Questions and Answers Essay on Biodiversity

Define Biodiversity

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Biodiversity is a term used to describe the population of various living organism or creature living on Earth. It is a significant term that defines the crowd of living things that populate the entire planet (Leveque & Mounolou, 2007). The living organism must come from different sources namely aquatic, marine, torrential and desert ecosystem. Biodiversity is significant in several ways. It has various functions that it plays on Earth's surface.

Why is biodiversity important?

Biodiversity does not only have a role in maintaining the environment in its usual state; it is also responsible for providing resources that can be used as food, shelter and other materials essential for life. The economy of a given country depends on diversity as it allows for renewable economic resources and ecosystem services. The most critical function of biodiversity is that it is responsible for maintaining the balance of the ecosystem through recycling and storying nutrients on the ground. It also eliminates or combat pollutions that may damage natural resources on Earth. At the same time, it is responsible for stabilizing World climate by protecting water, soil and ensuring there is a right Eco balance. Biodiversity is also essential for the provision of biological resources to the World. Biodiversity provides that there are animal and plants that can be used as a source of medicine. Also, such animals and plants are also used as food that feeds human generation, livestock, and other animal species. Medication that is used to cure and treat the various disease are from diversity since most of the pharmaceutical's drugs are made from using parts of plants. The result of the different analysis shows that 2 percent of flowering plants are used for making pharmaceutical drugs. The quality of plants to provide medicine is vital in enhancing human health and also used for scientific research and economic benefits. Biodiversity also has economic value. Resources such as timber, water, mineral, and even game animals are sold to different countries for income. Animals such as lion and leopard are used to unique form scenes that people from other countries come to see. As a result, the state gets revenue which it uses to build its infrastructure.

Furthermore, biodiversity ensures there are various ecosystem services which are essential to human life and the general economy. There are different living organisms which are answerable for controlling hostile animal species such as pests, ensure that soil remains fertile and supporting pollination. These activities provide there are diverse vegetation, pure air and efficient decomposition of animal and plants wastes in the ecosystem.

What are some of the benefits of biodiversity?

Biodiversity has various benefits which it provides. Since biodiversity is also composed of micro-organisms such as bacterial and algae and other tiny insects that live in the soil, these micro-organisms and insects involve in the formation of soil and ensure that the soil has high quality (Cawsey & Freudenberger, 2008). Warms which lives in the soil are responsible for soil conditioning because it digs through the soil and ensures there is sufficient air in the soil. Bacterial also degrade organic matters in the soil by breaking them into smaller particles thus forming soil. Biodiversity also provides that the quality of water does not change. Plants consume contaminants available in water and shellfish use nutrients in water; therefore ensure there is no development of eutrophication which increases the number of living organisms in the water leading to depletion of oxygen. Finally, biodiversity also removes wastes. Living organisms such as bees and other birds are responsible for pollination. These living organisms spread pollen and help in seed dispersal. As a result, it eliminates wastes.

How is biodiversity measured?

There are various ways in which biodiversity is measured. Biodiversity can be measured either on a genetic level or species level. The genetic level requires mapping the genes and chromosomes of a given living organism and make a comparison of their genetic makeup of the entre group of the same plants. In the process, it is essential to count the frequency of occurrence of a given genetic pattern. The difference in physical appearances of living organisms can also be used to measure genetic diversity. Living organisms that have the same traits and attributes can be classified to fall in the same class or have the same genetic roots.

What is extinction?

This is the termination of evolutionary lineage of living organisms. It can also be considered as the loss of a given species among other living organisms. The leading causes of extinction are human intervention and environmental change. Animal and plant species die out because they are incapable of adapting to ever-changing climatic condition and human beings kill some species for food and security reasons.

What is the Endangered Species Act?

This is a US environmental law which came into being in the 1970s. It is a law which enlists programs aimed at conserving threatened plants and animal species and the areas where they are living (O'Toole, 2018). The law is meant to prohibit any step or activity that lead to killing or using one of the living organisms categorized as endangered species. The law is designed in a way that it can only protect animal and plant species that can easily extinct due to the action of human beings and environmental changes.

What are some of the most and least diverse species in your local area?

The local area of my choice is Reno in Nevada, USA. Birds are the most diverse species in the region while the palm is the least varied plant species.

What can you do as an individual to help slow the loss of biodiversity?

Reducing the loss of diversity, it is essential to eliminate the use of fertilizers for planting and top dressing. It is also necessary to remove the use of pesticides (Murray et al., 2014). These chemicals when used for agriculture kill microorganisms living in the soil. This will ensure that there is proper soil conditioning. I can also reuse and recycle waste materials that pollute the environment (Jarvis & Cooper, 2007).

References

Cawsey, E. M., & Freudenberger, D. (2008). Assessing the biodiversity benefits of plantations: The Plantation Biodiversity Benefits Score. Ecological Management & Restoration, 9(1), 42-52. doi:10.1111/j.1442-8903.2008.00386.x

Murray J et al. (2014). Safeguarding biodiversity in REDD+: Necessary but not sufficient to help slow global biodiversity loss. doi:10.17528/cifor/005193

Jarvis, D. I., Padoch, C., & Cooper, H. D. (2007). Managing Biodiversity in Agricultural Ecosystems. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.

Leveque, C., & Mounolou, J. (2007). Biodiversity. John Wiley and Sons.

O'Toole, R. (2018). Fixing the Endangered Species Act. Saving a Place: Endangered Species inthe 21st Century, 199-238. doi:10.4324/9781315196725-14