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Humans change Ecosystems Chapter 3 Lesson 3 People change ecosystems all the time, sometimes in harmful ways • Air pollution can cause smog, a visible layer of haze close to the ground. • Introducing exotic species, that can help or hurt ecosystems. – How do you think that introducing an exotic species would hurt an ecosystem? How could it help it? • People have caused the extinction of many species • Extinction- loss of an entire species • The greatest cause of extinction today is habitat loss. • Pollution, hunting, and competition from exotic species also causes extinction. • The government keeps track of the number of many species of plants and animals. It lists those that are threatened or endangered. • An endangered species is one with so few individuals that it could die out. Wetlands • A wetland is an area of land covered by water. • The Everglades were once a huge wetlands in Florida but have been drained and filled by people over the years. • People change Earth’s surface to meet their needs. Some examples are: – draining wetlands – cutting down forests – Change natural grasslands into farms How can humans help? • Laws have been passed in order to cut back on pollution and protect the wetlands • The U.S. government passed the Endangered Species Act to protect the habitats of endangered and threatened species. Several species have been saved from extinction. *Images provided by Google and AltaVista