Principles of Environmental Science-Inquiry and Applications: Biomes and Biodiversity

William, C., & Cunningham, A. (2018). Principles of environmental science-inquiry and applications: Biomes and Biodiversity (8th ed.) McGraw-Hill Companies.

The Principles of Environmental Science Inquiry And Application is a remarkable book educating the world about the biome system and its biodiversity. The book talks about the various significant forests, the benefits of biodiversity, and the need to conserve the forests. Further, the author equips us with the knowledge and understanding of the environment, and the many factors that threaten biodiversity. The book is valuable to the human race, and it instills a sense of responsibility in every individual in protecting the ecosystem.

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The book elaborates the numerous approaches that have been employed by the ecological scientists to answer the difficult questions as to how biological communities retort to environment alteration. One of the schemes involves producing plants in a conservatory and experimenting plant reactions to different temperature and humidity intensity, and by this method, an approximation of responses to environmental change is concluded. However, this tactic skips the complex species relations that stimulate the plant development in the real biome. The ecological researchers apply a different technique that comprises the use of field analysis in which combinations of plants are grown in the biological surroundings that entail competition for predator-prey interactions, natural climatic variations, resources and other natural aspects. Professor Peter Reich, colleagues, and the student research assistance has carried out a similar field test in a patch of boreal forest in Minnesota.

The author acknowledges the various countries that have established organizations concerned in the legal safeguarding for the endangered species. Some of the countries include Canada's Committee, on the status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) of 1997, the Habitat Directive (1991), the European Union's Birds Directive (1979), and Australia's Endangered Species Protection Act (1992). These federations offer a significant preservation approach by hindering the international trade of wildlife and their parts. The Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) of 1975, makes it illicit to import or export elephant ivory, tiger skins, rhino horns, or the life-endangered fish, birds, orchids, and lizards. Although, these efforts have been sufficient, CITES implementation has been far from perfect because the smugglers hide live animals in their attire and baggage, and the volume of the international shipment makes it unbearable to scrutinize the transport containers and vessels. The increasing wealthy cities of China and the high price of these products in Northern America and Europe creates the risk of smuggling worthwhile: a single rare of a parrot can be worth tens of thousands. Nature offers priceless wealth, which is consistent and irreversible; one wonders if the humankind will ever be conscious of the biome.

The book talks about the biomes and the benefits of biodiversity from the highest mountain to the deepest ocean trenches, and from the driest desert to the dropping rain forests. Life transpires in an amazing range of shapes, colors, sizes, interrelationships, and lifecycles. The remarkable and the productive feature of the biosphere owe its splendor to the diversities of organisms and the sophisticated biological relationship. The variety of the living things makes the world beautiful and an exciting place to live. The writer clarifies the three forms of biodiversity that are critical in preserving the biological structures and functions. They include species diversity, genetic diversity, and ecological diversity. The species diversity: defines the number of the different classes of organisms within the distinct communities or the biome. The Genetic diversity; is a measure of the diversity of the kind of the same genetic factor within the individual kinds and the ecological diversity; stipulate the number of niches, trophic intensities, and the natural courses that acquire energy, recycle materials, and sustain food web, within the system.

Along with expounding the different kinds of species, the author describes how human life depends on the environmental services offered by the other systems. The world ecosystem and the relations of the organisms in them influence the biological services like air, solar energy absorptions, waste disposal, water purification, food production, and nutrients recycling. Moreover, wild plant species make an imperative input to human food providers. Noted by tropical ecologists Norman Meyers, genetic components from the natural plants have been used to advance local produces, and the humans utilize an estimated 80,000 wild plants species. The author is zealous about the ecosystem, and he goes on to question how the value of a standing forest compares to the value of the logs taken from the forest,

William & Cunningham use graphs and pictures from the different species within the ecosystem. The graphs carefully illustrate the annual trends in temperature and precipitation in California, Brazil, and Philadelphia. They also indicate the relationship between potential evaporation, which depends on the temperature, and precipitation. This is remarkable since the graphs are clear and easier to interpret. The pictures are fascinatingly displaying the different kinds of forests, for instance, the temperate deciduous forest that produces brilliant colors in autumn. Nature offers a lot than we can imagine and it makes one fall in love with it.

Conclusion

To conclude, biodiversity provides countless ecosystem services, for example, food, nutrients recycling, water purification, medicine, and other products. The world has taken these valuable services for granted, and there is no doubt that we depend on the ecosystem for our existence. Studies have been conducted in favor of the ecosystem, but the focus should be directed on educating the public on the preservation methods within the environment for the sake of the generations to come.

References

William, C., and Cunningham, A. (2018). Principles of Environmental science inquiry and applications: Biomes and Biodiversity (8thed). McGraw hill Companies.