Human Induced Change Research Paper

All ecosystems have the ability to withstand stress. They are able to resist being disturbed or altered and will restore themselves to their original condition if not disturbed too drastically. There are both natural and human induced stresses. An ecosystem is the dynamic complex interaction of plant, animal and microorganism communities and their non-living environment as a functional unit. Ecosystems include the biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living) elements of the environment and the relationships between the components. For the correct functioning of ecosystems it is imperative that the dynamic equilibrium (balanced change) is kept under control

A number of factors are relevant to how vulnerable ecosystems are to stress these include location, extent,
These changes could be in response to changes in the availability of water, average temperature or many other natural events. Natural changes can be examined through two types of stress: immediate and gradual. Immediate natural stress is rapid and often irreversible for example a drought, fire or flood. The other stress is gradual and this is usually slow and unobservable, this can be seen in the gradual change of climate or the movement of a species. Human induced change has the ability to both change and destabilise dynamic equilibrium therefore putting humans use of resources before the protection of an ecosystem. Human induced change is also both immediate and gradual: immediate in terms of fast action such as deforestation, grazing and ploughing while gradual is often in terms of processes such as salinization and pollution. When these effects put ecosystems out of balance the dynamic equilibrium is changed and clear issues arise a drop in primary production and a decline in species vulnerability. These changes heavily affect ecosystems and their ability to successfully