![]() CATEGORIES: BiologyChemistryConstructionCultureEcologyEconomyElectronicsFinanceGeographyHistoryInformaticsLawMathematicsMechanicsMedicineOtherPedagogyPhilosophyPhysicsPolicyPsychologySociologySportTourism |
Vegetation and wildlife of BritainBritain was originally a land of vast forests, mainly oak and beech in the Lowlands and pine and birch in the Highlands, with great stretches of marshland and smaller areas of moors. In the course of time, much forest land was cleared and almost all Lowlands outside the industrial areas were put under cultivation. Today only about 6 per cent of the total land area remains wooded. Extensive forests remain in eastern and northern Scotland and in south-eastern and western England. Oak, elm, ash, and beech are the commonest trees in England, while Scotland has much pine and birch. The Highlands with thin soil are largely moorland with heather and grasses. In the cultivated areas that make up most of Britain there are many wild flowers, flowering plants and grasses. The fauna or animal life of Britain is much like that of north-western Europe, to which it was once joined. Many larger mammals such as bear, wolf have been hunted to extinction, others are now protected by law. There are many foxes. Otters are common along rivers and streams, and seals live along much of the coast. Hedgehogs, hares, rabbits, rats and mice are numerous. Deer live in some of the forests in the Highlands of Scotland and England. Some 230 kinds of birds live in Britain, and another 200 are regular visitors, many are songbirds. The most numerous are blackbirds, sparrows and starlings. Robin Redbreast is the national bird of Britain. The number of ducks, geese and other water fowl has diminished during recent years. There are many threats to wildlife and ecological balance around the coast. The biggest threat to the coastline is pollution. Even much-loved Blackpool is not officially safe. More than 3.500 million tons of industrial waste is pumped into the North Sea every year. “We cannot continue to use our seas as a dustbin and expect our coastline to survive,” says Greenpeace. Many other ecological problems may be caused by privatization of the coast. Many of the rivers are ''biologically dead'', i.e. unable to support fish and wildlife. Water pollution Water pollution is one of the famous and one of the largest problems in our world. People in Africa cannot drink clean water; their children die because a big part of our water has been polluted. Children in Kenya often have to go many kilometers to collect drinking water. At all over 2 million people don’t have clean water. And we do not know how it will be in future. But the pollute water killed animals and plants too. There is no ocean or sea, which is not used as a dump. Many seas are used for dumping industrial and nuclear waste. This poisons and kills fish and sea animals. "Nuclear-poisoned" fish can be eaten by people. Many rivers and lakes are poisoned too. Fish and reptiles cannot live in them. There is not enough oxygen in the water. In such places all the birds leave their habitats and many plants die. If people drink this water they can die too. It happens so because factories produce a lot of waste and pour it into rivers. So they poison water. But we MUST keep our planet and water of our planet clean. If we want to live, we should guard our clean water and do not pollute them because we could live without food about a month but without water we could die in 4-5 days. Let’s keep our water clean! Weather There are five climatic zones on this planet: the equatorial climate zone, the tropical climate zone, the temperate climatic zone, Arctic and Antarctic climate belts. When autumn comes, the days become shorter and colder. It gets dark earlier and often heavy clouds cover the sky bringing rain with them. Sometimes there is heavy rain, so that an umbrella or a raincoat is necessary if we don't want to get wet through. Then you can hear people say, "What bad weather! When is this rain going to stop?" Many people then catch cold and must go to bed. Then a fire at home is so pleasant. And in autumn the temperate is usually 5-15 above zero degrees (Celsius). So we cannot live without weather, because practically all of our plans depend of weather. But without it our life will be very-very bored and routine. Date: 2015-12-11; view: 2673
|