a threat to the photosynthetic activity of unicellular algae, but affects the destructive part of the cycle (zooplankton - fish - benthos), dying organic matter will accumulate, causing hydrogen sulfide contamination of the bottom layers of water. Poisoning of the remaining benthos will lead to progressive growth of anaerobic areas. We can confidently predict the formation of vast anoxic zones wherever there are conditions for long-term stratification of waters, especially in places where fresh and salt water mix and mass production of unicellular algae occurs. These places coincide with areas of phosphorus influx - on the dumps of the depths of the Middle and Southern Caspian (upwelling zones) and on the border of the Northern and Middle Caspian. For the Northern Caspian, areas with low oxygen levels are also noted; the problem is exacerbated by the presence of ice cover during the winter months. This problem will further aggravate the situation of commercially valuable fish species (killings; obstacles on migration routes, etc.).

In addition, it is difficult to predict how the taxonomic composition of phytoplankton will evolve under new conditions. In some cases, with a high supply of nutrients, the formation of “red tides” cannot be ruled out, an example of which is the processes in Soimonov Bay (Turkmenistan).

7. Describe the process that ensures the constancy of the gas composition of water

The air always contains water vapor, both in gaseous and liquid (water) or solid (ice) states, depending on the temperature. The main source of steam entering the atmosphere is the ocean. Steam also enters the atmosphere from the Earth's vegetation.

At the surface of the sea, air constantly mixes with water: the air absorbs moisture, which is carried away by sea winds, atmospheric gases penetrate the water and dissolve in it. Sea winds, delivering new air currents to the surface of the water, facilitate the penetration of atmospheric air into ocean water.

The solubility of gases in water depends on three factors: the temperature of the water, the partial pressure of the gases that make up the atmospheric air, and their chemical composition. Gases dissolve better in cold water than in warm water. As water temperatures rise, dissolved gases are released from the sea surface in cold regions, and in the tropics they partially return them to the atmosphere. Convective mixing of water ensures the penetration of gases dissolved in water throughout the entire water column, right down to the ocean floor.

The three gases that make up the bulk of the atmosphere - nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide - are also present in large quantities in ocean waters. The main source of saturation of ocean waters with gases is atmospheric air.

8. Explain the concept of “metabolism and energy”

The release of energy occurs as a result of the oxidation of complex organic substances that make up human cells, tissues and organs to the formation of simpler compounds. The consumption of these nutrients by the body is called dissimilation. Simple substances formed during the oxidation process (water, carbon dioxide, ammonia, urea) are excreted from the body through urine, feces, exhaled air, and through the skin. The dissimilation process is directly dependent on energy consumption for physical labor and heat exchange.

The restoration and creation of complex organic substances of human cells, tissues, and organs occurs due to the simple substances of digested food. The process of storing these nutrients and energy in the body is called assimilation. The assimilation process, therefore, depends on the composition of the food, which provides the body with all the nutrients.

The processes of dissimilation and assimilation occur simultaneously, in close interaction and have a common name - the process of metabolism. It consists of the metabolism of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins and water metabolism.

Metabolism is directly dependent on energy consumption (for labor, heat exchange and the functioning of internal organs) and the composition of food.

Metabolism in the human body is regulated by the central nervous system directly and through hormones produced by the endocrine glands. Thus, protein metabolism is influenced by the thyroid hormone (thyroxine), carbohydrate metabolism by the pancreatic hormone (insulin), and fat metabolism by the hormones of the thyroid gland, pituitary gland, and adrenal glands.

Daily human energy expenditure. To provide a person with food that corresponds to his energy expenditure and plastic processes, it is necessary to determine the daily energy expenditure.

The unit of measurement for human energy is the kilocalorie. During the day, a person spends energy on the work of internal organs (heart, digestive system, lungs, liver, kidneys, etc.), heat exchange and performing socially useful activities (work, study, household work, walks, rest). The energy spent on the functioning of internal organs and heat exchange is called basal metabolism. At an air temperature of 20° C, complete rest, on an empty stomach, the basic metabolism is 1 kcal per 1 hour per 1 kg of human body weight. Consequently, basal metabolism depends on body weight, as well as the sex and age of a person.

9. List the types of ecological pyramids

Ecological pyramid - graphic representations of the relationship between producers and consumers of all levels (herbivores, predators, species that feed on other predators) in the ecosystem.

The American zoologist Charles Elton suggested schematically depicting these relationships in 1927.

In a schematic representation, each level is shown as a rectangle, the length or area of which corresponds to the numerical values of a link in the food chain (Elton’s pyramid), their mass or energy. Rectangles arranged in a certain sequence create pyramids of various shapes.

The base of the pyramid is the first trophic level - the level of producers; subsequent floors of the pyramid are formed by the next levels of the food chain - consumers of various orders. The height of all blocks in the pyramid is the same, and the length is proportional to the number, biomass or energy at the corresponding level.

