Final answer:
A severe drought in the Okavango ecosystem can result in the death of crops and livestock, food scarcity, increased land erosion, disrupted food chains, and intense competition for water resources affecting biodiversity and social stability of dependent communities.
Step-by-step explanation:
An extra severe drought during a particular year might have significant impacts on the Okavango ecosystem. Drought can affect various components of an ecosystem, leading to a decrease in water availability that impacts both aquatic and terrestrial life. Crops and livestock may die due to the lack of water, leading to food scarcity for both humans and animals. Additionally, reduced vegetation can increase the vulnerability of the land to erosion and can disrupt the food chain by affecting herbivores and, in turn, the predators that rely on them. The shortage of water could also lead to intense competition among species for this scarce resource, which may result in the decline of some species while others, better adapted to the harsh conditions, may prevail.
Apart from these direct effects, the social stability of local human communities dependent on the ecosystem for their livelihoods may be undermined due to reduced agricultural productivity and decreased availability of water for domestic and industrial uses. As the Okavango ecosystem is a complex network of interactions between living organisms and their environment, changes in water availability can ripple through the ecosystem, causing long-term and potentially irreversible changes.