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

Define the remodeling rate, Q. Define the Remodeling rate? Human corti...

Q. Define the Remodeling rate? Human cortical bone: 2-10%  per year depending on site and age of patient. Trabecular bone: Higher turnover rate 20-30% per year. In a stu

Explain the skin fold method to measure body fats, Explain the Skin fold me...

Explain the Skin fold method to measure body fats? The skin fold method utilizes predication of body fat from sum of three or four skin folds (at biceps, triceps, sub scapular,

Male reproductive system - penis, PENIS - Intromittent organ. Erecti...

PENIS - Intromittent organ. Erectile, its apex is penis glanse. Covered by prepuce (part of skin). Main function is insemination (To transfer sperms in vagina in deep).

Excretion, living organisms and their excretory products

living organisms and their excretory products

Virus, #question.bacteria and virus are meet so what happen.

#question.bacteria and virus are meet so what happen.

Define about the cellulose acetate electrophoresis (cae), Define about the ...

Define about the Cellulose acetate electrophoresis (CAE)? If the hydroxyl groups in cellulose are reacted with acetic anhydride, cellulose is acetylated to form the raw materia

#title.humans and environment., what are the two main pollutants that contr...

what are the two main pollutants that contribute to aci rain

Systematics, binomial nomenclature is not applicable to

binomial nomenclature is not applicable to

What will happen to membranes, What might happen to membranes if many -OH g...

What might happen to membranes if many -OH groups were added to the tails of phospholipids?

Animal diseases, Animal Diseases - Diseases are common in domestic anim...

Animal Diseases - Diseases are common in domestic animals. Common signs of illness in animals are - 1.      Cessation of rumination. 2.      Drop in milk yield. 3.

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