Ecological pyramids are distinguished depending on the indicators on the basis of which the pyramid is built. At the same time, a basic rule has been established for all pyramids, according to which in any ecosystem there are more plants than animals, herbivores than carnivores, insects than birds.

Based on the rule of the ecological pyramid, it is possible to determine or calculate the quantitative ratios of different species of plants and animals in natural and artificially created ecological systems. For example, 1 kg of mass of a sea animal (seal, dolphin) requires 10 kg of eaten fish, and these 10 kg already need 100 kg of their food - aquatic invertebrates, which, in turn, need to eat 1000 kg of algae and bacteria to form such a mass. In this case, the ecological pyramid will be sustainable.

However, as you know, there are exceptions to every rule, which will be considered in each type of ecological pyramid.

Types of ecological pyramids

1.Pyramid of numbers.

Rice. 1 Simplified ecological pyramid of numbers

Pyramids of numbers - at each level the number of individual organisms is plotted

The pyramid of numbers displays a clear pattern discovered by Elton: the number of individuals making up a sequential series of links from producers to consumers is steadily decreasing (Fig. 1).

For example, to feed one wolf, he needs at least several hares for him to hunt; To feed these hares, you need a fairly large variety of plants. In this case, the pyramid will look like a triangle with a wide base tapering upward.

However, this form of a pyramid of numbers is not typical for all ecosystems. Sometimes they can be reversed, or upside down. This applies to forest food chains, where trees serve as producers and insects serve as primary consumers. In this case, the level of primary consumers is numerically richer than the level of producers (a large number of insects feed on one tree), therefore the pyramids of numbers are the least informative and least indicative, i.e. the number of organisms of the same trophic level largely depends on their size.

2. Pyramids of biomass

Rice. 2 Ecological pyramid of biomass

Biomass pyramids - characterizes the total dry or wet mass of organisms at a given trophic level, for example, in units of mass per unit area - g/m2, kg/ha, t/km2 or per volume - g/m3 (Fig. 2)

Usually in terrestrial biocenoses the total mass of producers is greater than each subsequent link. In turn, the total mass of first-order consumers is greater than that of second-order consumers, etc.

In this case (if the organisms do not differ too much in size), the pyramid will also have the appearance of a triangle with a wide base tapering upward. However, there are significant exceptions to this rule. For example, in the seas, the biomass of herbivorous zooplankton is significantly (sometimes 2-3 times) greater than the biomass of phytoplankton, represented mainly by unicellular algae. This is explained by the fact that algae are very quickly eaten by zooplankton, but they are protected from being completely eaten away by the very high rate of division of their cells.

In general, terrestrial biogeocenoses, where producers are large and live relatively long, are characterized by relatively stable pyramids with a wide base. In aquatic ecosystems, where producers are small in size and have short life cycles, the pyramid of biomass can be inverted or inverted (with the tip pointing down). Thus, in lakes and seas, the mass of plants exceeds the mass of consumers only during the flowering period (spring), and during the rest of the year the opposite situation can occur.

Pyramids of numbers and biomass reflect the statics of the system, that is, they characterize the number or biomass of organisms in a certain period of time. They do not provide complete information about the trophic structure of an ecosystem, although they allow solving a number of practical problems, especially related to maintaining the sustainability of ecosystems.

The pyramid of numbers allows, for example, to calculate the permissible amount of fish catch or shooting of animals during the hunting season without consequences for their normal reproduction.

3.Pyramids of energy

Rice. 2 Ecological pyramid of energy

Energy pyramids - shows the magnitude of energy flow or productivity at successive levels (Fig. 3).

In contrast to the pyramids of numbers and biomass, which reflect the statics of the system (the number of organisms at a given moment), the pyramid of energy, reflecting the picture of the speed of passage of food mass (amount of energy) through each trophic level of the food chain, gives the most complete picture of the functional organization of communities.

The shape of this pyramid is not affected by changes in the size and metabolic rate of individuals, and if all energy sources are taken into account, the pyramid will always have a typical appearance with a wide base and a tapering apex. When constructing a pyramid of energy, a rectangle is often added to its base to show the influx of solar energy.

In 1942, the American ecologist R. Lindeman formulated the law of the energy pyramid (the law of 10 percent), according to which, on average, about 10% of the energy received at the previous level of the ecological pyramid passes from one trophic level through food chains to another trophic level. The rest of the energy is lost in the form of thermal radiation, movement, etc. As a result of metabolic processes, organisms lose about 90% of all energy in each link of the food chain, which is spent on maintaining their vital functions.

If a hare ate 10 kg of plant matter, then its own weight may increase by 1 kg. A fox or wolf, eating 1 kg of hare meat, increases its mass by only 100 g. In woody plants, this proportion is much lower due to the fact that wood is poorly absorbed by organisms. For grasses and seaweeds, this value is much greater, since they do not have difficult-to-digest tissues. However, the general pattern of the process of energy transfer remains: much less energy passes through the upper trophic levels than through the lower ones.

