Environmental Science

Man-made Ecosystems

Man-made EcosystemsIntroductionMan-made ecosystems are ecosystems which is made and controlled by human beings but meets all the criteria of an ecosystem.

Without human intervention and supervision, a man-made ecosystem will disintegrate.

Man-made ecosystems are comparatively less complex when compared to natural ecosystems.Whether built for leisure, scientific investigations or to provide food, they would not exist if humans hadn't first created them

It can also be called an Artificial Ecosystem.

Examples of Man-made EcosystemFarms

Fish tanks

Orchard

Park

Zoo

AgricultureIntroductionis the process of producing food, feed, fiber, fuel, and other goods by the systematic raising of plants and animals.

In modern usage, the word agriculture covers all activities essential to food/feed/fiber production, including all techniques for raising and processing livestock. Agriculture is also short for the study of the practice of agriculturemore formally known as agricultural science.

The history of agriculture is a major element of human history; agricultural progress has been a crucial factor in worldwide social change, including the specialization of human activity: when farmers became capable of producing food beyond the needs of their own families, others in the tribe or nation or empire were freed to devote themselves to tasks other than food acquisition.Negative Effects of AgricultureSurplus of nitrogen and phosphorus in rivers and lakes

Detrimental effects of herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, and other biocides

Conversion of natural ecosystems of all types into arable landConsolidation of diverse biomass into a few species

Soil erosion

Depletion of minerals in the soil

Particulate matter, including ammonia and ammonium off-gasing from animal waste contributing to air pollutionRelease of feral plants and animals

Odor from agricultural waste

Soil salinationAdditional InformationAgriculture is cited as a significant adverse impact to biodiversity in many nations' Biodiversity Action Plans, due to reduction of forests and other habitats when new lands are converted to farming.

Some critics also include agriculture as a cause of current global climate change.According to the United Nations, the livestock sector (primarily cattle, chickens, and pigs) emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to our most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to globalIt is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gases - responsible for 18% of the worlds greenhouse gas emissions as measured in CO2 equivalents.

By comparison, all transportation emits 13.5% of the CO2. It produces 65% of human-related nitrous oxide (which has 296 times the global warming potential of CO2) and 37% of all human-induced methane (which is 23 times as warming as CO2).Boundaries of the EcosystemIntroductionBoundaries define the spatial extent of the recognizable, self-contained entity comprising the ecosystem.

However, when boundaries are established using this approach, we must be aware that ecosystems are not entirely closed.

Ecosystem boundaries are zones of transitions between two adjacent habitats. They occur naturally in all biomes but the extent of boundaries has been greatly increased by anthropogenic habitat modificationTransition Zones. Transition zones are characterized by a profound change in the composition of plant and animal communities and that transition may be abrupt, gradual or even occur via a series of intermediate habitat types.

Naturally occurring ecosystem boundaries sometimes form a unique habitat to which species are specifically adapted, whereas anthropogenically created ecosystem boundaries typically contain a mixture of species from the two adjacent ecosystems and often exert a negative influence on natural habitatsAdjacent ecosystems are connected via flows of energy, material and organisms across ecosystem boundaries, and these flows can exert strong influences on the fertility and productivity of ecosystems. The magnitude of crosssystem fluxes is mediated by a wide range of variables.