Ecosystem Structure

The ecosystem is nature's mechanism for sustaining all forms of life on the planet. All forms of life and matter are a part a chain that has a part that contributes with sustaining another form of life or matter. One of the most interesting chains is the chain that human life plays a part in. I mentioned this chain because I believe that Human life play a part with sustaining life in different chains of life and matter,some are natural some man made. I think the man-made life sustaining efforts of humans should be included because even though they are man made, they are life sustaining efforts made by humans. And they are made by a product of human life to sustain human and natural life. One natural chain of life sustained by human life is plant life. Plants produce oxygen by the process of photosynthesis from the light energy from the sun.As plant life produce this oxygen, humans use it to sustain. To complete this circle of nature, humans exhale carbon dioxide that is the life sustaining gas of plant life.

Humans learned how to utilize all forms of the biogeochemical cycles to either aid sustaining their own life cycle, such as the use of macronutrients to enhance the quality of their lives, and the life cycle of other animal life by feeding or use them as tools to perform other tasks such as to produce fire or even fly.

As the number of humans and other animals increase on the planet, the demands on the ecosystem to aide with the substation of life increased. Conservation methods such as plant rotation and soil fertilization have been used for years to utilize the natural resources for grown food to the fullest. Modern times and the ever increasing human population created the need to make the conservation of natural resources a science. As the use of the planets natural resources expanded from the use of sustaining life for humans and animals to produce conveniences to make life comfortable, the demand on the ecosystem has been expanded to the limits.

In the 60's and 70's efficiency was not a main consideration in the production of conveniences such as automobiles, construction, and energy. The use of forestation, petroleum, water, and air was grossly abused at a cost for comfort and convenience. In construction, the absence of alternative building materials along with the production of other products that used wood based materials such as paper put a strain on forestation. The cost of petroleum was low and automotive manufacturers emphasized the construction of their automobiles on speed and making them heavy to make them have a comfortable ride. Fuel economy was never a consideration. Americans loved their big gas guzzling cars. As the NAFTA Agreement was passed and "Global Economy" became the buzz words, other countries entered into the automotive manufacturing business and a whole new class of automotive buyers came into the market and the demand of petroleum products skyrocketed. Not