Let's consider the transformation of energy in an ecosystem using the example of a simple pasture trophic chain, in which there are only three trophic levels.

level - herbaceous plants,

level - herbivorous mammals, for example, hares

level - predatory mammals, for example, foxes

Nutrients are created during the process of photosynthesis by plants, which form organic substances and oxygen, as well as ATP, from inorganic substances (water, carbon dioxide, mineral salts, etc.) using the energy of sunlight. Part of the electromagnetic energy of solar radiation is converted into the energy of chemical bonds of synthesized organic substances.

All organic matter created during photosynthesis is called gross primary production (GPP). Part of the energy of gross primary production is spent on respiration, resulting in the formation of net primary production (NPP), which is the very substance that enters the second trophic level and is used by hares.

...

52. Environmental lessons. Caspian and Aral seas

Caspian Sea- a closed internal reservoir, rare in its abundance of fish. In the past, it provided about 90% of the world's sturgeon catch. Now sturgeon are endangered. The reason for this is poaching, water pollution, and disruption of spawning grounds due to the construction of dams on rivers. The sea today is in a state of crisis, deprived of its properties of self-regulation and self-purification.

Periodic fluctuations in water levels were natural for the Caspian Sea. From 1820 to 1930 sea levels remained relatively stable. But in the 1930s. An intense drop in sea water levels began. By 1945, it dropped by 1.75 m, and by 1977, by 3 m below the level at the beginning of the century. The sea surface area has decreased. It was expected that by 2000, the water level in the sea would drop by another 3–5 m, and the reservoir would lose its fishing significance, collapse as an ecosystem, and large economic investments would be needed in connection with the relocation of ports, villages, etc.

It was decided to take measures to stop or slow down the decline in sea levels. But even before construction was completed, the water level in the Caspian began to decrease rapidly. It was clear that the main cause of sea level fluctuations was not anthropogenic, but natural factors. The main conclusion from this environmental lesson is that any large-scale decisions on the impact on the natural environment must be preceded by a full analysis of the phenomena. Good intentions did not achieve their goal, but aggravated the negative phenomena of the destruction of the Kara-Bogaz-Gol Bay as an ecosystem.

Aral Sea was an inland body of water with slightly saline waters. It was second in size after the Caspian Sea. The decline in sea levels has increased significantly since the 1960s, when water began to be withdrawn for irrigation. In addition, a significant amount of it was diverted to the Karakum Canal. By the mid-1980s, sea level dropped by 8 m, in the 1990s - by 14-15 m. The volume of water in the sea decreased by more than 50%.

Thus, due to the drop in water level, the sea as an ecosystem ceased to exist. It split into two reservoirs, the salinity of the water in it increased 3 times. This was followed by the death of the most productive ecosystems and the depletion of the species composition of flora and fauna. Serious environmental costs in the Aral Sea region are associated with the construction and operation of the Karakum Canal. This is the result of irrational and uneconomical use of valuable water resources. In the area of the Aral Sea and the Aral Sea region, a situation of an environmental disaster zone has been created.

The destruction of natural systems, dehydration and desertification of colossal territories, massive over-industry of many species of animals and plants, the increasing involvement of raw materials and energy carriers and their adequate return to natural systems have led to a deterioration in the quality of the natural environment, to its incompatibility with the environmental requirements of the human body.[ ...]

An ecological crisis (according to I.I. Dedy) is a situation that arises in ecological systems (biogeocenoses) as a result of an imbalance under the influence of natural phenomena or as a result of the influence of anthropogenic factors (human pollution of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, pedosphere, destruction of natural ecosystems, natural complexes, forest fires, river regulation, deforestation, etc.). In a broader sense, an ecological crisis is a critical phase in the development of the biosphere, during which a qualitative renewal of living matter occurs (the extinction of some species and the emergence of others). Here it is appropriate to quote a figurative statement from Yu.S. Shevchuk (1991): “...The ecological crisis is a whip with which nature directs us to the only progressive “green” path of development. But this is also the ax with which nature cuts off dead-end branches from the tree of humanity.”[...]

The environmental awareness of agricultural specialists depends on the protection of the environment from direct pollution and destruction, the reduction of resource, material and energy intensity of agricultural production, the introduction of low-waste technological systems and processes, the minimization of losses of agricultural products, the introduction of environmental systems for farming and livestock farming, and the optimization of agricultural landscapes. areas, production of environmentally friendly products, etc. It is fundamentally important to give an environmental orientation to agricultural technologies, taking into account further ways of developing scientific and technological progress, features of specialization and concentration in natural and economic zones. The concept of environmental conformity should be embedded in production systems, and when assessing productivity, the ratio of the products obtained to the volume of resources used and waste removed should be taken into account [Agroecology, 2000].[...]

