Dr Hector PereraƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  LondonƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

A biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment is an ecosystem. ThisƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ is a living community of plants and animals sharing an environment with non-living elements such as climate and soil. This might sound difficult to understand but think this way. An ecosystem can be very small, such as a puddle or an area under a large rock, or it can be vast, such as an ocean. A small bog, a single sand dune or a tiny patch of the forest may be viewed as an ecosystem where the inhabitants live. These inhabitants may be small creatures such as ants, worms, scorpions or even spiders. I am sure even school children can find these ecosystems in his back or front garden or even at the school grounds. As mentioned these ecosystems could be many square miles long such as forests, lakes or even oceans.

A survey on birds was conducted at Mattakelle Tea Estate with the objective of assessing theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ significance of a given tea plantation ecosystem in maintaining avifaunal diversity. Seven differentƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ habitats were identified in the ecosystem namely home garden, seasonal stream, small scale reservoir,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Eucalyptus forest, wetland, tea field and secondary forests. The survey wasƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ published by Department of Forestry and Environmental Science, University of Sri Jayewardenepura by D. Kottawa-Arachchi, R. N. Gamage, H. A. C. K. Ariyarathne, G. G. Jayathilake.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Rubber based agro-forestry involve complex and diversified cropping system that combines the growing of rubber and other agricultural crops in one area. A desirable rubber based cropping system would give a good economic yield while protecting the environment, conserving soil, water and nutrients.

The balance of an ecosystem is delicate, and a disruption such as the introduction of a new element can damage it. That means in anƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ecosystem, short for ‘ecological systemƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ that includes all the living organisms existing together in a particular area.

For example, when rabbits were introduced into Australia it upset the ecological balance. Like many small native animals, rabbits live in burrows and eat plants. They thrived in Australia and competed for food and living space, which has resulted in some native animals becoming endangered.

Plants, Animals, and Ecosystems

Most plants and animals live in areas with very specific climate conditions, such as temperature and rainfall patterns, that enable them to thrive. Any change in the climate of an area can affect the plants and animals living there, as well as the makeup of the entire ecosystem. Some species are already responding to a warmer climate by moving to cooler locations.

Ecological expedition

When I was teaching at Stafford College Colombo, some sixth formers and a few members of the staff went on an ecological trip to see the adaptation of flora and fauna to different environments. I can remember that I also went to the Principal, Mr Ranjith Wijemanne and convinced that the students needed to experience by first hand witness the different environments that mean we wanted to go to upcountry as well to seaside environments based on educational value.

We ventured to different interesting places such as Peradeniya and Haggala botanical gardens and many more places. Then we went to Nuwara Eliya then to WorldƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s end. Believe me, itƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s a really different environment to Colombo. The winding Mahaweli River among the bases of huge mountains, looks absolutely wonderful, no words can describe the scenery. The distant water falls from the mountains look amazing. The climate was very misty from afternoon, fairly cold just like a little England. Most of the tall plants were covered with some creeping type plants, many fully bloomed colourful orchids and a whole lot of different plants were there. I cannot remember any large animals other than different kinds of birds but plenty of bloods sucking lechers were there. Certainly plenty of beetles, ants, worms, centipedes, frogs, toads and spiders were found under fallen tree trunks, barks, fallen leaves, rocks and under bushes but we were too cautious about these blood sucking creepy crawlers, leaches. A few boys complained about lechers creeping under the trousers and some of them virtually removed the trousers looking for them and some kept screaming and searched for them with arms elbow deep inside the trousers, itƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s really scary. If you walk around be warned to be aware of these blood sucking creatures.

When we went to Arubambae in the East coast, a seaside resort, itƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s a totally different tourist attractive environment. The sea was calm, warm shallow water; nice to swim about safely, may be that was the season. We could see how some little fishes, shrimps and crabs swimming around the corals, sea weeds and rocks. We collected plenty of sea shells, sea weeds and some corals. The fish market was full of quite cheap varieties of large and small fishes, crabs, lobsters and large shrimps. In fact we cooked some large shrimps on the beach itself. I never knew this energy saving scientific cooking at that time but plenty helped to cook a tasty meal. Kantalae area was full of nothing but sugar plantation and wild boars. That was a totally different environment, the sugar factory and the,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚gal oyaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ distillery also located there.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Fortunately we travelled to the West and East coasts of Sri Lanka, to see different flora and fauna before heading to Colombo that is full of concrete buildings. That was an exciting practical expedition, than just learn what is in the books with nice colourful pictures. The trip was cleverly organised, thanks to Mr KJ De Silva and Mr WijetungaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s leadership. That ecological trip was a successful venture, now these teachers are living in America.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Let me give some other examples, some North American animals and plants are moving farther north or to higher elevations to find suitable places to live. Climate change also alters the life cycles of plants and animals. For example, as temperatures get warmer, many plants are starting to grow and bloom earlier in the spring and survive longer into the fall. Some animals are waking from hibernation sooner or migrating at different times, too.

Disappearing Habitats

As the Earth gets warmer, plants and animals that need to live in cold places, like on mountain tops or in the Arctic, might not have a suitable place to live. If the Earth keeps getting warmer, up to oneƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…”fourth of all the plants and animals on Earth could become extinct within 100 years. Every plant and animal plays a role in the ecosystem (for example, as a source of food, a predator, a pollinator, a source of shelter), so losing one species can affect many others.

What can people do about it?
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ By some estimates projected loss of ecosystem services could lead to up to 25 % loss in the worldƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s food production by 2050 increasing the risks of hunger. The loss of mangroves, wetlands and forests increases vulnerability and is a contributory factor as to why as many as 270 million people annually are being affected by natural disasters.

Ecosystems, such as sea-grasses; tidal marshes and tropical forests, are also important in removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere: their steady decline may accelerate climate change and aggravate further countries and communitiesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ vulnerability to its impacts.

If you drive along Galle road, towards Galle from Colombo, you cannot miss the sites where people burn corals close to the beach. The misty white smoke is so thick; one cannot see the hand in front of the mouth.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  In early England they had a similar problem due to burning of coal in houses to get the warmth but now it has become a law, not allowed to burn coal. Certainly this affects the traffic flow apart from other problems. When they dug up the coral near by sea, would you not agree they disrupt the ecosystem? Actually just not ecosystem, it affects soil erosion as well that means the roads get gradually washed into the sea.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

I saw an island in the sea somewhere along this road; it has a house or a religious place. May be many years ago that as well a part of the main land but now got separated from the main land due to erosion and due to loss of ecosystem.

What can the people do about the loss of ecosystems? This cannot be mentioned in a matter of few words but if could stop wasting fossil fuels that would cut down carbon emission. Just imagine if each family could cut down carbon dioxide emission in careless cooking, would you not agree that would have a significant cut down of green house gases? The problem is some people have, a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-donƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t care attitudeƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚, that must be changed.

Any comments please perera6@hotmail.co.uk