5. What would you do to help maintain the
equilibrium in the various bio-geo-
-chemical cycles? Explain in brief.
Answers
An ecosystem is said to possess ecological stability (or equilibrium) if it is capable of returning to its equilibrium state after a perturbation (a capacity known as resilience) or does not experience unexpected large changes in its characteristics across time.[1] Although the terms community stability and ecological stability are sometimes used interchangeably,[2] community stability refers only to the characteristics of communities. It is possible for an ecosystem or a community to be stable in some of their properties and unstable in others. For example, a vegetation community in response to a drought might conserve biomass but lose biodiversity.[3]
An ecosystem is said to possess ecological stability (or equilibrium) if it is capable of returning to its equilibrium state after a perturbation (a capacity known as resilience) or does not experience unexpected large changes in its characteristics across time.[1] Although the terms community stability and ecological stability are sometimes used interchangeably,[2] community stability refers only to the characteristics of communities. It is possible for an ecosystem or a community to be stable in some of their properties and unstable in others. For example, a vegetation community in response to a drought might conserve biomass but lose biodiversity.[3]Stable ecological systems abound in nature, and the scientific literature has documented them to a great extent. Scientific studies mainly describe grassland plant communities and microbial communities.[4] Nevertheless, it is important to mention that not every community or ecosystem in nature is stable (for example, wolves and moose on Isle Royale). Also, noise plays an important role on biological systems and, in some scenarios, it can fully determine their temporal dynamics.
An ecosystem is said to possess ecological stability (or equilibrium) if it is capable of returning to its equilibrium state after a perturbation (a capacity known as resilience) or does not experience unexpected large changes in its characteristics across time.[1] Although the terms community stability and ecological stability are sometimes used interchangeably,[2] community stability refers only to the characteristics of communities. It is possible for an ecosystem or a community to be stable in some of their properties and unstable in others. For example, a vegetation community in response to a drought might conserve biomass but lose biodiversity.[3]Stable ecological systems abound in nature, and the scientific literature has documented them to a great extent. Scientific studies mainly describe grassland plant communities and microbial communities.[4] Nevertheless, it is important to mention that not every community or ecosystem in nature is stable (for example, wolves and moose on Isle Royale). Also, noise plays an important role on biological systems and, in some scenarios, it can fully determine their temporal dynamics.The concept of ecological stability emerged in the first half of the 20th century. With the advancement of theoretical ecology in the 1970s, the usage of the term has expanded to a wide variety of scenarios. This overuse of the term has led to controversy over its definition and implementation.[3]