Biodiversity refers to the variety of life in all its forms and interactions. It includes all the ecosystems, both the managed and unmanaged ones. It is bewilderingly broad and complex but vital as well. Humanity and all other life forms rely on biodiversity to exist. The term biodiversity was coined back in 1985 as a contraction of the words biological diversity. Below are some interesting facts which you should know about local biodiversity
There is a Variety of Measures of Biodiversity
Biodiversity can be measured in various ways. Species richness, for example, can be quite an important metric. However, it has to be integrated with a variety of other parameters to give a better reflection of biodiversity. Being multidimensional, biodiversity poses various challenges when it comes to taking measurements.
There is an Important Link Between Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
Biodiversity has an impact on ecosystem functions which provide cultural, provisioning, supporting, and regulating services. Currently, some studies link the biodiversity changes with ecosystem functioning modifications to the changes in the well-being of the human. For ecosystem services, species composition is just as important as species richness. The ecosystem services at a given moment are influenced strongly by the ecological characteristics of the species that are most abundant, as opposed to the number of species.
Local Extinction Affects the Ecosystem Services
Functional or local extinction can have quite a significant effect on ecosystem services. Functional extinction is where the populations reduce to the point that they do not contribute to the functioning of the ecosystem. Local extinction does not get as much attention as global extinction, but that should not be an indication of low importance.
Humans Have the Largest Impact on Biodiversity
Human activities pose the most significant threat to biodiversity. The numbers of various species have dwindled due to the ever-increasing urbanisation and other events. Even the marine life has been affected due to the fishing activities of humans.