Ecosystems, Human Impact, and Environmental Challenges
In general, human action on ecosystems produces an effect of simplification or reduction of immature ecosystem states, resulting in decreased diversity. According to a general environmental law, this results in a decrease in stability. The most important effects of this action are the extinction of species, destruction of natural ecosystems replaced by social ecosystems, and pollution. These events have further highlighted the need for holistic approaches and integrated science as ecology because they are insoluble problems if taken from any partial viewpoint.
Neither are the ecological problems new, nor is ecology only a fad. As early as the Neolithic Age, 10,000 years ago, men were felling forests for timber and planting seeds with growing plants from which they then fed. So were altered ecosystems in which these communities lived. Much later, in Greece, Plato left written testimony of the deforestation of certain mountains of Attica, which had remained as the skeleton of a body emaciated by illness. The water, observed the philosopher, was not lost then as today, lying on the bare ground.
Of course, the problem is not confined to antiquity. Throughout history, few land areas remained unaffected by human action. For example, from the 1950s of the twentieth century, agriculture grew, favored by discoveries in genetic engineering and in the field of agrochemicals. This increased use of land caused degradation and the need to exploit new areas.
The Earth today faces a serious risk of contamination and death of plants and animals, and soil, air, rivers, and seas that sustain life. Realizing the gravity of the situation, the member countries of the United Nations met in 1992 at the World Conference on Environment and Development, known as the Summit of Rio de Janeiro. There, governments, scientists, and journalists from around the world reported and alerted on the problems of industrial and technological development.
The extent of contamination and its relation to ecology has often led to the idea that their study is the primary object of this science. In fact, pollution has on the ecology of theoretical interest derived from the potential of knowing the functioning of ecosystems, comparing contaminated with uncontaminated ones.
Levels of Organization
In living matter, there are varying degrees of complexity, called organizational levels. Within these levels, we can differentiate abiotic (nonliving matter) and biotic (living matter, i.e., the four functions of living things) levels. The different levels are:
A. Levels of Abiotic Organization
Abiotic organizational levels are those that also exist in inanimate matter. There are three:
1. Subatomic Level
Composed of smaller particles that matter, like protons, neutrons, and electrons.
2. Atomic Level
The atoms are living beings, and we call them bioelements. Of all the chemical elements in the periodic system, approximately 70% of them can be found in organic matter at the atomic level, which make up atoms, which are the smallest part of a chemical element that can take part in a reaction.