Describe Pattison's Four Traditions in Geography

This attempt to define the discipline’s principles sought to establish a common term among individuals in the field and to define the basic concepts of the field to enable the works of scholars to make easy translations for the ordinary person. In his works, Pattison suggested that modern Geography was comprised of four scholarly traditions namely: Spatial tradition This comprises of the investigation of Geography as a phenomenon from a strictly spatial point of view (Pattison 211). Pattison believed in the significance of isolating the happenings of experience like form, distance, position, and direction. For instance, geographic information systems and mapping, patterns and spatial analysis, areal distribution, movement, transportation, and densities. Central place theory makes the attempts of explaining the settlements of people as far as location and how they are related to one another as well as growth.

It is a framework that has been designed to gather, manage and analyze information. Early works using GIS involved important research by the scholarly community (Pidwirny 11). Along the way, the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis officiated a study on the major geographic information science subjects like visualization and spatial analysis. Such efforts eventually sparked a quantitative revolution in the field of geographic science and formed the basis for GIS. GIS has its roots in the science of geography, and it tends to integrate different types of data. GIS is important in the modern world since it grants people with the ability to develop digital maps layers of their own. This has provided a means of solving real-world problems as well as a path to sharing data and enhancing collaboration.

This has converted to millions of organizations creating numerous maps and sharing their work to share stories and reveal trends, patterns, and relationships in regards to everything. 3 Define and discuss Environmental Determinism. Environmental determinism is a theory that suggests that the physical and geographical attributes of an environment shape the formation of indigenous human societies (Hrebiniak and Joyce 336). The concept of environmental determinism has faced a lot of criticism from scholars who disagreed with the component of determination. Some scholars in the 20th century claimed that the concept contributed to premature generalizations regarding the culture of an area (Hrebiniak and Joyce 339). Therefore, they did not agree with the results that were founded on direct observations. Such disagreements eventually created a shift from the concept of determination to that of possibilism.

Environmental determination has neglected the central approaches of the role of the subject and agency. Examples of natural events include a hurricane or an earthquake while human events may include, air pollution or an oil spill. An event tends to result in changes in the spheres and is, therefore, an effect of the changes in the four subsystems of the earth. Interactions may take place among the four spheres, for example, changes in the earth’s atmosphere may lead to changes in the hydrosphere. The interactions that occur due to natural events such as forest fires and earthquakes tend to affect only a local region (Pidwirny 71). This implies that waters resulting from floods can travel many miles from the original stream.

A food chain can be used to define the three different types of properties of systems. Elements of systems are the things that form the system of interest. Attributes are the observed characteristics of the elements. Relationships are explanations of how the different elements and their attributes function together to carry out some process. Most systems comprise of hierarchical connections as well as a structure. The plants later transform this radiant energy into rich organic matter through the process of photosynthesis. A part of the energy that has been transformed by the plants is passed to the herbivores through consumption. Eventually, a part of the energy that has been fixed by the herbivores is then transformed on to the carnivores via consumption.

6 Define and discuss desertification and give an example of where desertification is a major environmental problem. In geography, desertification is a process that transforms environments into deserts. In addition, the US loses approximately 42 billion worth of revenue every year as a result of desertification (Pidwirny 169). Regions that experience low amounts of rainfall every year suffer most from the impacts of desertification. Sahel is an example of a region in Africa that experiences low amounts of rainfall. This region experiences long dry seasons of around nine months. This is followed by a brief season of rainfall. Also, the various greenhouses in the atmosphere have varying capacities for trapping radiation. Furthermore, the changes in the concentrations of the atmospheric greenhouse gases have significant effects on the emission of radiation and thus the temperature.

Based on physical calculations, an increase in the amount rate of radiation trapping, which would emerge as a result of an increased concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would lead to a rise in temperature. But, this simple connection tends to be complicated by other variables which either enhance or minimize the response. For instance, water vapor is highly evaporated with a hot climate. The ozone is important in helping to protect life from harmful ultraviolet rays. The ozone protects humans from these rays which could eventually lead to skin cancer as well as cataracts which have a profound effect on the ecosystems. The absence of the ozone layer in the earth’s atmosphere would make it impossible for the existence of life on the planet (Pidwirny 71).

For example, it is difficult for plants to grow and survive in high ultraviolet radiation. The ozone serves as a blanket that absorbs all the harmful UV rays and prevents them from destroying the surface of the earth. This translates into a reduction of the population of the small marine organisms and thus impacts the entire food chain. Increased amounts of UVB could impact aquatic biogeochemical and terrestrial cycles. This alters the sinks and sources of greenhouse gases as well as the chemically essential trace gases. This would later increase the atmospheric concentration of the harmful gases. Moreover, UVB can have potentially harmful impacts on synthetic polymers. Plants transfer their energy to the consumer species. They may include all types of animals, bees, lobsters, and humans.

Consumers derive their energy directly from the plants or the primary producers, other consumers or a combination of the two. The different types of primary producers and consumers generate waste and eventually die. Other species derive their energy from the waste generated by the consumers while they survive and from their remains after they have perished (Pidwirny 64). Plate tectonics is a theory that describes the global distribution of geographical phenomena (Pidwirny 274). Primarily it points to the shifting and interaction of the lithosphere subsystem of the earth. This includes the formation, shifting, collision, and damage of plates. This consequently leads to geographical events like volcanism, seismicity, mountain building, and continental drift. Several layers form up the earth. This leads to subduction zones where the destruction of the crust occurs.