Biodiversity - Human Impacts

Biodiversity is the biological variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation

at the genetic, species, and ecosystem levels. Terrestrial biodiversity is usually greater near the equator, which is the result of the warm climate and high primary productivity. Biodiversity is not distributed evenly on Earth and is richer in the tropics. These tropical forest ecosystems cover less than ten percent of the earth's surface and contain about ninety percent of the world's species. Marine biodiversity is usually higher along coasts in the Western Pacific, where sea surface temperature is highest, and in the mid-latitudinal band in all oceans. There are latitudinal gradients in species diversity. Biodiversity generally tends to cluster in hotspots, and has been increasing through time, but will be likely to slow in the future as a primary result of deforestation. It encompasses the evolutionary, ecological, and cultural processes that sustain life.

The period since the emergence of humans has displayed an ongoing biodiversity reduction and an accompanying loss of genetic diversity. Named the Holocene extinction, the reduction is caused primarily by human impacts, particularly habitat destruction. Conversely, biodiversity positively impacts human health in a number of ways, although a few negative effects are studied.

The United Nations designated 2011–2020 as the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity. and 2021–2030 as the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, According to a 2019 Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services by IPBES 25% of plant and animal species are threatened with extinction as the result of human activity. An October 2020 IPBES report found the same human actions which drive biodiversity loss have also resulted in an increase in pandemics.

Biodiversity Hotspot

A biodiversity hotspot is a region with a high level of endemic species that have experienced great habitat loss. The term hotspot was introduced in 1988 by Norman Myers. While hotspots are spread all over the world, the majority are forest areas and most are located in the tropics.

Brazil's Atlantic Forest is considered one such hotspot, containing roughly 20,000 plant species, 1,350

vertebrates, and millions of insects, about half of which occur nowhere else. The island

of Madagascar and India are also particularly notable. Colombia is characterized by high biodiversity, with the highest rate of species by area unit worldwide and it has the largest number of endemics (species that are not found naturally anywhere else) of any country. About 10% of the species of the Earth can be found in Colombia, including over 1,900 species of bird, more than in Europe and North America combined, Colombia has 10% of the world's mammals species, 14% of the amphibian species, and 18% of the bird species of the world. Madagascar's dry deciduous forests and lowland rainforests possess a high ratio of endemism. Since the island separated from mainland Africa 66 million years ago, many species and ecosystems have evolved independently. Indonesia's 17,000 islands cover 735,355 square miles (1,904,560 km²) and contain 10% of the world's flowering plants, 12% of mammals, and 17% of reptiles, amphibians, and birds—along with nearly 240 million people. Many regions of high biodiversity and/or endemism arise from specialized habitats that require unusual adaptations, for example, alpine environments in high mountains, or Northern European peat bogs.

Ecosystem services

The balance of evidence

"Ecosystem services are the suite of benefits that ecosystems provide to humanity." The natural species, or biota, are the caretakers of all ecosystems. It is as if the natural world is an enormous bank account of capital assets capable of paying life-sustaining dividends indefinitely, but only if the capital is maintained.

These services come in three flavors:

1. Provisioning services which involve the production of renewable resources (e.g.: food, wood, freshwater)
2. Regulating services which are those that lessen environmental change (e.g.: climate regulation, pest/disease control)
3. Cultural services represent human value and enjoyment (e.g.: landscape aesthetics, cultural heritage, outdoor recreation, and spiritual significance)

Human health

Biodiversity's relevance to human health is becoming an international political issue, as scientific evidence

builds on the global health implications of biodiversity loss. This issue is closely linked with the issue of climate change, as many of the anticipated health risks of climate change are associated with changes in biodiversity (e.g. changes in populations and distribution of disease vectors, scarcity of freshwater, impacts on agricultural biodiversity, and food resources, etc.).

The growing demand and lack of drinkable water on the planet presents an additional challenge to the future of human health. Partly, the problem lies in the success of water suppliers to increase supplies and the failure of groups promoting the preservation of water resources. While the distribution of clean water increases, in some parts of the world it remains unequal. According to the World Health Organisation (2018), only 71% of the global population used a safely managed drinking-water service.

