The world is on the brink of evolving into a completely artificial society. While it was<\/p>\n\n\n\n
once thriving with thousands of ecosystems, our planet faces a drastic decrement in<\/p>\n\n\n\n
these biological communities due to the many activities undertaken by humankind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Examples of our contributions include the exploitation of several natural habitats to<\/p>\n\n\n\n
make room for the Earth’s overgrowing population, the harvest of natural resources for<\/p>\n\n\n\n
other purposes and the pressure from agriculture. These activities harm the organisms<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and their habitats, reducing the carrying capacity for indigenous flora and fauna, which,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
unfortunately, leads to the extinction of these species and thus brings a slow burn end<\/p>\n\n\n\n
toward the Earth’s natural diversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As inhabitants of the Earth, it is our responsibility to protect everything that has been<\/p>\n\n\n\n
passed onto us. We suffer the consequences of our actions by having to undergo<\/p>\n\n\n\n
natural disasters such as landslides and floods (the aftermath of deforestation). We now<\/p>\n\n\n\n
have to work with what we have; support the recovery of destroyed ecosystems,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
preserve the ones being threatened and conserve those still intact. Several methods<\/p>\n\n\n\n
can be followed (mostly long-term approaches) to build upon this for a better future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, all systems have one step that is required; educating one's self thoroughly on<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the topic. Regularly scour the news for the latest updates on the environment (both<\/p>\n\n\n\n
globally and country-wise) to make sure you have up-to-date information. Use the<\/p>\n\n\n\n
internet to look for resources such as publicly available research papers by experts on<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the subject, a list of petitions started by recognised organisations fighting for wildlife,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and so much more. Remember to use more than one resource to make sure you have<\/p>\n\n\n\n
accurate information to avoid biases and outdated data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To support the recovery of already destroyed ecosystems, three main factors need to<\/p>\n\n\n\n
be recovered: biodiversity, function and connectivity. Degraded ecosystems are missing<\/p>\n\n\n\n
species, or even whole functional groups, such as top-level predators. The first measure<\/p>\n\n\n\n
to restore biodiversity would be sowing native seeds or grafting individual plants. Plants<\/p>\n\n\n\n
in an ecosystem play the role of the keystone species. Without them, an ecosystem is<\/p>\n\n\n\n
unable to function. When restoring function, an important statement to remember is that<\/p>\n\n\n\n
complex interactions need to resume after being degraded. One way to renew function<\/p>\n\n\n\n
is to replace the disturbed cycles with a new one that encourages succession patterns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ensuring healthy hereditary diversity requires drawing from a large genetic pool. It also<\/p>\n\n\n\n
requires creating physical connections for travel that allow the exchange of genetic<\/p>\n\n\n\n
information across the landscape. This helps restore connectivity, and when all three<\/p>\n\n\n\n
factors have been fulfilled, restores destroyed ecosystems. You can help out with<\/p>\n\n\n\n
restoration activities in your community; restorations involve labour-intensive activities<\/p>\n\n\n\n
like removing invasive species or collecting native seeds for planting, which are<\/p>\n\n\n\n
accomplished with the help of volunteer groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To conserve threatened ecosystems, simply fencing off areas of high biodiversity isn’t<\/p>\n\n\n\n
enough. Conservation experts have realized in the past few decades that each<\/p>\n\n\n\n
preserved space creates an island of protected habitat but leaves the edges and the spaces in between unprotected. In regions where multiple islands of preserved habitat<\/p>\n\n\n\n
already exist, the proposal of connecting the islands with narrow regions. Connecting<\/p>\n\n\n\n
areas of landscape with protected corridors allows species to travel between the islands<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and greatly increases their habitat size without being affected by human activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lastly, to protect the ecosystems which remain intact, several measures can be taken<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(and many of them require little to no effort). For example, garbage categorization can<\/p>\n\n\n\n
help in dividing and selecting wastes that can be recycled. Reducing the demand for<\/p>\n\n\n\n
freshwater helps allocate water to arid, drought-stricken environments, you can save<\/p>\n\n\n\n
water by installing a showerhead tha’s low-flow or by turning off the faucet when it’s not<\/p>\n\n\n\n
in use. While more and more regulations are being made to ban plastic bags in grocery<\/p>\n\n\n\n
shops, you don’t need to wait for that to happen to take action; acquire a reusable<\/p>\n\n\n\n
grocery bag to use throughout your grocery shopping trips. Finally, consider using<\/p>\n\n\n\n
reusable batteries. The corrosive acid inherent in batteries is a major issue at landfills,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
where it can end up entering the soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As written above, there are many ways to save our ecosystem and most of it can be<\/p>\n\n\n\n
done inside our homes. A small change will be effective in the long run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CITATIONS:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
[1]Becker, A. B. (2019). How can people restore a damaged ecosystem. Sciencing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n