lake
Photo taken on January 19, 2012
Piece #1
Title: Lake Tahoe, California
Artist: Albert Bierstadt
Date: 1867
Medium: oil on canvas
Questions for piece #1
1.The renewable natural resources present in this painting are: air, sunlight, wind energy, wave energy, and geothermal energy.
2.The intermediate-renewable resources visible in the piece are: fresh water, forest products, and soils.
3.The fields of study that may be represented in this piece are: environmental science, biology, chemistry, atmospheric science, geology, archaeology, anthropology, and ecology.
4.The artist’s viewpoint from this painting would probably be ecocentric. This is because in the painting, there are both living and nonliving things as an ecological system. It is obvious that Albert Bierstadt values entire species, communities, and ecosystems with the amount of nature in this piece. The fact that there are also no humans in the painting shows his holistic approach to preserving these systems.
5.Interpreting the artwork in terms of the “Human Influence Index,” this painting would be considered on the lower end of the spectrum. There seems to be little to no human activity in this painting.
6.In this painting, energy flow could be interpreted as a system that “receives inputs of energy, process and transform that energy while cycling matter internally, and produce a variety of outputs that can feed into other ecosystems” (“Essential Environment). In this case, producers like grass produce food through photosynthesis, primary customers like grasshoppers or other insects feed on producers, secondary consumers like fish and rodents eat those primary consumers, and tertiary consumers like hawks eat those secondary consumers. Then the detitivores or decomposers like water mold or crayfish from the lake feed on the nonliving organic matter and they close the cycle by returning the nutrients to the soil or water column for later use.
7. The terrestrial biome that is depicted in this painting is the temperate rainforest. This is because the painting is called Lake Tahoe. Lake Tahoe is located in California. Areas in western North America like California characterize the temperate rainforest ecosystem. Here, topography is varied and biome types intermix.
8.The hydrologic cycle in this painting is most evident. The freshwater lake in the painting transports nutrients, sediments, and pollutants. The water from Lake Tahoe moves into the atmosphere by evaporation. Water from the atmosphere returns back to the earth as precipitation when water vapor condenses and returns as rain or snow. This precipitation mostly flows as runoff into Lake Tahoe.
9.(in notebook)
10.This painting would be an example of secondary succession. The landscape has been altered by human existence; however, it does not destroy all life. In other words, the ecosystem still remains. Effects on Lake Tahoe from secondary succession include the clouding of the lake’s blue waters by construction activities around the lake. Also, a fire that broke out in June 2007 around Lake Tahoe burned approximately 3,100 acres throughout the area. The fire removed a large amount of the biotic community. Clearly, the impact of ash and potential future erosion is a huge concern.
Reference
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