Lesson video

Hello and welcome.

My name is Ms. Harrison.

I'm so looking forward to learning with you today.

Today's lesson is called The Effects of Human Activity on Coastal Landscapes.

We'll be learning about all the different types of human activity that take place for a variety of different reasons, whether it's for economic or for lifestyle, and we'll be looking at the effects of these.

But before we can begin this learning, grab all the resources that you need for today's lesson, and then press play.

By the end of today's lesson, you will understand all the effects of human activities on the coast.

Before we begin, let's define the keywords that we'll be using throughout today's lesson.

The keywords in this lesson are development, erosion, and habitat.

Development is the construction of infrastructure, such as roads, houses, and tourist areas.

Erosion, this is the wearing away of rocks along the coastline.

Habitat, the place where organisms live.

Fantastic.

Now we've defined these keywords, we can begin our learning.

The first question that we are going to be answering in today's lesson is, what human activities take place along the coast? Human activity is going to play a really important role in shaping our coastlines.

It has both positive and negative effects on our coastal landscapes.

Pause the video here whilst you think what human activities take place along the coast.

Press play when you're ready to continue.

Excellent.

You might have come up with similar ideas of the human activities that take place along the coast.

Development, remember, development refers to the infrastructure, such as roads, houses, or tourist areas, agriculture, industry, and coastal management.

Many people decide to live near the coast because of its quieter life, and its natural beauty, and being close to the sea, but this means that coastal areas are going to be very popular locations for development, like tourist areas for hotels, beach clubs, restaurants, and much more.

Industries are often located at ports, which are along the coastline.

These industries are usually ones that import or export by the sea.

However, there are other industries that are located on the coast because they require a lot of water, for example, for cooling machinery.

Power stations and steel mills are example of industries that require a lot of water to cool down their machinery.

Agriculture is the use of land for crops and for rearing animals.

A lot of coastal agriculture often involves grazing livestock on saltmarshes or other coastal wetlands.

Coastal management refers to the use of artificial manmade methods or natural processes to reduce coastal erosion.

The image on your screen is an example of a coastal management strategy.

It is called revetments.

Revetments are used to absorb wave energy and reduce cliff erosion along the coast.

Let's test our knowledge.

Which of these images could not be used to represent human activities that take place along the coast? Pause the video here, and press play when you're ready to continue.

Excellent work.

The image that could not be used to represent human activity that takes place along the coast is B.

B is an image of an animal, and it is not a human activity.

Why does coastal management take place along the coast? Is it A, to replace habitats with useful development, B, to reduce erosion that threatens development, or C, to improve coastal land for agriculture? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to continue.

Fantastic.

The answer is B, to reduce erosion that threatens development.

As you saw on the previous slides, revetments are an example of coastal management strategy used to protect the coasts from being eroded, which will protect houses that are near the cliffs.

I would now like you to identify one human activity that takes place along the coast.

Remember, for this question, you need to identify one human activity, and then you need to explain the exact reason why it's located on the coast.

Lucas says examples of human activities that he might use in his answer are agriculture, industry, coastal management, or development.

Pause the video here whilst you give this a go, and press play when you're ready to continue.

Excellent.

Your answers could include one of the following different points.

One human activity that takes place along the coast is industry.

Industries that locate at the coast often require a lot of water or import or export by sea.

One human activity that takes place along the coast is agriculture.

Farmers will often use wetland or marshland for cattle grazing.

One human activity that takes place along the coast is development.

Many people choose to live near the coast due to the natural beauty and the quieter lifestyle.

One human activity that takes place along the coast is coastal management.

This aims to reduce coastal erosion, so as to protect other human activities at the coast, such as industry, agriculture, and development.

These answers are all good answers as they clearly identify what the human activity is, and they explain the reason why they're located by the coast.

Our next question that we're going to be investigating in this lesson is, what are the direct effects of human activity? Human activities can have a direct effect on coastal landscapes.

When we talk about direct effects, we're talking about a cause-and-effect relationship.

Human activity will have a direct impact on the coast, and it will be visible.

Development can have a direct effect on the coast for a number of different reasons.

