Biodiversity: Are We Destroying It?
Written by: Anthony Fusco
Biodiversity is the diversity we see all around us every day. Species diversity is probably the most recognized by people. I recently read an article on the National Wildlife Federation’s website that described an example of species diversity that can be found in a regular pond.
“At first glance, we can identify different plants, including cattails and water lilies. If we wait a while, we might be able to spot a garter snake, a bullfrog or maybe a red-winged blackbird. With a closer look, you can see invertebrates and worms under leaves, on grasses and in pond water.” The article continued, “Using a microscope, you would be able to see hundreds or even thousands of different bacteria that inhabit the pond water.”
Though this describes a wide diversity found in a pond, it can relate to any ecosystem on our planet. Biodiversity is pivotal to protect on our planet and is currently being threatened by numerous factors that impact us all.
The National Wildlife Federation promotes the importance in protecting biodiversity. They describe in the article that biodiversity helps humans live healthy lives. People grow a variety amount of produce in our environment to fill our supermarkets. It is unimaginable to think of all the other benefits people get from nature as well: drinking water, wood, natural gas, oil and medicine. Experts can research plants and animals for medicinal purposes to help cure human diseases. This makes it so horrific when a species of a plant or animal goes extinct because a cure for a human disease may be compromised and lost.
An ecosystem offers the necessities needed for people to live every day. The National Wildlife Federation describes, “Plants clean air and filter water, bacteria decompose wastes, bees pollinate flowers and tree roots hold soil in place to prevent erosion.” All of the said factors help an ecosystem work integrally and effectively for people to live.
However, human activity is a major threat to biodiversity and puts many of the different species of animals at risk of extinction. Humans destroy homes for animals to develop places to grow agriculture as well as develop dams, which alter and destroy the habit of animals. Malls, roads, businesses, among other things are created through human activity as well adding to the loss of habitat for certain animals.
Humans are causing harm to the environment with overexploitation. National Wildlife Federation describes overexploitation as “… the overuse of wildlife and plant species by people for food, clothing, pets, medicine, sport and many other purposes.” Hunting too much of a particular species can cause the certain species to not be able to defend themselves in the wild which can harm other species of animals in an ecosystem. Many mammals are popularly hunted like the rhinos, bears and tigers for their fur and body parts (like a rhino’s horns) since both are valuable in trade.
Another way humans cause harm is through the spread of invasive species into new ecosystems. The National Wildlife Federation says, “An invasive species can be any kind of living organism-an amphibian, plant, insect, fish, fungus, bacteria, or even an organism’s seeds or eggs-that is not native to an ecosystem and which causes harm.” An invasive species can rapidly reproduce and create problems for the native species in an area. They can sometimes hunt the native species. An invasive species will also create more competition with the native species for food. This will potentially alter the food web of the particular ecosystem and alter the biodiversity in the particular area.
It is important to protect our natural biodiversity that our environment provides us. People need to become more aware and educated about the environment if we want to experience the beauty of wildlife that share the same planet as us. Various forms of human activity are aggressively destroying the diversity of a variety of different species. This has a domino effect which can directly harm future generations, like our grandchildren or great grandchildren.
Works Cited “Ecosystem Services.” National Wildlife Federation. N.d. National Wildlife Federation. March 5, 2014.
“Habitat Loss.” National Wildlife Federation. N.d. National Wildlife Federation. March 5, 2014.
“Invasive Species.” National Wildlife Federation. N.d. National Wildlife Federation. March 5, 2014.
“Overexploitation.” National Wildlife Federation. N.d. National Wildlife Federation. March 5, 2014.
“What is Biodiversity?” National Wildlife Federation. N.d. National Wildlife Federation. March 5, 2014.