Some of the health issues influenced by biodiversity include dietary health and nutrition security, infectious disease, medical science and medicinal resources, social and psychological health. Biodiversity is also known to have an important role in reducing disaster risk and in post-disaster relief and recovery efforts.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme a pathogen, like a virus, have more chances to meet resistance in a diverse population. Therefore, in a population genetically similar it expands more easily. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic had fewer chances to occur in a world with higher biodiversity.

Species loss rates

During the last century, decreases in biodiversity have been increasingly observed. In 2007, Almost all

scientists acknowledge that the rate of species loss is greater now than at any time in human history, with extinctions occurring at rates hundreds of times higher than background extinction rates. As of 2012, some studies suggest that 25% of all mammal species could be extinct in 20 years.

In absolute terms, the planet has lost 58% of its biodiversity since 1970 according to a 2016 study by the World Wildlife FundThe Living Planet Report 2014 claims that "the number of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish across the globe is, on average, about half the size it was 40 years ago". Of that number, 39% accounts for the terrestrial wildlife gone, 39% for the marine wildlife gone, and 76% for the freshwater wildlife gone. Biodiversity took the biggest hit in Latin America, plummeting 83 percent. High-income countries showed a 10% increase in biodiversity, which was canceled out by a loss in low-income countries. This is despite the fact that high-income countries use five times the ecological resources of low-income countries, which was explained as a result of a process whereby wealthy nations are outsourcing resource depletion to poorer nations, which are suffering the greatest ecosystem losses.

In 2020 the World Wildlife Foundation published a report saying that "biodiversity is being destroyed at a rate unprecedented in human history". The report claims that 68% of the population of the examined species were destroyed in the years 1970 - 2016.

Threats

In 2006, many species were formally classified as rare or endangered, or threatened; moreover, scientists have estimated that millions more species are at risk which has not been formally recognized. About 40 percent of the 40,177 species assessed using the IUCN Red List criteria are now listed as threatened with extinction—a total of 16,119.

Habitat destruction

Habitat destruction has played a key role in extinctions, especially in relation to tropical forest destruction. Factors contributing to habitat loss include overconsumption, overpopulation, land-use change, deforestation, pollution (air pollution, water pollution, soil contamination), and global warming or climate change.

Habitat size and numbers of species are systematically related. Physically larger species and those living at lower latitudes or in forests or oceans are more sensitive to reduction in habitat area. Conversion to "trivial" standardized ecosystems (e.g., monoculture following deforestation) effectively destroys habitat for the more diverse species that preceded the conversion. Even the simplest forms of agriculture affect diversity – through clearing/draining the land, discouraging weeds and "pests", and encouraging just a limited set of domesticated plant and animal species. In some countries, property rights or lax law/regulatory enforcement are associated with deforestation and habitat loss.

Co-extinctions are a form of habitat destruction. Co-extinction occurs when the extinction or decline in one species accompanies similar processes in another, such as in plants and beetles.

A 2019 report has revealed that bees and other pollinating insects have been wiped out of almost a quarter of their habitats across the United Kingdom. The population crashes have been happening since the 1980s and are affecting biodiversity. The increase in industrial farming and pesticide use, combined with diseases, invasive species, and climate change is threatening the future of these insects and the agriculture they support.

In 2019, research was published showing that insects are destroyed by human activities like habitat destruction, pesticide poisoning, invasive species, and climate change at a rate that will cause the collapse of ecological systems in the next 50 years if it cannot be stopped.

Climate change

Global warming is a major threat to global biodiversity. For example, coral reefs – which are biodiversity hotspots – will be lost within the century if global warming continues at the current rate.

Climate change has proven to affect biodiversity and evidence supporting the altering effects is widespread. Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide certainly affects plant morphology and is acidifying oceans, and temperature affects species ranges, phenology, and weather, but, mercifully, the major impacts that have been predicted are still potential futures. We have not documented major extinctions yet, even as climate change drastically alters the biology of many species.

