Name ________________

Student #_____

How do people upset the balance of nature?

An environment is constantly changing. Sometimes, the changes work together
to keep the environment in balance. In a balanced environment, the size of the
population remains about the same over time.
Sometimes the balance in an environment is upset. Many times people upset
the balance of nature. They do this by destroying the habitats of other living
things. For example, people cut down forests for farms and towns. They build
dams and dig mines. All of these human activities can be harmful to other
organisms in the environment. Many species of animals are finding it hard to
survive because of the ways people have upset the balance of nature.
People also upset the balance of nature by causing pollution. You probably know
that pollution is a major problem. Pollution is anything that harms the
environment. It occurs when harmful substances, or pollutants are released
into the environment. Pollution of the air, land, and water are all major
problems. Today many different substances are poisoning the environment and
upsetting natures balance. And we cannot think of just air pollution, or just
water pollution, or just land pollution. Pollution may start out in one part of the
environment. But it does not remain there. It S-P-R-E-A-D-S to all parts.
Pollution is increasing daily. Like other organisms, people also suffer from the
effects of pollution in the form of illness, birth defects, respiratory
diseases, and many other problems. Therefore, we must all work together to
help reduce pollution.
Though we like to think that many disturbances of plant communities are
reversible, even simple disturbances can cause permanent change. Old covered
wagon routes across western North America are still visible more than one
hundred years after they were used. Where the soil has been compacted, the
growing conditions have changed. The trail ruts, not used for many years, still
grow smaller plants and some different plant species. Will they ever look the
same as the rest of the prairie grassland? No one really knows.

Some human disturbance is much more serious. Perhaps the most widespread
serious damage humans are causing now is in the tropical rain forest. The
complex plant and animal life in rain forests is used to make new products and
has uses that we have just barely begun to discover and appreciate. Even more
critical is the impact rain forests have on the chemical balance of our
atmosphere. Today more and more people, industries, and countries use fossil
fuels like coal, oil, and gas. When fossil fuels are used they release large
amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Rain forests, which use great
quantities of carbon dioxide, are being destroyed. Scientists believe that the
increase of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere is contributing to the long-term
warming of our earth. This warming is called the greenhouse effect.
The direct disturbance of plant communities by human activity does two things
to the normal course of plant succession. First, it can simply start the
successional sequence all over again. Second, it can actually affect the
environment so much that it will take much longer or in some cases never again
grow to the original climax community. It is hard to predict how permanent the
effects of many direct human interactions with plant communities will be.

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ways that humans upset the balance of nature

and affect succession.