Keeping an Ecosystem in Balance
Science Connection
Keeping an Ecosystem in Balance By Vijay B. Shankar
All life forms in an ecosystem depend on each other. An ecosystem, like a remote-controlled car, has parts that work together. However, it needs the remote-control to make it run. The natural changes in the environment that affect an ecosystem are like that remote control. However, we need more than just the remote control to run the car. The vital parts of the car need to be in their correct places, and they should function well too. What if we lose a wheel of that car? It won’t move Likewise, we can imagine the loss of a “wheel” in an ecosystem. When one part doesn’t work for natural reasons like storms and cyclones or human reasons like pollution, then the whole system has a problem. Such an imbalance in an ecosystem can bring out a severe biodiversity loss. The variety of life in this ecosystem is less, and this has its impact on human health. To live, we depend on many life forms for food, housing, and medicines from different ecosystems such as forests, agricultural fields, and oceans. From forests we get trees for timber and sometimes plants for medicines. Fields yield crops for food and oceans give us plenty of seafood. Some fish give medicines too. Imagine what would happen to us if any or all of these were lost.
Superkat, Wikipedia A radio-controlled race car
Aquatic Ecosystem Fish provide a great example. As food for us, they are a natural source of proteins and minerals. You may like fish, such as salmon. A fully-grown salmon is big, but we would need a lot of them to feed a whole city for one year. Have you ever wondered whether the salmon population will be gone if people keep over-fishing them? Anything used uncontrollably in nature will lead to loss of that natural source. Fish is no exception. If we deplete the population of fish, the ecosystem will soon be like the car without its wheel. The system that supports the fish will break down. Usually the government will not allow people to catch fish in certain seasons. That is because different fish have distinct mating seasons, the time when they reproduce. If
Spigot Science -- http://www.spigotscience.com
Ponder
What do remotecontrolled cars and fish have in common?
Continued on next page
11
Bioversity
Science Connection Continued from Keeping an Ecosystem in Balance
Jitze Couperus, Wikimedia Commons A bear cub catches a salmon
they fish during those seasons, there will be many fewer fish in the next season. There could be another reason for the population to
be smaller – pollution. Pollution in oceans, lakes, and rivers could be due to several reasons, but all are related to humans. For example, scientists observed that the noise from ships can pollute the ocean environment and can be dangerous to fish. Another example is the use of chemical fertilizers that leak from fields into lakes or rivers. These often affect the growth of fish. When the fish population is reduced, we also lose medicines. For example, we need certain fats for good health, but our body cannot make them. One group of these good fats are fatty acids such as Omega-3 fatty acid. Rich sources of such fatty acids come from fish, especially the ones called cods. These fatty acids can protect people from heart diseases and other ailments like diabetes and osteoporosis. We can see that if we over-fish, pollute, or otherwise harm the fishes’ aquatic ecosystem, the system will not be in balance. Like the car without its wheel, an unbalanced system won’t work. This not only affects fish, but our food supply and medicines as well. Vijay B. Shankar, PhD is a researcher turned full-time freelance science writer. He has a special love for biology and medicine.
Aquatic f fish em t s y ut loss o s o b o a c s E le : the type s tic r ie w a o it t h e s iv n r o t Ac or Inte chart t agazine, Make a
er, m ss? newspap or the lo f t s n e n c o e s r a he re 1. Find at are t h W . s uld ss. n what wo or the lo f populatio s s n u o c s is a e D t. nd the r a fish die m o of fish a r f t e we g utrients n e h t . d nutrients ch to fin e r r s a e e h s t e r f o maged o ss a lo d 2. Do a is e m r e we syst if there f an eco o t r happen a p . hen one s others w a w ll e o h w s show ma ecosyste gram to t ia d a h t a f e o rest 3. Mak cts the e f f a it , d destroye
Spigot Science -- http://www.spigotscience.com
12
Bioversity
Keeping an Ecosystem in Balance By Vijay B. Shankar
All life forms in an ecosystem depend on each other. An ecosystem, like a remote-controlled car, has parts that work together. However, it needs the remote-control to make it run. The natural changes in the environment that affect an ecosystem are like that remote control. However, we need more than just the remote control to run the car. The vital parts of the car need to be in their correct places, and they should function well too. What if we lose a wheel of that car? It won’t move Likewise, we can imagine the loss of a “wheel” in an ecosystem. When one part doesn’t work for natural reasons like storms and cyclones or human reasons like pollution, then the whole system has a problem. Such an imbalance in an ecosystem can bring out a severe biodiversity loss. The variety of life in this ecosystem is less, and this has its impact on human health. To live, we depend on many life forms for food, housing, and medicines from different ecosystems such as forests, agricultural fields, and oceans. From forests we get trees for timber and sometimes plants for medicines. Fields yield crops for food and oceans give us plenty of seafood. Some fish give medicines too. Imagine what would happen to us if any or all of these were lost.
Superkat, Wikipedia A radio-controlled race car
Aquatic Ecosystem Fish provide a great example. As food for us, they are a natural source of proteins and minerals. You may like fish, such as salmon. A fully-grown salmon is big, but we would need a lot of them to feed a whole city for one year. Have you ever wondered whether the salmon population will be gone if people keep over-fishing them? Anything used uncontrollably in nature will lead to loss of that natural source. Fish is no exception. If we deplete the population of fish, the ecosystem will soon be like the car without its wheel. The system that supports the fish will break down. Usually the government will not allow people to catch fish in certain seasons. That is because different fish have distinct mating seasons, the time when they reproduce. If
Spigot Science -- http://www.spigotscience.com
Ponder
What do remotecontrolled cars and fish have in common?
Continued on next page
11
Bioversity
Science Connection Continued from Keeping an Ecosystem in Balance
Jitze Couperus, Wikimedia Commons A bear cub catches a salmon
they fish during those seasons, there will be many fewer fish in the next season. There could be another reason for the population to
be smaller – pollution. Pollution in oceans, lakes, and rivers could be due to several reasons, but all are related to humans. For example, scientists observed that the noise from ships can pollute the ocean environment and can be dangerous to fish. Another example is the use of chemical fertilizers that leak from fields into lakes or rivers. These often affect the growth of fish. When the fish population is reduced, we also lose medicines. For example, we need certain fats for good health, but our body cannot make them. One group of these good fats are fatty acids such as Omega-3 fatty acid. Rich sources of such fatty acids come from fish, especially the ones called cods. These fatty acids can protect people from heart diseases and other ailments like diabetes and osteoporosis. We can see that if we over-fish, pollute, or otherwise harm the fishes’ aquatic ecosystem, the system will not be in balance. Like the car without its wheel, an unbalanced system won’t work. This not only affects fish, but our food supply and medicines as well. Vijay B. Shankar, PhD is a researcher turned full-time freelance science writer. He has a special love for biology and medicine.
Aquatic f fish em t s y ut loss o s o b o a c s E le : the type s tic r ie w a o it t h e s iv n r o t Ac or Inte chart t agazine, Make a
er, m ss? newspap or the lo f t s n e n c o e s r a he re 1. Find at are t h W . s uld ss. n what wo or the lo f populatio s s n u o c s is a e D t. nd the r a fish die m o of fish a r f t e we g utrients n e h t . d nutrients ch to fin e r r s a e e h s t e r f o maged o ss a lo d 2. Do a is e m r e we syst if there f an eco o t r happen a p . hen one s others w a w ll e o h w s show ma ecosyste gram to t ia d a h t a f e o rest 3. Mak cts the e f f a it , d destroye
Spigot Science -- http://www.spigotscience.com
12
Bioversity
