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What is Biodiversity?

 

Put it simply, biodiversity is the variety of life in a given area. Biodiversity found on Earth today consists of many millions of distinct biological species, the product of four billion years of evolution. This can be measured according to

  • Genetic - Variation between individuals of the same species. For example, human is a species but each individual is unique which brings the meaning of variation.

  • Species - Variation of species in a given area. Look around the nearest lake or forest to your home. Do you notice the same type of fish or bird? Do you manage to discover different fishes in the lake or different birds in the forest?

  • Ecosystem - Communities of plants and animals, together with the physical characteristics of their environment (e.g. geology, soil and climate) interlink together as an ecological system, or 'ecosystem'. Ecosystem diversity is more difficult to measure because there are rarely clear boundaries between different ecosystems and they grade into one another. However, if consistent criteria are chosen to define the limits of an ecosystem, then their number and distribution can also be measured

So, in short, biological diversity or better known as biodiversity, also includes Earth’s various ecosystems such as savannas, rainforests, oceans, marshes, deserts, and all the other environments where species evolve and live.

 

Diversity doesn’t end at the water’s edge. In fact, an incredible variety of living things inhabits the world’s lakes, rivers, wetlands, and oceans. A single coral reef, for example, can support more than 3,000 species of fish and invertebrates, such as giant clams, sea urchins, sea stars, and shrimp. Amazing isn't it?

 

And, acre for acre, there can be more life in a healthy wetland than in almost any kind of habitat. Take mangroves, for instance. These rich wetlands, which are found along many of the world’s coasts, are nurseries for a host of aquatic creatures. They also provide a variety of ecosystem services including flood control, water purification, and food and shelter for some of our most commercially important species, including shrimp, crabs, oysters, and fish. Many individuals among us does not realize this...yet.

 

We really hope that you understand that the world is full of life and biodiversity is really important. But you may ask how important it is to you and me? Well, read on as this article will list down a few benefits of biodiversity and how you and me depend on it.

 

Firstly, let us look at the role of plants. They perform the following functions

 

  1. maintain a breathable atmosphere by producing oxygen

  2. keep us cooler by providing shade and releasing moisture through their leaves

  3. prevent mud slides and flooding

 

So, ask yourself, is it important to have plants in the planet? What will happen when the plant communities are destroyed?

Take a look at your range of medicines you have in the house, how many of the products derived from wild plants? Please note that most of the medicines that the world rely on contain substances extracted from the nature. Salmon is not just a food product but it also useful for treating osteoporosis and open-heart surgery.

 

You better believe it. Even those species that seem "worthless" have potential to ensure our species survival.

 

While some people wanted the biodiversity to be preserved for its values, there are others that believe that it should exist with respect because it is a product of millions of years of evolution. We should not be the one to interrupt the evolutionary process.

 

You may think that our children will inherit the planet after we are gone. But there is an old saying that goes like this "we do not inherit the world from our ancestor, we are only borrowing it from our children". With this phrase, it is best that we should retain the planet's biodiversity and return it to our children. The decision we make as individuals and as a society will determine the diversity of genes, species and ecosystems.

 

If you are a angler or a hunter, have you ever think that the fish that you caught or the deer that you just shot may be the last one of its species? Scientists think that we are on the brink of the greatest global extinction since dinosaurs vanished from our planet more than 65 million years ago. What do you think?

 

Although it is not easy to balance the immediate needs, rights and desires of individuals and communities with the measures to protect nature for long term, but when we understand more about biodiversity and how people value it, this would be the first step to design a strategies for long-term conservation.

 

In conclusion, we should conserve biodiversity for

 

   1. ecological reasons

   2. economic reasons

   3. ethical reasons

   4. leisure, cultural and aesthetic reasons

 

 

Species

 

A species is often defined as a group of organisms, such as animals and plants. In another case, "deer" refers to a family of 34 species in the world. 

 

Estimates of global species diversity vary enormously because it is so difficult to guess how many species there may be in less well explored habitats such as untouched rain forest. Rain forest areas which have been sampled have shown such amazing biodiversity (nineteen trees sampled in Panama were found to contain 1,200 different beetle species alone!) that the mind boggles over how many species there might remain to be discovered in unexplored rain forest areas and microhabitats.

Global species estimates range from 2 million to 100 million species. Ten million is probably nearer the mark. Only 1.4 million species have been named. Of these, approximately 250,000 are plants and 750,000 are insects. New species are continually being discovered every year. The number of species present in little-known ecosystems such as the soil beneath our feet and the deep sea can only be guessed at. It has been estimated that the deep sea floor may contain as many as a million undescribed new species.

 

Question 1: How many species in the world?

 

 

 

How many species in the world have you observed?

 

 

Extinction

Extinction is a fact of life. Species have been evolving and dying out ever since the origin of life. One only has to look at the fossil record to appreciate this. (It has been estimated that surviving species constitute about 1% of the species that have ever lived.)

However, species are now becoming extinct at an alarming rate, almost entirely as a direct result of human activities. Previous mass extinctions evident in the geological record are thought to have been brought about mainly by massive climatic or environmental shifts. Mass extinctions as a direct consequence of the activities of a single species are unprecedented in geological history. 

The loss of species in tropical ecosystems such as the rain forests, is extremely well-publicised and of great concern. However, equally worrying is the loss of habitat and species closer to home in Britain. This is arguably on a comparable scale, given the much smaller area involved.

 

 

More videos

 

Biodiversity VideoVideo on Biodiversity: Life on Earth

 

 

 

 

 

 

Video on Biodiversity and Climate Change

Full DVD versions are available to download via FTP

NTSC (3.54 GB)

PAL (2.36 GB)

 

 

 

Recommended Activities for Celebration

 

What can you find and learn from Perhentian Island? If you are walking along forest trail, snorkeling in front of the resort, or walking during low tide, make yourself busy by spotting and observing the things around you, join the turtle talk and participate in the photography scavenger hunt. But be careful and do not touch them!

 

 

Join us in Bubbles Resort

  this coming 23rd – 25th May 2008

 for all these experiential activities!

 

  

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