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Impacts Of Ecosystems

An ecosystem is defined by organic and inorganic products that maintain the homeostasis of the biosphere. The biosphere is all organic life on the planet, including plants, animals and humans. Well-sustained ecosystems help the biosphere balance the demands of organic life, such as consumption and respiration. An impact toward any ecosystem disrupts all aspects of an ecosystem, including the local food chain or the consumption and reproduction rate of organic life forms.

Pollution
- Pollution, especially man-made pollution, is one of the biggest impacts on ecosystems. Pollution is preventable, as humans actively consume and utilize materials that create waste and pollutants. These pollutants disrupt many ecosystems from their homeostasis. For example, pollution such as carbon emissions may trap greenhouse gases, heating an ecosystem beyond its typical temperature. Carbon emissions may also promote rapid climate change, changing the environment so fast that no animal or plant life can adapt quickly enough to the changes.
Human Consumption
- Direct human consumption of products found in an ecosystem can disrupt the balance of the ecosystem. For example, overfishing is the act of catching fish at such a rate that the fish population cannot sustain itself at its normal reproductive rate. Over time, human beings may inevitably overfish an entire fish species from a local ecosystem. Without a fish species around, lower or higher lifeforms in the ecosystem that live off that species of fish, such as for food, may slowly die off. This causes a complete breakdown of the ecosystem.
Evolution
- Not all impacts on an ecosystem are from errors in human's judgement. The evolution of plants, bacteria, fungi and animals alter how the ecosystem will function. For example, if a plant or animal evolves an adaptability to evade predators or improve its survival and reproduction, the ecosystem will see an influx of this species. As the species population grows, the ecosystem will shift to the new demands of the evolved lifeform. This impacts how the environmental landscape might look and what animals will live in the ecosystem.
Climate Change
- Climate change in this context is not human-influenced climate change. Instead, all ecosystems are influenced by the changes of climate over large periods of time. North America, for example, looked quite different during the era of the dinosaurs than it does now. This is because changes in the jetstream, aggregate temperature, Antarctic and Arctic ice melts, and seasonal changes impact tree life, animals and microscopic life forms. As time progresses, ecosystems either adapt or witness devastation as the climate changes.

Nature