Future of the Earths Ecosystem.
Future of the Earths ecosystem
The planet earth in which we are living today has evolved over billions of years by drifting of continents, collisions occurred, separated again and a lot of rising and falling of sea levels. The life that we see now has evolved after cometary impacts, recovering out of it and forming a biosphere that is never changing with diversity and complexity till now.
It is always noticed that to know the future we have to go through the past or history of that particular subject. Similarly to know the future of the Earth's ecosystem, we will have to cover some aspects of the evolution of planet Earth.
In conditions ( about 12000 years ago) the biosphere was healthy and resilient and this period is labelled as the Holocene period by Geologists. What we have now moved into is been tagged as the Anthropocene period i.e an era of environmental changes which are hard to predict.
The human population is a concern for the planet
Of all the important aspects of evolution in the formation of present-day earth, the main feature which played a major role was the sudden rise in the human population. So let's focus on this aspect.
Within the last 100-150 years, there have been occurring many exceptional changes, like the decline in human premature death rate, while birth rates have not declined commensurately.
It is seen that in the mid of 1800, there were already around a billion people on the earth, outrating the total number of other mammalian species larger than rabbits.
By 1960 the human population reached 3 billion. Also within 15+ years, it became 4 billion. By 1990, just within another 15 years, it got increased by another billion i.e 5 billion. By 2000 to 6 billion and it went on to increase by a billion every 15yrs on average.
Now in October 2021, our Earth has a 7.9 billion human population. ( source: United Nations estimates by worldometer)
All these records show the unstoppable alarming rate of increase in the human population, which will also need a similar increase in agricultural yields. Even if this is reached then there is going to be a continuous threat for humans and by humans to the rest of the world by chemical or nuclear warfare or accumulation of waste products.
It is researched in-depth to find that never in Earth's history has the multiplication of one form of life become a concern for the survival of other forms of life.
Lessons to learn from the past for the future of Earth's ecosystem
1. It is known that no species can multiply indefinitely. It is surely bound to reach a state of the plateau but whether this state and survival avoiding subsistence level are going to be compatible, has to be examined.
The drastic change in the ratio of economically rich and poor does show distinct opinions.
Overall in the world, 690 million people regularly go to bed without a meal.
2. Some species can be seen maintaining a stable population as the plateau is reached while the others which will not, will start to get stuck in a state of losing battle if things keep going as they are now.
3. Some species can be poisoned by their waste as in the case of humans. Waste like industrial emissions is more toxic to all than humans alone.
The industrial revolution has shown about a 30% increase in CO2 concentration.
About half or more of the land available on the earth's surface has been transformed by human activity. Some changes are beneficial for all but most of them are alterations destroying the ecosystem, both on land and nearby water systems.
Water pollution is going to finish off the marine phytoplankton, which mainly replenishes the atmospheric oxygen for ocean life. Also, we know that life exists in a range of liquid water temperatures, so the excess of Co2 production could create a state of water scarcity.
( Imp: Marine Phytoplankton are microscopic aquatic organisms that can convert sunlight into food via photosynthesis.
They are the base of the marine food web. They consume about as much CO2 as all of the world's forests and other plants combined.)
Overfishing and poor management of fisheries are not only taking a toll on the species but are having a disruptive action on the food webs and ocean ecosystem showing an imbalance of sea life.
4. Desertification due to human activities is at pace. Human activities such as deforestation, loss of fertility and industrial growth and inefficient waste disposal management are leading to desertification. Waste is many times disposed of on nearby land.
The desertification crisis is now affecting 168 countries worldwide as per UNCCD ( United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification).
It is estimated that by the year 2025, about 60000 plant species could be lost.
Many studies show that climatic impacts are now increasing in severity much faster than ever.
Global warming is supposed to be a major risk to the planet. According to reports, an increase in 1.5°C of warming of the planet will show drastic effects. These effects are going to be area related.
The major changes can be drought, a rise in sea level and intense heat and cold waves.
 |
| Credit: Grid-Arendalgrida.no. |
According to experts, the world now needs 120 million hectares of more land to reach the food production needed, this is a measure of land of the size of South Africa. These efforts to improve agricultural production will lead to deforestation, again increasing greenhouse gas emissions and destroying the ecosystem services of trees.
Unless eroded soil is replaced, lost fertility of the soil is restored and salts that accumulate on soil because of the use of hard irrigation water are removed, more and more land will decline into a man-made desert, which will neither support humans nor the native flora and fauna.
5. Many non-human species keep their numbers well below the carrying capacity of the habitat using endogenous population regulation and making their ways of surviving. Those lacking these skills may starve and crash or be limited by predator pressure or diseases.
Predatory attacks on humans have decreased now because of security innovations but the increasing population density is going to promote epidemic diseases. This is well proved by the present state of the pandemic by Covid-19.
6. So the species that have reached a plateau of optimum adaptation can persist. If the human population gets stabilised at numbers low enough to allow natural ecosystems to recover and spread once more, the animal life that enriches our lives today can continue to enrich the lives of future generations in the distant future.
Also, committed people are engaging in thousands of arks to save wildlife from extinction.
Conclusion:
We the people of the present have got a fascinating legacy of plants and animal life from the past. The way we will deal with maintaining its functioning and overall wellness will determine the future of the Earth's ecosystem and our place in it.
You can also try a short read on some lesser-known and unusual facts. Please click on the link
Comments
Post a Comment