Although the system of international governance is changing rapidly, it is still the case that most people are familiar with the powers of a sovereign state. In addition, sovereign states have authority over any activity occurring within their borders. However, many environmental problems, including virtually all complex issues, lie beyond the borders of any single sovereign state: acid precipitation, water pollution, ozone depletion, global climate change, loss of biodiversity and habitats. Thus, there is a mismatch in the scale of political organizations that have power and legitimacy and the environmental disturbances that they need to deal with. The global scale of many human-disrupted environmental systems, combined with the clumsy system of international law, raises questions about the proper handling of environmental issues and the transfer of responsibilities of sovereign states to international organizations, transnational corporations and political structures.[...]

Rigid systems, or rather quasi-systems such as mechanical devices and totalitarian-autocratic political social structures, lack the properties and mechanisms of self-sustaining (instead, rigid connections and coercive mechanisms operate) and are therefore doomed to gradual destruction, the faster the more aggressive the environment for them. In this case, first individual parts fail, and then there comes a moment of complete destruction of such a quasi-system without the possibility of not only self-healing, but also artificial repair (however, an even more rigid analogue can be created from the same or similar parts). Similar phenomena are observed in cases where the environment (physical, historical, etc.) does not correspond to the functional and structural features of the system. In this case, extinction, change of functions and other similar processes occur, covering not only the disappearing systems, but also the functional complexes associated with them and their hierarchy (for example, one species never individually disappears, the entire food chain, network, and then consortia, synusia, biocenosis, ecosystem and, partly, their hierarchy as a whole; similar processes occur in social processes in the event of a change in the political system in one state or a group of them).[...]

The application of a system of maximum permissible standards for the load on the environment is aimed at preventing the depletion of the natural environment and the destruction of its ecological connections, ensuring the rational use and reproduction of natural resources. These standards represent scientifically based maximum permissible anthropogenic impacts on a certain natural-territorial complex.[...]

A striking example of the long-term environmental consequences of large hydraulic processes is the construction of the Aswan Dam on the Nile. The Nile Valley, especially its lower reaches, has been a center of agriculture since time immemorial, due to which at the end of the 20th century. there were about 33 million people inhabiting the valley. The high fertility of the soil here was determined by annual floods, which, although at times brought major destruction, at the same time contributed to the moistening of the soil and its enrichment due to thick deposits of fertile silt. The construction of the dam was intended to eliminate the adverse effects of floods and streamline irrigation with the help of a specially created irrigation system and thus counteract droughts that occur from time to time.[...]

Human impact on ecological systems (biogeocenoses), associated with their destruction or pollution, directly leads to interruption of the flow of energy and matter, and therefore to a decrease in productivity. For example, due to smoke and decreased air transparency, a barrier may form between the flow of solar energy and the producers that receive it. Harmful substances in the atmosphere can lead to the death of part of the plant’s assimilation apparatus. Caking of litter and death of decomposers as a result of massive sedimentation of toxic waste on the soil will interrupt the return of mineral components to trophic chains. Therefore, environmental protection can also be considered as a system of measures aimed at preventing a decrease in the productivity of the biosphere. Only if this task is solved will the second most important task—increasing productivity—be effective.[...]

A crisis state, or an ecological crisis, is when the parameters of the state approach the maximum permissible limits, the transition through which entails the loss of stability of the system and its destruction. This condition may be a consequence of pollution or anomalies in the environment when threshold values are reached (dioxin, Ufa).[...]

The transition to a strategy for sustainable environmentally safe soil and environmental management cannot be carried out without solving some organizational, including scientific and organizational, issues aimed at preserving the potential fertility of the most economically valuable soils - chernozems. Increasing their effective fertility is advisable by choosing a rational fertilizer system. Periodic application of mineral and organic fertilizers and their joint application does not stop the degradation of chernozems on the upland, although the yield of agricultural crops on fertilized soils is significantly higher than on the control - unfertilized background (Druzhinin, 1958; Trofimov, 1958; 1975). The process of restoring the fertility of chernozems destroyed by erosion is lengthy. The application of high doses of organic and mineral fertilizers affects the reduction of soil loss, since cultivated plants are provided in significant quantities with mobile nutrients, develop faster than unfertilized ones and are able to exhibit their soil-protective properties at an earlier time. The coefficient of fertilizer use on eroded chernozems is noticeably higher than on non-eroded ones (Orlov, Tanasienko, 1975).[...]

