A shift in the balance of populations in an ecosystem occasioned by marked depletion in one species, usually as a result of human action.
Example sentencesExamples
In what may be a further iteration of this ecological cascade, sea urchins - a favorite food for otters - have thrived.
They suspect that an ecological cascade began with the displacement of rich, oily fish such as herring and ocean perch by a less nutritious species called pollack.
As the story of the whale and the otter shows, there's no way to know the full consequences of an ecological cascade.
Definition of ecological cascade in US English:
ecological cascade
noun
A shift in the balance of populations in an ecosystem occasioned by marked depletion in one species, usually as a result of human action.
Example sentencesExamples
In what may be a further iteration of this ecological cascade, sea urchins - a favorite food for otters - have thrived.
As the story of the whale and the otter shows, there's no way to know the full consequences of an ecological cascade.
They suspect that an ecological cascade began with the displacement of rich, oily fish such as herring and ocean perch by a less nutritious species called pollack.