Causes And Effects Of The Loss Of Biological Diversity

The number of wild animals on Earth has halved in the past 40 years . Creatures across the land, rivers, and the seas are destroyed as humans killed them for food in unsuitable numbers, while polluting or destroying their habitats.

The scale and pace of change is dramatic; for example, the extinction of species is occurring at around 100-fold pre-human rates4. The population sizes of vertebrate species have, on average, declined by half over the last 45 years5. More than 2.3 million km2 of primary forest has been felled since 20006. About

Long-term survival of a species depends on its ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions (Murphy, 1994). Genetic diversity within a species, which has taken 3.5 billion years to evolve, makes adaptations to these changing environments possible. Unfortunately, the rate of extinction of genetically diverse organisms is rapidly increasing, thus reducing this needed biodiversity, largely due to the human impacts of development and expansion. What was an average of one extinction per year before is now one extinction per hour and extinct species numbers are expected to reach approximately one million by the year 2000 (WWW site, Bio 65). As a result governmental and societal action must

Forests have been cut, crops planted, pastures seeded, and urban areas paved. One of the most troubling consequences of human modification of ecosystems is an ongoing loss of species and therefore a loss of biodiversity around the world. The current extinctions have a human cause: habitat loss (such as clearing of tropical rainforests); the introduction of invasive species; unregulated hunting and fishing; and pollution of water, air, and

“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 .

Humans do things like: Overhunting, deforestation, pollution and land conservation, destroying the environment for food, materials and research etc. This destroys habitats for certain creatures affecting the whole ecosystem, possibly killing the organisms in the ecosystem.

This is shown very well in Silent spring. “So to the potentially dangerous dangerous fumes from gasoline are to the finely divided particles of whatever insecticide the probably unsuspecting suburbanite has chosen to distribute, raising the level of air pollution above his own grounds to something few cities could equal” (177). This is an excellent example of humans ecological footprint. We as humans have many things that operate on many non renewable resources that are leaving a harmful effect on the environment. This is done by the use of fossil fuels. When fossil fuels such as gasoline are burned they produce co2. This is very harmful because the co2 becomes trapped in the atmosphere. This thickens the atmosphere in a sense, and does not allow heat to escape as easily. This is what is thought to be causing global warming, and could lead to some disastrous changes. This includes rising sea levels, heating of the surface of the ocean,possible changes in ocean circulation, possible effects on the habitats of animals,etc. All of this is due to us burning fossil fuels so it would be known as our ecological

Biodiversity loss threatens to disrupt the function of ecosystems, with the potential of consequences for humans as well. Often this loss is measured by species extinction rates, but considerations should be made to include population diversity with measures including changes in size, number, distribution and genetic composition of population and potential implications those changes may have (Luck et al., 2003). Avise (2004) goes as far as to say biodiversity is genetic

To begin with, habitats are shrinking. The article shrinking habitats from expert space states, “ A study shows that 70 percent of forest grounds are within a half-mile from the forest edge which is causing harmful effects”. These harmful effects are animals dying due to cars and getting lost from where their habitats are. These effects are boosting the rate of extinction.Also, in

As we lose more and more habitats, it could create a domino effect causing many other complications in the world's ecosystem.

re devastation and harm that may not be able to be undone if our society fails to take the necessary action to sustain life of all ecosystems.

Since the Industrial Revolution we have practiced deforestation, burned fossil fuels, and as a result we have disrupted stable ecosystems. Advances in medicine and technology have given humans the ability to increase their carrying capacity. While increasing our carrying capacity we have also decreased biodiversity around the world. We have introduced different species in new environments to help ourselves

Habitat destruction, deforestation, ozone depletion, global warming, and poaching. These actions and ecological happenings are creating a world where animals are going extinct at rapid rates. Our world is on the brink of what scientists believe is the sixth mass extinction. Unlike the five previous mass extinction, the latest one killing a majority of the dinosaurs, the main causes for this current extinction are anthropogenic reasons, not natural events.

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

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