The Balance of an Ecosystem

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Ecosystems are areas where all it's parts are balanced. All living organisms and all inanimate (nonliving) parts work in harmony in all their combined relationships to maintain balance. Ecosystems are not just all the living and nonliving parts together, ecosystems are all the relationships of those parts as they interact together.

 

Ecosystems are always changing, adjusting, in flux. As one part of a system experiences changes, all other parts adjust to balance the system. When a system readjusts so all parts are in balance it has acheived it's balancing point or equilibrium. Without interference from mankind, ecosystems acheive their own balance.

______________________________________________________________

When mankind inteferes in the populations of an ecosystem, increasing or decreasing a given population by our actions, than the system is thrown out of balance.

In a mountain system, for example, the mountain lions, coyotes, and wolves ate the deer. When man interfered and killed off the predetors (wolf, lion, coyote) of the deer, the deer population grew large. As it grew larger, there was not enough food for the deer to feed on. As a result, thousands of deer died of starvation because their population was not kept in check by their natural predators.

___________________________________________________________