Throughout the ages of humanity we have suffered through despair and hope, trying to understand how life actually works. The circle of life is a figurative representation of birth, survival, and death. This circle is constant, it revolves around itself endlessly, like a cycle. All plants and animals are born, mature, procreate, and then die, unless otherwise killed early in this circle of life. Plants and animals share a mutual dependency with each other. Each variable of this cycle are related to one another, either directly or indirectly. The circle of life revolves around aspects in science described as the trophic level, keystone species, and competition.
The theme of interdependence is seen predominantly in the circle of life. The trophic levels are used to represent the flow of energy between the organisms. The energy needed is taken from the sun, this energy sustains life for all organisms. Each organism belongs to a trophic level. The trophic level is the position that an organism occupies in the food chain. These levels are divided into producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, and tertiary consumers. Producers make their own food and are consumed by primary consumers, primary consumers
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Keystone species are species that have a strong impact on their community, without this species the community would collapse. The presence of a keystone species allows for an environment to function properly.Tiger sharks are a keen example of a keystone species. “These sharks will eat practically anything. This helps control populations of sea turtles and dugongs who may cause overgrazing of the seagrass in Western Australia. Since seagrass is where fish lay their eggs, overgrazing would lead to fewer fish.” This represents just how important one organism is to the whole circle of life and how it’s presence can greatly affect the whole
The Chesapeake Bay is the nation’s largest estuary with six major tributaries, the James, the Potomac, the Susquehanna, the Patuxent, the York, and the Rappahannock Rivers, feeding into the bay from various locations in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia (Chemical Contaminants in the Chesapeake Bay – Workshop Discussion 1). These areas depend on the Bay as both an environmental and an economic resource. Throughout the last 15 years the Chesapeake Bay has suffered from elevated levels of pollution. Nitrogen and phosphorous from wastewater treatment plants, farmland, air pollution, and development all lead to reduced water clarity and lowered oxygen levels, which harm fish, crabs, oysters and underwater grasses (Key Commission Issues 1). There are other types of pollution in the bay such as toxic chemicals, but because nutrient pollution is the most significant and most widespread in the Bay its effects are the most harmful to fisheries. Nitrogen and phosphorous fuel algal blooms which cloud the water and block sunlight from reaching underwater grass beds that provide food and habitat for waterfowl, juvenile fish, blue crabs, and other species (Blankenship 11-12). Algae plays a vital role in the food chain by providing food for small fish and oysters. However, when there is an overabundance of algae it dies, sinks to the bottom of the Bay, and decomposes in such a manner that depletes the oxygen levels of the Bay (11). The reduced oxygen levels in the Bay reduce the carrying capacity of the environment and these “dead areas” sometimes kill off species that can not migrate to other areas of the Bay, such as oysters (11). Increased abundance of algal blooms also led to the overabundance of harmful and toxic algae species and microbes such as the microbe Pfiesteria, which was responsible in 1997 for eating fish alive and making dozens of people sick (12). The heightened awareness of diseases that can be contracted through consumption of contaminated fish also has an economic impact. Therefore, the excess levels of nitrogen and phosphorous have fueled an overabundance of algal blooms, which has reduced water clarity and lowered oxygen levels, affecting many species within the bay and ultimately the industries that rely on these species.
The Chesapeake Bay plays host to an astonishing amount of plant and animal life, providing much of our fish intake for species that aren’t being overfished. For the species that are being overdrawn, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation is working to restore the populations, and it’s going well thus far. Another theme that is endangering the marine life populations as well as the health of the human population is the massive amount of polluti...
The agriculture industries have affected the marine life due to eutrophication. Eutrophication occurs when human activity water because of the chemicals, nitrogen and phosphorus which run off into the water. Eutrophication results in algal bloom. An algal bloom forms when lots of nitrogen and phosphorus are set inside a body of water which results in an excess amount of algae in lakes, oceans, or streams. The waters can not take in a lot of algae because in can affect the habitat of the animals. It can also affect the population of the sea animals.
For example the canopies of kelp provide shelter for many organisms . Because the kelp is able to float, it creates a canopy. This canopy has warm temperatures and slow water currents, providing a home to defenseless young. This is important because the kelp is able to protect many organisms from predators and rough storms (6). Kelp is also the base of the food chain. Since kelp is the base of the food chain many organisms eat kelp and other animals eat them.This is important because without the kelp all the primary consumers would starve having no other food source (5). Finally each part of kelp is home to a different species. Because each part of kelp is home to a different species, many species breed in them. This is important because if the kelp where gone there would be no place for the organisms to breed downsizing their population (4). Overall kelp is providing food and shelter to many
Mills, Scott L., Daniel F. Doak, and Michael E. Soule. "The Keystone-species Concept in Ecology and Conservation." BioScience 43.4 (1993): 219-25. Apr. 1993. Web. 30 Oct. 2011.