A recent study predicts that up to 35% of the world's terrestrial carnivores and ungulates will be at higher risk of extinction by 2050 because of the joint effects of predicted climate and land-use change under business-as-usual human development scenarios.

Climate change has advanced the time of evening when Brazilian free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis)

emerge to feed. This change is believed to be related to the drying of regions as temperatures rise. This earlier emergence exposes the bats to greater predation increased competition with other insectivores who feed in the twilight or daylight hours.

Human overpopulation

The world's population numbered nearly 7.6 billion as of mid-2017 (which is approximately one billion more inhabitants compared to 2005) and is forecast to reach 11.1 billion in 2100. Sir David King, the former chief scientific adviser to the UK government, told a parliamentary inquiry: "It is self-evident that the massive

growth in the human population through the 20th century has had more impact on biodiversity than any other single factor." At least until the middle of the 21st century, worldwide losses of pristine biodiverse land will probably depend much on the worldwide human birth rate.

Some top scientists have argued that population size and growth, along with overconsumption, are significant factors in biodiversity loss and soil degradation. The 2019 IPBES Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services and biologists including Paul R. Ehrlich and Stuart Pimm have noted that human population growth and overconsumption are the main drivers of species decline. E. O. Wilson, who contends that human population growth has been devastating to the planet's biodiversity, stated that the "pattern of human population growth in the 20th century was more bacterial than primate." He added that when Homo sapiens reached a population of six billion their biomass exceeded that of any other large land-dwelling animal species that had ever existed by over 100 times, and that "we and the rest of life cannot afford another 100 years like that".

Activated carbon - Superb Adsorption

Activated carbon, also called activated charcoal, is a form of carbon processed to have small, low-

volume pores that increase the surface area available for adsorption or chemical reactions. Activated is sometimes replaced by active. Due to its high degree of microporosity, one gram of activated carbon has a surface area in excess of 3,000 m² (32,000 sq ft) as determined by gas adsorption. An activation level sufficient for useful application may be obtained solely from a high surface area. Further chemical treatment often enhances adsorption properties.

Activated charcoal, also known as activated carbon is commonly produced from high carbon sources materials such as wood or coconut husk. It is made by treating the source material with either a combination of heat and pressure or with a strong acid or base followed by carbonization to make it highly porous. This gives it a very large surface area for its volume, up to 3000 square meters per gram. It has a large number of industrial uses including methane and hydrogen storage, air purification, decaffeination, gold purification, metal extraction, water purification, medicine, sewage treatment, and air filters in gas masks and respirators.

Activated carbon is usually derived from charcoal. When derived from coal it is referred to as activated coal. Activated coke is derived from coke.

Properties

A gram of activated carbon can have a surface area in excess of 500 m² (5,400 sq ft), with 3,000 m² (32,000 sq ft) being readily achievable.

Under an electron microscope, the high surface-area structures of activated carbon are revealed. Individual particles are intensely convoluted and display various kinds of porosity; there may be

many areas where flat surfaces of graphite-like material run parallel to each other, separated by only a few nanometers or so. These micropores provide superb conditions for adsorption to occur, since adsorbing material can interact with many surfaces simultaneously. Tests of adsorption behavior are usually done with nitrogen gas at 77 K under high vacuum, but in everyday terms activated carbon is perfectly capable of producing the equivalent, by adsorption from its environment, liquid water from steam at 100 °C (212 °F) and pressure of 1/10,000 of an atmosphere. Activated carbon can be used as a substrate for the application of various chemicals to improve the adsorptive capacity for some inorganic (and problematic organic) compounds such as hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), ammonia (NH₃), formaldehyde (HCOH), mercury (Hg) and radioactive iodine-131(¹³¹I). This property is known as chemisorption.