It might clear land for developments, which directly changes coastal habitats.

It might remove breeding grounds for animals, or remove vegetation that's needed for their survival.

Building drains and roads directly changes how water drains into the sea, which can increase flooding risks, and taking sediment from a beach to use in construction directly affects the shape of the beach.

Industry also has a number of different direct effects on the coast.

It causes pollution by discharging waste into the sea.

It disrupts coastal processes by dredging sediment.

Dredging is when they remove sediment from the bottom of the seabed or the riverbed to make it deeper.

Or it might alter sediment transport by constructing sea defences to protect the industries.

Coastal management has positive and negatives effects on the coasts.

The groynes, for example, in this image, reduce the movement of sediment along the beach to create a wider beach, which is really useful for tourism and for people who are living near to the coast.

However, this stops the natural processes from occurring.

Agriculture has also a number of different direct effects.

It changes its natural coastal habitats into fields, which, again, might remove animals' breeding grounds or remove important vegetation, and the chemicals that are used on the fields of the coast can run off the land into the sea, causing pollution.

Let's test our knowledge here.

Which of the following is a direct impact of human activity on coastal landscapes? Is it A, erosion of beaches caused by urban development, B, longshore drift causing beaches to narrow at one end, or C, rockfall due to the biological weathering of cliffs? Pause here whilst you identify which one is a direct impact of human activity, and press play when you're ready to continue.

Excellent.

The answer is A, direct impact of human activity on coastal landscapes is erosion of beaches caused by urban development.

True or false? Industrial activities along the coast do not have a direct effect on coastal landscapes.

Pause the video here whilst you decide, and press play when you're ready to continue.

Fantastic.

The answer is false.

Are you able to explain why the statement is false? Pause the video here, and press play when you're ready to continue.

Fantastic work.

The reason why this statement is false is industrial activities at the coast do have a direct effect on coastal landscapes.

For example, the habitat destruction involved in clearing land for industry, as well as pollution and disruption to coastal processes.

Well done if you were able to correctly explain why the statement was false.

I would now like you to explain two ways in which human activity has a direct impact on coastal landscapes.

Remember, for this question, you need to make two distinct points about human activity, and you must include a description of how the human activity has had an impact on coastal landscapes.

Alex has said that he must remember a direct effect or impact is one in which there is a direct cause-and-effect relationship, and it's a noticeable impact on the coastline.

Pause the video here and tackle this question, and press play when you're ready to continue.

Excellent.

Your answers might include some of the following points.

Development along the coastline removes natural habitats.

When building roads and other structures are constructed near the shore, natural vegetation is removed.

Coastal defences can have a direct impact on natural coast processes.

For instance, groynes directly interrupt the natural process of longshore drift with the aim of creating a wider beach.

These answers are great because they clearly identified what the human activity is, and they've clearly explained what the impact is on the coastal landscape.

Fantastic.

We're now at our third question of the lesson.

We're going to be exploring, what are the indirect effects of human activity? Human activity can have an indirect effect on coastal landscapes.

An indirect effect is when humans affect other systems that go on to have an effect on the coast.

So the human activity will take place, it'll impact another system altogether, and then that will then impact on the coast.

Climate change is a really good example of this.

Climate change is caused by human activity, such as burning fossil fuels, and it's causing sea levels to rise, making intense storms more likely.

This means that the climate change has an indirect effect of increasing coastal erosion and causing habitat destruction.

Coastal defences that trap sediment at one location on the coast can, again, have an indirect effect further down the coastline.

Beaches further down the coast do not get as much sediment, and this is called sediment starvation, and the beach will become narrower.

Cliffs will then become less protected as a result.

This increases the rate of erosion and cliff retreat along the coastline.

Agriculture has also an indirect effect on marine organisms, the run of washes of fertiliser into rivers, which then carry them into the ocean.

Here in the image, you can see nutrients in the fertiliser can cause algae blooms. Algae blooms block sunlight, and reduce oxygen levels in seawater.

This is going to be really harmful for marine organisms, such as fish, and can cause them to become extinct or die out.

An example of this is in the Gulf of Mexico, agricultural fertiliser runoff has led to vast dead zones where marine life struggles to survive.

