How to Maintain Balance of Life in the Ecosystem

An ecosystem is a set of interdependent relationships between living organisms and the nonliving components of an environment, such as water, air and sunlight. Ecosystems vary in size, and include not only plant and animal species, but humans as well. The health of an ecosystem depends on its balance of life, known as equilibrium, which is maintained through stable populations of species and available nutrients. To maintain the balance of life in an ecosystem requires that the non-living environment support the health and reproduction of the organisms living in it.

Instructions

• 1

  Identify ecosystem components. Determine which species live in the ecosystem and note the size of their populations in relation to one another. Assess the non-living features of the environment and how plant and animal species rely on the available natural resources. For instance, in the case of a freshwater ecosystem, observe how species use the resource for hydration, shelter and protection from predators, and how in turn the species' activities regenerate the water and help to maintain its quality.

• 2

  Evaluate the existing food chain. Within ecosystems, nutrients are distributed to support a balance of species, defined primarily by predator and prey relationships and a feeding gradient. A feeding gradient describes the successive levels of how species obtain the nutrients needed to sustain life. For instance, in a wetlands ecosystem, small fish typically feed on plankton, larger fish feed on smaller varieties, and water birds and mammals prey on larger fish. While food chains are subject to minor fluctuations, a balance of life requires fairly stable feeding relationships.

• 3

  Identify threats to balance of life.The balance of life in an ecosystem is disrupted when there is a major change in the population of a species or in the quality of a natural resource. Most disruptions are caused by outside influences, such as pollution, contamination or infection by a virus.

• 4

  Evaluate the source of the disruption. Within an ecosystem, problems typically result from harmful by-products of surrounding activities, such as the introduction of mercury into waterways. In this instance, although mercury is the immediate threat to balance of life, the source of the disruption is acid rain, which is in turn generated by industrial activities. Identifying the source of the imbalance requires tracing a contaminant or pollutant back to its origins.

• 5

  Eliminate the source of disruption. While difficult to achieve, to maintain the balance of life, ecosystems must be protected from harmful outside influences. While it is often not possible to fully eliminate the source of harm, levels of exposure can be modified to decrease associated risks. For example, agricultural pesticides are harmful to aquatic ecosystems, and yet are depended upon for modern food production. To preserve balance of life in this scenario, agricultural producers should prevent chemical runoff from entering into water sources, and when possible, should explore the use of less toxic pesticide alternatives.