Beautiful Nature: Biodiversity

Biodiversity is All Around Us

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2013, Christine Gibb, CBD and FAO, "The Youth Guide to Biodiversity" 1st Edition (Chapter 1) Youth and United Nations Global Alliance. Reproduced with permission.

Chapter 1. Verbatim.

Conclusion.

Biodiversity, the variety of life on Earth, is a vital ingredient of human survival and welfare. The importance of biodiversity goes beyond its value to human beings: all components of biodiversity have the right to exist. Unfortunately, all is not well for the planet’s biodiversity. There are real threats to biodiversity, which will be explored in the next chapter.

The Benefits of Biodiversity

Chapter 1. Verbatim

Biodiversity doen’t simply exist, it also has a function or purpose. Ecosystems provide things that humans benefit from and depend on. These things are called ecosystem goods and services and include the natural resources and processes that maintain the conditions for life on Earth.

The Black Bear and the Salmon: Mighty Ecosystem Engineers

Chapter 1. Verbatim

Nutrients such as carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus generally flow downstream - from land to rivers then out to sea. But not always. In riparian forests (forests next to a body of water like a river, lake or marsh) in British Columbia, Canada, black bears help to transfer nutrients from the ocean back to the forest!

It's All About the Interactions

Chapter 1. Author, Christine Gibb, CBD and FAO. Verbatim.

Perhaps the most important characteristic of biodiversity is that all of the components are linked to each other.

For example, if a mouse eats a chemically-contaminated seed, it may survive, but if a hawk eats many mice that have eaten such seeds, the hawk may die from a lethal dose of the chemical. Because of their position in the food chain, top predators such as hawks are susceptible to such biomagnification, the accumulation of substances that increase in concentration up the food chain.

Bringing Biodiversity to the World Stage

Chapter 1. Author Christine Gibb, CBD and FAO. Verbatim

In 1992, an Earth Summit was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where governments, indigenous groups, women’s groups, environmental groups, activists and other non-governmental organisations met to discuss the environment. It was the largest international environmental meeting ever.

Biodiversity, A Three-Part Concept

Chapter 1. by Christine Gibb, CBD and FAO. Verbatim.

Biodiversity consists of all the many species of animals, plants, fungi, micro-organismsand other life forms and the variety that exists within each species. It also includes the diversity present in ecosystems – or explained another way – the variation we see in the environment including landscapes, the vegetation and animals present in it, and the various ways in which these components interact with each other. Biodiversity is very complex and is often explained as the variety and variability of genes,species and ecosystems.

Welcome to Planet Earth

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2013, Christine Gibb, CBD and FAO, "The Youth Guide to Biodiversity" 1st Edition (Chapter 1) Youth and United Nations global Alliance. Reproduced with permission.

Welcome to planet Earth where variety of animals and plants makes this planet truly wonderful. Just one of the many species that inhabits the earth with its amazing characteristics is the Chameleon.

What is Biodiversity?

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2013, Christine Gibb, CBD and FAO, "The Youth Guide to Biodiversity" 1st Edition (Chapter 1). Youth and United Nations Global Alliance. Reproduced with permission.

From the Glossary: verbatim

Biodiversity: the variety of life on Earth, at each of the genetic, species and ecosystem levels, and the relationships between them.

Thursday, June 1, 2017