Biodiversity and Healthy Society

Biodiversity and a Healthy Society

• Biodiversity refers to the variety of life forms on Earth, ranging from smallest microorganisms to largest animals.

What is Biodiversity?

• Biodiversity is short for 'biological diversity'.

Importance of Biodiversity

Provisioning Services

• Food source: fruits of trees
• Herbal medicines: leaves, roots, or flowers of plants
• Forest products: trunk of trees or vines

Regulating and Supporting Services

• Mangroves forests: regulate the impact of waves
• Corals Reefs: provide habitat for fishes in the seas

Cultural Services

• Orchids: used for decoration
• Whale sharks: for ecotourism
• Citrus thorns: used in the tattooing process

Threats to Biodiversity

Habitat Alteration and Destruction

• Destruction of habitats like coral reefs and forests lead to biodiversity loss.

Alterations in Ecosystem

• Alterations and sudden changes within species groups or within the environment can begin to change entire ecosystems.

Over-Exploitation

• Over-hunting, overfishing, or over-collecting of species can quickly lead to nature’s decline.

Pollution

• Biological systems respond slowly to changes in their surrounding environment.

Climate Change

• Climate variability and change cause biodiversity loss.

Invasive Species

• Exotic species become harmful and dangerous to the new ecosystem, becoming invasive species.