The first thing that comes up when you Google biodiversity is a definition: “the variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem” (Google.com). It seems simple, but what does this really mean? The World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) explains biodiversity as “all the different kinds of life you’ll find in one area.” Every ecosystem on our planet has some form of biodiversity.
Forests are teeming with bugs, reptiles, birds, mammals, and filled with plants. Reefs are made of living corals and are swimming with numerous species of fish. Even your own backyard has biodiversity. It might not be as much as tropical rainforest or the African Savanna but there is life even there. Figure 1 shows the number of animals living on the land in the ocean, and these are only the ones that we know about.
Why is it important to have different kinds of life? Biodiversity helps support our planet. It gives us different foods to eat, clean water, medicine, and beauty. What would the world look like if we did not have different kinds of plants and animals? It would be far less colorful and fun.
Biodiversity is declining though. Many species of plants and animals are in danger of going extinct and many have already disappeared. Figure 2 shows how many species are listed as endangered by the federal government.
Human activities are a major cause of ecosystems collapsing or disappearing altogether. Figure 3 shows different threats to vertebrate species. The top three reasons are human activities. People are clearing forests to provide space for towns and farms. Factories and cars pump-out gases that are causing changes to the climate. Hunters kill animals for sport or capture them for illegal sale. We are causing animals and plants to die at an alarming rate. Some of these species are going to go extinct if something is not done.
A change has to take place or our children may not be able to see elephants in the wild. Or our grandchildren could only learn about chimpanzees from books. Future generations are going to lose the diversity in their world if something is not done today.
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Species Spotlights 