[INFORMATIVE] Overpopulation and its Effects on Ecosystems

Overpopulation and its Effects on Ecosystems

By: Bella Duncan

Overpopulation is the excessive amount of people on Earth, but how would overpopulation affect the ecosystem?

Deforestation
Overpopulation is a major driver of deforestation. As the global population grows, more food is required, which means more land for agriculture is needed. According to a HelpSaveNature article titled, ‘How is Deforestation Related to Population Growth’, the increasing population means a higher demand for food, which leads to the clearing of forests to make way for farms. This not only removes trees but also displaces wildlife, disrupting ecosystems.

Another example of how overpopulation causes deforestation is building homes and infrastructure. As population increases, more room is needed for homes, stores, and other infrastructure so trees are cut down. When more trees are cut down to create homes and stores, fewer trees convert carbon to oxygen and even more homes emit carbon. However, room to build homes for people is not the only result of deforestation, many animals and insects lose their homes as well. According to Adopt An Animal Kits article titled, ‘Deforestation: Clearing The Path For Wildlife Extinctions the article states, “Seventy percent of Earth’s plants and animals dwell in forests, and deforestation affects them directly. Once their habitat is lost, they are on their way to extinction.” If any of those animals go extinct in their ecosystems, it will unbalance the whole ecosystem. However, deforestation provides animals, plants, and insects a larger chance of extinction. An alternate quote from the same article by Adopt An Animal Kits says, “According to recent estimates, the world is losing 137 species of plants, animals, and insects every day to deforestation. A horrifying 50,000 species become extinct each year.” The impact of these extinctions will affect all ecosystems around the world. More abrupt extinctions due to deforestation can harm forest regrowth. Not only that, but animal extinctions can endanger other animals as well.

An example of this is the Tasmanian tiger, which went extinct due to deforestation. European settlers trespassed into the Tasmanian tiger’s land and cleared out the trees, which led the tiger to become endangered, and later extinct. Due to the Tasmanian tiger becoming extinct, the red-necked wallaby, the Tasmanian tiger's main prey became overpopulated. Since the wallabies became overpopulated, their main food source, macropod pellets, faced a large shortage. Without macropod pellets, there was a large decrease in population. Additionally, other animals who ate macropod pellets, such as kangaroos, struggled to find food until the pellets replenished over time. Therefore, since the population increased in the Tasmanian tiger's habitat, land needed to be cleared for housing which meant deforestation and the loss of the Tasmanian tiger's habitat.

A solution to minimize overpopulation's effect on deforestation and the ecosystem is to build more apartment complexes or multi-family homes. Doing this would allow many people to live in the same space and pay less money than they would have to if they lived in a single-family home. This solution would especially help with overpopulation because apartment complexes can fit hundreds of people in one space, and it would mean saving more trees since builders wouldn’t be building individual homes.

Pollution
Overpopulation has been the cause of more and more pollution throughout recent decades. Overpopulation pollutes the environment because more people are consuming single-use bottles and bags. Additionally, most people drive petrol cars which contributes to carbon emissions.

According to a Population Connection article titled, ‘The Connections Between Population and Climate Change Info Brief’, Population growth, along with increasing consumption, tends to increase emissions of climate-changing greenhouse gasses. Overpopulation is becoming a problem for humans, but what about animals and their ecosystems?

For example, the rise in the temperature of the ocean has been causing the ocean ecosystem to undergo coral bleaching. The bleaching has caused the displacement of many species of fish and other marine life and made them vulnerable to predators. For example, when a fish becomes helpless to predators due to the coral clownfish being one; clownfish belong to the family called pomacentridae, which includes ray-finned fish. The point is that these fishes depend on coral reefs. If the reefs disappear, clownfish might become an endangered species, which also affects sea anemones because clownfish fertilize them with their feces. Therefore, if the clownfish went extinct, it would not be able to facilitate sea anemones reproducing that frequently. That, in turn, means sea stars will not have the main course of food-sea anemones often, so they may become endangered, too.

Overpopulation pollution not only causes climate change that affects ocean and land life, but also the trash accumulated from the population ends up in the sea and forests. According to an article by Sea Turtle Conservancy titled, ‘Information About Sea Turtles: Threats from Marine Debris’, Over 1 million marine animals (including mammals, fish, sharks, turtles, and birds) are killed each year due to plastic debris in the ocean. Evidently, pollution caused by humans truly does affect animals and ecosystems. If sharks were to go extinct because of climate change and pollution, orcas would have no main predators and would grow in population, leading to the overconsumption of various fishes. This could lead to the possible endangerment of various fish species and marine plant species.

One solution to reducing pollution is to use reusable items like bags, bottles, and straws. These reusable products range from but are not limited to plastic bags, plastic bottles, and plastic straws. Replacing each single-use product with reusable products decreases the amount of plastic buried in landfills and oceans. Correspondingly, in the article entitled "Unearthing the Truth About Reusable Grocery Bags" proposed by MACORR, even though 53% of grocery shoppers in the US make use of single-use bags, 39% have switched to re-usable polypropylene or fabric bags. That means progress is being made, but there's still much room for improvement in new and further sustainable habits.

Conclusion
In conclusion, overpopulation greatly affects the earth’s ecosystem. This is shown by the fact that overpopulation can cause deforestation, pollution, and many more issues. However, in this article, the effects overpopulation had on ecosystems were communicated using deforestation and pollution as examples. The article provided solutions to mitigate and minimize the population's effects on ecosystems such as reusing bags and bottles, and creating apartment complexes.

Citations
“The Connections between Population and Climate Change.” Population Connection, 2 Nov. 2023, populationconnection.org/resources/population-and-climate/#:~:text=Population%20growth%2C%20along%20with%20increasing,climate%20change%20by%20straining%20resources.

“Deforestation: Clearing the Path for Wildlife Extinctions.” Deforestation: Clearing The Path For Wildlife Extinctions - Wild Earth News & Facts, www.earthandanimals.com/advocate/wild-earth/params/post/1278141/deforestation-clearing-the-path-for-wildlife-extinctions#:~:text=According%20to%20recent%20estimates%2C%20the,species%20become%20extinct%20each%20year. Accessed 9 Sept. 2024.

“Information about Sea Turtles: Threats from Marine Debris.” Sea Turtle Conservancy, conserveturtles.org/information-sea-turtles-threats-marine-debris/#:~:text=The%20Problem%3A%20Over%201%20million,in%20oceans%20around%20the%20world. Accessed 9 Sept. 2024.

Mlblevins. “How Is Deforestation Related to Population Growth?” Help Save Nature, 17 Dec. 2021, helpsavenature.com/how-is-deforestation-related-to-population-growth.

“Unearthing the Truth about Reusable Grocery Bags.” MaCorr Research Blog, www.macorr.com/blog/?p=142#:~:text=A%20recent%20market%20research%20study%20from%20MaCorr%20reveals%20the%20truth.&text=While%20the%20majority%20of%20frequent,reusable%20polypropylene%20or%20fabric%20bags. Accessed 9 Sept. 2024.