Production

Activated carbon is carbon produced from carbonaceous source materials such as bamboo, coconut husk, willow peat, wood, coir, lignite, coal, and petroleum pitch. It can be produced by one of the following processes:

1. Physical activation: The source material is developed into activated carbon using hot gases. Air is then introduced to burn out the gasses, creating a graded, screened, and de-dusted form of activated carbon. This is generally done by using one or more of the following processes:
   • Carbonization: Material with carbon content is pyrolyzed at temperatures in the range of 600–900 °C, usually in an inert atmosphere with gases like argon or nitrogen
   • Activation/Oxidation: Raw material or carbonized material is exposed to oxidizing atmospheres (oxygen or steam) at temperatures above 250 °C, usually in the temperature range of 600–1200 °C.
2. Chemical activation: The carbon material is impregnated with certain chemicals. The chemical is typically an acid, strong base, or a salt (phosphoric acid 25%, potassium hydroxide 5%, sodium hydroxide 5%, calcium chloride 25%, and zinc chloride 25% ). The carbon is then subjected to higher temperatures (250–600  °C). It is believed that the temperature activates the carbon at this stage by forcing the material to open up and have more microscopic pores. Chemical activation is preferred to physical activation owing to the lower temperatures, better quality consistency, and shorter time needed for activating the material.

Mitigate Climate change and Save a life

Environmental

Carbon adsorption has numerous applications in removing pollutants from air or water streams both in the field and in industrial processes such as:

• Spill cleanup
• Groundwater remediation
• Drinking water filtration
• Air purification
• Volatile organic compounds capture from painting, dry cleaning, gasoline dispensing operations, and other processes
• Volatile organic compounds recovery (solvent recovery systems, SRU) from flexible packaging, converting, coating, and other processes.

We have seen activated carbon can be the very best environmental solution for purification and cleaning up

air from toxic and unwanted residue. It works to adsorption the air was very efficient. Some companies made a shift by new innovation with saving environment mindset to design a new and modern product, to mitigate climate change, without using any electric power and only as standalone modern with new design product, can change the air from bad to better. It has been tested and effective to eliminate the covid19 variant in the air.

Agricultural

Activated carbon (charcoal) is an allowed substance used by organic farmers in livestock production. In livestock production, it is used as a pesticide, animal feed additive, processing aid, nonagricultural ingredient, and disinfectant. 

Medical use

Activated charcoal is used to detoxify people, but only in life-threatening medical emergencies such

as overdoses or poisonings. As it is indigestible it will only work on poisons or medications still present in the stomach and intestines. Once these have been absorbed by the body the charcoal will no longer be able to adsorb them so early intervention is desirable. Charcoal is not an effective treatment for alcohol, metals, or elemental poisons such as lithium or arsenic as it will only absorb certain chemicals and molecules. It is usually administered by a nasogastric tube into the stomach as the thick slurry required for maximum adsorption is very difficult to swallow.

Biological warfare – On Setup

Biological warfare, also known as germ warfare, is the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, insects, and fungi with the intent to kill, harm, or incapacitate humans, animals, or plants as an act of war. Biological weapons (often termed "bio-weapons", "biological threat agents", or "bio-agents") are living organisms or replicating entities ( i.e. viruses, which are not universally considered "alive"). It is probably germ warfare right now.

Biological warfare is distinct from warfare involving other types of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), including nuclear warfare, chemical warfare, and radiological warfare. None of these are considered conventional weapons, which are deployed primarily for their explosive, kinetic, or incendiary potential.

Biological weapons may be employed in various ways to gain a strategic or tactical advantage over the enemy, either by threats or by actual deployments. Biological weapons may also be useful as area denial weapons. These agents may be lethal or non-lethal and may be targeted against a single individual, a group of people, or even an entire population.

Overview

A biological attack could conceivably result in large numbers of civilian casualties and cause severe disruption to economic and societal infrastructure. Accordingly, biological agents are potentially useful as strategic deterrents, in addition to their utility as offensive weapons on the battlefield.

