Journal Number 5: LA River as a whole
It was brought up to our attention that as the groups went along the river, the sites were increasingly disrupted by human activity. Human activity is one of the main reasons why the ecosystem of the LA river is incredibly poor. According to the article “Effects of Biodiversity on Ecosystem Functioning: A Consensus of Current Knowledge”, human activity that introduced invasive species created an alteration in the ecosystem that creates changes that can be difficult or even irreversible to fix. The factors, such as resource availability and disturbance regime, can create a situation where the invasive plant species will dominate over the native species. In terms of plants, humans have planted non-native plants in areas rich ecosystem in order to grow exotic plants or crops. In particular, Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate and has the ability to grow exotic plants. The humans took advantage of that by planting rare and exotic plants, but it came to the cost of the health of the ecosystem. However, the health of the ecosystem can still be recovered. Marsh Park is a prime example of the community helping restore the area to its most natural state by planting native trees. As mention in the study, the alteration of an ecosystem can create a greater difficulty in fixing it to the original state. In other words, the recovery process may be slow. The study also mentioned that having different species respond o different perturbation could help stabilize the ecosystem. It would also maintain the biodiversity and improve its own maintenance. In Marsh Park, the community started to reintroduced native plants into the ecosystem with the removal of non-native species. It did not show immediate results right away because, even with that information, Marsh Park still remains as an unhealthy site. However, over time, Marsh Park will be in a healthier state than previously. Ideally, we want all the sites to resemble JPL’s healthy ecosystem. Another good way to restore the health of an ecosystem efficiently is to plant indigenous relative to the area. In an article, “Indigenous trees restore soil microbial biomass at faster rates than exotic species”, the results showed that planting indigenous trees in soil microbial communities recovered fastest compared to exotic trees. This is crucial to the restoration of any invasive site because the indigenous trees help in restoration by management by increasing nitrogen concentration in the soil to enhance the growth of native plants. Based on the evidence, there are several ways to restore n ecosystem. Even though it is a slow process, if something is not done to the ecosystem, then the changes may be irreversible and the health cannot be restored. We only have one home to live on one planet. We have to do everything we can to take care of it.
References:
Hooper, D. U., et al. “Effects of Biodiversity on Ecosystem Functioning: A Consensus of
Current Knowledge.” Ecological Monographs, vol. 75, no. 1, 2005, pp. 3–35. JSTOR,
JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4539083.
Li, Chun, et al. "Indigenous Trees Restore Soil Microbial Biomass at Faster Rates Than Exotic Species." Plant & Soil, vol. 396, no. 1/2, Nov. 2015, pp. 151-161. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s11104-015-2570-x.
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