ECOLOGICAL AND ECONOMICAL IMPORTANCE OF BIODIVERSITY

Biodiversity is considered a cornerstone to the health of the environment. We in turn depend on the environment for our own health and existence.

By Surabhi Tanwar

Because our survival depends upon it…

Living things, the rocks and soils, water and air interact to provide a range of conditions that favor life on Earth.

If the ecological systems that support life on Earth collapse or radically change, our very existence is threatened.

Soil biodiversity alone influences a huge range of processes and functions vital to ecosystem services.

ECOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE

RESEARCH, EDUCATION AND MONITORING

There is still much to learn on how to get better use from biological resources, how to maintain the genetic base of harvested biological resources, and how to rehabilitate degraded ecosystems.

Natural areas provide excellent living laboratories for such studies, for comparison with other areas under different systems of use, and for valuable research into ecology and evolution.

Unaltered habitats are often essential for certain research approaches, providing controls against which the changes brought about by different management regimes may be measured and assessed.

Soil, Bacteria, Plants; The Nitrogen Cycle

• Crop byproducts feed cattle• Cattle waste feeds the soil that nourish the crops• Crops, as well as yielding grain also yield straw

• Straw provides organic matter and fodder• Crops are therefore food sources for humans and animals

o Soil organisms also benefit from crops• Bacteria feed on the cellulose fibers of straw that farmers return to

the soil• Amoebas feed on bacteria making lignite fibers available for uptake

by plants• Algae provide organic matter and serve as natural nitrogen fixers• Rodents that bore under the fields aerate the soil and improve its

water-holding capacity• Spiders, centipedes and insects grind organic matter from the

surface soil and leave behind enriched droppings.• Earthworms contribute to soil fertility

• They provide average, drainage and maintain soil structure.• According to Charles Darwin, “It may be doubted whether there

are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of creatures.”

• The earthworm is like a natural tractor, fertilizer factory and dam, combined!

Industrial-farming techniques would deprive these diverse species of food sources and instead assault them with chemicals, destroying the rich biodiversity in the soil and with it the basis for the renewal of the soil fertility.

“One third of all our food—fruits and vegetables—would not exist without pollinators visiting flowers. But honeybees, the primary species that fertilizes food-producing plants, have suffered dramatic declines in recent years, mostly from afflictions introduced by humans.”

-German bee expert Professor Joergen Tautz

BEES: CRUCIAL AGRICULTURAL WORKERS

Interdependent Marine Ecosystem

BIODIVERSITY PROVIDING LESSONS FOR SCIENTISTS IN ENGINEERING

Some spiders can produce their silk with a higher tensile strength than many alloys of steel even though it is made of proteins. So biologists are looking at these processes in more depth to see if they can reproduce or enhance such capabilities.

PUTTING AN ECONOMIC VALUE ON BIODIVERSITY

For all humans, biodiversity is first a resource for daily life. Such 'crop diversity' is also called agrobiodiversity.

-   FOOD : crops, livestock, forestry, and fish 

-    MEDICATION: Wild plant species have been used for medicinal purposes since before the beginning of recorded history. For example, quinine (Used to treat malaria) comes from the bark of the Amazonian tree Cinchona tree; digitalis from the Foxglove plant (chronic heart trouble), and morphine from the Poppy plant (pain relief).  

According the National Cancer Institute of the USA, over 70 % of the promising anti-cancer drugs come from plants in the tropical rainforests. Animal may also play a role, in particular in research. It is estimated that of the 250,000 known plant species, only 5,000 have been researched for possible medical applications. 

-        INDUSTRY: Fibers for clothing, wood for shelter and warmth. Biodiversity may be a source of energy (such as biomass). Other industrial products are oils, lubricants, perfumes, fragrances, dyes, paper, waxes, rubber, latexes, resins, poisons and cork can all be derived from various plant species. Supplies from animal origin are wool, silk, fur, leather, lubricants, waxes. Animals may also be used as a mode of transportation.  

-        TOURISM & RECREATION: Biodiversity is a source of economical wealth for many areas, such as many parks and forests, where wild nature and animals are a source of beauty and joy for many people. Ecotourism in particular, is a growing outdoor recreational activity.  

“ We don’t need scientists, politicians, economists or clergy to tell us biodiversity is important. Biodiversity is not just important for technical, scientific reasons — it’s important because it’s the symbol and symptom of a rich, healthy world. “

Presentation by: Surabhi Tanwar

Student of Masters in Environmental Science- Institute of Science, Mumbai

BIBLIOGRAPHY

http://redpath-museum.mcgill.ca/Qbp/2.About%20Biodiversity/importance.html

http://www.jamaicachm.org.jm/BHS/importance_of_biodiversity.htm

https://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfp/training/00001/module01/biodiversity-importance.htm

http://conservationtools.org/guides/show/95-Economic-Benefits-of-Biodiversity