As a tactical weapon for military use, a significant problem with biological warfare is that it would take days or years to be effective, and therefore might not immediately stop an opposing force. Some biological agents (smallpox, pneumonic plague) have the capability of person-to-person transmission via aerosolized respiratory droplets. This feature can be undesirable, as the agent(s) may be transmitted by this mechanism to unintended populations, including neutral or even friendly forces. During a pandemic, the government faces an incentive to not disclose negative information about vaccines to not jeopardize public vaccine acceptance, while disclosing negative information may increase hesitancy, transparency sustains trust in health authorities and hinders the spread of conspiracy beliefs, and from this situation, a vaccine can be the best candidate for a new delivery agent(s). Worse still, such a weapon could "escape" the laboratory where it was developed, even if there was no intent to use it.

Genetic warfare Bio-agents

Theoretically, novel approaches in biotechnology, such as synthetic biology could be used in the future to design novel types of biological warfare agents.

1.   Would demonstrate how to render a vaccine ineffective;

2.   Would confer resistance to therapeutically useful antibiotics or antiviral agents;

3.   Would enhance the virulence of a pathogen or render a nonpathogen virulent;

4.   Would increase the transmissibility of a pathogen;

5.   Would alter the host range of a pathogen;

6.   Would enable the evasion of diagnostic/detection tools; Would enable the weaponization of a biological agent or toxin.

Hypothesis Bio-agents in Experimental Covid19 vaccine

Platforms being developed in 2020 involved nucleic acid technologies (nucleoside-modified messenger RNA and DNA), non-replicating viral vectors, peptides, recombinant proteins, live attenuated viruses, and inactivated viruses. 

An inactivated vaccine (or killed vaccine) is a vaccine consisting of virus particles, bacteria, or other pathogens that have been grown in culture and then killed to destroy disease-producing capacity. In contrast, live vaccines use pathogens that are still alive (but are almost always attenuated, that is, weakened). Pathogens for inactivated vaccines are grown under controlled conditions and are killed as a means to reduce infectivity and thus prevent infection from the vaccine. The virus is killed using a method such as heat or formaldehyde. Inactivated vaccines are further classified depending on the method used to inactivate the virus. Whole virus vaccines use the entire virus particle, fully destroyed using heat, chemicals, or radiation. The pathogens formulated in the experimental COVID vaccine are origin from (Bat) the first animal of concerned pathogens. Pathogen particles are destroyed and cannot divide, but the pathogens maintain some of their integrity to be recognized by the immune system and evoke an adaptive immune response. When manufactured correctly, the vaccine is not infectious, but improper inactivation can result in intact and infectious particles and can be the tools of bio-weapon agents 

Hypothesis comorbid from Bio-agents

Short/Long-term Neuropathic pain is pain caused by damage or disease affecting the somatosensory nervous system. Neuropathic pain may be associated with abnormal sensations called dysesthesia or pain from normally non-painful stimuli (allodynia). It may have continuous and/or episodic (paroxysmal) components. The latter resemble stabbings or electric shocks. Common qualities include burning or coldness, "pins and needles" sensations, numbness, and itching.

Comorbidities

Neuropathic pain caused by virus/toxin has profound physiological effects on the brain which can manifest as

psychological disorders. Neuropathic pain has important effects on social well-being that should not be ignored. Neuropathic pain sufferers may have difficulty working exhibit higher levels of presenteeism, absenteeism, and unemployment, exhibit higher levels of substance misuse (which may be related to attempted self-medication), and present difficulties with social interactions. Moreover, uncontrolled neuropathic pain is a significant risk factor for suicide, depression, and hypertension. Certain classes of neuropathic pain may cause serious adverse effects necessitating hospital admission, for instance, trigeminal neuralgia can present as a severe crisis where the patient may have difficulty talking, eating, and drinking.

Common epidemiological clues that may signal a biological attack

From most specific to least specific:

1.   Single cause of a certain disease caused by an uncommon agent, with lack of an epidemiological explanation.

2.   Unusual, rare, genetically engineered strain of an agent.

3.   High morbidity and mortality rates in regards to patients with the same or similar symptoms.

4.   Unusual presentation of the disease.

5.   Unusual geographic or seasonal distribution.

6.   Stable endemic disease, but with an unexplained increase in relevance.

7.   Rare transmission (aerosols, food, water).

8.   No illness presented in people who were/are not exposed to "common ventilation systems (have separate closed ventilation systems) when illness is seen in persons in close proximity who have a common ventilation system."

