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(Source-Pixabay,com)
Before looking at the effects of biodiversity and the depth of loss, let us first understand the meaning of biodiversity.
Meaning of biodiversity
(What is biodiversity?)
Biodiversity refers to the diversity and variability of life on Earth. It consists of countless numbers of Earth's different ecosystems such as plants, animals and microorganisms and others such as coral reefs, grasslands, tundra, polar ice caps, deserts and rainforests etc.
According to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), variation in biodiversity is usually measured at three levels, such as genetic, species, and ecosystem. Biodiversity is not evenly distributed on Earth, and is the most endangered in tropical areas. Tropical forest ecosystem controls about 90 percent of the species around the world and about 10 percent of the Earth's surface.
The biodiversity of the sea is highest in areas with high sea surface temperature. Such as the mid-latitude band of the oceans and the areas of the Western Pacific coastline etc. Biodiversity usually groups in hot spots and continues to grow continuously over time, but possibly it slows down further.
Importance of biodiversity
Biodiversity is really essential for the protection of the Earth. The importance of a good ecosystem and rich biodiversity can be understood by the following points. Increasing ecosystem productivity - Each species plays a special role in the ecosystem. Most of them depend on each other for their existence.
Excessive number of plant species - As a result, many species of crops are generated.
Protecting fresh water resources - Biodiversity protects fresh water resources and keeps them clean.
Promotion of soil formation and protection - Diversity of plants helps in the formation of soil and it enriches nutrients.
For the storage and reproduction of nutrients - plants collect nutrients and then these elements are taken by animals and finally the environment is returned.
Assistant in reducing pollutants - plants use carbon dioxide for photosynthesis. More greenery in any area, reduces air pollution levels.
Contribution to climate stability - The presence of plants and animal species provides the climate with stability that reduces global warming.
Provide highly food resources - More food resources are obtained as a result of large variety of plants and poultry.
A variety of medicines - the medicinal properties of plants are important for the pharmaceutical industry.
Provides an environment for entertainment and tourism - greenery and rivers, mountains, beach areas provide a fun environment for humans.
Increasing damage to biodiversity
The loss of biodiversity reflects the state of extinction of humans, plants or animal species throughout the world. Due to this, a certain number of species decreases, which causes the decline in the level of the environment. It can be effective immediately or permanent. However, it has been seen that global extinction has remained unchanged till now.
To understand the depth of this problem, let us look at the rate of biodiversity loss. It has been estimated that the current rate of biodiversity loss is 100 to 1000 times the rate of natural occurrence of extinction, and it is likely to grow further in the future. The effect of this damage of biodiversity is harmful on both the lives of both humans and animals.
Due to damage to biodiversity
Unfortunately, many human activities have contributed a lot to the loss of biodiversity. Natural resources such as land and water are being exploited indiscriminately by us. According to the conference of biological diversity, direct and indirect human activities have harmful effects on biodiversity. Direct human intervention includes local land use, inclusion or disposal of species, harvesting, air and water pollution and climate change etc. Indirect human interventions include population growth, economic advancement, technical and cultural and religious factors etc.
Population growth is a major contributor to promoting demand for natural resources. This leads to excessive waste production, which is a major factor in pollution. The increasing use of human needs and technology plays a key role in climate change, which causes a major threat to biodiversity.
Increasing atmospheric density of carbon dioxide causes climate change. Carbon dioxide absorption is not possible due to large-scale harvesting of trees each year. By which the carbon dioxide density of the air is increasing. As a result of climate change, the temperature and level of land and sea has increased and changes in the rain cycle have also been noticed. Changes in climate have many abnormal effects on species.
Key factors contributing to the loss of biodiversity
The following are the main factors contributing to the loss of biodiversity:
Deforestation of natural habitat:
The natural habitat of organisms is destroyed by humans for the purpose of agriculture, mining, industries, construction of highways etc.
As a result, species either have to adapt to changes in the environment or have to move to other places. Because if they do not do that, they have to face starvation, many kinds of diseases and health disorders in the future.
Prey:
Hunting of wild animals is done for the commercial use of their products. These are used for the purpose of cosmetics, perfumes, medicinal and decoration of their leather and skin, fur, meat, teeth. In recent years, 95% of black gango population in Africa was killed by predators for their horns.
In addition, more than one-third of elephants of Africa's elephants were killed by hunters to collect 3,000 tons of ivory in the past decade. Although international laws and the implementation of Indian rules have resulted in a decrease in the number of such poaching, there is a threat to biodiversity.
Exploitation of some species:
Due to excessive use of important medicinal plants, they are becoming extinct from their natural places. For the laboratories and other works, large quantities of uninterrupted plants are collected, for example, pitcher plant, napenthes khasiana, drosera sp, silitom sp etc. Which are being destroyed by the users.
