Biodiversity Is Essential For The Survival Of Mankind And The Environment For Many Reasons

In the National Geographic article “Eight Million Tons of Plastic Dumped in Ocean Every Year”, author Laura Parker expresses how violent the simple act of dumping trash into the ocean really turns out to be. This article goes into depth telling exactly what plastics pollution is causing, where it’s mostly coming from, and what you can do to decrease this problem and help save both our planet and ocean wildlife.

The problem with plastic ending up in the ocean is that marine life is being harmed by the presence of it. A study done on the harbor seals in the Netherlands found that more than 12% had plastic in the digestive system (California Coastal Commission). The list of affected species indicates that marine debris is affecting a significant number of species. It affects at least 267 species worldwide, including 86% of all sea turtle species, 44% of all seabird species, and 43% of all marine mammal species (Save our shores). The problem is underestimated because the marine life that ingests plastic or dies from entanglement often goes undiscovered due to the vastness of the ocean, as they either sink or are eaten by predators before they are discovered (Plastic Debris). The potential harm from ingestion of plastics is not restricted to seabirds. Plastic bags drifting on ocean currents resemble the prey of turtles. There is evidence that their survival is being hindered by plastic debris with young sea turtles being vulnerable (Ocean pollution). Over the past 20 years polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have polluted marine food webs at an increasing rate, and are prevalent in seabirds. Though their adverse effects may not always be apparent, PCBs lead to reproductive disorders, increase the risk of disease and alter hormone levels. These chemicals have a detrimental effect on marine organisms even at very low levels and plastic pellets could be a route for PCBs into marine food

In the article, "Plastic in Our Oceans", Kimberly Amaral discusses the everyday uses of plastic and how it can be beneficial to humans, but harmful to marine life. As fishermen casually dump waste overboard, animals mistake it for food sources, such as a turtle mistaking a plastic grocery bag for a jellyfish. From the trash brought out to sea, gyres, large circulations of water, carry the garbage through currents, spreading it to all over the ocean, specifically to the central gyre. Amaral notes common ways for marine life to die from plastic, which include entanglement by plastic rings, consumption of plastic bags and pellets which stuff the intestines and lead to health problems, and suffocation. As researchers today work hard to discover

“Biological diversity is of fundamental importance to the functioning of all natural and human-engineered ecosystems, and by extension to the ecosystem services that nature provides free of charge to human society ”(Lloyd, 2014). Biodiversity is very important to both plants, animals and humans on Earth and if one species is destroyed it throw the balance off .

Over the few years, humans have discarded millions of tons of garbage into the oceans. Ever wonder where the cup you threw out this morning will end up? Or the plastic spoon you used for lunch? How about the cap of a water bottle? The calamitous plastic ends up in the water, taking thousands of years to decompose. The consumption of plastic by the marine life is perilous and the leading cause of death for life on shore.

“Around 260 million tons of plastic is produced every year, approximately 10% of this ends up in oceans. This litter is frequently consumed, often with fatal effects, by marine animals and birds who mistake it for food. The Trash Vortex of the Northern Pacific ocean is a patch the size of Texas consisting of trillions of pieces of decomposing plastic.” (Geer) Water pollution often directly correlates with other natural recourses that is being harmed by the same

In the documentary “Inside the Garbage of the World”, the main social problem being explained is that there has been a great influx of plastic and other type of garbage in oceans and their beaches. This buildup of pollution has largely affected the wildlife population ranging from animals on the beaches to the creatures of the ocean. In oceans, what is called ‘garbage patches’, a large buildup of garbage that flow to one area in the oceans, are being created. Approximately 50 percent of all plastic sinks to the bottom of the ocean floor but about 2 times that much is actually already on the ocean floor. In fact, according to the documentary, there is a garbage patch that is to the left of California that is the size of half of the United States. Each year, about 4.7 million tons of plastic goes in the ocean a year and it is estimated that by 2050, there will be another 33 billion tons of plastic added to the present amount. Eighty percent of the current pollution comes from the land. According to marine researchers, twice as much plastic debris is one the ocean floor than it was 10 years ago. In the futures, plastic will break down into smaller pieces of plastic, creating a bigger problem from the habitat. This plastic pollution is one of the leading cause for beach and ocean inhabiting creatures be extinct because animals are mistaking these plastic pieces for food. When scientist began to dissect beach animals such as birds, they discovered that at least fifteen pounds of

