Final answer:
Human activities such as agricultural practices, air pollution, acid rain, global deforestation, overfishing, eutrophication, oil spills, and illegal dumping can disrupt the balance of ecosystems, leading to long-term negative effects on biodiversity and the environment.
Step-by-step explanation:
Human actions can cause the balance of an ecosystem to be thrown off in several ways. Environmental disturbances can be caused by a variety of human activities such as agricultural practices, air pollution, acid rain, global deforestation, overfishing, eutrophication, oil spills, and illegal dumping of waste on land and into the ocean. Each of these activities can have serious and sometimes long-lasting effects on ecosystems, altering species composition, disrupting food chains, and leading to a loss of biodiversity.
For example, agricultural practices can lead to the removal of large areas of natural vegetation, affecting soil fertility, and causing habitat destruction for many species. Air pollution can lead to acid rain, which can harm aquatic life and vegetation. Global deforestation has numerous impacts, including habitat loss, changes in local and global climate, and the release of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.
Overfishing can disrupt marine ecosystems, while eutrophication, caused by runoff of excess fertilizers into water bodies, can lead to harmful algal blooms that deplete oxygen and affect aquatic life. Oil spills can have devastating effects on marine and coastal ecosystems, and illegal dumping introduces toxins that can accumulate in the food chain and persist in the environment for many years.