The creation of hydroelectric power stations on small rivers has a number of environmental and socio-economic advantages compared to “big” energy, including: small or no flooding, significantly less impact on the natural habitat of humans and animals, no need to resettle residents, relatively small cost due to the use of standard designs and standardized parts for construction, as well as control automation. The creation of small hydropower plants to replace small power plants operating on fossil fuels leads to a significant improvement in the air basin, and their reservoirs, in addition to generating electricity, will help provide water resources to various sectors of the economy in different parts of river basins. Being shallow and small in volume, SHPP reservoirs do not interfere with water exchange processes in river systems and, on the contrary, contribute to the mixing of water masses and their aeration. SHPPs also have advantages from the point of view of the safety of their operation - the damage from damage or complete destruction of SHPP dams will be incomparably less compared to large stations. If a small hydroelectric power station is the only source of energy supplying a populated area or economic facilities with light and heat, damage to a small hydroelectric power station can have far-reaching consequences, especially for areas remote from other sources of power supply. [...]

In contrast to individual metrics, a set of environmental metrics can also be arranged in a hierarchical system. Such a system (Fig. 20.5) may have the form shown in Fig. 20.3, but individual sets of metrics are displayed across the multi-level system under consideration. This, in turn, becomes metrics-focused monitoring of progress towards the main goals of Sec. 1. The system does not have to have the three levels shown in the figure. If the goal were to monitor and optimize national water consumption or the destruction of local ecosystems, for example, the global level would be lowered and the local and regional levels could be separated or subdivided in order to obtain a more accurate assessment at the consumption stage.[...]

Thus, extensive environmental management and open production systems have led to the generation of enormous amounts of solid, liquid and gaseous waste, to the depletion of most non-renewable natural resources, to the destruction and pollution of the environment, and to an ecological crisis.[...]

System dynamics can help take into account many factors of a system’s operation and model the environmental consequences of any type of activity, since an important way to improve the state of the environment is to teach decision makers to base their activities not on short-term forecasts, but on a long-term basis. For example, a person who makes a decision whether or not to build factories faces a choice: build two cheap factories that will pollute the environment, or one more expensive plant, but it will not destroy the environment. People's well-being will increase significantly more if you build two low-cost enterprises, because the growth of food appears quite quickly, and the destruction of the environment becomes noticeable only after a long lag time (i.e., this process is building a positive feedback loop or involvement in the “mania” structure). But looking into the future, the net benefit from short-term policies will actually be smaller, although at first glance it may seem larger. When cheap factories operate, you poison the air and water, and in the long term, the well-being of the people will worsen and fall. Then you will have to produce more and more goods, apparatus, instruments in order to compensate for this environmental degradation.[...]

Ecosystems and security of Russia. The modern concept of safety includes environmental risk. People's life expectancy is often determined by the state of nature more than by the country's defense system. The destruction of nature occurs before the eyes of one generation as quickly and unexpectedly as milk runs away on fire. Nature can “escape” from humans only once, and this has caused close attention to the living environment of humans, the diversity of nature, and especially biological diversity. Humanity has recently begun to realize that it is as mortal as the individual, and is now striving to ensure the indefinite existence of generations in an evolving biosphere. The world appears to a person differently than before. However, simply believing in nature is not enough; you need to know its laws and understand how to follow them.[...]

The components of the crisis are varied. Globally, the environment and its ecological systems are depleted. Thus, short-sighted policies lead to the degradation of the agricultural resource base on almost every continent, which is manifested in soil erosion in North America and Russia, acidification in Europe, deforestation and desertification in Asia, Africa and Latin America, almost universal water pollution and water losses . By the end of the 70s. In the United States, the rate of soil destruction due to erosion outpaced the rate of soil formation by almost 1/3 of agricultural land. In Canada, soil degradation is already costing farmers $1 billion a year.[...]

This system is most widely used in the USA, although the share of organic products grown in this country is quite small (no more than 1% of traditional ones). Naturally, the yield with this system is significantly lower than with the traditional one. Therefore, the products obtained from such fields are sold at a higher price. It should be noted that in the USA, despite the high biopotential of the land, there are certain restrictions on the size of the crop grown, above which farmers are not allowed to receive products. In other words, at the state level, the law of reducing the energy efficiency of environmental management is observed, so that the consumption of additional anthropogenic energy does not pose a real threat to the natural resource potential or destruction of ecosystems.[...]

The technical world is in clear contradiction with the laws of life on Earth (and natural ecological systems) - there is an objective destruction of the environment. The dialectic of interaction between society and nature lies in assessing the depth of these contradictions and choosing the possibilities (ways) for resolving them, which raises a number of questions about the mutual influence of the quality of the environment and the existence of human life.[...]

Scientists believe that every year thousands of deaths in cities around the world are associated with unfavorable environmental conditions. Any impact causes a protective reaction in nature aimed at neutralizing it. This ability of nature has been exploited by man thoughtlessly and predatorily for a long time. However, the pollution process is progressing sharply, and it becomes obvious that natural self-purification systems will sooner or later not be able to withstand such an onslaught, since the atmosphere’s ability to self-purify has certain limits. The launch of powerful missiles, nuclear weapons tests, the annual destruction of the natural ozonizer - millions of hectares of forest, the massive use of freons in technology and everyday life lead to the destruction of the ozone layer. In recent years, “ozone holes” with a total area of more than 20 million square kilometers have appeared over the North and South Poles, and “ozone holes” have also appeared over large metropolises of European countries and over Russia. [...]

