Field of Mars Reserve location, terrain and vegetation

Video transcript

Hi I'm Sophie and welcome to video number three. This video is to give you an idea of the human activities that have had an effect on the environments at our excursion study site here in the Field of Mars Reserve. 

An environmental impact is a specific ecological effect caused by a disturbance, in this case a human activity nearby. It is important to note that human actions can lead to both positive and negative environmental impacts, we are not all environmental vandals. 

Some human activities that have had an effect on this study site can be seen on this list. The first part of the list are human actions that were occurring around or before the 20th century. The second section of the list are more recent activities that started happening in the late 20th century and are still happening today. 

Let's have a look at the construction of hard surfaces as an example. The construction of a road, shopping center or car park is the initial human activity. However it can have many associated environmental impacts. Hard surfaces such as these catch rainfall and channel it into stormwater drains instead of allowing it to seep into the ground. 

These stormwater flows erode the soil in the creek banks which is then deposited in other areas downstream. The stormwater may also carry pollutants such as detergents, fertilisers and rubbish into these catchment areas.

The environmental impact of people constructing hard surfaces therefore include habitat loss from the erosion of creek bed habitats, decline in water quality in the creek from the sediment and pollutants and more introduced plants or weeds that flourish in the high nutrient water and the unstable eroded creek banks. 

This is just one example of the sort of cause-and-effect relationships that you'll be investigating during your fieldwork and assessment tasks. See you on the day.

End of transcript.