Morgan Pritchard- 11/7 Class Reflection

 During class on 11/7, our guest speaker talked a lot about how ecosystems and culture impact each other. He mentioned ecosystem services (provisioning, supporting, regulating, and cultural) in aquatic ecosystems. It was interesting how he related these to how ecosystems and culture co-evolved. He also mentioned how things adapt and change to fit the environment, which impacts culture. An example is how streams adjust laterally, vertically, longitudinally, and temporally, and these changes impact their ecosystem. Another example is invasive species changing what native species can survive in ecosystems. Changes in the environment impact ecosystem services, especially cultural services. He said that if we find meaning in something (cultural value) in nature we will fight to protect it which changes the ecosystem. He also mentioned a story from his research where elders in the environment he was studying stated that this one plant doesn’t grow as it used to because of over-harvesting by the tribe. This was a good example of how humans and our culture impact the ecosystem. Another example he gave was the little yearly precipitation the West gets and how humans needed to use irrigation to survive there and move westward. I thought his presentation was very interesting and I liked how he related a lot of topics we talked about in class to his research. 


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