Ecosystems

etc. The entire ecosystems around the world relies on the ocean in order to keep going for the longest of times. Unfortunately, us humans are taking advantage of the ocean too far for all of our needs. We’re over-fishing many areas in the world what predators feed on, and they’re declining fast. We’re dumping too much trash into the ocean, where animals and plants are dying too fast from. Even too much noise from boats, submarines, and explosions are affecting the ocean ecosystem too much. It’s…

in ecological biology to define an organism's role in an ecosystem.” This means the place an organism lives, the organism's "job" in that environment, what an organism eats, and how it interacts with other biological and non-living species. There must be a symbiotic relationship between all species. The three main niches an organism might contend with are commensalism, predation and mutualism. Ecology is about how the species of an ecosystem interact together, their interaction with their…

Globalization has changed and shaped how we perceive the world for the past centuries. With the emerging trends of technological advancement, humans nowadays live in much more convenient lives as a results of benefitting from it. From the ability to order foods online, call an Uber through smartphones to communication face-to-face from the other side of the world, everything is within reach and thus implement our digital-active lifestyle. However, with great power comes great responsibilities,…

non-native species may pose significant dangers to the local ecosystems and the Asian carp is one of them. Asian carp is the common term for the species of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella), Bighead Carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis), black carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus) and silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) (Michigan Department of Natural Resources 2012). In the United States, the Bighead Carp have greatly affected the river ecosystems that it is also likely to invade the Great Lakes…

Why is biodiversity important to an ecosystem? Why is it so important that we have different species of animals living together? It is extremely important for different species to be living together, because they all rely on one another for survival. Including us humans, we rely on other species to survive. We don’t just rely on other species for survival, but evolution has driven us to evolve to adapt and live longer. In an ecosystem, there are habitats. In a habitat, there are populations…

Presence of carnivores helps to maintain the integrity of ecosystems throughout the world (Soulè and Terborgh, 1999). Many carnivores are capable of altering trophic structure and biodiversity through a process known as top-down control (Elmhagen and Rushton, 2007). Through this, carnivores are able to prevent the overabundance of herbivores. If uncontrolled, an explosion in herbivore population density would increase the grazing pressure that would ultimately threat the survival of the…

relative importance of various individual component species and feeding relationships within a particular ecosystem. “Energy” itself is defined as the ability to do work: All living plants and animals expend energy in their environment. All three laws of thermodynamics apply, especially the first: “Energy can neither be created or destroyed, but merely converted from one form to another”. In any ecosystem, energy is lost to the surroundings. A “Nutrient” is a food or any nourishing substance…

The lionfish had detrimental effects toward the species diversity in the hardbottom reefs of North Carolina due to odd patterns of predation. Latana Camara altered the hydrology patterns of other producers in the ecosystem, causing the other producers’ populations to decline, ultimately leading to less food sources for organisms that rely on these producers for food. The invasion of Spartina Alterniflora, however, allowed for the development of native plant, animal…

a personal property that is valuable (Robbins, et al. 69). Similarily, the American Forest Foundation recognizes and supports forest owners who have used their own human labor to transform forests into natural property that provides a variety of ecosystem services. One of the American Forest Foundation’s programs, the American Tree Farm System (ATFS), has collaborated with family-owned forests for seventy-five years to help them face many challenges, including the ongoing threat of wildfire, and…

Water Pollution All around the world, many plants, animals and people are dying because of poor water conditions. On top of that, many ecosystems, both land and aquatic are being destroyed by the dumping of toxic materials. Fresh water is already very limited in the world today without pollutants included in it. More than half the developing world does not fresh, clean water to drink. Water pollution shrinks the amount of clean drinking water for everyone. Aquatic life is also being majorly…