Our global ecosystem is home to earths entire collection of living organisms and the habitats in which they live. Biodiversity forms part of the earths ecosystem and is short for biological diversity, a term used to elucidate the whole potpourri of life on earth.
Biodiversity doesnt honest mention to rare sort; it encompasses the diversity of all living things from the human relay to micro - organisms. Biodiversity also refers to the amazing money of habitats on earth relating as snowfields, precipitate forests, eminence tops and the ocean macadamize. Flush in a employed city park biodiversity is present as there are an enormous number of individual species living with it.
Biodiversity is a fundamental part of earths life support as without it we wouldnt be able to survive. This is because no - one living organism lives in isolation; millions of organisms interact and contribute to the balance of the global ecosystem and the survival of the planet. It takes numerous organisms to regulate a natural process such as the growth cycle of plants, the mating season of animals and even our weather patterns.
Sadly however the planet is losing biodiversity at a rapid rate. Even though the normal course of evolution involves species to die out; the rate at which biodiversity is decreasing is extremely quick, much quicker than natural standards. So what is causing this decrease in biodiversity within our planet? There are a number of contributing factors that are causing biodiversity to come under threat from various dangers, sadly most of these factors are caused by the human race, an example being habitat loss and fragmentation. This is the primary cause of biodiversity loss; it refers to the clearance of vegetation for agriculture, housing, timber and industry. Habitat loss and fragmentation also refers to the draining of wetlands and the flooding of valleys to form reservoirs. By destroying habitats like this we are destroying organisms and therefore decreasing the biodiversity of our ecosystem.
Pollution is another contributing factor to the loss of biodiversity within our planets ecosystem. Pollution can affect all forms of life, whether they dwell in sea or on land. Transport, industry, construction, extraction and power generation are all contributors to the pollution of land, air and sea. These chemicals can directly affect biodiversity and cause chemical imbalances, which will kill species and there habitats.
One of the biggest threats however to biodiversity and also one of the largest environmental challenges facing the world today is climate change. Climate change is the result of co2 emissions, greenhouse gases, these gases are released when fossil fuels are burnt. Currently the world is emitting around 6. 5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year through burning coal, oil and gas and what is the world doing to help this? Cutting down the rainforest, destroying our landscape, getting rid of vital elements of nature that absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere trees. The more vegetation and forestry that is destroyed, the more carbon dioxide will build up in our atmosphere.
