Why Life on Earth and Biodiversity Go Hand in Hand
- The Biophilia Effect
- Feb 22, 2021
- 1 min read
By Keetra Bippus
Scientists estimate that there are around 8.7 million species of plants and animals on Earth, but that only about 1.2 million species have been identified—most of them insects. These species are a part of what scientists call “biodiversity”. Biodiversity refers to the wide range of every living species on Earth, including plants, animals, and fungi. It can be used to refer to all life in an entire region or ecosystem.
Biodiversity is essential to supporting human life on Earth. It creates the ecosystems and natural services that clean the air we breath and water we drink. It assists in the discovery of new medicines (e.x. rainforests) and protection against natural disasters (e.x. coral reefs protect coasts against tsunamis).
Unfortunately, biodiversity is being threatened across the globe. Pollution, climate change, and human population growth threaten and destroy nearby biodiversity as natural environments become uninhabitable for some species. As biodiversity and species’ existence is threatened on a massive scale, some scientists argue that we are currently in the midst of a sixth great extinction.
Not all is lost. If efforts are made to conserve natural environments and protect threatened species, our ecosystems can be saved. Action must be taken immediately, though, because the number of animals living on Earth has fallen by half since 1970. Preserving biodiversity also has an economic appeal; New York City has spend $2 billion protecting their watershed that provides them with clean water—a water treatment plant would have costed $10 billion.
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Written by Keetra Bippus
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