Environmental tasks in cities and their zones of influence are “expressed” by problematic situations. A problematic environmental situation in a city is “crisis” if the initial state of the system is unacceptable in terms of its social consequences, i.e. violations of the natural environment are accompanied by the risk of deterioration in public health, degradation of natural complexes and destruction of architectural and historical monuments and valuable material and technical objects. [...]

The increase in attention observed in society over the past decades to problems that traditionally form the subject of study of environmental science is quite natural. The successes of natural science in revealing the secrets of the world order have made it possible to push the boundaries of conventional ideas about reality, to come to an understanding of the systemic complexity and integrity of the world, and have created the necessary basis for clarifying and further developing the idea of man’s place in the system of nature. At the same time, the aggravation of the problems of overpopulation of the planet, depletion of natural resources, pollution of the human environment with waste from industrial and agricultural production, destruction of natural landscapes, and reduction in species diversity contributed to the growth of public interest in obtaining environmental information. Finally, the development of mass communication systems (print media, radio broadcasting, television, Internet) contributed to the growth of public awareness about the state of the environment, the influences people have on it, and their actual and possible consequences. The effect of these circumstances, by the way, largely determined the increase in the social status of ecology and environmental specialists.[...]

The line to increase production volumes at any cost, including at the expense of environmental protection, was dictated by the objective logic of competition with the world system of capitalism, which did not allow the allocation of sufficient resources for environmental purposes. The periodic involvement of the country in serious armed conflicts, especially in the Second World War, not only caused direct damage to the environment, but had even more severe long-term environmental consequences, since the tasks of restoring the national economy required enormous additional material resources. It is also necessary to keep in mind the general technical level of pre-revolutionary Russian production, which was relatively lagging behind advanced countries, and, moreover, was almost completely destroyed by the First World War and the Civil War.[...]

The law determined the objects of environmental protection. In accordance with it, the following are subject to protection from pollution, spoilage, damage, depletion, and destruction on the territory of the Russian Federation: natural ecological systems, the ozone layer of the atmosphere, the earth, its subsoil, surface and underground waters, atmospheric air, forests and other vegetation, fauna, microorganisms, genetic fund, natural landscapes. State nature reserves, nature reserves, national natural parks, natural monuments, rare or endangered species of plants and animals and their habitats are subject to special protection.[...]

These conditions are changed by the biosystem itself, forming the bioenvironment of its own existence. This property of biosystems is formulated in the form of the law of maximum biogenic energy (entropy) by V.I. Vernadsky - E.S. Bauer: any biological or bioinert (with the participation of living) system, being in mobile (dynamic) equilibrium with its environment and evolutionary tionally developing, increases its impact on the environment. The pressure grows until it is strictly limited by external factors (supersystems or other competitive systems of the same hierarchy level), or an evolutionary-ecological catastrophe occurs. It may consist in the fact that the ecosystem, following the change of a higher supersystem as a more labile formation, has already changed, but the species, subject to genetic conservatism, remains unchanged. This leads to a long series of contradictions leading to an anomalous phenomenon: the destruction by a species of its own habitat (the feedback regulating the activity of the species within the ecosystem does not work, and population mechanisms are partly disrupted). In this case, the biosystem is destroyed: the species dies out, the biocenosis undergoes destruction and changes qualitatively.[...]

Ecosystem disruption also occurred during World War II, but it was concomitant. Among such impacts we can mention the destruction of dams by the Nazis in Holland (200 thousand hectares were flooded, which amounted to 17% of arable land), massive deforestation and crops in the occupied territories (20 million hectares of forests were destroyed and disturbed in the USSR). The “scorched earth” tactic was widely used by the Nazis in our country to fight partisans and the civilian population. Restoring agricultural ecosystems destroyed by war is a long process; for example, in European countries it took about 5 years. In 1943, British aircraft bombed dams in the Ruhr Valley, as a result of which several dozen enterprises, mines, and power plants were flooded. Firestorms are a system of winds, like tornadoes, that occurs during extensive fires, accompanied by the release of huge amounts of soot and dust into the atmosphere. A serious type of environmental damage that accompanies almost all wars is the material remains of military operations - these are primarily mines, unexploded bombs and shells. [...]

Massive drainage of swamps, deforestation, changing the direction of river flow, etc. forms of anthropogenic activity have had a harmful impact on various ecological systems in the form of destruction of the stable connections that have developed in them and certain environmental characteristics of the planetary scale (for example, the ecologically stable Earth system has a constant mass and a constant average temperature) and have created the threat of global environmental disasters. [ .. .]

