The Earth is populated by an incredible number of different
living creatures. The term that is used to define this crowd of organisms that populate every corner of the Planet, and that have adapted even to the most extreme environments, is biodiversity or biological diversity. Biodiversity measures the variety of animal and vegetable species in the biosphere and is the result of long evaluative processes. The elements that make up biodiversity can be subdivided into three different levels:
Genetic level
Species level
Ecosystem level
Importance:
Biodiversity boosts ecosystem productivity where each
species, no matter how small, all have an important role to play.
For example, a larger number of plant species means a
greater variety of crops; greater species diversity ensures natural sustainability for all life forms; and healthy ecosystems can better withstand and recover from a variety of disasters. And so, while we dominate this planet, we still need to preserve the diversity in wildlife.
The diminishing of the Earth's biological diversity has
consequences far more profound than other, sometimes more widely recognized, environmental dilemmas. Because the loss is irreversiblespecies that are lost are lost foreverthe potential impact on the human condition, on the fabric of the Earth's living systems, and on the process of evolution is immense.
Strengths
Maintaining biodiversity is essential for organic waste
disposal, soil formation, biological nitrogen fixation, crop and livestock genetics, biological pest control, plant pollination, and pharmaceuticals. Plants and microbes help to degrade chemical pollutants and organic wastes and cycle nutrients through the ecosystem.
Pollinators, including bees and butterflies, provide
significant environmental and economic benefits to agricultural and natural ecosystems, including adding diversity and productivity to food crops. The development of natural lands, are causing a species extinction rate of 1,000 to 10,000 times the natural rate. The authors estimate that in the United States, biodiversity provides a total of $319 billion dollars in annual benefits and $2,928 billion in annual benefits worldwide (1997 calculation)
Weakness
Difficulties in measuring biodiversity have complicated
assessments of the impact of response strategies.
Measures to reduce the rate of global biodiversity loss also
generate substantial negative consequences. Achieving sustainable fishery, for example, would require years of large limitations put on catches, which, in turn, would have an enormous impact on the livelihoods of fishermen the world over. Sustainable agricultural methods demand large investments, causing higher agricultural prices.