Unfortunately, due to global climate change, we have come to talk about the concept of ecosystem frequently even in our daily lives. We already have to mention it because the ecosystem is the only reason we can survive. Sometimes the ecosystem formed around a small lake, sometimes it can cover a huge forest area. This means that there are many different ecosystems on our Earth.
What is more interesting is that even ecosystems with the same name do not always have the same characteristics. Because in this system, where living things live in harmony in a region, there are many other factors that you may not think of, such as temperature and humidity. That’s why our Earth is so unique. Let’s take a closer look at what the ecosystem is and see its examples and interesting features.
Let’s start with a brief description; What is an ecosystem?
In its most general definition, ecosystem; It is an area in which all organisms, including plants and animals, within a region of different dimensions work to adapt. An ecosystem is formed when numerous living and non-living factors such as the temperature condition of the region, plant arrangement, rocky structure, humidity are all in harmony. Sometimes even a small change can destroy the ecosystem, as its balance is extremely delicate.
In fact, the ecosystem is what we call wildlife or natural life. A tide pool is formed, someone eats the algae there, someone eats it, he leaves excrement, that excrement turns into a plant with the effect of the heat, someone eats that plant, someone eats it, and it just goes on. When this whole process works in complete harmony, a wonderful ecosystem emerges.
There are amazing examples of ecosystems:
The Sahara Desert, one of the largest deserts in the world, located in the north of Africa, has one of the most unique ecosystem examples we can see. If you think it’s a desert, dear, you are wrong. Because many different ecosystems are located side by side in the 9 million square kilometers of the Sahara Desert.
For example, part of the Sahara Desert has fresh water. There are crocodiles in this water and date palm trees around it that produce delicious fruits. In the dune section, which is the desert you know, there are snakes and scorpions that have adapted to the ecosystem of that place. When we look at the shore of the Atlantic Ocean, we encounter a marine ecosystem, where we see goats living in an area surrounded by bushes and small trees.
Even ecosystems with the same names have unique properties:
We generally name ecosystems by names such as desert, forest, pond, reef, tundra, oasis. Even if it makes our work easier in daily life, when we look at these ecosystems from a biological point of view, we see that the names do not always meet similar characteristics. The biggest example of this is seen in the desert ecosystem.
The Sahara Desert is desert, but so is the Gobi Desert and even Antarctica. But come on, the Gobi Desert, located on the border of China and Mongolia, often snows and the temperature drops to freezing point. There are grasses suitable for this ecosystem and countless creatures such as horses and gazelles that eat the grasses live here.
Antarctica is even more interesting. Desert or desert, but we all know that the region consists of dry rocks and bare glaciers. Only a few species of algae live here. Of course, there are birds that feed on these algae, as per the rules of each ecosystem. When we say creatures that feed on birds and those that feed on them, it becomes a whole ecosystem.
We don’t realize the value of an ecosystem until we lose it:
Humanity has been in an ecosystem since its existence. It lives and thrives thanks to it. However, he still can’t help himself from destroying it. We see the clearest example of this in the region called the Great Plains, which is located within the common borders of the United States of America and Canada today.
The natives of the Great Plains had developed an order here in harmony with plants and animals. Then the population increased and some tribes such as the Lakota and Kiowa began to hunt more bison than usual. On the other hand, the long meadows, which were the food source of the bison, were turned into agricultural land. As a result, except for a few small ecosystems, such as Yellowstone National Park, bison have almost disappeared.
Even if destroying ecosystems is beneficial in the short run, we are the losers in the long run:
We encounter an example similar to the one experienced in the Great Plains in the Amazon forests. Amazon forests have a very complex ecosystem consisting of hundreds of different substrates. There are countless plants, animals and insects in this ecosystem. We obtain substances used in the pharmaceutical industry such as curare and quinine from the trees that grow in this ecosystem.
So what happened? Local people living in countries such as Brazil, Venezuela and Ecuador began to systematically cut down these forests to make agricultural land. Everything is OK; food is available more easily, infrastructure works are carried out and health services reach the region more easily. However, the number of trees that yield those substances we use in the pharmaceutical industry is gradually decreasing. Worse, those trees will no longer grow easily, as the ecosystem is degraded.
In fact, it is in our hands to protect and restore ecosystems:
The primary purpose of us humans should always be to protect the ecosystem we live in. Because cutting down a few trees for needs is not the same as destroying hectares of forest. Let’s cross nature, even if we think with the most selfish purpose, the deteriorated ecosystems turn around and harm us. Some countries, such as Ecuador, have even made special laws about this.
In fact, an ecosystem never completely disappears, it just deteriorates. If we leave it to itself, it will return to its old order. For example, coral reefs off the coast of the South Pacific are threatened by warming ocean waters and decreasing salinity. If the oceans cool again and salinity increases, coral reefs will also be restored. In other words, as long as we don’t take things uphill, the water flows and finds its bed.
We answered questions such as what is the ecosystem formed by the work of all kinds of living and non-living factors in harmony, what is its use, what are its features. Of course, it is such a deep subject that we get lost when we dive into the ecosystem, but we aimed to provide only basic information in this article.
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