Enterprises that produce one or another type of product interact with ecosystems, causing their degradation. For example, as a result of air pollution, recreational ecosystems are destroyed. An improvement in the situation can be achieved subject to the harmonization of the relations between natural and technical complexes and components through the creation and operation of an ecological-economic system. Such a system is a set of technical devices and elements of the natural environment interacting with them, which, during joint operation, ensure, on the one hand, high production performance, and on the other, the maintenance of a favorable environmental situation in the zone of influence, as well as the maximum possible conservation and reproduction natural resources.[...]

Evolutionary transitions in the biosphere take relatively little time. The rules for enhancing the integration of biological systems by I. I. Shmalhausen state that in the process of evolution, biological systems become more and more integrated, with more and more developed regulatory mechanisms that ensure such integration. N. F. Reimers, in his work “System Fundamentals of Environmental Management,” pointed out that the destruction of more than 3 levels of the hierarchy of ecosystems is absolutely irreversible and catastrophic. To maintain the reliability of the biosphere, a plurality of competitively interacting ecosystems is required. This is the way the biosphere evolved. Anthropogenic influences disrupt this process. The rule of multiplicity of ecosystems also follows from the rule of ecological duplication, and in general the theory of reliability. Here integration turns out to be “sliding” along the hierarchical ladder of ecosystems.[...]

In addition to assessing the degree of disturbed ecosystem, the assessment of its affected area is of great importance. If the area of change is small, then with an equal depth of impact, a small-area disturbed system will recover faster than a large one. If the area of violation is more than the maximum permissible size, then the destruction of the environment is practically irreversible and belongs to the level of a catastrophe. For example, forest burning over an area of tens or hundreds of hectares is practically reversible, and forests are restored - this is not a disaster. However, if the area of forest burning or any form of technogenic destruction of vegetation reaches an area of tens or hundreds of thousands of hectares, the changes are practically irreversible and the incident is classified as a disaster. Thus, the size of a catastrophic environmental disturbance is quite large and exceeds, according to V.V. Vinogradov, area 10,000-100,000 hectares depending on the type of vegetation and geologist-geographical conditions.[...]

As you know, AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) is caused by the HIV virus. If we evaluate this phenomenon from an informational point of view, then AIDS can be considered as a decrease in the effectiveness of the immune system of the human body. Studies have shown that the degradation of OPS causes inhibition and even destruction of the latter. From here, according to Yu.M. Gorsky, there is no fundamental difference whether the suppression of the immune system is caused by the HIV virus or environmental pressure. This gave him the opportunity to formulate the concept of environmental acquired immune deficiency syndrome (ESID).[...]

Urbanization continues to be the focus of sociological research, as the population of cities is growing many times faster than the population as a whole. However, it is only recently that sociologists have begun to study the environmental problem that this chapter is devoted to widely and have begun to understand that the main problem is the deterioration of the quality of living space, and not the supply of energy or resources. Architect Eliel Saarinen, in The City (1943), attributes the decline in urban environmental quality to 1) the replacement of creative architecture with uncreative innovations that lack “organic order and conformity,” and 2) an excessive public focus on economics at the expense of urban planning. In monitoring the quality of urban life, indicators such as the percentage of family people, the percentage of divorces, fatherless families, wealthy families, unemployed youth, the crime rate, etc. could play an important role (Bauer, 1966); In addition, the educational qualifications of residents can serve as an important indicator. The sociological dilemma of the city can apparently be expressed by formulating its two aspects: 1) the city is the crown of creation of human civilization, where want and strife are unknown and where a person, sheltered from the unpleasant influences of the physical environment, can enjoy life, leisure and culture; 2) a city is a grandiose change in nature, opening up thousands of ways to destroy and ensure those basic conditions on which human life and dignity depend. From an ecologist's point of view, situation 1 will only be achieved when the city functions as an integral part of the general ecosystem of the biosphere, and situation 2 is inevitable as long as cities grow in the absence of any negative feedbacks or are considered as something separate from their life support system .[...]

The listed documents, in particular, indicate that land owners, landowners, land users and tenants carry out the rational organization of the territory used, restoration and improvement of soil fertility, protection of land from various processes of destruction, etc. To ensure compliance by all individuals, officials and legal entities with the requirements land legislation, in order to effectively use and protect land in the Russian Federation, a unified system of state control has been created, which, along with the main land control, combines other types of control: environmental, sanitary-epidemiological, architectural and construction.[...]

Art. 86. “Enterprises, institutions, organizations and citizens that have caused harm to the natural environment, the health and property of citizens, the national economy by pollution of the natural environment, damage, destruction, damage, irrational use of natural resources, destruction of the natural ecological system and other environmental offenses are obliged reimburse it in full in accordance with current legislation.[...]

