Disruptions to Ecosystems

Fire

• Fire can be naturally occurring or artificially induced. Fires can cause disruption to ecosystems by destroying habitat and killing species, such as the case with large-scale forest fires. On the other hand, in some ecosystems wildfires help determine community structure and composition.

Flooding

• In a similar way to fires, floods can cause major disruptions to ecosystems, especially large floods with high debris contents that can inundate and destroy large areas of habitat. Often, flooding occurs on a cyclical timescale across the year, allowing ecosystems time to recover. According to defenders.org, floods are one of several natural ecosystem disturbances that can contribute to ecosystem functions.

Humans

• Ecosystem process can be fundamentally impacted by human processes. Such processes include urbanization--a rapidly growing problem because of the world's increasing population--and agriculture, both of which lead to land use changes and can permanently alter ecosystems.