Let's test our knowledge.

How can coastal defences have an indirect effect on coastal landscapes? Is it A, reducing wave energy and therefore reducing erosion, B, reducing the movement of sediment along a beach, or C, reducing the supply of sediment further down the coast? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to check your answers.

Excellent.

The answer to this is C.

It reduces the supply of sediment further down the coast, and it can cause some beaches to have sediment starvation, and will increase the risk of erosion of cliffs to retreat.

True or false? Climate change is a good example of how human activities can have indirect effects on coasts.

Pause the video here whilst you decide if this statement is true or false, and press play when you're ready to continue.

Excellent.

This statement is true.

Are you able to explain why? Pause the video here, and press play when you're ready to continue.

Fantastic.

The reason why this statement is false is because human activities, such as burning fossil fuels, are directly causing climate change.

These activities then have indirect effects on coasts because climate change leads to higher sea levels, which change coastlines, and more energy for storms, which leads to increased coastal erosion.

Excellent effort on this task.

I would now like you to assess the importance of indirect effects of human activity on coastal landscapes.

Assess simply means to say how important or how unimportant something is.

So in this context, how important are indirect effects of human activities on coastal landscapes? Things that you need to consider when you're answering this question are you need to have one paragraph that will focus on the indirect effects of human activity on coastal landscapes, one paragraph should also focus on direct effects of human activity on a coastal landscape, and then you need to provide a conclusion, which identifies whether indirect or direct effects are the most important in shaping coastal landscapes.

I'd like you to pause the video here whilst you attempt this task, and press play when you're ready to continue.

Excellent work on this task.

Your answer might include some of the following points.

Let's read this answer together.

Indirect effects are when human activities influence other systems that then have impact on the coast.

For example, human activities that add greenhouse gases into the atmosphere are causing warming that causes sea levels to rise.

Rising sea levels will have a hugely important impact on coastal landscapes around the world.

Another indirect effect comes from human activities and agriculture, causing fertiliser to run off into rivers and from rivers into coastal waters.

This results in algae blooms, which can negatively affect marine ecosystems. For instance, in the Gulf of Mexico, agricultural runoff has led to vast dead zones where aquatic life struggles to survive.

These examples show important impacts from indirect effects globally, and for big areas like the Gulf of Mexico.

At a local scale, direct effects can sometimes be more important than indirect effects.

For example, the construction of coastal defences to protect homes and industries make direct changes to a stretch of coastline, but even at this local scale, indirect effect may actually be more important.

If the defences, such as groynes, disrupt sediment transport, this will reduce the amount of sediment received by beaches further down the coastline.

The indirect effect will be increased erosion along the coastline as narrow beaches absorb less wave energy, so cliffs are less protected from erosion.

In conclusion, while both direct and indirect effects of human activity significantly shape coastal landscapes, indirect effects from the activities causing climate change, pollution, and disruption of sediment transportation affect much bigger areas and cause much more important impacts.

This is because they often lead to widespread environmental destruction and long-lasting changes in coastal ecosystems, whereas direct impacts, while impactful, may only be localised.

This answer is really good because it has clearly identified direct and indirect effects.

It's been able to locate it to global and local, and it's also been able to say exactly how important indirect effects are or direct effects are, and the conclusion has summarised all the points that they've mentioned in the previous two paragraphs.

Very well done on this task.

You've done brilliantly.

Fantastic.

We've come to the end of this lesson.

I really enjoyed learning about the effect of human activities on coastal landscapes with you.

Before we end this lesson, let's summarise everything that we've learned in today's lesson.

Human activities along coastlines, such as development, which is the building of infrastructure like roads, houses, or tourist areas, industry, agriculture, and coastal management directly and indirectly shape coastal landscapes.

Direct effects involve increased erosion, habitat destruction, pollution, and disruption of natural processes, like sediment transports.

Indirect effects include sediment starvation, pollution runoff, habitat loss, and rising sea levels.

These impacts collectively alter coastal ecosystems and landscapes.

Very well done in today's lesson.

You've worked really, really hard.

I look forward to learning again with you very soon.