As already noted, hazardous chemicals undergo chemical, physicochemical and other transformations under environmental conditions. Under the influence of specific landscape-geochemical conditions, in one case they can persist for a long time and accumulate, in another they can quickly collapse and be removed from the system under consideration. At the same time, a key role in determining the nature and danger of long-term environmental consequences of pollution of the environment with hazardous chemicals is played by the rate of self-purification of territories, and in relation to soils, the persistence of a hazardous substance, which characterizes the time of its destruction or removal from the soil under the influence of processes of various natures.[...]

In the conditions of the Far North, the deposit of components of spilled flushing fluid on snow and soil intensively absorbs sunlight, causing subsequent melting of snow and melting of underground ice. Developing thermokarst processes lead to the formation of subsidence, failures, as well as slope processes such as solifluction and landslides. All this causes a disturbance in the ecological balance, since most of these processes lead to the destruction of natural landscapes, and sometimes to a complete or long-term loss of their biological productivity. The lack of plant insulation leads to dismemberment of the relief and swamping of the territory. Violation of vegetation in unstable landscapes represented by swamp systems becomes especially significant, leading to active thawing of ice, water saturation of thawing sediments, disruption of their structure and the development of flow on the surface of ice-saturated soil. Due to the fact that the overwhelming majority of heavily icy soils—peat bogs, loams, sandy loams, and clays, when transitioning to this state, are characterized by very low cohesion and shear resistance, soil movement can begin with undisturbed cover.[...]

The laws of social ecology, reflecting the conditions of dynamic equilibrium of socio-ecosystems, can be divided into the laws of eco-regression, leading to the death of the biosphere and humanity, and the laws of eco-development, which can prevent this death. In the course of the development of nature, it is possible to create conditions and organizational connections in which the laws of creation rather than destruction would dominate. This is an environmentally optimal strategy. Identifying such a system of laws is the main task of social ecology.[...]

Due to the fact that environmental information significantly exceeds the capabilities of the genome of any organism, it is impossible to unambiguously program in the genome the correct reaction to any external influences that animals encounter. Only the correct strategic line of behavior can be programmed in the genome, based on the invariability of the average characteristics of the ecological niche. This is ensured by a genetically fixed system of positive and negative emotions. Positive emotions (desires) stimulate actions in the “right” direction, ensuring the sustainability of the conservation of the species. Negative emotions prevent actions towards the destruction of this stability. Does the animal strive for actions associated with positive? gi emotions and avoids actions associated with negative ones.[...]

In our country, as throughout the world, the number of people with various genetic and mental illnesses is growing. Thus, over 9 years (1988-1996), the increase in the number of patients with mental illness exceeded 2% per year, and during the same period the number of births of children with congenital malformations doubled. From 1991 to 1995 the number of disabled people with mental disorders has increased by 100 thousand, of which 40% suffer from schizophrenia and 32% from mental retardation. Over the same years, the number of diseases of the endocrine system, which is associated with the immune system, brain, and reproductive system, has almost doubled. This growth occurred against the background of an almost constant population size, even with some decrease and, at the same time, a decrease in life expectancy of the population. It is important to pay attention to the fact that the increase in the number of diseases associated with genetic disorders depends mainly on the destruction by man of his ecological niche.[...]

Biopolitics, however, turned out to be “in demand” not only from a theoretical (political science) point of view, but also in terms of practical politics. Already in the 60s, it became obvious that many public policy problems have a pronounced “biological component.” It was about the “explosive” growth and relative aging of the planet’s population (which caused an additional burden on the budgets of states), the problems of genetic engineering, biomedical problems requiring political decisions, the threatening consequences of nuclear weapons tests, as well as the use of “peaceful atoms” in nuclear power plants and, of course, about the growing pollution of all environments on planet Earth, the destruction of the biosphere, the specter of an impending environmental disaster. Therefore, on a global scale, the role of biopolitics includes, along with other aspects, the fight (including through political means) against the emerging environmental crisis and for the preservation of biodiversity. In this aspect, biopolitics widely overlaps in issues with various movements of “green” and “environmentalists”. But biopolitics has its own specifics. Its focal point is interest in problems of sociality, and therefore its potential is not limited to the problems of interaction between humanity and the biosphere as two global biosocial systems. The modern world is full of social and political conflicts (for example, along ethnic lines), and here biopolitics is also expected to make a positive contribution, for example, recommendations regarding the evolutionary-ancient mechanisms of recognizing “friends and foes” that determine ethnic conflicts (conflicts of tribes, nations, races) ). In addition to ethnic conflicts, biopoliticians also dealt with the problems of student riots (for example, in France in 1968), bureaucracy (as a system alien in many respects to our biosocial heritage), presidential elections, which in all countries are strongly influenced by such biosocial phenomena as non-verbal (wordless) communication and “monkey” style of dominance-submission relationships, etc.

Destruction of natural ecosystems. Destruction of natural ecosystems over vast areas of land

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