Summary response #2

Connection among Ecosystems

According to Campbell’s article (2008), decline of sea otter population causes other species to change their diet because ecosystem is connected like a chain. Many scientists guess that the sea otter population is led to decline by foraging killer whales. In fact, sea otters, 90% of whom live in coastal Alaska, were specified as threatened on Aug. 9, 2005. Sea urchins, which eat kelp, are one of the principal foods of sea otter. So, population of sea otters influences kelp by formatting food chain. Thereby, decreasing of kelp forests, offering habitats to many kinds of fish, in the ocean makes bald eagles change their diet into young seabirds, glaucous-winged gulls, and even pup sea otters. Bald eagles nab sea otter pups weighting more than five pounds when their parents are under the water to get prey. As a result, a small matter in the ecosystem can affect the whole environment to be destroyed.

This is a useful article for people to know strict connections. This article also enables people to realize that people should strive to preserve the environment, affecting the ecosystem, from destruction. It is because of three reasons, which are that environmental resources are important for people and animals to live in the earth, that all environmental materials in the earth are circulated, and that all environmental elements are connected.

First of all, all elements are connected with other elements in environment. So, small limited matter can cause big problems remotely. For instance, Itai-itai disease, having not made sure real causes, developed from 1910 to 1960 in Japan, and killed about two hundred people for fifty months. Some scientists argue that one clear reason for this disease was discharge of wastewater into the ground and river in small village. It led crops in the ground, fish in the river, and drinkable water to be polluted all over Japan. So, Japanese who drink or eat all polluted resources got disease from pollutants in them such as cadmium. What people made in the environment returned to people and led them to death. Consequently, people should not forget that they are also included in the environment.

Second, people should watch out before an ecosystem is destroyed, because early polluted environment cannot disappear. Because of that fact, that all materials do not tend to go way, it rather just stay on the earth by changing their forms; even bad effects could return as worse effects than ever. Smog, which occurs in the air like fog, can be evidence for a cycle of environment. In 1952, there was tremendous smog in London. According to Jinyoug Lee’s article (2007), the smog caused by excessive use of coal killed 1200 people by causing difficulty in breathing and lung disease. Thus, environmental pollution maintained on the earth even attacks people directly sometimes from what they made.

Finally, people should value and preserve environmental resources and find substitutions because people cannot live without natural resources, having limit. Reckless use of environmental resource takes time to reproduce from the environment itself. As an example, petroleum is the most influential nonrenewable resource nowadays because it is in limited areas and has limits to its use. As matter a fact, though people suggest that it will be used up in a decade, people have to use petroleum because it is the foundation of economic growth. So, people should find some materials to use instead of petroleum. Therefore, unless people do not spare resources, people might not live on the earth because of depleted natural resource.

In conclusion, people are supposed to realize and preserve the environment because of the importance of natural resource, cycle of environment, and connection of ecosystems. All reasons explain the necessity of preservation. Therefore, people should try to preserve before environment and ecosystem are destroyed by realizing the seriousness of destruction of them.

Reference

Campbell, M. (2008). When sea otter number fell, eagles switched diet. Anchorage Daily News. Retrieved October 28, 2008, from http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/560588.html.

Lee, Jiyoung. (2007, December 4). A London Smog Event. DongA.com. Retrieved October 29, 2008, from http://www.donga.com/fbin/output?n=200712040118