When humans use technology like synthetic fertilizers, what often happens to the limiting factor for agricultural production?
Answer
The limit shifts to a new factor, such as the availability of fossil fuels for the fertilizer plants.
Technological mitigation of one limiting factor often temporarily boosts capacity but invariably shifts the ultimate restriction to another factor, such as the energy resources needed to sustain that technology.
#Videos
Limits to Growth - YouTube
Related Questions
What concept defines the theoretical maximum number of individuals an environment can continuously support?Is the carrying capacity ($K$) considered a static number etched in stone?Which process is cited as the most direct example of a density-dependent limiting factor?What characterizes the action of density-independent limiting factors?What is the collective term for the constraints imposed by the environment that act as brakes on population expansion?What often results from the time lag between when a resource limit is reached and when the population actually responds to that pressure?What classification encompasses non-living physical elements like temperature or sunlight that limit populations?In the forest ecosystem example, what abiotic factor sets the ceiling for the biotic factor of plant biomass the area can support?How do density-dependent limitations fundamentally affect population growth?When humans use technology like synthetic fertilizers, what often happens to the limiting factor for agricultural production?In a harsh, arctic tundra ecosystem, what factor often acts as the primary constraint on a caribou herd?