Orphan School Creek Research Paper

Human Impacts on Orphan School Creek
According to observation, first-hand investigations and research; the current state of Orphan School is adequate, although there are signs of possible future damage that are permanently/long term affecting the ecosystems of Orphan School Creek. Through research, a few hundred years ago the land was used for farming. The methods that were used to regulate crops were –irrigation which caused the water table to rise, leading to the alleviation of the salt to the top soil thus, deteriorating the soil and its vegetation. Additionally, the land was also used for timber cutting and residential for farms. Although, in the present times, the impacts have even gotten worst as population growth has risen exponentially
The human littering causes major impacts that are both positive and negative; it is a positive to the environment as it has created weeds such as the pennywort and Wandering Jew which formed habitats for native and migratory animals, as well as protecting them from predation as their weeds are in abundance making it hard for predators to find their prey. Although, human litter can cause weeds that impact the environment negatively such as the Morning Glory and Balloon Vines. These are parasitic weeds as they restrict native plants from sunlight and nutrients to survive and provide food the animals in the ecosystems . Additionally, the litter from humans, urban runoff and flooding; transports foreign chemicals from batteries, electronic products, cleaning products and eroded products. This will change its acidity, turbidity levels and temperature which causes an unnatural environment for the native animals and plants. (refer to figure 2.1). Furthermore, this can also contribute to the formation of patches of blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) as high content of phosphates are emitted from stormwater drainage systems and human domestic pet faeces that they do not clean up. The blue-green algae will affect the aquatic ecosystems as it will use large amounts of carbon dioxide, and increase turbidity
According to the State of Environment Report, Australia has an ageing population which means, older generations’ life expectancy and middle aged population is increasing (refer to figure 2.5). In addition, net overseas migration is also a contributing factors of increase in population (an increasing trend over the past 5 years) (refer to figure 2.6) and most likely new migrants will live in the regional NSW areas such as Fairfield area as population in Greater Sydney is overwhelming (5,000,000) and inefficient economically. This would mean that local governments and state governments are forced to implement more human infrastructures into areas where open land is available to serve the increase of population, which means Orphan School Creek will become a central place for recreational purposes and thus the natural environment will be disturbed – soil compaction, littering, noise and foreign organic matter introduced. This will lead to land clearing that will cause erosion to occur more frequently as soil becomes unstabilised and therefore, they are not able to perform their normal roles in the ecosystem . This will lead to further sedimentation of erosion products from gravel bed which restrict aquatic animals from retrieving their food there and an increase in turbidity which will block sunlight for aquatic plants (essentially destroying the