Biodiversity is everywhere. Look around and you'll see plenty of different types of organisms - insects, plants, birds and other animals. Go for a walk and you'll notice different types of habitats and ecosystems - woods, grasslands, ponds, rivers and coasts - each with different species of animals and plants. Unless you use a microscope, you won't see microorganisms, but they too are part of the natural world.
This is biodiversity - our planet's diversity of living organisms and their natural homes. Combining the Greek word for life, bios, with diversity, the term biodiversity refers simply to the vast variety of life on Earth. This diversity is expressed in many ways, from the number of species of living organisms, to the variations between individuals of those species, to the variety of ways in which these species group together to form different habitats and ecosystems.
Biodiversity is essential for human life. It provides human society with many important benefits and services: for instance, insects pollinate our crops, birds disperse seeds, and fungi, worms and micro-organisms produce nutrients and fertile soils. Interactions between organisms and the physical environment influence our climate, water supplies and air quality, and help protect us from extreme weather, including mitigation of natural disasters. These benefits are collectively known as ecosystem services. The 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment describes four basic types of ecosystem services:
All of these services are vital for our well-being, and it is just not possible to replace them with technology if they are damaged. The only option that will conserve these benefits is for us to reduce our adverse impacts on the natural world, so that biodiversity and natural resources have a chance to recover. Increasingly, ecosystems are being restored so that they can provide key services, in preference to man-made alternatives. For example, restoration of coastal marshes and vegetation is used as an alternative to man-made sea defences in some areas, while protection of ecosystems in watersheds is now an important part of the management of freshwater supplies. In agriculture, sustainable farming systems are replacing artificial fertilisers and pesticides with services provided by natural ecosystems.
Although biodiversity provides our society with vital products and services, human activities are causing tremendous damage to ecosystems and species around the world. Everything we consume, all we throw away, has an impact on biodiversity. World population has risen dramatically over the past few decades, and is still rising. Part of this population is also becoming more affluent and more mobile, leading to rising consumption and a rapid increase in human impacts on the environment.
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