A Natural Disaster

I returned on a trip to the deserts and xeric shrub-lands, only to notice some changes to the environment had occurred.

 There was a severe fungal infection that was spreading throughout the different species of cacti.The consequences of this seemed to be pretty significant. I enlisted the help of a botanist to better explain what was going on and the long term-term effects on the desert biome and the dwellers in it.




It is generally difficult for a cactus to contract a fungal infection, because typically there is some type of insect infestation that occurs, and can sometimes leave behind a fungal type surface. In the rare case the cacti are infected, they proceed to turn brown and die as the fungus eats away.

 

 According to the botanist helping me, 

"Fungal attacks are extremely difficult to stop. The best option is to find any uninfected stems and re-start a new plant from them and throw the rest of the plant away. Fungicides are available that could slow down the fungus attack, but the fungus rarely is eliminated in this way."

 So it looked like this fungus was here to stay. This new infection was impacting the organisms in the biome, and the biome itself. With the cacti becoming infected, the species and biodiversity in the desert was depleting. Also, with less cacti, it was difficult for the species to reproduce and makes it difficult for the species to maintain their population equilibrium.

This is catastrophic to a biome. If a producer becomes affected in any way, there is severe consequences. This is because producers are on the bottom of the food chain and impact the primary, secondary, etc. consumers, as well as decomposers. It basically effects the entire food chain above it and has the ability to wipe out numerous species. For example, a a rabbit, which is a primary consumer, will have much less food options because of the producer being wiped out. The rabbit might then emigrate to a different region in order to find food, or in the worst case, die from starvation. This would then effect a secondary consumer, such as a wolf that eats rabbits, because now his food source has gone down significantly. When the bottom of the web is wiped out, it will eventually wipe out almost everything else. The animals that help enrich the environment will now be gone, and the environment will suffer as well. 

The only organisms that might be able to survive the disaster are the decomposers that feed off the carcases of deceased consumers and producers. They would have an influx in food supply and might be able to live and reproduce. 

Overall, the biome would suffer greatly, as it would lose a very large majority of its species and the plants that make up the environment would become sparse, and then almost entirely depleted.