Strange Days on Plant Earth free essay sample

In the West African nation of Ghana a biologist discovered that the grassland has had a disappearance of animals and that baboons are taking over the new territory. The land has stayed the same but the occupants have changed. The biologist discovered that there was a cyclic effect in variation of declines in animals. This phenomenon was found to be directly correlated to the fish population that can be caught and used as a food source for the people of Ghana. The pattern of variation was observed when fish was in large quantities at the market and the price was cheap, people choose to purchase the fish. But when fish were sparse and expensive at the market there was a demand for bush meat which increased hunting in the grassland thereby decreasing the population of animals in the grasslands. This loss of top predators in the grassland is causing major economic and ecological disruptions. We will write a custom essay sample on Strange Days on Plant Earth or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Due to this disappearance baboons have found a new territory to take over and become more aggressive as a result of no predation. Also the baboons are able to do night time hunting, raiding farms of livestock and vegetation. That being direct effects of disappearance of animals and the indirect effects include exchange of diseases transmitted from baboons to humans, and farmers keep their children out of school in order to protect their farmers. The effects of the disappearance of animals in the grassland are significant. The native animals of the grassland are called the walking dead, Ghana’s ghost due to the numbers of disappearance of species. Elephants declined by 70%, Hippos 40% and Lion Population by 80%. This phenomenon presented in the documentary Strange Days on Planet Earth is a convincing argument. Due to the fact the primary predators (key stone species) can control prey and mesopredator populations in top down control. If the top predators are not present it can have disastrous effect on an entire ecosystem. There are been documented cases that loss of top predators has led to the prey population causing cascading negative effects due to surge in population. For example in Yellowstone Park when wolves disappeared the elk population soared, along with other large prey animals increasing which decreased new growth of vegetation. This was due to ecosystem instability because of the keystone predator being removed. As with the case of the top predators of the grasslands, the baboons are able to boom out of control causing the grassland ecosystem uncertainty now and potential more in the future.