Cambridge O Level Biology · Syllabus 5090 · Relationships of Organisms with One Another and with the Environment
Over-harvesting
What is Over-harvesting?
The removal of organisms from a population faster than reproduction can replace them. Because fewer individuals are left to breed, fewer offspring are produced, so the population declines and the same harvesting effort removes an ever larger share of what remains. A shrinking population may also lose genetic variation, which reduces its ability to adapt to disease or to changing conditions, and the risk of local extinction rises. Not every harvested population becomes extinct, but the decline continues for as long as removal exceeds replacement.
This definition is part of the Relationships of Organisms with One Another and with the Environment chapter in Cambridge O Level Biology.