AP Biology Russia Ukraine

My AP Biology Thoughts

Unit #: 8

EPISODE TITLE:

Welcome to My AP Biology Thoughts podcast, our names are Ramit Dasika, Flavio D’Attilio, Samy Leroux, Landon Schafer, Colin Fahmy and we are hosting this episode called Unit 8 Ecology AND Today we will be discussing The war between Ukraine and Russia has caused mass destruction to many ecosystems through bombings and other weaponry and how it relates to the AP Biology Curriculum.

Segment 1: Overview of Topic

War
The war between Ukraine and Russia has caused mass destruction to many ecosystems through bombings and other weaponry

Segment 2: Evidence that supports

It causes forest fires- Samy
During the process of runoff, the harmful chemicals are collected in rivers nearby. This causes the water sources contaminated due to chemical leakage from destroyed industrial plants-Ramit
During the Russia-Ukrainian War, the Russian soldiers damaged and looted fire engines, computers, and radiation monitoring equipment, while leaving mines and munitions spread across the exclusion zone.-Flavio
“In the Donbas region, wrecked sewage works gush their contents into rivers and damaged pipelines fill wetlands with oil.”- Landon
“Most of the exclusion zone was damaged by the invasion and may be contaminated with unexploded ordnance and mines,” according to Oleksandr Galushchenko, director of the biosphere reserve. The larger mammals that constantly move around the reserve – wolves, deer, brown bears, lynx, elk, and recently reintroduced bison – are at particular risk, he says.”-Samy
“The forests in the zone remain a radioactive tinderbox that, in the event of fires, could send radioactive isotopes on the winds towards Kyiv. The risks of that happening are now much greater, says the UNCG’s forest campaigner Yehor Hrynyk. With fire-fighting equipment looted and much of the exclusion zone dangerous for firefighters to enter, some 65,000 acres has burned since the invasion, and fires continue to smolder in underground peat.”-Colin
“Many industrial plants are damaged or abandoned;wrecked sewage works gush their contents into rivers; damaged pipelines are filling wetlands with oil; and toxic military scrap is spread across the land.”- Flavio
“A particular concern is the many coal mines abandoned after 2014. With pumping of water halted, they have so far released some 650,000 acre-feet of polluted mine water into the environment, according to Serhii Ivaniuta of the National Institute for Strategic Studies in Kyiv.”- Landon
Russian bombardment of a steel plant could have released tens of thousands of tons of hydrogen 5sulfide into the Sea of Azov.- Samy
As a result of the damage from the war, Environmentalists say that in looking to recovery, the Ukrainian government is prioritizing big projects over natural restoration. The government is looking for maintaining power in the government and becoming a global leader. The nations are forgetting about the ecological damage.- Ramit

Segment 3: Connection to the Course

Pollution in the environment could cause microorganisms to die, which could subsequently cause a trophic cascade in which producers die off causing other higher tr213ophic levels to drop in population as well.- Flavio
Nuclear power plants being targeted; can cause climate change which kills ectotherms
“The biodiversity is being drastically affected due to intense deforestation and habitat destruction with potential implications for wildlife.”- Landon
“The ecosystem services supplied will likely be strongly damaged since deforestation will decrease the capacity of the ecosystems to regulate air pollution or climate. Soil degradation will hamper food production, and landscape aesthetics, cultural heritage and social cohesion destruction drastically affects cultural services.”- Colin

https://time.com/6222865/ukraine-environmental-damage-russia/

https://e360.yale.edu/features/ukraine-russia-war-environmental-impact#:~:text=Early%20on%2C%20Russia%20invaded%20the,the%20plant%20in%20recent%20weeks.

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