Withgott and Laposata provided in the text a list of functioning ecosystems and their ecosystem services. The five I chose to describe are regulating atmospheric gases, precipitation, and temperature; providing people with food and natural resources; preventing soil erosion; and pollinating plants and controlling crop pests.
Regulating atmospheric gases is important to our ecosystem for numerous reasons. The most obvious reason would be clean air. As we produce and expend fuel resources, we release toxic air into our ecosystem. This is harmful to all species, especially plants and animals, thus requiring clean air for survival. Air pollution, furthermore, leads to the greenhouse effect and the melting of our polar icecaps at a more rapid rate, deteriorating the Earth’s ecosystem and atmosphere.
Precipitation and temperature can be problematic. If there is too much precipitation then crops flood and land erodes. If there is too little precipitation then crops dry up and won’t produce as much yield. The same goes for the temperature aspect. Too hot, plants and vegetables dry up and wilt from dehydration. Too cold, crops will freeze and die. Precipitation does not only effect vegetation, but animals …show more content…
Now, this sub-topic is interesting to me. I recently listened to a segment on NPR about the importance of bees and keeping bee population up. You must forgive me, because I am sure I will miss quote portions of this segment. However, the gist of the segment was describing the importance of insects such as butterflies and bees due to the fact that they are pollinators. The population of these pollinators are declining and soon it is possible we will see a decline in food due to the lack of pollination. Concerning, yes! However, there is a flip side to controlling crop pests. Yes, certain crop pests can destroy a crops productivity. Yet, crop pesticides can damage our ecosystem. What is the happy medium? Is there
Regulating atmospheric gases is important to our ecosystem for numerous reasons. The most obvious reason would be clean air. As we produce and expend fuel resources, we release toxic air into our ecosystem. This is harmful to all species, especially plants and animals, thus requiring clean air for survival. Air pollution, furthermore, leads to the greenhouse effect and the melting of our polar icecaps at a more rapid rate, deteriorating the Earth’s ecosystem and atmosphere.
Precipitation and temperature can be problematic. If there is too much precipitation then crops flood and land erodes. If there is too little precipitation then crops dry up and won’t produce as much yield. The same goes for the temperature aspect. Too hot, plants and vegetables dry up and wilt from dehydration. Too cold, crops will freeze and die. Precipitation does not only effect vegetation, but animals …show more content…
Now, this sub-topic is interesting to me. I recently listened to a segment on NPR about the importance of bees and keeping bee population up. You must forgive me, because I am sure I will miss quote portions of this segment. However, the gist of the segment was describing the importance of insects such as butterflies and bees due to the fact that they are pollinators. The population of these pollinators are declining and soon it is possible we will see a decline in food due to the lack of pollination. Concerning, yes! However, there is a flip side to controlling crop pests. Yes, certain crop pests can destroy a crops productivity. Yet, crop pesticides can damage our ecosystem. What is the happy medium? Is there