9.   Different and unexplained diseases coexisting in the same patient without any other explanation.

10. Rare illness that affects a large, disparate population (respiratory disease might suggest the pathogen or agent was inhaled).

11. Illness is unusual for a certain population or age group in which it takes presence.

12. Unusual trends of death and/or illness in animal populations, previous to or accompanying illness in humans.

13. Many affected reaching out for treatment at the same time.

14. Similar genetic makeup of agents in affected individuals.

15. Simultaneous collections of similar illnesses in non-contiguous areas, domestic, or foreign. An abundance of cases of unexplained diseases and deaths.

Incubation theory for multiple mutated variants from vaccine

Escape mutation from vaccine occurs when the immune system of a host, especially of a human being, is unable to

respond to an infectious agent, or, in other words, the host's immune system is no longer able to recognize and eliminate a pathogen such as a virus. This process can occur in a number of different ways of both a genetic and environmental nature. Such mechanisms include homologous recombination and manipulation and resistance of the host's immune responses. Different antigens are able to escape through a variety of mechanisms. Antigenic escape is not only crucial for the host's natural immune response, but also for the resistance against vaccinations. The problem of antigenic escape has greatly deterred the process of creating new vaccines. Because vaccines generally cover a small ratio of strains of one virus, the recombination of antigenic DNA that leads to diverse pathogens allows these invaders to resist even newly developed vaccinations. Some antigens may even target pathways different from those the vaccine had originally intended to target.

Consequences of recent vaccines

While vaccines are created to strengthen the immune response to pathogens, in many cases these vaccines are not able to cover the wide variety of strains a pathogen may have. Instead, they may only protect against one or two strains, leading to the escape of strains not covered by the vaccine. This results in the pathogens being able to attack targets of the immune system different than those intended to be targeted by the vaccination.

Various ways to successful Setup in Bio-warfare

As we all know, there is no proven flu vaccine and there is no vaccine with long-lasting protection from the virus. Preventive measures to reduce the chances of infection include getting vaccinated (vaccine without virus), staying at home, wearing a mask in public, avoiding crowded places, keeping distance from others, ventilating indoor

spaces, managing potential exposure durations, washing hands with soap and water often and for at least twenty seconds, practicing good respiratory hygiene, and avoiding touching the eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands, also reduce the population of pigs in this world. Following this method efficiently is enough to vanish the COVID virus altogether. Using Saline Water as a vaccine will also give an advantage for future setup victory, by predicting novel findings of new technology vaccines malfeasance.

Option to counter Bio-agents

After people recover from infection with a COVID virus, the immune system retains a memory of it, while that’s good for the immune system, it also means that even after you recover from COVID, it’s still inside your body and can resurface. Studies have been unclear how long immunity lasts and how many viruses are, after having from the first shot of the COVID vaccine.

Cure Hypotheses 1- If people are not affected again for some period of time, the virus and synthetic formulation in the vaccine can be toxins and can cause unknown illnesses for your mental and body health. To counter this, proponents claim cupping has a therapeutic effect and removes unspecified "toxins", stagnant blood, or "vital energy" when used over acupuncture points with the goal of improving blood circulation. Modern suction devices are sometimes used instead of traditional cups.

Cure Hypotheses 2- An antitoxin is an antibody with the ability to neutralize a specific toxin, although they are most effective in neutralizing toxins, they can also kill bacteria and other microorganisms. Antitoxins are made within organisms and can be injected into other organisms, including humans, to treat an infectious disease. Most antitoxin preparations are prepared from donors with high titers of antibody against the toxin, making them hyperimmune globulins, the blood donors must be from healthy unvaccinated people.

So you have a few choices here, 1. to deny and be a noble unvaccinated person. 2. to accept the experimental vaccine and keep the virus to retain a memory of it for protection or 3. to remove the virus before it starts generating toxins in the future. Action is on your hand, make your wise choice, what does your gut tell you?.