Anthropogenic Impact on Mangrove Ecosystems Term Paper

Anthropogenic Impact on Mangrove Ecosystems - Term Paper Example Discussion Mangroves ecosystems are established on the terrestrial marine boundary on sheltered tropical coasts and are vulnerable to both natural and anthropogenic disturbances (Ghosh, 47). Man has lived with the mangroves for a long time and having little contact and exploiting its resources in small scale. However, recent unsustainable use and exploitation of mangrove ecosystems has contributed to extinction and loss of these vital ecosystems. Moreover, direct as well as indirect anthropogenic influences play a major role in determining mangrove composition and extent of coverage globally. Mangroves are salt tolerant tree species and examples include Rhizophora mangle, Avicennia germinans, Laguncularia racemosa, Conocarpus erectus among others (Guo, 401). Mangrove ecosystems form habitant for various biodiversity especially invertebrate fauna such as penaeid shrimps, spiny lobster and over 200 species of fish threatened globally. Human activities cause disturbance of the mangroves . Such activities include: 1 Overexploitation or unsustainable extraction of the mangrove tress and fauna Man continues to harvest mangrove trees for fuel wood, poles, charcoal, and timber for construction purposes. Moreover, mangrove bark is used for commercial production of tannin (Alfaro, 1087). However, small scale and selective extraction of mangrove pose a little challenge on the entire ecosystem, but leads to death of individual trees. Despite being small scale, clear cutting of mangroves contributes to rapid concentration of sulfide in the soil as well as soil acidification. This negatively affects seed regeneration on cleared lands and thus the reason for declining mangrove yields. Man has harvested mangrove fisheries for several years. Some of the fish products extracted include finfish, mangrove oysters, and shellfish. However, extraction of such resources in large numbers for commercial purposes has disrupted mangrove food webs and food chains (Jess et al, 414). Conseque ntly, large-scale extraction of mangrove trees for extraction of wood products or mangrove land reclamation causes a reduction in fish yields since breeding grounds and fish nurseries get destroyed in the extraction process. In addition, man has introduced some species in mangrove ecosystems for instance, the introduction of Tilapia mossambica (Ellison, 219). The introduced species pose stiff competition for available resources in case the species naturalize and lack natural enemies or diseases that check on their population. Moreover, such species may feed on the native species thus leading to displacement and extinction of the endemic species. 2 Pollution of the mangrove ecosystem Human activities near water bodies lead to pollution of the mangrove ecosystem. For instance, oil exploration, drilling, production, transportation through oil pipelines, tanker accidents, as well as international elimination of ship’s ballasts tankers lead to oil pollution of the mangroves. The o il released into the mangrove ecosystem accumulates in the mangrove roots and thus leading to death of several invertebrates, turtles, and fish (Benson & Joseph, 238). The presence of oil in a mangrove ecosystem results in continuous release of toxic hydrocarbon materials into the water system, thus leading to water poisoning. The

Managing Cross Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Managing Cross Culture - Essay Example Dysfunctional employee outcomes such as sceptical behaviour, job insecurity, psychological anxiety and distress which in turn results in worse health outcomes can be caused by un-planned cross-border merger and acquisition activities (Chung et al. 2014). There are three theoretical approaches for studying the employee problems associated with merger and acquisition namely, psychological, social and cultural (Marmenout, 2010). Objectives of this study are to examine the problems which can arise to a company in the UK during acquiring or merging with a Chinese company and to provide a comprehensive guideline to overcome those problems. Current study adopts literature methodology to adopt focusing on the cultural perspective which states that combining two distinct organizations with different cultures often leads to a cultural clash or collision that undermines individual employyes’ performances (Barry & Slocum, 2003; Marmenout, 2010). Cross-border merger and acquisition initiat ives are considered even more challenging to the work force compared to the within country business expansion because the employees are confronted with various cultural difference at the organization level as well as nation level (Chung et al. 2014). There are language-barriers, different religions, contradicting believes, values and perceptions in the society which may obstacle from achieving the goals of cross-border merger. Current research findings reveal that productivity of the human resource component in a firm can be severely affected by the un-planned cross-border expansion (Makri, 2012) because in the new company there is an interface where the cultural values of individuals coming from the two different organizations and countries are interacted. If this interface was not carefully designed cultural clash or collision can occur disrupting the functions of the organization. As the nature of the difficulties faced during the business expansion across the borders highly depe nds up on specific cultures, most of the researchers have restricted to specific case studies. The current study also focuses on problems which were identified in research studies based on the cross-border merger and acquisition activities initiated by the companies in the Western part of the world and China. Chapter organization of the study can be described as follows. Part one provides an insight as to what are problems of cross-border merger and acquisition activities with a special emphasis on the differential cultural values. Part two presents recommendations to face the above challenges. Finally the summary of the research findings are presented under conclusions. Part 01 Literature Review Power Status of the Organizations involved in Cross-Culture Business Expansion Cross-border (or cross-culture) expansion of businesses often involves organizations which are characterised by status differences. Organizations which have differential power status are involved in cross-border expansion because merger and acquisition are the methods by which the cross-border expansion is achieved by the companies. Fischer et al. 2007, states that market expansion of the organizations comprises of an organization which is more economically successful or of greater size and the rest of the