Specialist Flora Case Study

: CORRECT Agricultural practices improve wildlife habitats and lead to increased species populations in farming communities.

It has been suggested that food production has changed some biomes in Australia, from natural systems to systems completely dominated by humans.

Conservation of our biodiversity not only demonstrates foresight, it protects the natural resources so vital to our own continued existence. The value of any single species to an ecosystem is immeasurable; the environment will not endure without its species, despite size or niche. These animals are not dispensable. And, they are apt to face extinction in the not too distant future, unless a resolve for their preservation is insisted by the public and enforced by governments internationally.

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

Biodiversity boots ecosystem productivity where every little species plays an important role in maintaining a healthy community. Maintaining a viable habitat requires lots of efforts, determination and frequency. Invasive plants are a major threat to our natural environment. These invasions change the natural diversity and balance of ecological communities. They threaten the survival of many plants and animals. They are excellent at surviving and reproducing which out-compete the native plants. Understanding these huge consequences let us understand why volunteer activities like this are so helpful and needed. They play a huge part in contributing to our environment in many positive ways. Removing these invasive plants are helping a lot in restoring the habitat and giving native plants greater chance for survival. As time went by, these efforts will slowly help cleaning our atmosphere, providing our environment with fresh air and improve health effects in human (Sagoff,

Throughout this composition I intend to shed light onto the present day agricultural practices and the key natural components of this planet that support life and sustain biodiversity.

“As biological novelties to the ecosystems, GM crops may potentially affect the fitness of other species, population dynamics, ecological roles, and interactions, promoting local extinctions, population explosions, and changes in community structure and function inside and outside agro-ecosystems” (Gertsberg, 2011).

“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 .

Chapter one of Flora and Flora’s “Rural Communities: Legacy and Change” gives reader a view on what community and community capital is. The chapter also discusses what is considered rural and what changes have occurred in rural communities, institutions, government and public interests as well as the changes which have occurred in rural communities. Define terms

In addition, biodiversity will be crucial for humanities continued survival in the case of climate change or widespread crop failures. The majority of people on earth are reliant on four crops for subsistence; wheat, rice, corn, and millet. (11) These crops are threatened by climate change and the spread of disease facilitated by modern transportation. If humanity is to survive such an eventuality it must be ready to draw upon the earth’s biodiversity for replacements. And while there are approximately 50 thousand plant species that could offer alternatives, this bank of resources is quickly thinning as various ecosystems are being destroyed. (11)

The groundbreaking studies that have been done, and are still being done, by Scotland 's scientists is accumulating global knowledge of biodiversity in the pursuit of protecting endangered plants and animals (Scotland Scientists). Roseanna Cunningham said: “The process of evolution leads species to adapt to changing circumstances, to strengthen, grow and, at times, to falter. Unfortunately human impact on the environment has, for centuries now, sped up this natural process at a rate many species cannot match. Our scientists have increased our understanding of biodiversity and provided clear direction on how humans can help support and protect the marvelous variety of life around us” (Scotland Scientists). This quotation explains to the world that evolution cannot happen overnight. The evolution of different species takes so much time that our rapidly changing society is destroying the creatures of the world. However, because of the work done by the Scottish scientists the world is coming to know and acknowledge the importance of biodiversity. Because of Scotland’s scientists work on this matter, we are having a clear direction about how humans can help support and protect an awe-inspiring variety of life around us, the world can move on to actually protecting endangered and threatened

Habitat fragmentation is happening all around the world, even in developed countries such as the USA and UK, and is having a detrimental impact on species biodiversity (Hanski, 2015). Habitat fragmentation is a process by which a landscape is transformed into an unsuitable habitat for the present species. When a habitat becomes fragmentated this results in the habitats to develop into smaller patches and can even create patches of isolation, completely different to its original state (Fahrig, 2003). Fragmentation can occur naturally, through processes such as wildfires and windfall - however, with the constant increase in human population (7 billion in 2017), habitat fragmentation is becoming more frequent and destructive due to the rise in human land use (Oikos, 1994).

Recent studies focused on biodiversity have begun to include the concept of functional diversity, which measures the range, value, and distribution of functional traits of organisms in a community ecosystem (Tilman et al. 1997; Mouchet et al. 2010). It is becoming increasingly accepted that biodiversity components of plant community, i.e. the species identity, abundance and divergence of functional traits, strongly affect ecosystem productivity, functioning, litter decomposition and soil nutrients dynamics (Wardle et al. 2004, 2012; Naeem & Wright 2003; Díaz et al. 2004; Hooper et al. 2005; Mouillot et al. 2005; Cortez et al. 2007; De Deyn et al. 2008).

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

The health of the earth degrades with the destructive activity of human beings. A recent study by a group of scientists looked at twenty four different services that the earth’s ecosystems provide for humans, ecosystem services, and found that fifteen of them are in need of desperate help (Gazette 31 March 2005). These services are vital to the survival of both human and nonhuman life and include filtering water and providing nutrient rich soils and ocean waters. Many of the members of these various ecosystems are also decreasing in numbers. In a British survey of bird populations found that in the 200 birds of Britain tracked there was about a 54% population decrease between the 1968-1971 tacking period and the 1988-1991 tacking period. In two other surveys of 254 native plant species from the same area there was a decrease of about 28% during the past 40 years. Humans are pushing the sixth mass extinction (Gazette March 19, 2004).