The Way Of Life: The Importance Of Biodiversity

Imagine acres of beautiful land, stretching as far as the eye can see providing food and shelter for animals and wildlife. Then, a few years later, the land has become destroyed. It now holds housing developments, roads, office parks, strip malls, parking lots and industrial sites. The lively animals that roamed this land only years earlier, now nowhere in sight. It is nearly unimaginable that the animals you once saw in this very location could have ever lived here. Biodiversity is the variety of life in an ecosystem. Biodiversity holds an ecosystem together like glue. Having biodiversity means every species, no matter how small, is important to maintaining life in an ecosystem. Human activities are the main threat to biodiversity.

Humans …show more content…
In order for a species to be viable in its habitat it must have sufficient territory, necessary food and water and a range of necessary physical features. These features can include tree cover, rocky hills or deep pools, as well as the organisms and ecosystems that are needed to complete the life cycle.” This shows how much animals rely on their ecosystems for survival, when that is taken away from them, there is no place for them to go. Furthermore, www.panda.org states, “The world 's forests, swamps, plains, lakes, and other habitats continue to disappear as they are harvested for human consumption and cleared to make way for agriculture, housing, roads, pipelines and the other hallmarks of industrial development. Without a strong plan to create terrestrial and …show more content…
For example, overexploitation can greatly affect the health of an ecosystem. The National Wildlife Federation defines overexploitation as, “Overexploitation is the overuse of wildlife and plant species by people for food, clothing, pets, medicine, sport and many other purposes.” This helps to identify overexploitation. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment gives an example of exploitation in their Biodiversity Synthesis. The text states “Among the most commonly overexploited species or groups of species are marine fish and invertebrates, trees, and animals hunted for meat.” This means that overhunting impacts ecosystems and participates in the removal of species. Like I said earlier, every species in the ecosystem has a purpose. For example, People have always hunted mammals- for food, sport, fur, and their antlers and horns. Mammals are also trapped for zoos and biomedical research. Illegal hunting especially threatens large predators such as tigers, rhinoceros, and bears, whose body parts are greatly valued in some parts of the world. These animals are important for their ecosystems to thrive. Without these predators, some species, such as deer or zebras may overpopulate. This can lead to a decrease in