We will describe what is meant by the function and structure of an ecosystem, as well as provide factors that can positively or negatively affect regional ecosystems, and provide an example of government involvement when it comes to managing ecosystems.
Function of an Ecosystem:
When it comes to ecosystems, what is meant by the functional element of an ecosystem is the fact that it does not just encompass all the animal and plant organisms in any given area, or region, but includes all the interactions between all those organisms, and between those organisms and non-living materials (background environment) within that area, or region. The functional aspect of an ecosystem is about how the different plants, animals, and non-living material work together, or function, as a part of the whole – for example, insects are responsible for helping to break down and decompose the material of dead animals (detritus) into their basic components; if insects disappeared in a certain area, the ecosystem cycle would slow down, or become less functional, because it is missing one of the functioning aspects of its cycle.
Structure of an Ecosystem:
The structure of an ecosystem refers to the number of species that are included in that particular ecosystem (species composition), and to the number of levels, or strata, that are included in it. Trophic structure refers to giving the producer-consumer relationships within an ecosystem. It usually starts out with some plants that grow because of the sun, and the herbivorous creatures that feed off of them. Usually there are other creatures that end up feasting on the smaller herbivorous ones. The plants that are on the first level, or strata, of the ecosystem, are considered autotrophs because they can produce their own food rather than getting it from elsewhere, usually by turning chemical energy to food through the process of photosynthesis. Biochemical cycles, or the cycles that biological chemicals, such as phosphorous or carbon, make through the ecosystem, from ground to plant to animal and back again, can be considered another part of said ecosystem.
On the North American continent, we have several eco-regions, or areas with quite different sets of plants and animals, all with different functions and ecological cycles. For example, in the conterminous United States we have the Great Plains, river valleys, corn belt and till plains, forests, desert, dry mountains, marshland, highland and lower mountainous regions (such as the Appalachians or Ozarks) and so forth.
Factors That Affect an Ecosystem:
How can we affect an ecosystem in a positive or negative way? It seems to me that we have done more negative to ecosystems than positive. For example, in a forest ecosystem, trees are part of the cycle of life. Animals make their homes in the trees, some eat their nuts and fruit, and insects will eat the leaves. When we harvest the trees to make homes with it, without replacing those trees, we end up ruining that ecosystem. Another example is the using of a chemical fertilizer called DDT on land where we were growing some grains, only to find out that this chemical was stopping the production of eggs from happening in some bird species, almost wiping them out. Yet another example is our replacing large areas of land that was previously in a natural state with urbanization, that is, using it for buildings, houses, streets and highways, and thereby negating the natural ecosystem functions that were previously there.
Government and Ecosystems:
The best example of government helping to manage ecosystems is natural resource management. For example, instead of clear cutting a forest, and abandoning that land afterwards, government regulations may require foresters to replant new trees in that forested area in order to have trees to harvest twenty or thirty years down the road. Another example of this is how states practice their hunting laws – they typically control the length of the hunting season, the amount of hunting permits they give out, and limit their hunting to usually one animal (such as a deer) per permit in order to make sure that the animal in question isn’t overhunted to the point of extinction.