Biodiversity is very important because when there is a wider variety of plants and animals in an area there are more options for food to be consumed. Also biodiversity can help an ecosystem survive after a disaster happens. For example if a volcano erupts and covers an area with ash, this ash then kills all of the plants in the area then all of the wild life can’t survive because there are no plants to eat or hide under. With biodiversity the trees can grow back from the nutrients in the ash then grass can start growing which then allows flowers to grow and than bees come along and pollinate the flowers which then produce

“Plastic garbage, which decomposes very slowly, is often mistaken for food by marine animals. High concentrations of plastic material, particularly plastic bags, have been found blocking the breathing passages and stomachs of many marine species, including whales, dolphins, seals, and turtles” (World Wide Fund For Nature, 2017). Sea animals think that the floating plastic is food and they go to eat it, choke on it or get strangled by it. Since plastic is non-biodegradable it gets stuck in the animal’s throat and they choke on it or they swallow it and it messes with their stomachs. “Plastic kills fish, birds, marine mammals and sea turtles, destroys habitats and even affects animals’ mating rituals, which can have devastating consequences and can wipe out entire species” (Lonne, 2016). When fish, birds, marine mammals and sea turtles start to become extinct the life cycle of half of the marine life start to get out of control. Marine life does suffer but our beaches and oceans also become hazardous making them unable to use. “When you consider that this plastic does not biodegrade and remains in our ecosystem permanently, we are looking at an incredibly high volume of accumulated plastic trash that has been built up since mid-20th century” (Watson, 2006). Once, a plastic bottle is thrown into the ocean it stays in there forever until someone pulls it out or bigger animals swallow it.

We 're treating the oceans like a trash bin: around 80 percent of marine litter originates on land, and most of that is plastic. Plastic that pollutes our oceans and waterways has severe impacts on our environment and our economy. Seabirds, whales, sea turtles and other marine life are eating marine plastic pollution and dying from choking, intestinal blockage and starvation. Scientists are investigating the long-term impacts of toxic pollutants absorbed, transported, and consumed by fish and other marine life, including the potential effects on human health.

Loss of Biodiversity will affect the life cycle of several species which depend on each other for survival. This dependence determines the survival of species and the change of our environment. Exploiting the biodiverse species to extinction will result in desertification, rise in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, increased pollution, increased droughts, increase in loss of items that we derive from nature for our own survival such as honey, fruits, vegetables, medicines etc. The greed to exploit will result in our ultimate extinction If a sustainable solution isn’t provided to prevent loss of biodiversity. If we continue the path we are on without taking steps to balance the equation the planet will

In today's society, one of the main problems we face is pollution. The role of plastic playing in the daily lives of people is interminable. The main problem with plastic is that it is tossed into the ocean and that it can travel long distances with the currents and winds. Marine animals and other animals that depend on the ocean for sustenance wind up eating the trash thinking that it’s food. This is especially true for plastic trash (Parker, 2015). For those of us who live on the coast, a mere walk on the beach gives us insight to how much our misuse of plastic has become. The number of seabirds that have ingested the plastic waste and have died is increasing, however, efforts to clean the plastic has stopped due to the cost of the clean-up.

Today’s oceans contain more pollution than they ever have before. With this increase in pollution it has effected the way marine animals live. From recent studies that have been conducted there is an estimated 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic debris in the ocean (Duncan, et al., 2016). The amount of pollution that enters the ocean can be attributed to the fact that 85% of the debris comes from landfills and less than 7% of plastic is recycled around the world (Fardim, et al., 2016). The harm of such debris has been detrimental

Due to their regurgitation ability; most studies have focused on the ingestion of plastic pollution by bird, this does little harm to birds used in the studies. The effects of ingestible plastic on fish have not been studied as thoroughly and no studies have been conducted on filter-feeding organisms, which do not possess a feeding mechanism which would allow them to distinguish between plastic and plankton. Plastic pollution is only getting worse due to increasing population of developing countries. A wide variety of marine species is known to be harmed by plastic debris. This could threaten the survival of certain species, especially since many are sadly endangered by other types of anthropogenic actions.

Franck and Brownstone define biological diversity as 'the variety and variability of living organisms and the biological communities in which they live' (36). Decades of progress in both the scientific and political arenas have advanced environmental legislation to protect biodiversity at not only the ecosystem level, but for specific species and genetic material as well. Research has shown the importance of every organism and their role in the global ecosystem, and legislation has gradually matured to protect not only species which may become endangered, but the habitats they need to survive as well. Growing consciousness surrounding environmental issues has enabled these protections to be