ECOSYSTEMS MAKES BALANCE

An ecosystem is a living community of plant and animals sharing an environment with non-living elements such as climate and soil. Ecosystems exist on a variety of scales. An example of a small scale ecosystem is a pond. A medium scale ecosystem could be a forest. The tropical rainforest is an example of a very large ecosystem. Sunlight is the main source of energy. This allows plants to convert energy by photosynthesis. This provides food for some animals, birds and fish. These are called Herbivores. The other animals eat the animals that have eaten the plants. These are Carnivores. This process is called the "Food Chain".

The food chain consists of four main parts:-

• The Sun:- Which provides the energy for everything on the planet.

• Producers:- These include all green plants. These are also known as autotrophs, since they make their own food. Producers are able to harness the energy of the sun to make food. Ultimately, every organism is dependent on plants for oxygen and food. They make up the bulk of the food chain.

• Consumers: In short, consumers are every organism that eats something else. They include herbivores animals that eat plants, animals that eat other animals, animals that live off of other organisms by harming it, and animals that eat dead animal carcasses. Primary consumers are the herbivores, and are the second largest biomass in an ecosystem. The animals that eat the herbivores make up the third largest biomass, and are also known as secondary consumers. This continues with tertiary consumers, etc.

• Decomposers: These are mainly bacteria and fungi that convert dead matter into gases such as carbon and nitrogen to be released back into the air, soil, or water. Fungi and other organisms that break down dead organic matter are known as saprophytes. Even though most of us hate those mushrooms or molds, they actually play a very important role. Without decomposers, the earth would be covered in trash. Decomposers are necessary since they recycle the nutrients to be used again by producers.

The World has many different ecosystems. Each one has its own climate, soil, plants and animals. Very few ecosystems are natural today because of human activities. More ecosystems are under threat than ever before and need protecting.

Ecosystems are dynamic interactions between plants, animals, and microorganisms and their environment working together as a functional unit. Ecosystems will fail if they do not remain in balance. No community can carry more organisms than its food, water and shelter can accommodate. Food and territory are often balanced by natural phenomena such as fire, disease, and the number of predators. Each organism has its own niche, or role, to play.

We have affected ecosystems in almost every way imaginable! Every time we walk out in the wilderness or bulldoze land for a new parking lot we are drastically altering an ecosystem. We have disrupted the FOOD CHAIN, the CARBON CYCLE, the NITROGEN, and the WATER CYCLE. Mining minerals also takes its toll on an ecosystem. We need to do our best to not interfere in these ecosystems and let nature take its toll.

Many ecosystems are likely to be challenged beyond their capacity to adapt over the course of the century by an unprecedented combination of climate change, associated disturbances such as wildfires, and other aspects of modern-day global change. In the second half of this century, ecosystems on land are likely to become a net source of carbon rather than a net absorber. This extra carbon will amplify climate change. Roughly 20-30% of species are likely to be at high risk of irreversible extinction if the global average temperature rises by 1.5-2.5C beyond 1990 levels. For increases in global average temperature exceeding 1.5-2.5C, there are very likely to be major changes in ecosystems which will adversely affect the environmental goods and services which humans use.