Question
- What are some impacts humans
may have on the abiotic and biotic
factors of a marine ecosystem?
Type your answer here.
may have on the abiotic and biotic
factors of a marine ecosystem?
Type your answer here.
Ask by Turnbull Ray. in the United States
Mar 31,2025
Upstudy AI Solution
Tutor-Verified Answer
Answer
Humans impact marine ecosystems by changing water temperature, making it too warm for corals, increasing ocean acidity that harms shell-building creatures, and introducing pollutants that can cause oxygen depletion. They also overfish, destroy habitats like coral reefs and seagrass beds, bring in invasive species that outcompete native ones, and create noise and light pollution that disrupt marine life behaviors.
Solution
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Abiotic Factors:
- Temperature Changes: Human-induced climate change leads to warmer ocean waters. This increase in temperature can cause phenomena such as coral bleaching, where corals expel the symbiotic algae that are crucial for their survival.
- Ocean Acidification: The absorption of excess atmospheric
by seawater leads to a decrease in pH. The resulting acidification can impair the ability of calcifying organisms to build their shells and skeletons. - Pollution: Discharge of pollutants (e.g., plastics, heavy metals, agricultural runoff) alters the chemical composition of marine environments. Elevated nutrient levels, for instance, can cause eutrophication, which depletes oxygen in the water.
- Physical Alterations: Human activities like dredging, coastal development, and bottom trawling disturb the marine substrate and modify the physical structure of habitats.
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Biotic Factors:
- Overfishing: The removal of key species disrupts food webs and alters population dynamics. This can lead to imbalances where predator-prey relationships are shifted, causing cascading effects throughout the ecosystem.
- Habitat Destruction: Activities such as coastal construction and destructive fishing practices damage essential habitats like coral reefs, seagrass beds, and mangroves. These habitats are important for feeding, breeding, and sheltering various marine species.
- Introduction of Invasive Species: Humans can inadvertently or intentionally introduce non-native species that compete with, prey on, or bring diseases to native species, thereby altering community structures.
- Noise and Light Pollution: Increased underwater noise from shipping and coastal lighting can interfere with communication, reproduction, and navigation in marine organisms, impacting their behaviors and survival.
By affecting both the abiotic and biotic components, human activities can significantly alter the balance and health of marine ecosystems.
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Humans can significantly alter marine ecosystems through pollution, overfishing, and climate change. Pollution from land runoff, like plastics and chemicals, can harm both the water quality (abiotic factor) and the organisms that inhabit it (biotic factor). Overfishing not only depletes fish populations but also disrupts predator-prey relationships, ultimately altering the biodiversity of the ecosystem.
Moreover, climate change is warming ocean waters and causing acidification, which affects the ability of organisms like corals and shellfish to thrive. As sea temperatures rise, many marine species are forced to migrate, leading to shifts in community structures and potentially threatening local fisheries and economies.
