What does impact mean in a scientific way?

Question

i have to do someting for science im in 7th grade we are talking about ecosystems and abiotic factors and we need to tell how they impact. Can you please help me! what do they mean by "how they impact''????

Answer 1

noun:  The effect or impression of one thing on another

verb:  To have an effect or impact.

I think in your question, they meant "how they impact (or affect) one another.

Answer 2

Impact usually means object A hits object B with a resulting release of destructive energy.

Impact in an ecosystem is what happens when a force, animal, plant, or event happens and what it does to that ecosystem; usually in a destructive manner.

For example higher amounts of CO2 in our atmosphere has caused a warming trend that if not addressed will cause many problems including the melting of the Aortic Ice Cap.

Kudzu was a vine introduced to California to act as a cheap ground cover.  But, when that was done no one studied the impact that it would have.  Without natural predators the vine grows like crazy unopposed it has become a rash on the Los Angelus area crowding out other life forms and ruining the ecology of some areas.

The fire ant and the killer bee have both come from the south into the United States with devastating effect on the local environment.  Cattle have been killed, stung to death because of fire ants.  A local bee infestation can no longer be ignored because those bees could be killer bees and killer bees defend their hive strongly and with 4 times the aggression of normal bees.  People have been killed by killer bee attacks and because the bees are so aggressive they tend to replace the normal population of bees.

Zebra Muscles have infested the Great Lakes and because they have no natural predators they have grown like a plague on the bottom of the lakes.  They grow so much that they have even entered and clogged the intake pipes for water systems.  They replace normal mussels and choke out any of the normal food supply that those mussels once provided.

In each case the impact of the introduction of a new species was harmful for the existing environment.  With no natural predators the species took over their environment and choked out the existing environment.

Fire Ants weren't invented by man, but there spread northward was helped when queens hitchhiked aboard cargo freighters from Mexico and South America.  Each other case was an environmental change introduced by man and man has to work hard to fix the problem.