land use

• • humans reduce the amount of land available for organisms by using it for builiding, quarrying, farming and dumping waste
• • bogs are areas of land that are acidic and waterlogged
  • plants that live in bogs don't fully decay when they die, because there is not enough oxygen
  • the plants build up to form peat
  • so, carbon is stored in the peat instead of being released
• • peat bogs are destroyed to use the area as farmland
  • peat is destroyed to be used as fuel or as compost
• • destroying peat bogs causes the peat to come into contact with oxygen
  • this allows microorganisms to start to decompose it
  • when the microorganisms respire, they release carbon dioxide, which contributes to global warming
  • burning peat releases carbon dioxide
• • destroying peat bogs reduces the area of habitats
  • so, this reduces the variety of organisms and microorganism species that live there, therefore reduces biodiversity