How to make ecosystems more productive?

The productivity of ecosystems is one of the key things for human well being. Ecosystems provide us with the essential services such as food, water and oxygen production, and preserving our current ecosystems is really the key to our future well being.

But given the ongoing huge biodiversity loss, and the fact that human population is constantly increasing we must not only find the ways to preserve current ecosystems but we also need to make them more productive so they could provide us with more resources needed for our "usual way of life".

How do we do that? How to make ecosystems more productive given the fact that so many species are threatened with extinction? According to the latest study published in the American Journal of Botany the key to improving productivity of a given ecosystem lies in rich plant diversity.

The scientists have calculated that ecosystems rich with plants have 1,5 times bigger productivity compared to the ecosystems consisting only of one one plant( the so called monocultural ecosystems).

The ecosystems with rich plant biodiversity are able to more efficiently capture the sunlight and nutrients compared to monocultural ecosystems, and this is the main reason behind their improved productivity. Not only that, these ecosystems are also capable to produce oxygen twice as quickly as compared to monoculturals.

This was one of the most comprehensive studies on biodiversity which included analysis of nearly 600 previous research studies.

The world leaders are still underestimating the impact of huge biodiversity loss, and are not doing enough to stop it. Biodiversity loss is the result of several different factors such as climate change, habitat loss, deforestation, invasive species.

These factors have extremely negative impact on productivity of many ecosystems which is already causing huge damage to world's economy. Biodiversity loss must be stopped or else our future generations will curse a sad heritage that was left to them by their ignorant ancestors.

Climate change will have big impact on ecosystems in Alaska

Alaska is one of the most sensitive areas in the world when it comes to climate change, and according to the latest study from the University of Alaska Fairbanks many Alaskan ecosystems will look much different by the end of this century then they look now.

Some well known animals such as Alaska marmot will probably disappear while on the other hand some invasive species will spread across the Alaska such as reed canary grass.

Alaskan tundra will also likely change its shape, with scientists believing that more than half the coast of western Alaska will likely change from tundra into a landscape similar to western British Columbia.

Alaska, just like Arctic, has already started feeling what climate change is all about, and the time has come where Alaska must start thinking how to best adapt to climate change. Alaskan ecosystems will need as much help as possible because many animals have already started running out of food and habitats, and things will likely only get worse in years to come.

The one species that looks to be the least in trouble is the famous caribou because scientists believe that even despite the fact that caribou habitats will shrink in years to come they will still be able to adapt just like they already did in the past.

But not all animal species have the adapting skills like caribou does, and species like Alaska marmots will find it very tough to survive because their habitats are in the rocky alpine areas, and their habitats will likely shrink by almost 90% by the end of this century.

Invasive species could soon become huge problem for Alaska because many of them have been so far kept at safe distance thanks to the cold temperatures, but with the expected temperature increase Alaska could soon become very attractive for many new invasive species.

These are of course, not the safe outcomes, but probable outcomes because it is extremely difficult to predict how long it will take for different animal species to react to climate changes.

Healthy environment is important for economy

Many people fail to see the connection between the healthy environment and economy but having healthy ecosystems means having valuable resources at your disposal, a resources that are more than capable to boost economy, and provide countries with many economic benefits.

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) recently said how nations could boost their economies by replenishing dying forests, marshes, coral reefs and riverbanks. These ecosystems have very high economic value. As Tim Kasten, a UNEP natural resources expert, told reporters in Nairobi the "wetlands alone have an economic value of $7 trillion per year, and half of them have been already destroyed on global scale.

Wetlands are key for many ecosystems and restoring wetlands helps to protect coastal regions from tropical storms and filter sewage out of water, while replanted forests provide vital drinking water for some of the world's largest cities.

Having this in mind we must be aware that our current conservation efforts are not enough, and that we need not only to protect untouched nature but also to do our best to try to recover heavily damaged ecosystems.

Many dying ecosystems could be restored with good planning. UNEP warned the loss of ecosystem services could lead to a 25 percent loss in the world's food production by 2050. The last thing this world needs is more hungry people. One billion hungry people is certainly more than enough.

What can we do for dying ecosystems? Well, restoring water flows to rivers and lakes and improving soil stability and fertility are good things to start with but the most important thing is to care more for ecology and environment.

Antarctica's ecosystems need to be preserved

Antarctica is home of many unique species that are found nowhere else in the world. But global warming and frequent ship traffic are making things very difficult for many marine species, and could even lead them to the brink of extinction. What researchers fear the most are predatory crabs that are poised to return to warming Antarctic waters and disrupt balance in marine ecosystems. As long as water remains too cold for them they do not have chance for survival but Antarctica's "cold safety" is starting to fall apart as for instance temperatures at the sea surface off the western Antarctic Peninsula went up 1°C in the last 50 years.

