Answer to Question 1
Exceeding the carrying capacity of an ecosystem means that people are depleting or destroying resources at a more rapid rate than they can be replaced. The carrying capacity can be exceeded for brief periods so long as population drops below that level in time for the environment to regenerate itself. However, exceeding the carrying capacity on a long-term or permanent basis may do sufficient damage to threaten the capacity of the ecosystem to support human life
Answer to Question 2
The concept of an ecosystem helps in understanding that all parts of the environment interact with one another and are, to a degree, dependent on one another. The cycle of photosynthesis illustrates this: Plants produce oxygen, which animals need, whereas animals expire carbon dioxide, which plants need to produce oxygen in photosynthesis. Each ecosystem achieves a natural balance among all the living creatures in it, and maintaining that equilibrium requires that all the parts be in some necessary, functional balance.
A simplified food web from an African savannah ecosystem
Phosphorus cycle in a lake ecosystem.
Wolf spider carrying its young in its egg sac.
Ecosystem and Balance
The electron-carrying coenzymes NAD+ and FAD
Performing a Spirometry Test to Measure Forced Vital Capacity