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Why Is Biodiversity Important? Who Cares? Author And Page Information by Anup Shah This Page Last Updated Wednesday, November 18, 2009 This page:http://www.globalissues.org/article/170/why-is-biodiversity- important-who-cares. To print all information e.g. expanded side notes, shows alternative links, use the print version: http://www.globalissues.org/print/article/170 At least 40 per cent of the world’s economy and 80 per cent of the needs of the poor are derived from biological resources. In addition, the richer the diversity of life, the greater the opportunity for medical discoveries, economic development, and adaptive responses to such new challenges as climate change. The Convention about Life on Earth, Convention on Biodiversity web site. This web page has the following sub-sections: 1. Why Is Biodiversity Important? 2. A Healthy Biodiversity Offers Many Natural Services 3. Species Depend On Each Other 1. Soil, Bacteria, Plants; The Nitrogen Cycle 2. Bees: Crucial Agricultural Workers 3. Interdependent Marine Ecosystem 4. Interdependency Vs Human Intervention 4. Biodiversity Providing Lessons For Scientists In Engineering 5. More Important Than Human Use Or Biological Interest 6. Putting An Economic Value On Biodiversity 7. More Information Why Is Biodiversity Important? Biodiversity boosts ecosystem productivity where each species, no matter how small, all have an important role to play. For example,

Why is Biodiversity Important

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Page 1: Why is Biodiversity Important

Why Is Biodiversity Important? Who Cares?

Author And Page Information

by Anup Shah

This Page Last Updated Wednesday, November 18, 2009

This page:http://www.globalissues.org/article/170/why-is-biodiversity-important-

who-cares.

To print all information e.g. expanded side notes, shows alternative links, use the

print version:

http://www.globalissues.org/print/article/170

At least 40 per cent of the world’s economy and 80 per cent of the needs of the poor

are derived from biological resources. In addition, the richer the diversity of life, the

greater the opportunity for medical discoveries, economic development, and adaptive

responses to such new challenges as climate change.

— The Convention about Life on Earth, Convention on Biodiversity web site.

This web page has the following sub-sections:1. Why Is Biodiversity Important?2. A Healthy Biodiversity Offers Many Natural Services3. Species Depend On Each Other1. Soil, Bacteria, Plants; The Nitrogen Cycle2. Bees: Crucial Agricultural Workers3. Interdependent Marine Ecosystem4. Interdependency Vs Human Intervention4. Biodiversity Providing Lessons For Scientists In Engineering5. More Important Than Human Use Or Biological Interest6. Putting An Economic Value On Biodiversity7. More Information

Why Is Biodiversity Important?

Biodiversity boosts ecosystem productivity where each species, no matter how

small, all have an important role to play.

For example,

A larger number of plant species means a greater variety of crops

Greater species diversity ensures natural sustainability for all life forms

Page 2: Why is Biodiversity Important

Healthy ecosystems can better withstand and recover from a variety of disasters.

And so, while we dominate this planet, we still need to preserve the diversity in wildlife.Back to top

A Healthy Biodiversity Offers Many Natural Services

Ecosystems such as the Amazon rainforest are rich in diversity. Deforestation threatens

many species such as the giant leaf frog, shown here.(Images source: Wikipedia)

A healthy biodiversity provides a number of natural services for everyone:

Ecosystem services, such as

Protection of water resources

Soils formation and protection

Nutrient storage and recycling

Pollution breakdown and absorption

Contribution to climate stability

Maintenance of ecosystems

Recovery from unpredictable events

Biological resources, such as

Food

Medicinal resources and pharmaceutical drugs

Wood products

Ornamental plants

Breeding stocks, population reservoirs

Future resources

Diversity in genes, species and ecosystems

Social benefits, such as

Page 3: Why is Biodiversity Important

Research, education and monitoring

Recreation and tourism

Cultural values

That is quite a lot of services we get for free!

The cost of replacing these (if possible) would be extremely expensive. It therefore

makes economic and development sense to move towards sustainability.

A report from Nature magazine also explains that genetic diversity helps to prevent the

chances of extinction in the wild (and claims to have shown proof of this).

To prevent the well known and well documented problems of genetic defects caused by

in-breeding, species need a variety of genes to ensure successful survival.

Without this, the chances of extinction increases.

And as we start destroying, reducing and isolating habitats, the chances for interaction

from species with a large gene pool decreases. Side Note»»Back to top

Species Depend On Each Other

While there might be “survival of the fittest” within a given species, each species

depends on the services provided by other species to ensure survival. It is a type of

cooperation based on mutual survival and is often what a “balanced ecosystem” refers

to.

Soil, Bacteria, Plants; The Nitrogen Cycle

The relationship between soil, plants, bacteria and other life is also referred to as the

nitrogen cycle:

Page 4: Why is Biodiversity Important

(Image source: Wikipedia)

As an example, consider all the species of animals and organisms involved in a simple

field used in agriculture. As summarized from Vandana Shiva, Stolen Harvest (South End

Press, 2000), pp 61–62:

Crop byproducts feed cattle

Cattle waste feeds the soil that nourish the crops

Crops, as well as yielding grain also yield straw

Straw provides organic matter and fodder

Crops are therefore food sources for humans and animals

Soil organisms also benefit from crops

Bacteria feed on the cellulose fibers of straw that farmers return to the soil

Amoebas feed on bacteria making lignite fibers available for uptake by plants

Algae provide organic matter and serve as natural nitrogen fixers

Rodents that bore under the fields aerate the soil and improve its water-

holding capacity

Spiders, centipedes and insects grind organic matter from the surface soil and

leave behind enriched droppings.

