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Studying coral health in St. Thomas. Ecosystem health is a metaphor used to describe the condition of an ecosystem. [1] [2] Ecosystem condition can vary as a result of fire, flooding, drought, extinctions, invasive species, climate change, mining, fishing, farming or logging, chemical spills, and a host of other reasons.
Health ecology (also known as eco-health) is an emerging field that studies the impact of ecosystems on human health. It examines alterations in the biological , physical , social , and economic environments to understand how these changes affect mental and physical human health.
In industrialized Western society, ecosystems have been managed primarily to maximize yields of a particular natural resource. [5] This method for managing ecosystems can be seen in the U.S. Forest Service's shift away from sustaining ecosystem health and toward maximizing timber production to support residential development following World War ...
The presence or absence of certain plant or other vegetative life in an ecosystem can provide important clues about the health of the environment: environmental preservation. There are several types of plant biomonitors, including mosses, lichens, tree bark, bark pockets, tree rings, and leaves.
The health of the overall population (and the size of the weakened population members) will also influence the way that parasites and diseases will transmit among members. [4] Additionally, competition and predation dynamics in the ecosystem can influence the density of potential hosts which can either propagate or limit the spread of diseases. [4]
Healthy ecosystems provide important ecosystem services that can contribute to climate change adaptation. For example, healthy mangrove ecosystems provide protection from the impacts of climate change, often for some of the world's most vulnerable people, by absorbing wave energy and storm surges, adapting to rising sea levels, and stabilizing shorelines from erosion.
For example, in the Mountain West, the fire cycle was every five to 30 years for ponderosa pine forests, typically found at 5,500-7,500 feet of elevation. The cycles may be longer or shorter ...
An example of an ecosystem service is pollination, here by a honey bee on avocado crop. Ecosystem services are the various benefits that humans derive from healthy ecosystems. These ecosystems, when functioning well, offer such things as provision of food, natural pollination of crops, clean air and water, decomposition of wastes, or flood ...