Ecology_and_Population_Growth

Ecology and Population Growth Every second, three people are added to the world. Every day a quarter of a million are added. Every year, the population increases by 87 million people (Bryant, 2002). These often-quoted statistics are frequently used to support the argument that population growth should be stopped. Human population growth is one of the main causes of environmental degradation and loss of biodiversity (Forester and Machlis, 1996). The advances in agriculture which allowed us to feed the world have come at a cost to the environment. ''Human use of land alters the structure and functioning of the ecosystem'' (Vitousek, 1997). It is estimated that 39 to 50% of land has been ''transformed or degraded by humanity'' (Vitousek, 1997) and unless population growth is stopped, human activities will continue to wreak havoc on the world's ecosystems. In addition to causing ecosystem changes, human population growth has had a devastating impact on the world's biodiversity. The world's biggest population growth rates (approximately 1.8% a year) are in the 25 areas that biologists have identified as biodiversity hotspots (Cincotta, 2000). Habitat destruction in these areas is driving thousands of species to extinction every year (Wilson, 1989). The loss of biodiversity is completely irreversible (Wilson, 1989), and unless population growth is stopped we risk losing this valuable resource. With its impact on ecosystem function and on biodiversity, population growth has devastated the environment, and its economic impact is no less destructive. To improve the lives of the billions of people that already inhabit this earth, and the billions more that will come in the future, we need to take action to stop population growth. Our already large population has had a destructive impact on the environment, our most valuable resource. Population growth has also hindered the economic development of many third-world countries, and lessened the quality of life of its citizens. If the population continues to grow geometrically, and the environmental degradation along with it, we may face consequences more dire than even Malthus predicted. References Bryant, P. (2002). Human population growth. Website: Biodiversity and Conservation. Retrieved on December 15, 2010 from http://darwin.bio.uci.edu/~sustain/bio65/lec16/b65lec16.htm. Cincotta, R.(n.d.) Human population in the biodiversity hotspots. Nature, 404: 990-992. Forester, D.J. and Machlis, D. (1996). Modeling human factors that affect the loss of biodiversity. 1996. Conservation Biology, 10: 1253-1264.. Vitousek, P. M.(1997). Human domination of earth’s ecosystems. Science, 277: 494-499. Wilson, E.O.(1989). Threats to biodiversity. Scientific American. September: 108-116.