Word: ecosystem
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...cows find delectable. As the supply of saltbush is eaten, the lark bunting population declines. Without the birds to eat grasshoppers, the insects begin to proliferate and compete with cows for grass. In the end, the cows' survival is at stake. With basic information about the entire grasslands ecosystem, the problem may become manageable...
...life. Ecology is a complex synthesis of many aspects of science, but simple principles can be taught to young children in the form of natural history. Though a branch of biology, it should be treated as a distinctive study for all students; then, hopefully, unrestricted exploitation of the ecosystem will cease to be regarded as a virtue...
Stevens missed the whole point: the arctic ecosystem is full of life (including Eskimos) but is so vulnerable to pollution that the North Slope threatens to become a classic example of man's mindless destruction. The intense cold impedes nature's ability to heal itself; tire marks made in the tundra 25 years ago are still plainly visible. What most worries ecologists, in fact, is man's blindness to his own utter dependency on all ecosystems, such as oceans, coastal estuaries, forests and grasslands. Those ecosystems constitute the biosphere, a vast web of interacting organisms and processes that form...
...process is governed by distinct laws of life and balance. One is adaptation: each species finds a precise niche in the ecosystem that supplies it with food and shelter. At the same time, all animals have the defensive power to multiply faster than their own death rates. As a result, predators are required to hold the population within the limits of its food supply. The wolf that devours the deer is a blessing to the community, if not to the individual deer. Still another law is the necessity of diversity. The more different species there are in an area...
Ecologist LaMont Cole raises the crowding problem. Since 80% of the population is likely to live in cities occupying only 2% of the land, the sheer density of people will strain what might be called the urban ecosystem. Asks Cole: "Are we selecting for genetic types only those who can satisfy their aesthetic needs in congested cities? Are the Davy Crocketts and Kit Carsons who are born today being destined for asylums, jails or suicide...