According to the National Geographic, a recent scientific study predicts that our planet is home to 8.7 million species; however, only about 1.2 million species are known (86 Percent of Earth’s Species Still Unknown?). The National Wildlife Federation defines biodiversity as, “the variety of life” (What is Biodiversity?). It can be studied on a small scale, for example, species, or a larger scale such as genetics and ecology. In order to fully understand the biodiversity of a certain species, it’s imperative to understand both their genes and environment, as well. Although many people do not recognize the various species within our ecosystem as important, they are the main reason life is sustainable. Biodiversity has extreme fundamental value to a healthy life and ecosystem. It is the framework upon which we rely for our needs and well-being. It provides us with food resources, such as fruits and grains, as well as meat, fish, and milk products. Humans are dependent on biodiversity for cultural, economic and environmental stability. For example, farmers rely on bees to pollinate their crops, which allows for a greater supply of food and work. The economic value of biodiversity stems from its production of many everyday essentials such as food supplies, medicine, and raw materials. A healthy ecosystem can provide us with a source of clean water, fresh food, and clean air (Value of Biodiversity). A healthy ecosystem can also withstand disasters and recover sooner. These are
1. Biodiversity play a key role in our environmental benefits. Humans depend on the contribution of thousand species for their survival (i.e. food, air & fresh water). Eco systems supply human societies with goods and services like health, social, cultural and economic needs, we often depend on one another and on the physical environment.
Biological diversity, also known as biodiversity, describes the huge variety of species found on Earth and the natural way in which ecosystems and communities are formed. In the past few centuries, humans have had an especially negative
Biodiversity may be our most precious gift on this planet. It is amazing to think about how much we know about our fellow creatures, and even more amazing to realize there is still so much to learn. From the smallest pollen to the biggest whale, every species has evolved to be a special part of its ecosystem. It is when we lose sight of the intrinsic value of all this life that we find ourselves destroying the delicate web and irreparably damaging ourselves as well. We cut down entire jungles into grazing land, irrigate vast deserts into golf courses, seal up marshes for business offices, dump toxic waste in the oceans. Since the passage of the Endangered Species Act in 1973, many animal and
Biodiversity is the diversity of life on Earth. Maintaining this diversity has a direct and indirect economic value to humans, as our ecosystem will be affected by any imbalance in the environment. An example of direct value would be the usage of rosy periwinkle, a tropical plant, to extract potent chemicals used in cancer drugs. An example of indirect value would be ecotourism. Nearly 100 million people take a vacation to see the natural beauty of an ecosystem and spend about $5
2-Identify some of the direct benefits of biodiversity to human beings. Biodiversity is important to human beings for many reasons. Living things are a huge source of medical drugs. More than half of the most important prescription drugs come from wild species. Other than food food, diverse living things provide us with many different products. Some examples include dyes, rubber, fibers, paper, adhesives, and timber.
An ecosystem “is a community of plants and animals interacting with each other in a given area.” (Rinkesh, ND). There are three different categories: freshwater, terrestrial and ocean ecosystems. Each can be broken into subsections, for example terrestrial ecosystems include: rainforests, savannas, deserts, tundra, grasslands and forests. Each subsection supports a different range of plants and animals interacting in different ways while supporting and providing a range of different ecosystem services. Key ecosystem services include supporting, provisioning, regulating and cultural services. The services help the ecosystem to stay sustainable and provide exploitable commodities for humanity. Provisioning services allow humans to grow crops and food in the ecosystem to sell or consume. Ecosystems regularly experience both physical and human environmental problems, like pollution or over fishing.
Biodiversity is life, it heals us as more than 70,000 plant and trees species on earth are used in medicine. It gives us shelter, without wood we couldn't build houses, furniture or tools. Biodiversity provides us with food and clothes.
It consists of every ecosystem, every living thing and genetic makeup existence. Without biodiversity, life cycles cease to exist. Let me explain. Without pollination from the bees, fruits and nuts would not exist and without plants and trees, there would be no oxygen. Some scientist believe that due to mass population growth, the consumption of resources and the need to expand and build to accommodate the mass population, our natural ecosystems have become disrupted and on the verge of extinction. According to an article by Damian Carrington entitle “the sixth extinction, he explains that the domination of humanity has allocated species to relocate to ecosystems unfamiliar, creating a disarray and destroying biodiversity (Carrington, 2018). In this case, human impact is imperative to changing this crisis. By raising awareness and making lifestyle changes, humans can improve our ecosystem. Some of which include reducing use of chemicals, preserving nature and planting more
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
Biodiversity is the variety of life on Earth. It includes diversity at the genetic level, such as that between individuals in a population or between plant varieties, the diversity of species, and the diversity of ecosystems and habitats. (Assefa et al.,2007 )
Biodiversity presents occurrence of variety of species and their natural community in which they live. By the definition it is “The degree of variation of life forms within a given species, ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. It is a measure of the health of ecosystems and is in part a function of climate.” (Rutherford) Ecosystem is on the other hand, “ community and its abiotic environment”( Rutherford). Biodiversity exists in every ecosystem, weather it is big one, or just ecosystem of one garden, it has the same importance because without it nature loses its ability to perform major functions needed for life on Earth, as it is oxygen production. Trough this investigation, two different ecosystems will be explored and
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)
As defined by the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) biodiversity is “the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and ecological complexes of which they are not part, diversity within species and of ecosystems” (IUCN, 2000).
Humans have existed since 200,000 years but the Earth has existed around 4.5 billion years. Nature has provided us with everything we have today - food, medicines, materials, chemicals, metals, minerals etc. It can only keep providing us when we maintain the right environment for it to exist. This environment depends on the biodiversity of Earth. The number of species of plants, animals and microorganisms and the various genes in these species, different ecosystems such as deserts, rainforests and coral reefs are all part of a biologically diverse Earth. Hence Biodiversity impacts everything. We will discuss how Biodiversity plays a crucial role on social, environmental, and economic factors. We will also discuss what
Biodiversity is the variety of all plants and animals (species of different flora, fauna and micro-organisms and their genes) and the ecosystem (terrestrial and aquatic) in which they live. It supplies humans with goods and services vital for living (CBD 2010) which are the basic needs such as food, fresh water, clean air, and timber for shelter, fiber for clothing, fuel and medicine. These also provide cultural services that include aesthetic, spiritual, recreational and educational (MEA 2003). Environmental degradation and loss of biodiversity is exacerbated due to human activities influenced by modernization. To continue human existence there is a need to conserve biodiversity.