Natural habitat fragmentation :
"Due to the abandonment of its natural habitat from the immense, immense nature, there is a threat to the future of many species", which displays housing fragmentation in a very scary form. In which many species of land have been broken into many small units, due to which the future of many species is threatening.
Zoo and collection for research:
Animals and plants are collected for use in zoos and biological laboratories. It is mainly used for science and medical research. Organisms like monkeys and chimpanzees, which are genetic, constructive and physically similar to humans. He is sacrificed many experiments and research.
Advent of non-native species:
A species is deliberately or accidentally brought to a place which is not a natural resident of that place, it is called a non-native species, and the coming of such species increases the risk of life on the life of the original species. Because they have to struggle with non-local species for their living and eating.
Pollution:
Pollution produces many types of problems in the life of species, because it changes their natural habitat. Water pollution is harmful for organic organisms of the coastal ecosystem. The poisonous garbage that enters the water bodies destroys the food chain. Apart from this, unnatural components such as pesticides, sulfur and nitrogen oxides and acid rain have adverse effects on plant and animal species.
Insect and prey control:
Generally, non-targeted general species, which are part of the balanced ecosystem, are killed during hunting and pest control measures.
natural disasters:
Floods, droughts, forest fires, earthquakes and other natural disasters sometimes have a great impact on plant and animal life. In which a large number of organisms are trapped and the soil nutrients also get blown away.
other reason:
Other ecological factors contributing to the loss of biodiversity:
Distribution boundary - Due to decreasing the distribution limit, the risk of extinction of biodiversity increases.
Crisis on special organisms - The problem of extinction of special life is more in comparison to the normal life.
Status of organisms in the food chain - the higher the place of the organism in the food chain, the more sensitive it is and the danger of its extinction will be as high as possible.
Effect of damage to biodiversity
Due to the loss of biodiversity, its dire negative effects are seen in the normal and stable food chain. The extinction of only one species can affect the entire food chain, which can lead to many types of deficiency in biodiversity. Due to the lack of food chain, due to lack of ecosystems, there can also be many kinds of crisis for human life.
The effects of extinction of animal species and plant species are quite broad. Here are the details of some of the problems caused by biodiversity loss:
Economic impact of biodiversity loss
Worldwide economic value of biodiversity is at the top of the list. If nature is not able to do such things like pollination, irrigation, land reform, then we have to pay financially for these tasks. The estimated cost of global biodiversity is in the trillions. The annual value of deforestation worldwide is about $ 2-5 trillion.
Threat to existing species
New species are also coming up in the formo and due to the arrival of foreign breeds, the cattle of indigenous breed are being removed from the farm. Due to which the population of cattle is decreasing all over the world. From which he is becoming sensitive towards problems like diseases, droughts and climate change.
Diseases Increasing Radius
Due to the loss of biodiversity, two major effects of adverse effects on human health and the spread of disease have emerged. Under which, in the first place, there is an increase in the population of the organisms which spread the disease among the original population. Due to which the habitat population decreases and in the end it eliminates the species, which does not spread to the disease.
Unexpected weather increase
In fact, bad and dangerous weather is a big problem. Research has shown that, unwanted and unpredictable weather species cause destruction and displacement of species.
Loss of livelihood
To maintain livelihood, biodiversity is essential. Taking an example, when the ocean ecosystem falls, people have to lose their means of fishing, such as fishing. However, it is true that humans always have to face the effects of the loss of ecosystem around them.
Loss of nature
The value of nature for humanity is much more important than its utility. Physical contradiction of nature definitely affects humans. People always feel comfort in nature. It also offers an entertainment site to take comfort from our busy life, but the disintegration of biodiversity hinders people to enjoy nature.
Solutions to prevent loss of biodiversity
(How to prevent biodiversity loss / how to preserve biodiversity)
Due to the problem of land degradation and deterioration of quality of soil, areas like National Park were created. It proved to be an effective solution to the crisis of biodiversity, although it has some limitations to deal with the problem of biodiversity completely.
To reduce biodiversity loss, it is necessary to emphasize more on sustainable practices of agriculture. We have suffered the existence of species of thousands of traditional crops, because they were closed to produce certain food items, this principle is known as mono production.
Another way is by adopting "farm-ecology" or "organic farming" can also reduce the crisis of biodiversity. Through this, higher yields can be obtained through intensive farming on lesser land. For this, skills and information are required to improve soil quality, processes such as nitrogen fixation and natural pest control. This change is very important for the cohesion of both food security and biodiversity.
There are other solutions to reduce the loss of biodiversity as well as proposed changes in agriculture. There are some simple changes in them that are also needed to bring us into our daily lives.
(Source-Pixabay,com)
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