Page 46 - The Error of the Evolution of Species

The Error of the Evolution
of Species

Ecosystems and Biodiversity

A specific area's ecosystem includes all the living things
in it, as well as their physical surroundings. Lakes, forests,
and coral reefs, together with the living things they harbor,

are all examples of ecosystems. Lake Baikal in Siberia, for
instance, is an ecosystem containing 1,500 plant and animal
species. 33
Each ecosystem has its own unique variety of life. For
example, there are dozens of species of trees in a typical
North American forest, and hundreds in a South American
rain forest.
The point to be emphasized is that any balanced,
healthy ecosystem hosts a wide spectrum of living species.

A large number of species are linked to one another within
a very complex interconnected system, and these play a
greater or smaller part in the balanced functioning of the
ecosystem as a whole—so much so that sometimes, the ab-
sence of a single species can impair an entire system and
damage its equilibrium. For example, in the late 19 and
th
early 20 centuries, otters in the Northwest American and
th
Western Canadian coasts were hunted almost to the point of
extinction. The otters fed on sea urchins, and when these
mammals practically disappeared, sea urchins multiplied

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