Human influences on Ecosystems ( 1 )

• Food supply


  Humans have increased food production significantly with the help of modern technology
• Modern technology used to increase food production

  • Agricultural machinery
  • Chemical fertilizers
  • Insecticides
  • Herbicides
  • Selective breeding
• Agricultural machinery


  • Enables humans to use larger areas of land for cultivation
  • Improves the efficiency in food production
  • Helps in tasks such as land clearing and soil plowing
• Chemical fertilizers


  • Improve crop yields by providing essential nutrients and minerals to crops
• Insecticides


  • Destroy the insects that harm and eat the plants
  • Improve both quality and quantity of yield
• Herbicides


  • Play an important role in reducing competition with weeds
  • Maximize crop growth by eliminating plants that compete with the main crop for resources
• Selective breeding


  • Used to enhance production in both crop plants and livestock
  • Resulting in improved agricultural output
• Monoculture farming


  Cultivation of a single crop species on a specific agricultural land continuously
• Advantages of large-scale monocultures of crop plants

  • Easier to manage
  • Simpler to handle and control operations
  • More efficient use of resources
  • Promotes agricultural technology
  • Leads to increased profits
• Disadvantages of large-scale monocultures of crop plants

  • Reduced ecosystem diversity
  • Increased pest issues
  • Problems with insecticides
• Livestock production


  Rearing and management of animals such as cattle, poultry, sheep etc. for various purposes including meat, milk, eggs or fiber production
• Benefits of intensive livestock production

  • Helps the economy and agricultural industry
  • Generates employment opportunities
  • Supports related industries
  • Provides food security
  • Helps meet the growing demand for animal-based food products
• Disadvantages of intensive livestock production

  • Easier spread of disease
  • Welfare issues of livestock animals
• Biodiversity


  Variety of different species that live in an area
• Habitat


  Natural home of a plant or animal
• Reasons for habitat destruction


  • Increased area for housing, crop plant production and livestock production
  • Extraction of natural resources
  • Fresh water and marine pollution
• Human actions like taking too many food species and bringing in non-native species


  Can upset the balance of species interactions within habitats, leading to negative impacts on the overall health and functioning of ecosystems
• Undesirable effects of deforestation


  • Reducing biodiversity
  • Extinction
  • Loss of soil
  • Flooding
  • Increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere