Question

What is BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY, what benefits & threatens it in your society?

Answer 1

Understanding biodiversity

• Biodiversity is a measure that represents the diversity of life, either in a local scale or at a global scale.
• Biodiversity is highly dependent on local conditions, and some regions have a higher biodiversity than others.
• Tropical forests have the highest biodiversity on Earth, representing about 10% of land mass and including about 90% of Earth's biodiversity.
• Selection and evolution can explain the biodiversity we observe (see lesson on evolution here).
• Humans activities are often a threat to biodiversity, and lowered biodiversity can lead to ecological collapse (see humans' impact on nature here).

Ecosystem services

• Healthy, functional ecosystems usually are self-sustained and allow the occurrence of many species.
• Some species, such as crops, pollinating insects or trees are used by humans to produce resources like food or raw materials.
• The benefits that ecosystems give to human societies is called ecosystem services.
• Losing biodiversity usually results in loss of ecosystem services.
• It is however possible to restore biodiversity through actions like planting forests or protecting areas.