One of the most enthralling central themes that exist in the Lion King are the concepts of the "Circle of Life." It is a concept that momentously emphasizes that everyone and everything attains an essential position in the world, that everyone and everything fulfill a major role in nature, and that everyone and that everything intricately fit into the great mosaic of life. It is through the vast assortment of the flora and fauna that is found in the pridelands, that Mufasa is able to explain this phenomenon to the young Simba. Informing Simba that life is a continuous cycle, built upon of the sociological trinity of: birth, death, and rebirth; he explains to Simba:
I remember one time, I was on my way home from a long and strenuous day at my grandparents house. I spent the entire day pulling weeds from the ruins of a dilapidated garden, that was once full in bloom in the warm summer day, now dead from the roughness of winter. As I strained over the labor, my grandma exited the house, and said, “Don’t worry; it may appear to be a waste of time, but tending to a garden will be well worth the wait. In the spring, the garden will be full of life, and the flowers will bloom with great ease.” I’d like to think that life is somewhat similar to this concept.
Oceans are such so vast that people underestimate the impact their actions —seeming so insignificant— have on them. Humans have by and large taken the oceans for granted; not considering how important a healthy ocean is to our survival. A popular mind-set is that the oceans are a bottomless supply of fish, natural resources, and an infinite waste dump. There are myriad reasons why the oceans should be saved and the most obvious one is marine life. With 71% of the Earth being covered by water, it is obvious that sea creatures are predominant form of life, making up 80% of the species of life on Earth. However, as important as marine life is, that is not the only reason why saving the oceans is crucial. The ocean floor provides natural resources such as, oil, natural gas, petroleum, minerals, medications, and ingredients for foods and products. The economic benefits of the oceans are huge and significant, as well. Fishing and fish products have provided employment to 38 million people and have generated about $124 billion in economic benefits. However, oceans are on the verge of crisis, marine life, natural resources, transportation, the economy, and important ingredients are at risk due to overfishing, pollution, and acidification. Thus, in this essay I will argue that, oceans are not impervious to human activity and threatening the health of the ocean threatens the health of humanity, since oceans key to our survival.
At this moment in time, eutrophication is causing worldwide devastation to not only aquatic life, but the fishing industry. The release of nutrients into fresh water lakes, rivers and reservoirs leads to excessive growth of three different plant species:
Did you know that more than 90 percent of all organisms that have ever lived on Earth are extinct? According to Pandey, the author of Humans Pushing Marine Life toward ‘Major Extinction’, nearly 10,000 species go extinct each year, and this rate is estimated to be 1,000 times higher than the natural extinction rate (1). Human beings are causing irreversible damage to the oceans and their wildlife, which is being led by two major reasons: Commercial fishing or over-fishing, which damaged the marine environment and caused a loss in the marine life diversity, and pollution, which is a primary way of the extinction causes that drastically modifies the marine life habitat. As a result of the commercial fishing and pollution, many of the marine species will start disappearing of the oceans. Briggs emphasizes that over-fishing “has induced population collapses in many species. So instead of having less than a hundred species at risk, as was the case some 30-40 years ago, there are now a thousand or more (10).”
One of the big causes of extinction or the endangerment of species is foreign species entering a habitat. This species that are not native to the land can disrupt the food web in that community. These species take control of the food web and endanger some of the other species. The native species become endangered and over the course of many years they either adapt to their new way or life, the foreign predator leaves or is killed off due to the different environment, or the species is killed off and becomes extinct. Organizations like the “World Wild Li...
These results agree with the hypothesis that our “untouched and super-productive world” is affecting marine life ecosystems (Vannela, 2012). All of these results combined confirm the overall hypothesis that pollution is getting worse in the ocean and more marine life ecosystems are being affected, but there
The branch of science that deals with how living things, including humans, are related to their surroundings is called ecology . The Earth supports some 5 million species of plants, animals, and microorganisms. These interact and influence their surroundings, forming a vast network of interrelated environmental systems called ecosystems. The arctic tundra is an ecosystem and so is a Brazilian rain forest. The islands of Hawaii are a relatively isolated ecosystem. If left undisturbed, natural environmental systems tend to achieve balance or stability among the various species of plants and animals. Complex ecosystems are able to compensate for changes caused by weather or intrusions from migrating animals and are therefore usually said to be more stable than simple ecosystems. A field of corn has only one dominant species, the corn plant, and is a very simple ecosystem. It is easily destroyed by drought, insects, disease, or overuse. A forest may remain relatively unchanged by weather that would destroy a nearby field of corn, because the forest is characterized by greater diversity of plants and animals. Its complexity gives it stability.
This pictures demonstration the level of food chain in the ecosystem. The bottom level is the producer and the higher level will be the predator.
...Dennison, W. C., Duarte, C. M., Fourqurean, J. W., Heck, K. L., & Williams, S. L. (2006). A global crisis for seagrass ecosystems.Bioscience, 56(12), 987-996.