Article 10/22

The current culmination of human effect and climate change is a greatly amplified version of the events that caused extinctions of large mammals such as the wooly mammoth in the Pleistocene era. Current calculations, using the modest estimate of 10 million species in the world, predict that 1 million species are at risk for extinctions due to changing conditions. Currently, the world's biologically unique environments have lost 70% of their high quality habitat.
These extinctions relation to environmental science for many reasons. Primarily, the loss of species will directly effect their environments because food sources and/or predators will be lost, causing shifts in food webs and balances. Also, the synergy effect may take place and add the changing climate, human impacts, and species loss into an even greater change than expected, creating massive shifts within the environment.
Is there any way to reverse the effects of species loss once they have occurred?

Article for 10/16

North Dakota recently experienced an oil spill, 20,000 gallons, the largest in the state's history. Since the introduction of the Bakken shale oil, North Dakota has become the second most lucrative state in oil production. When the leak was discovered, the spill posed no threat to the groundwater of the area.
This article applies to Environmental Science because this large leak of crude oil will cause a major change in the environment of the area, affecting local ecosystems. The area surrounding the spill may not return to its prior state because the plants and animals affected may never reach their previous potential.
One questions is how was the species richness and evenness affected by the oil spill.