Final answer:
Overharvesting refers to the unsustainable extraction of species from the wild, leading to population declines and potential collapse, often exacerbated by common resource management and technological advancements in extraction methods.
Step-by-step explanation:
The concept in question refers to overharvesting, which occurs when too many individuals of a species are hunted or taken from the wild at a rate that exceeds the population's ability to replenish itself, ultimately leading to population collapse.
This situation often arises from the tragedy of the commons, where individual users have no motivation to exercise restraint in their use of a shared resource, such as fish in a common fishing area.
Overharvesting not only affects the targeted species but can also induce cascading effects on the ecosystem, leading to disrupted food webs and degraded ecological roles of resource populations.
Overpopulation is a related but distinct concept that refers to a condition where a species' population size exceeds the carrying capacity of the available resources, causing environmental damage.
The consequences of overharvesting are exemplified by historical events, such as the collapse of the western Atlantic cod fishery due to modern industrial fishing methods exceeding the biological reproduction rates of the cod population.
This unsustainable extraction, driven by economic and technological factors, has led to the decline of various species, including aquatic and marine species, and can have profound ecological impacts.