Upsetting Natural Cycles
How many resources can an ecosystem provide?
Goal:
Goal:
When one population gets too big for an area, it uses up more resources than that ecosystem can provide. As a result, it upsets the natural cycles that keep the ecosystem healthy.
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Interdependence Many different relationships keep ecosystems healthy and in balance. If this balance is upset, even for one species, it can affect other living things in the ecosystem. Look at the picture. The ants find shelter in the hollow thorns of the acacia tree, which also supplies tasty nectar to the ants. In return, the ants fight off competing plants and hungry beetles. This is just one of many examples of organisms that depend on each other.
When an event changes an ecosystem, it affects the relationships within the ecosystem. Some changes are obvious right away. Others happen so slowly they're hard to see. Healthy ecosystems often begin to recover right away after a natural disaster such as a fire, flood, drought, or volcanic eruption. Other times, the ecosystem is so damaged that it will never be the same. Human-Caused Change The human species is unique in our ability to upset the balance of nature. Our population is huge, and continuously getting bigger. In addition, we use a lot of resources and create a lot of pollution. These actions disrupt ecosystems. When we convert forests, marshes, estuaries, and other ecosystems into land for our use, we reduce the number and kinds of plants and animals that live there.
Do you chop down trees? You are not responsible for turning forests into croplands or swamps into malls. In fact, it's difficult for those of us who live in modern countries like the United States to imagine how our actions affect the environment. But we consume a lot of resources. We burn fossil fuels in our cars, throw away a lot of trash each day, eat food grown and raised with toxic chemicals and trucked to us from far away, and heat and cool energy-inefficient homes and buildings.
Breaking Cycles The effects of these activities may not appear to directly destroy habitat, but most of what we consume is not recycled, and natural resources are not unlimited. In nature, resources are used and returned to the Earth, oceans, and atmosphere in endless natural cycles. Many of our activities are happening too quickly for nature to repair itself.
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Natural Changes
