Can we extract too much of a biotic resource from a natural ecosystem?

It is indeed possible to extract too much of a biotic resource from an ecosystem. Biotic resources are those that are living--animals, plants, fungi, and bacteria. In a food web in an ecosystem, removal of any one of the members has some sort of effect on the others; the results are sometimes easy and sometimes difficult to predict. Removal of one type of prey may result in another prey animal being consumed to the point...

It is indeed possible to extract too much of a biotic resource from an ecosystem. Biotic resources are those that are living--animals, plants, fungi, and bacteria. In a food web in an ecosystem, removal of any one of the members has some sort of effect on the others; the results are sometimes easy and sometimes difficult to predict. Removal of one type of prey may result in another prey animal being consumed to the point where it too disappears from the ecosystem. Removal of all of one type of tree can result in the loss of various species that live in or consume parts of that tree type, with the further loss of species that depend on the species lost. If there are few types of producers (plants that photosynthesize), the loss of one can result in the complete collapse of the entire ecosystem. All members of an ecosystem are ultimately dependent on the producers.

In order to help maintain the health of various ecosystems humans need to ensure that the ecosystems are kept complex and to leave their variety intact. The loss of one biotic factor will have less impact if there are others performing similar functions.