Ecosystem control, Biology

Assignment Help:

Ecosystem Control

Another important aspect of ecosystem functioning that is how it maintains its ecological balance. By now, it must be obvious to you that an ecosystem is a dynamic system, wherein a lot of events take place. For example, animals eat and in turn are eaten, moisture and nutrients flow in and out of the system, and weathers change. In spite of all these happenings the ecosystems persist and recover from the slight disturbances. This capacity of an ecosystem to self-regulate or self-maintain is called homeostasis. Isn't this ability of ecosystems to recover from certain perturbations remarkable? Let us take a simple example to see that how is this balance maintained in spite of the fight disturbances in the ecosystem.

Consider a grassland, when there is a drought, do not grow well. The mice that eat the grass become malnourished. When this happens, their birth rate decreases. And also the hungry mice retreat to their burrows and sleep. By doing so, they need less food and are less exposed to predators, so their death rates decrease. Their behaviour protects their own population balance as well as that of the grasses which are not being consumed while the mice hibernate. Such a mechanism is known as feedback regulation and is very important to maintain the ecological balance. It is the prime regulatory mechanism for the ecosystem as a whole. You may know that there are several kinds of organisms comprising an ecosystem. So all the organisms in an ecosystem are part of several different feedback loops. A feedback loop may be defined as relationship in which a change in some original rate, alters the rate of direction of further change. In the above example, we had deliberately taken a very small group of living beings that has primarily the mice and the plants.


Related Discussions:- Ecosystem control

Is the esophagus a muscular organ, Q. Is the esophagus a muscular organ? Wh...

Q. Is the esophagus a muscular organ? Why even in a patient lying totally flat on a hospital bed can the swallowed food reach the stomach? The esophagus is a predominantly musc

Explain the function of the umbilical cord, Q. What is the function of the ...

Q. What is the function of the umbilical cord? The umbilical cord is a set of blood vessels that connects the fetus with the placenta and in the fetus one extremity of the cord

Paratyphoid and other salmonella infections, P a r a typhoid and other ...

P a r a typhoid and other Salmonella infections Paratyphoid salmonellae are non-host-specific. The commonly reported species are S. Typhimurium, S . Enteritidis S . T

What is cross contamination, Q. What is cross contamination? Cross cont...

Q. What is cross contamination? Cross contamination is the passage of micro-organisms from one person to another via any route direct or indirect.

Mode of nutrition , What is the mode of nutrition in fish,human,amoeba,scor...

What is the mode of nutrition in fish,human,amoeba,scorpian & toad ?

Explain glycogen storage diseases, Glycogen Storage Diseases Glycogen  ...

Glycogen Storage Diseases Glycogen  storage diseases are caused by  genetic defects that result  in  deficiencies in  certain enzymes of  glycogen metabolism. These deficiencie

Water loss during air breathing, Normal 0 false false false...

Normal 0 false false false EN-IN X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

What is extracellular digestion, Q. What is extracellular digestion? Ex...

Q. What is extracellular digestion? Extracellular digestion is so that in which food breaking into utile molecules that can be internalized by the cell is done in the extracell

Decay and nutrient cycling, Decay and Nutrient Cycling Soil organisms a...

Decay and Nutrient Cycling Soil organisms are the chief agents of decay of organic matter. Decomposition and mineralisation of organic matter results in release of inorganic nu

Why there is more species biodiversity in tropical latitudes, a) Giving two...

a) Giving two reasons define why there is more species biodiversity in tropical latitudes than in temperate ones. b) Name an upload drug and its source plant. How does the dr

Write Your Message!

Captcha
Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd