Biodiversity

“We should preserve every scrap of biodiversity as priceless while we learn to use it and come to understand what it means to humanity”-E. O. Wilson

 Biodiversity is defined as the totality of genes, species and ecosystems of a region. Biological diversity in short known as biodiversity is a term that is used to describe variety of life found on earth and all the natural processes. These processes include ecosystem, genetic and cultural diversity and also their connection with all the species. Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms and is a measure of the health of ecosystems. The species of plants, animals, and microorganisms, the enormous diversity of genes in these species, the different ecosystems on the planet, such as deserts, rainforests and coral reefs are all part of a biologically diverse Earth. There are many different aspects of biodiversity and all of them have influence on each other in one or the other way. Biodiversity is a part of the climate and is very useful in day-to-day life. As the release of greenhouse gases in to the atmosphere is causing climate change, this climate change is a major threat to biodiversity.

Biodiversity has been identified at three levels and they are:

• Species diversity: It is the number of various species represented in a collection of datasets. Diversity of these species is incredible and it is estimated that around 1.7 millions of species have been discovered on earth. This consists of two components i.e. species richness and species evenness. Species richness is the count of species and species evenness measures how equal the abundances of the species are.

• Ecosystem diversity: It refers to the diversity of a place at the level of ecosystems. It can also be referred as the variety of ecosystems present in the biosphere.

• Genetic diversity: It refers to the total number of genetic characteristics in the genetic species. It provides a way to human beings to adapt to changing environments. It is important for group of plants and animals, including people, to have genetic diversity.

2. What is the importance of Biodiversity?

Biodiversity resources are like the pillars for building civilizations. It forms the web of life of which we are an integral part and we also totally depend on it. Biodiversity offers a huge amount of goods and services that maintain our lives. Protecting biodiversity is very important as it supports many industries like agriculture, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, pulp and paper, horticulture, construction and waste treatment. It is the biodiversity on Earth that allows animals, plants and humans to share the planet- if one species is destroyed, several, maybe even hundreds more, may follow. It is also important because few organisms have economic value like rainforest plants are used to prepare medicine, they have value to the ecosystem, and they are a source of natural beauty and recreation.

40% percent of world’s economy and up to 80% of the poor needs are derived from biological resources. If the diversity is rich, then the opportunity for medical discoveries and economic development will also be great. It improves the ecosystem productivity like huge variety of species leads to larger variety of crops. If the ecosystem is healthy, then it can easily withstand and recover from variety of disasters.

• The air we breathe is a product of photosynthesis by green plants.

• More than 90 percent of the calories consumed by people worldwide are produced from 80 plant species.

• Almost 30 percent of medicines are developed from plants and animals, and many more are derived from these sources.

3. What are the benefits of Biodiversity?

 

Biodiversity increases the ecosystem productivity. It is very useful for mankind and there are many benefits of this biodiversity.

Some of the major benefits of biodiversity are as follows:

• Plenty of food, fuel and fiber provision
• Shelter provision and building materials
• Water and air purification
• Detoxification and moderation of wastes
• Earth’s climate will be stabilized and moderated
• Moderation of floods, droughts, temperature extremes and the forces of wind
• Soil fertility generation and renewal including nutrient cycling
• Plants pollination including several crops
• Pest and disease control
• Maintenance of genetic resources as key inputs to crop varieties and livestock breeds, medicines, and other products
• Cultural and aesthetic benefits
• Many recreational areas benefit from a healthy ecosystem, which promotes tourism.

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Biodiversity: A buzz word in present days