An ecological crisis occurs when the environment of a species or a population changes in a way that destabilizes its continued survival. There are many possible causes of such crises:
- It may be that the environment quality degrades compared to the species' needs, after a change of abiotic ecological factor (for example, an increase of temperature, less significant rainfalls).
- It may be that the environment becomes unfavourable for the survival of a species (or a population) due to an increased pressure of predation.
- Lastly, it may be that the situation becomes unfavourable to the quality of life of the species (or the population) due to raise in the number of individuals (overpopulation).
The evolutionary theory of punctuated equilibrium sees infrequent ecological crises as a potential driver of rapid evolution.
Read more about Ecological Crisis: Abiotic Factors, Biodiversity Extinction, Overpopulation, Other Examples
Famous quotes containing the words ecological and/or crisis:
“The question that will decide our destiny is not whether we shall expand into space. It is: shall we be one species or a million? A million species will not exhaust the ecological niches that are awaiting the arrival of intelligence.”
—Freeman Dyson (b. 1923)
“The amelioration of the world cannot be achieved by sacrifices in moments of crisis; it depends on the efforts made and constantly repeated during the humdrum, uninspiring periods, which separate one crisis from another, and of which normal lives mainly consist.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)