Ecosystem Loss (HL IB Biology)

• The term ecosystem is used to describe all of the living organisms in an area, along with their interactions with each other and the non-living environment
• Human activities are responsible for damaging and destroying many ecosystems around the world
  • E.g. the destruction of habitat during deforestation

Anthropogenic ecosystem loss case study: mixed dipterocarp forest in Southeast Asia

• Dipterocarps are a family of trees that occur in the tropics, and that once formed a crucial part of a complex rainforest ecosystem that dominated Southeast Asia
• These rainforests are being gradually lost, with some parts of Southeast Asia having lost more than 50 % of their forests
• Forest is often lost due to a practice known as clear-cutting, where all of the trees in an area are cut down and removed
  • This provides timber and clears land for agriculture, e.g. palm oil plantations

K.Yoganand, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Dipterocarp forests used to dominate Southeast Asia, but are being lost to deforestation

Anthropogenic ecosystem loss case study: student choice

• A second case study should be chosen and researched
• Consider the following factors
  • The ecosystem chosen should be from a local or familiar region
  • The ecosystem loss must be due to human activities
  • The case studies above give an indication of the level of detail required
• Examples of ecosystem loss from different parts of the world include:
  • Great Barrier Reef, Australia
  • Northern Great Plains, North America
  • Mangrove forests, various locations