THE IMPORTANCE OF BIODIVERSITY

1. Many species that humans barely think about are essential to the healthy operation of an ecosystem. These include worms, microbes, fungi and many others that require a diverse community in order to survive.

2. The many organisms required provide food for plants, which in turn produce oxygen and consume carbon dioxide; others provide important pharmaceuticals that relieve suffering from many diseases; and some organisms serve as food for other species that humans deem as important or interesting.

3. Loss of diversity eliminates species that consume harmful agricultural and rodent pests, or disease-carrying insects. It also means loss of genes that might have useful applications elsewhere (for example: an "antifreeze" gene from an Antarctic fish is now used--via genetic engineering-- to make tomatoes more frost-resistant.

4. Destruction of forests releases huge quantities of CO₂  that may take decades to remove from the air. This carbon dioxide is a toxic gas that could eventually cause all animal life, including humans, serious health and survival problems.

A fiddler crab (left) and a fire-bellied toad (lower right), aquatic representatives of the vast biodiversity of planet earth. These specimens were photographed in a pet shop; in nature they would almost never occur in the same habitat. Nevertheless, their popularity as terrarium animals in homes and classrooms makes both species commercially important. 
Photo by Dr. Robert G. Sprackland.