Biodiversity and its importance

Introduction

What is biodiversity?

What are the types of biodiversity?

Why is biodiversity important?

What are the threats of biodiversity?

Where is biodiversity found?

How can we help?

Our visit to biodiversity plant at Gorewada.

References

Contents

The science of biodiversity originates largely from ecology (the study of the relationship between organisms and their environment) and evolution (the study of the origin of diversity).

From these two fields come its two main goals: to understand the way the natural systems work and are structured, and to understand how it got that way.

Biodiversity also provides us with a community of life, with which we share planet Earth, and the opportunity to practice thoughtful stewardship

Introduction

Biodiversity is the variety of all life forms:the different plants,animals and micro-organisms ,their genes and the ecosystems of which they are a part.

What is biodiversity?

There are three kinds of biodiversity.

One type is genetic diversity which is the diversity of genes in a species. Species need certain genes to survive. If the diversity is lacking, the species may die, and its numbers will diminish.

Types of biodiversity

Species diversity (another kind of biodiversity) is the variety of living things in areas such as rainforests, reefs, deserts, tundra, etc.

The last type of biodiversity is ecological diversity. It’s the complexity and richness of an entire ecosystem.

Types of biodiversity

Biodiversity increases ecosystem productivity; all of the species in that ecosystem, no matter their size, have a big role. A diverse ecosystem can prevent a nd recover from lots of disasters. Humans depend on plants and animals. For example, one quarter of all prescription medicines in the U.S. have ingredients from plants.  If a diverse ecosystem is more productive, it's easier to get these plants.

Why is biodiversity important?

Humans also directly benefit from a diverse ecosystem: plants, clean water and air, provide oxygen, and control erosion.

Why is biodiversity important?

Plants absorb greenhouse gases and help stop global warming.

It is easier for biodiverse ecosystems to recover from natural disasters.

Healthy biodiversity of species can provide a variety of food (like meat and produce). 

Many of our medicinal drugs come from plants.

Ways of biodiversity that helps human

All of our wood products come from nature.

We can learn more about our earth by observing a diverse ecosystem.

Many recreational areas benefit from a healthy ecosystem, which promotes tourism.

Biodiversity is beautiful and should be enjoyed.

These values are free to us, but as we lose biodiversity the cost of replacing these would be very high!

Ways of biodiversity that helps human

There are a lot of threats to biodiversity.Here are some of the major threats:

1) Using up natural resources before they can be renewed (over-fishing in oceans, or over-harvesting trees on land)

2) Habitat destruction like clearing forests or draining wetlands for towns or agricultural purposes

What are the threats of biodiversity?

3) Releasing invasive species into foreign ecosystems (like the cane toad in Australia or the zebra mussel in the Great Lakes)

4)Any kind of pollution (water, air, soil, etc).

5)Failure of food chains.

Those are some of the big threats to biodiversity, and some of those are threats to other things, too. For example, using up natural resources can hurt the world's economy.

Threats

Biodiversity is found wherever there is life which is all around the  world. However, some parts of the world are more biologically diverse than others.

For example, the Great Barrier Reef contains many different species: 1500 fish, 350 kinds of hard coral, 5000-8000 mollusks, 22 species of sea birds, and many more animals species. Over 30 different species of marine mammals and 6 species of sea turtles are listed as threatened.

Where is biodiversity found?

In the Amazon Rainforest, over 500 kinds of mammals, 175 lizards and over 300 reptile species live there. About 1/3 of the world's birds live there and about 30,000,000 insect types can be found there.

Where is biodiversity found?

The African Savannah has about 45 species of mammals, about 500 bird species, and 55 species of acacia (plants that are shrub-like). The savannah has the largest diversity of hoofed animals in the whole world. Overall, biodiversity is found all over the world, and even in your own backyard.   

Where is biodiversity found?

Here are a few things you can do to help biodiversity:

Put out bird feeders, bird bathes, and houses.

Put up a bat house.

Be careful not to buy coral, ivory, or tortoise shell products. They come from endangered species.

You can volunteer at a nature center, park, or a zoo.

Add mulch to soil to prevent erosion.

Composting can add nutrients to your soil.

CONCLUSION:-A:

Buy organic produce.

Don’t use pesticides; they can kill plants and animals.

Stop junk mail to save paper and protect our forests.

When renovating your house, buy FSC approved wood, because it is harvested in ways that don’t harm the forests.

Use cloth napkins.

Recycle old newspaper and buy recycled paper products.

Use e-mail since it saves paper.

You should always use eco-friendly cleaning products.

At Gorewada we found the beautiful diversity of plant species.

We also discovered about variety of birds migrating in that region.

We also learnt about various spices that they grow there.

B:Our trip to a Biodiversity Plant at Nagpur

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Wikipedia

www.globalissues.org › Issues › Articles

conservationtools.org › Comprehensive Guides

References