Predators and Ecosystem Management
Predators have an everlasting effect on different kinds of ecosystems. They influence
there ecosystems by controlling the abundance of lower species certain habitats. In this
article, "Predators and Ecosystem Management" by (James A. Estes). He explains results
of case studies that indicate important ecological roles for predators in a huge coastal
ecosystem. The main challenge in this article is to determine if there are recurrent
patterns else where in nature and to also understand when and where they occur.
The author gives his perspective on predators and the coastal ecosystems by giving us a
living example, the sea otter and the kelp forests. The relation between the sea otters
and the kelp-forests was provided because of a accident of history, the over-exploitation
of sea otters in the Pacific maritime fur trade. The study compared areas where sea
otters were abundant with nearby areas to area's where they're almost extinct. By doing
this comparison of the sea otters coastal system it was possible to gain much insight
into the sea otter ecological role in kelp-forest ecosystem.
Over the years it's been possible for us to observe the kelp-forest ecosystem over-time,
thanks to the massive growth of the sea otters population we observed the change from
otter-free to otter-dominated.
This article relates to many aspects of our textbook. On page 89 in chapter 5 the text
explains what an ecosystem is, defined by the book, it's a community of species
interacting with one another where there is a non-living environment. In this case the
otter and kelp-forests ecosystems a coastal ecosystem. As mentioned in the book, the food
chain is involved in the sequence of events with the organism that are the source of the
food. In a survey of coastal habitats in many areas of the North Pacific Ocean have
revealed that kelp forests usually are extensively deforested where sea otters are absent
whereas this condition is rare where occur ( Estes and Duggins 1995).
All ecosystem management has recently emerged as the main way of conversation in
wildlife biology and as an alternative to the traditional approach of species-level
management. This kind of approach, (1) has involved many resource-management agencies
because of the growth or disappearance of their habitats, and (2) the amount of species
is great and the time is too short to conserve these species in any other way.
Bibliography
1) Estes, James A.,1996,24(s): Predator and ecosystem management,
Wildlife Society Bulletin, Ca, pg.390-396.
2) Miller, Tyler G.,1996,Living In The Environnment,
Wadsworth Publishing Company,Ca. pg.122,105-107.
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