Question

How does killing of animals affect ecological balance?

Answer 1

Animals have their distinct position in the food chain and food web. Their killing leads to ecological imbalances as discussed below:

• 1. Carnivores which are mostly killed or hunted down by people play a vital role in the delicate balance of ecosystems that cannot be undone by humans hunting the animals normally they prey on.
• 2. The killing of carnivores leads to an increase in browsing animals like deer and elk. This has a cascading effect, disturbing the growth of vegetation and populations of certain small mammals and birds. Example, Drop-in sea otters hunted by killer whales led to an increase in sea urchins and decrease in kelp beds.
• 3. Disturbance in carnivore population leads to damage of crops, alterations of stream structures and variation of huge amount and diversity of birds, invertebrates, mammals, and reptiles.
• 4. Keeping herbivores under the eye and letting woody plants to flourish, storage of carbon.
• 5. They also act as a buffer against climate change.
• 6. Killing herbivores leads to the increase in the forests as well as an imbalance in the ecological system, leading carnivore to prey upon human habitats or frequent preying.
• 7. The loss in the organisms like fungi and bacteria to which the excretion of herbivores is useful, causing an imbalance in the ecological system.