Besides being interdisciplinary, environmental science is also a very new branch of study. In fact, this field of study largely arose as a result of increasing evidence of human damage to the environment. Life has existed on earth for over 3 billion years, and its continued persistence depends on three main factors: the availability of solar energy, the presence of biodiversity, and the cycling of nutrients Humans, however, who have only been around for about 200,000 years, have altered these principles of sustainability. For example, which of the following activities describe direct and immediate effects on nutrient cycling in the environment?
A. Clear-cutting of forests destroys habitats for wildlife and thus contributes to species extinctions..
B. Overharvesting of fish can have cascading effects on marine food webs.
C. Constant burning of fossil fuels at power plants increases carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere, resulting in faster input of carbon into the atmosphere than the ocean and land can take up.