Biodiversity

Biodiversity is used to define the variety of living things in an ecosystem. This includes plants, animals, and bacteria and is measured by species and subspecies. Biodiversity is very important to humans and the overall health of the world for three reasons. First different species of plants, animals and other living things have very complex interactions which scientists are just beginning to understand. Secondly many of the plants and animals of the world could hold the cure to diseases thirdly, the variety of plants and animals creates many diverse and unique places which are pleasing to the eye, and offer an escape from our modernized world.

The amount of diversity of the world's mammal species is generally known, however numbers of other living creatures such insects have yet to be discovered. It is this unknown which keeps scientists guessing at the total number of species that the world contains. Some put the estimate at 10 million species others as high as 100 million. One thing is certain though; humans are changing environments, in many regions, accelerating the extinction of species of plants, animals and other living things at an alarming rate.

This accelerated extinction is occurring before we are able to ever discover the potential and the importance of these various and unknown species. Many plants and animals have been found to contain potential cures for cancer or new genes that can be used to modify and strengthen crops, others are essential to the ecosystems in which they live. In many cases an animal's extinction can create severe problems for other animals. Take for instance the sea otter, which feeds on the sea urchins off the pacific coast of North America, this feeding keep the urchin populations reduced, allowing seaweed, which the urchins feed on to grow and provide a place for fish to live. Without the sea otter the fish of the pacific would be in peril. We are just beginning to understand these complex interactions. In the rainforest things can be even more difficult since a particular species of plant may only occur infrequently over a vast area.

It is our responsibility today to protect the biodiversity of the world for tomorrow. We will never know what species of plant holds the cure to our most chronic aliments.