Creature Ecology and Global Climate Change - Essay Example

The duck-billed platypuses have webbed paws and short legs that grow on the sides of their body to facilitate their swimming in addition to easy diving in the water. They are naturally buoyant; this feature helps them stay underwater because they keep swimming with ease. Their short tail is not meant for propelling them in water as it is thought; its purpose is the storage of fats that enhance their buoyancy. Their mouth looks like that of a duck to facilitate their feeding underwater.

         Platypuses are carnivores. They are bottom feeders. They scoop up shellfish, insects along with their larvae, as well as worms in their bill together with bits of gravel and mud. Since they lack teeth, the bits of gravel play a major role to assist them to chew their food. Other animals also eat platypuses. Their natural predators include snakes, water rats, owls, goannas, and hawks in addition to eagles. There are a reduced number of platypuses in northern Australia due to predation by crocodiles (Nowak, 1999).

           There are concerns about the reduced population of duck-billed platypuses in Australia. Within the past 100 years, their population has been reducing drastically due to several factors. The main factor that has contributed to their population is increased mortality because of being eaten by many natural predators. The introduction of red foxes for hunting in 1845, has largely contributed to the decrease in the number of platypuses that live on the mainland. Australia is trying to put in place measures that will assist maintain a population of platypuses.

Part II global climate change

            The climate changes that are being experienced in the world today are not because of nature. In the past years when there were few human activities in the environment, there were no changes in climate as is being experienced in recent years. Human activities are the main causes of climate change in the world today. Human activities cause changes in the atmosphere by releasing greenhouse gasses, and aerosols or else small particles into the atmosphere. The major activity that contributes to atmospheric pollution is the burning of fossil fuels. When fossil fuels are burnt, they release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This is a major polluter of the atmosphere. The release of carbon dioxide has increased with the increase in industrialization among developed countries. USA and China are the two major polluters of the atmosphere (Pringle, 1990).

          Apart from carbon dioxide, other greenhouse gases include water vapor, ozone, methane, chlorofluorocarbons, and nitrous oxides. They destroy the ozone layer, which in turn shields radiation from the earth’s ground leading to global warming. Many countries in the world have signed many treaties meant to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These are some of the measures to reduce atmospheric pollution (Black & Weisel, 2010).