Earthworms contribute to soil fertility

They provide aerage, drainage and maintain soil structure.

Page 5: Why is Biodiversity Important

According to Charles Darwin, “It may be doubted whether there are

many other animals which have played so important a part in the history

of creatures.”

The earthworm is like a natural tractor, fertilizer factory and dam,

combined!

Industrial-farming techniques would deprive these diverse species of food sources

and instead assault them with chemicals, destroying the rich biodiversity in the soil

and with it the basis for the renewal of the soil fertility.

Shiva, a prominent Indian scientist and activist goes on to detail the costs associated

with destroying this natural diversity and traditional farming techniques which recognize

this, and replacing this with industrial processes which go against the nature of diversity

sustainability.

Bees: Crucial Agricultural Workers

Bees are crucial for agriculture. (Images source: Wikipedia)

Bees provide enormous benefits for humankind as another example.

As reported by CNN (May 5, 2000), “One third of all our food—fruits and vegetables—

would not exist without pollinators visiting flowers. But honeybees, the primary species

that fertilizes food-producing plants, have suffered dramatic declines in recent years,

mostly from afflictions introduced by humans.”

As German bee expert Professor Joergen Tautz from Wurzburg University adds:

Bees are vital to bio diversity. There are 130,000 plants for example for which bees are

essential to pollination, from melons to pumpkins, raspberries and all kind of fruit trees

— as well as animal fodder — like clover.

Page 6: Why is Biodiversity Important

Bees are more important than poultry in terms of human nutrition.

— Joergen Tautz interviewed by Michael Leidig, Honey bees in US facing extinction, The

Telegraph, March 14, 2007

Researchers are finding reasons for the massive decline hard to pinpoint, but suspect a

combination of various diseases, environmental pollution, environmental degradation

(leading to less diversity for bees to feed from, for example) and farming practices

(such as pesticides, large monoculture cropping, etc).

The link and dependency between plants, bees, and human agriculture is so crucial, the

two scientists writing up years of research into the problem summarized with this

warning:

Humankind needs to act quickly to ensure that the ancient pact between flowers and

pollinators stays intact, to safeguard our food supply and to protect our environment for

generations to come. These efforts will ensure that bees continue to provide pollination

and that our diets remain rich in the fruits and vegetables we now take for granted.

— Diana Cox-Foster and Dennis van Engelsdorp, Solving the Mystery of the Vanishing

Bees, Scientific American, April 2009

Interdependent Marine Ecosystem

Whaling is often controversial. (Image source: © Greenpeace)

Page 7: Why is Biodiversity Important

An example from the seas (originally mentioned here years ago but removed because

the link to the story no longer worked), was described byNational Geographic Wild in a

program called, A Life Among Whales (broadcast June 14, 2008).

It noted how a few decades ago, some fishermen campaigned for killing whales because

they were threatening the fish supply and thus jobs.

A chain of events eventually came full circle and led to a loss of jobs:

The massive reduction in the local whale population meant killer whales in the

region (usually preying on younger whales) moved to other animals such as seals;

As seal numbers declined, the killer whales targeted otters;

As otter numbers were decimated, the urchins and other targets of otters

flourished;

These decimated the kelp forests where many fish larvae grew in relative

protection;

The exposed fish larvae were easy pickings for a variety of sea life;

Fishermen’s livelihoods were destroyed.

Interdependency Vs Human Intervention

But nature can often be surprisingly resilient, often without the need for human

interventions. For example, a documentary aired on the BBC (I unfortunately forget the

name and date, but in the 1990s) described two national parks in Africa where elephant

populations had grown quite large within those artificial boundaries. The usual way to

deal with this was to cull the population to try and keep the ecosystem in balance.

Without this, elephants were stripping vegetation bare, affecting other animals, too.

(Image source: Wikipedia)

Page 8: Why is Biodiversity Important

A scientist pleaded with park management not to cull and let nature take its course.

Being against prevailing thought, they would not agree. In the end they agreed to let

one park have its elephants culled, while the other would be left alone.

A few years later, they found the park with the culled population had remained in poor

condition. The park where things were left alone has naturally regenerated; the large

elephant populations eventually reduced in number as they undermined their own

resource base. The natural pace at which this happened allowed vegetation to grow

back. Other wildlife grew in numbers and the ecosystem was generally back in balance.

Back to top

Biodiversity Providing Lessons For Scientists In Engineering

For a number of years now, scientists have been looking more and more at nature to

see how various species work, produce, consume resources, trying to mimic the

amazing feats that millions of years of evolution has produced.

As just one small example, some spiders can produce their silk with a higher tensile

strength than many alloys of steel even though it is made of proteins. So biologists are

looking at these processes in more depth to see if they can reproduce or enhance such

capabilities.Back to top