Ecosystems and People, Volume 18, Issue 1 (2022)

A community or group of living things that coexist and interact in a particular habitat is the most basic definition of an ecosystem.

For instance, tropical forests are ecosystems made up of living things like trees, plants, animals, insects, and microorganisms that interact constantly with one another and are influenced by other natural elements such as the sun, temperature, or nutrients and oxygen.

Ecosystem

The fundamental building block of the discipline of natural science is an ecosystem. This field of study defines an ecosystem as a physically distinct environment made up of two interdependent parts:

The Biotope (abiotic)

A particular physical setting having certain physical features, such as a particular climate, temperature, humidity, level of nutrients, or pH.

The Biocenosis (Biotic)

A group of living things, such as animals, plants, or microorganisms, that interact constantly and are hence interdependent.

Natural Ecosystem Working

• Ecosystems in nature are “balanced” systems. This indicates that a certain level of stability is a result of interactions between the various organisms that make up the ecosystem. For instance, in grassland ecosystems, herbivores devour the grass while also providing the soil with nutrients through their excrement, allowing the grass to regrow and maintaining some semblance of equilibrium. 
• However, this does not imply that an ecosystem, especially one that is healthy, is stagnant. Ecosystems actually undergo ongoing change since they are founded on dynamic processes that are ever-evolving.

Link between Ecosystem and Human Activities

We’ve been able to practise agriculture, regulate fire, and create transportation systems. We’ve constructed factories, dams, solar panels, and we’re always developing new approaches to space exploration. 

The desire of the human race to exploit, alter, and transform natural ecosystems yet seems insatiable. For instance, we dramatically alter the surrounding ecosystem when we convert a plain into grain fields. On occasion, we even manage to completely alter it from its original premises.

The Anthropocene timeline refers to the period of time when human activities have had such a significant impact on ecosystems. This time frame captures the substantial effects of human activity on the Earth’s hydrologic, geologic, atmospheric, and biospheric systems. 

This time span also takes into account changes brought on by climate change events, which are primarily brought on by human activities.

These changes are present everywhere. In the Amazonian forest, when trees are cut down, the ecosystems alter as species fight for survival, and the surrounding humidity and climate also change. Additionally, constructing a dam alters the way that water is distributed and has an impact on the species that live along the river’s route.

Preserving Ecosystem

Humans, like all other living things, need ecosystem services to exist. We require it to obtain the food we eat, the water we drink, and to convert raw materials into the things we use every day. Therefore, protecting natural ecosystems is crucial if we want to maintain our current standard of living.

Impact of Humans on Ecosystem

Ecosystems are suffering as a result of human activity. In fact, human activities affected ecosystems more quickly than ever before during the start of the 20th century, according to the renowned Millennium Ecosystems Assessment.

Humaking has been making excessive demands on food, water, food, wood, and other resources. And all of these needs have significantly contributed to overfishing, severe biodiversity loss, water pollution from animal excrement and pesticides, loss of natural pollination (bees are vanishing), soil exploitation from intensive agriculture, and deforestation (to produce more crops).

Reason of Human Affecting Ecosystems

This question does not have a simple solution. However, human activity has effects that take time to manifest. This indicates that these effects’ visual impact is frequently absent. The ecological capital is also challenging to quantify.

Another widely debated idea on this topic is that ecosystem services must be used extensively to keep the economy growing. It asserts that if an ecological service is universal and belongs to everyone, humans will use it until it is no longer useful. The tragedy of the commons is the notion behind everyone pursuing their own interests. 

Ecosystem Expanded To Human Environments

Generally speaking, we need to be more logical in our approach to changing ecosystems. The methods by which we alter, take, utilize, and dispose of natural resources need to be reconsidered. In order to better sustain ecosystems, they must become more effective and circular. 

We won’t be able to take advantage of the services provided by the Earth until we can rebuild a more peaceful and long-lasting cohabitation with natural environments and their living population. For the sake of humankind’s existence in the following areas:

Supply

• Water
• Food
• Materials
• Energy Resources
• Pharmacopeia

Regulation

• Climate
• Water Cycles
• Bio-Ecological Cycles
• Atmospheric Stability and Geological.

Ecosystem and Corporate Social Responsibility

Our consumption and extraction activities will need to become more effective and circular in order to try to restore the health of ecosystems and their balance. To achieve this, it is essential that businesses create sustainability and CSR strategies, evaluate their impact, and take appropriate action. 

Governments must discover ways to assess and include natural capital into the most well-known method of accessing progress—the GDP—while simultaneously finding better policies to incentivize businesses to take this course.

Conclusion

To refresh your memory, a community is made up of all the populations of all the species that coexist in a specific location. Although communities and ecosystems are closely related, an ecosystem includes the physical environment whereas communities do not. In other terms, a community is the ecosystem’s biotic, or alive, part. The physical environment, in addition to this biotic component, makes up the ecosystem’s abiotic component.

Ecosystems come in diverse sizes, from the tiny tidal pools that line the rocky coastlines of many oceans to the enormous Amazon Rainforest in South America.