Define environmental stress. Four concepts are basic to understanding environmental stress: interdependence, diversity, limits, and complexity. Discuss and give an example of each of these.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The ideal answer should include:
1. Environmental stress: Pressure on the environment caused by human activities or by natural events, which includes the interaction and conflict of three systems: the natural environment, the technological system, and the social system.
2. Interdependence, which literally means that everything is related to and depends on everything else; there is no beginning or end to the web of life.
3. Diversity, which refers to the existence of many different life and life-support forms. A basic principle of ecology is that the greater the diversity of species, the greater the probability of survival of any given one.
4. Limits, which includes several kinds. First, there is a finite limit to the growth of any organism. Second, there is a limit to the numbers of a given species that an environment-including other organisms-can support. Finally, there is a finite limit to the amount of materials available in Earth's ecosystem.
5. Complexity, which refers to the intricacy of the relationships that constitute the web. Because of this complexity, interventions in the environment frequently lead to unanticipated and undesired consequences.