The first large -scale scientific assessment of the impact of oil and gas industry on the landscapes of the United States and Canada has recently been completed by researchers at the University of Montana.
As anyone who sees a picture of oils looks like air (much less, black sand) can guess, the prognosis is not good. However, amazingly, the authors of the new study have discovered that in the midst of the 2000-2012 oil development years have removed a large amount of vegetation (at the highest speed) by grazing goods. Every year in the United States – in other words, equivalent to 120.02 million wheat (~ 13% of all wheat exported by the US in 2013).
For those who do not scream clear implications – Petroleum development is quickly destroying potential reserve countries to create food. When the use of high water of many methods of oil and gas exploitation is taken into account – and the fact that agriculture and fossil fuel industry are competitors related to the use of water – the situation seems to Chi is even more pronounced.
As the main author of the new study (The ecosystem service is lost due to oil and gas in North AmericaBar), Brady Allred, stated: There are two important things here: Firstly, we check all North Central America, from the southern coast of Texas to North Alberta. When we look at this continental picture, we see the impacts and recessions missed when only concentrated on the local scale. Second, we see how the current policies can be able to compromise the integrity of the future ecosystem in large areas.
A recent press release provides more:
The fragmentation and loss of the habitat also disrupted wildlife migration routes, changing wildlife behavior and supporting new invasive plants.
Moreover, nearly half of the wells are drilled in extremely stressful areas or water. Large hydraulic fractures use 2 million to 13 million water gallons for each well, enhance competition between agriculture, underwater and city ecosystems for water resources.
The authors have evaluated the lost ecosystem services by using high -resolution satellite measurements in plant growth based on methods developed by co -author W Kolby Smith and research. The previous breakthrough of author Steve Running. The factory production on the ground is the foundation of the biological carbon cycle and is the basis for countless important ecosystem services.
Co -author Dave Naugle Note: When we had known the impact of oil and gas development for many years, but now we have scientific data from the large area of the area for us to know we need. Must take action to balance these competitive land use purposes.
We need a quantitative policy framework and consider large -scale trade -offs because the current policy does not solve both assessments and minimize in the future satisfactorily.
Satellite technologies are currently being able to provide annual land sample information to land managers on land use changes and gas emissions, he said, Steve Running, co -author and Professor Sinh Thai Um Regents. We must have policies to ensure the improvement of this land after production has ended. On the other hand, by 2050, tens of millions of land will be permanently degraded.
New discoveries in an article have just been published in the magazine Science.
Photo credit: Montana University