Man-made Ecosystems

Introduction
Man-made ecosystems are ecosystems which is
made and controlled by human beings but meets
all the criteria of an ecosystem.
Without human intervention and supervision, a
man-made ecosystem will disintegrate.
Man-made ecosystems are comparatively less
complex when compared to natural ecosystems.

 Whether built for leisure, scientific

investigations or to provide food, they would not
exist if humans hadn't first created them
It can also be called an Artificial Ecosystem.

Examples of Man-made Ecosystem

Farms

Fish tanks

Orchard

Park

Zoo

Agriculture

Introduction
is the process of producing food, feed, fiber, fuel,
and other goods by the systematic raising of
plants and animals.
In modern usage, the word agriculture covers all
activities essential to food/feed/fiber
production, including all techniques for raising
and processing livestock.

 Agriculture is also short for the study of the practice of

agriculturemore formally known as agricultural
science.
The history of agriculture is a major element of human
history; agricultural progress has been a crucial factor in
worldwide social change, including the specialization of
human activity: when farmers became capable of
producing food beyond the needs of their own families,
others in the tribe or nation or empire were freed to
devote themselves to tasks other than food acquisition.

Negative Effects of Agriculture

Surplus of nitrogen and phosphorus in rivers
and lakes
Detrimental effects of herbicides, fungicides,
insecticides, and other biocides
Conversion of natural ecosystems of all types
into arable land

 Consolidation of diverse biomass into a few species

Soil erosion
Depletion of minerals in the soil
Particulate matter, including ammonia and
ammonium off-gasing from animal waste
contributing to air pollution

 Release of feral plants and animals

Odor from agricultural waste
Soil salination

Additional Information
Agriculture is cited as a significant adverse
impact to biodiversity in many nations'
Biodiversity Action Plans, due to reduction of
forests and other habitats when new lands are
converted to farming.
Some critics also include agriculture as a cause
of current global climate change.

 According to the United Nations, the livestock

sector (primarily cattle, chickens, and pigs)
emerges as one of the top two or three most
significant contributors to our most serious
environmental problems, at every scale from
local to global

 It is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gases responsible for 18% of the worlds greenhouse gas
emissions as measured in CO2 equivalents.
By comparison, all transportation emits 13.5% of the
CO2. It produces 65% of human-related nitrous
oxide (which has 296 times the global warming
potential of CO2) and 37% of all human-induced
methane (which is 23 times as warming as CO 2).

Boundaries of the Ecosystem

Introduction
Boundaries define the spatial extent of the
recognizable, self-contained entity comprising
the ecosystem.
However, when boundaries are established using
this approach, we must be aware that ecosystems
are not entirely closed.

 Ecosystem boundaries are zones of transitions

between two adjacent habitats. They occur
naturally in all biomes but the extent of
boundaries has been greatly increased by
anthropogenic habitat modification

Transition Zones
. Transition zones are characterized by a profound
change in the composition of plant and animal
communities and that transition may be abrupt, gradual
or even occur via a series of intermediate habitat types.
Naturally occurring ecosystem boundaries sometimes
form a unique habitat to which species are specifically
adapted, whereas anthropogenically created ecosystem
boundaries typically contain a mixture of species from
the two adjacent ecosystems and often exert a negative
influence on natural habitats

 Adjacent ecosystems are connected via flows of

energy, material and organisms across
ecosystem boundaries, and these flows can exert
strong influences on the fertility and
productivity of ecosystems. The magnitude of
crosssystem fluxes is mediated by a wide range
of variables.