Antarctica is warming fast. Temperatures at the sea surface off the western Antarctic Peninsula went up 1°C in the last 50 years

Another problem beside global warming is frequent ship traffic that is introducing exotic crab invaders from different parts of the world. When ships dump their ballast water in the Antarctic seas, marine larvae from as far away as the Arctic are injected into the system. Researchers say that populations of predatory king crabs are already living in deeper waters because they are slightly warmer, and if warming trend continues we could really say goodbye forever to many unique species.

Crab invasion is great threat to Antarctica's fauna, and losing many unique species in one of last remaining truly wild places on Earth would really be tragic. Unfortunately without the control of both CO2 emissions as well as ship traffic frequency this scenario looks imminent.

Ecosystem productivity

Every ecosystem needs to maintain balance between the species connected in the food chain in order to be productive. Productive ecosystem is also a healthy ecosystem. To ensure the health of any given ecosystem all three categories of organisms must play their role in the food chain. These three categories of organisms are: producers, composers, and last but not least decomposers. Producers are mostly plants, capable of photosynthesis, consumers mostly animals, and of course humans, and decomposers bacterias and mushrooms that degrade all organic matter which is very important in order to restore the minerals in the environment.

Any given ecosystem on Earth in order to function perfectly must obey two main rules- number of species and type of species. In order for any ecosystem to maintain its perfect balance number of organisms must remain pretty much constant which can only be done without the introduction of new species.

Not all ecosystems are equal, some ecosystems are very sensitive, even significantly reacting to the smallest changes while others can't be much affected with some small changes. There are also ecosystems rich with biodiversity (forest ecosystems, ocean ecosystems) , and the ones with very sparse biodiversity (desert ecosystems, tundra ecosystems).

The richer with biodiversity the more productive ecosystems are, so it is really crucial to preserve ecosystems rich with biodiversity. Unfortunately these ecosystems are mostly affected with so many different ecological problems, mainly deforestation, global warming and climate change. Human activities across the world is particularly hurting forest ecosystems where many areas rich with biodiversity fall down in order to get more land for farm (deforestation). Global warming and climate change are global threat to us all, and many different ecosystems can cope with the fast changes climate change is bringing, resulting in extinction of many different plants and animals, and many species on the edge of the extinction.

Ecosystems all around the world are losing their productivity, and if this trend continues we will very soon discover that we are not the masters of Earth, only one small piece in the circle in life. Do we really have to wait for this to happen?

Related Articles:

• What is ecosystem?
• Importance of biodiversity - What is our role?
• How to preserve biodiversity?

What is Ecosystem?

Term ecosystem refers to community of biotic and abiotic elements as well as processes that are influencing on behavior and life of certain unit in defined natural habitats. Every ecosystem has its characteristic biotic and abiotic elements. Entry of new elements to certain ecosystem has often very negative effects, and more often than not causes extinction of some species that used to be important parts of this ecosystem. Therefore it is really vital to try to reduce the input of new species as much as possible, because once these new species are introduced to certain ecosystem they tend to change it, often by endangering originla species.

Humans shouldn't be really messing with nature's selection, especially in ecosystems with many different species because nature is the one that knows best. The secret of the nature selection is in forcing species to constant adaptation where only the strongest survive. However unlike the humans, the nature knows where exactly does certain animal and plant species belong. Human intervention to a certain ecosystem often results in only negative effects because we still have to learn so much different things to be able to compete with mother nature.

Process of natural selection usually lasts very long, therefore giving species enough time to completely adapt to new conditions. This is the main reason why natural selection is always better than the selection caused by human intervention. Convention on biological diversity that was ratified by 175 countries has important role in preservation of environment and current ecosystems. This Convention through its articles defines protection of ecosystem, natural habitats and preservation of diversity of species in their natural surroundings. This Convention defines ecosystem as "dynamic complexity of plants, animals, communities of microorganisms and their lifeless environment in interaction as one functional community".

Ecosystem yet not violated by humans.

Term ecosystem was for the first time used in publication of British ecologist Arthur Tansley in 1935, and the term itself was coined by his fellow colleague Roy Clapham, five years before. The recent research, where the team of more than 1000 scientists worked on evaluation of Earth's ecosystems has special place in studying the ecosystem. Results of this comprehensive research were anything but positive, and scientists concluded that people have violated ecosystems in last 50 years more than ever before in the entire history of the Earth.

Related Articles:

• Importance of biodiversity - What is our role?
• How to preserve biodiversity?