Final answer:
Replacing permeable surfaces with impermeable ones causes increased flooding, habitat destruction, and biodiversity loss, especially impacting amphibians and altering natural water cycles and wetland functions.
Step-by-step explanation:
Replacing permeable surfaces with impermeable surfaces has significant effects on ecosystems. By preventing water from naturally infiltrating the ground, impermeable surfaces alter water flow and reduce groundwater recharge. Consequently, this can lead to increased runoff and flooding, habitat destruction, and disruption of natural water cycles. Biodiversity also suffers as plants and wildlife lose their natural habitats, and changing precipitation patterns further exacerbate these impacts.
Damming rivers, for example, can have devastating effects on river and stream ecosystems by altering flow regimes, thus reducing or eliminating populations adapted to natural flow patterns. This is particularly detrimental to species that require both aquatic and terrestrial habitats for their life cycles, such as amphibians, which are at greater risk of decline and extinction due to these changes.
Furthermore, wetlands, which act as highly effective natural water filters and provide rich habitats, are also affected by these surface changes. The loss of wetlands due to modifications like impermeable surfaces can lead to a decline in the quality and storage capacity of water resources, significantly impacting both biotic and abiotic elements of ecosystems.