The correlation established is hence that as overpopulation increases, biodiversity decreases (Etim, 2014). The New York Times did not run the headline “Overpopulation Threatens the World’s Food Supply, United Nations Warns” last Thursday. Approved by eNotes Editorial Team Ecosystems: Ecosystem structure, function, integrity, and composition, supported by land and water resources directly take a hit when populations grow. Ellis never said this wasn’t the case. Trends in the average size of species vary greatly between regions, according to the Living Planet Index, which monitors abundance of the world’s vertebrates and offers insights into which habitats or ecosystems have species that are declining rapidly. here is some of the key sustainability challenges related to overpopulation. The need for food, space and raw materials has resulted in destruction of habitats and pollution. And yet climate change does (as in, does now) affect biodiversity, and the prospects under continued change are challenging and intimidating at best. Effects on the EnvironmentOne of the greatest areas that human overpopulation affects is the environment and biodiversity. a major change in the food chain upon which we depend, water sources may change, recede or disappear, medicines and other resources we rely on may be harder to obtain as the plants and forna … Biodiversity, the diversity of life on Earth, is essential to the healthy functioning of ecosystems. Biodiversity loss, also called loss of biodiversity, a decrease in biodiversity within a species, an ecosystem, a given geographic area, or Earth as a whole. Most studies have delved deeply into the effect that overpopulation has on the environment in developed countries, but have not shown its differing effects in developing countries. Since we have to produce large amounts of food to provide for an increasing number of people, we have to use more land and resources to accomplish this. Biodiversity and Climate Change, Convention on Biological Diversity, December, 2009 . We quantified the effect of human population growth and development on rates of deforestation and analyzed the relationship between these causal factors in the 1980s and 1990s. The relationship between overpopulation and environmental impacts are often interrelated. Oddly enough, the overpopulation of an area can occur without a net gain of population. Human population and development activities affect the rate of deforestation in biodiversity hotspots. Biodiversity loss varies among regions, and affects genes, species and ecosystems. problems and how they affect the processes and mechanisms which maintain biological diversity. Due to his destructive activities, man has extracted more and more minerals from the earth. Developing nations face the problem of overpopulation more than developed countries. Consider, for instance, all the billions of prey items consumed by domestic cats which are not available to native mammalian, reptilian and avian predators (Loss & Marra, 2017 ). Humans affect biodiversity by their population numbers, use of land, and their lifestyles, causing damage to habitats for species. This happens … Freshwater resources. There have been some assumptions that the proper farming technology has always existed for China to properly contend with overpopulation. Overpopulation means more energy is needed and all these sources directly affect the environment negatively. Animals have been hunted and plants have disappeared. Overpopulation has a vast adverse effect on the environmental system. Bearak J, Popinchalk A, Alkema L, Sedgh G. 2018. References.   Environmental Effects of Overpopulation. Direct Impacts Respiratory issues One study looked at the direct impacts of air pollutants by placing birds in cages close to a working coal-fired power plant. Effects of overpopulation: A Closer look at Cairo Because the many species that make up any ecosystem are interdependent, it’s hard to predict exactly what the effects of reduced biodiversity in any one area might be. These pollutants can affect biodiversity in a direct way, i.e by impacting health due to inhalation or they can affect biodiversity indirectly by altering the wider environmental conditions.