Question

How does the killing of animals affect ecological balance?

Answer 1

Ecosystem is the functional unit of nature where there is an interaction among living organisms and with their surrounding environment. There is an interaction between biotic and abiotic components of the environment. Biotic factors include plants, animals, and other living organisms. Abiotic components consist of rocks, soil, wind, temperature, etc. All of these factors are dependent on each other directly or indirectly.

Complete answer:
- It is very well known that a change in temperature changes the weather, and thus affects the plants growing there and the animals surviving there as the death of plants would lead to scarcity of food for animals that depend on plants. The green plants of an ecosystem are called producers.
- The herbivores feed on these green plants and are called primary consumers. There are some animals that feed on these small herbivores such as rabbits or deer, those animals are called secondary consumers which include animals like wolves.
- Then there are animals like lions and man which feed on these secondary consumers and are called tertiary consumers. This pattern of getting eaten by one animal is called a food chain. Few food chains join together to form a food web. The death of any of the organisms at any level might lead to the death of the animal that used to feed on it due to its food scarcity.
- For example, wolves feed on rabbits, if there is the mass killing of rabbits then there will be the death of wolves too because of the unavailability of food for wolves.

Note: The killing of animals leads to an imbalance of the ecosystem. Carnivores are killed by the hunters and poachers for their skin and other products, this increases the number of deer and rabbits which feed on grasses and other plants leading to overgrazing that would increase deforestation. The animals also act as a buffer against climate change. Therefore, it is very important for us to protect animals as well. Both animals and plants are equally important to maintain the ecological balance.