Importance of Biodiversity

Serena Cuoghi
Title of Professor of Biology

Nature is governed by a vast set of perfect dynamics between each of its elements and characters. An invisible and fragile balance allows the existence of life beyond its complexity organic, and it is that the coexistence between the species is also an essential part in the survival of all.

The evolution of the species has been a slow and endless process of adaptations that has allowed the development of very specific characteristics for each species. The vast majority of evolutionary outcomes are a direct consequence of the relationships that species maintain each other, in such a way that for almost every species its life depends on the existence of other.

On the other hand, the importance of biodiversity is also essential for the generation of the multiple resources that are required at the disposal of the species for their survival. Let's imagine for a moment that there was only one plant species, a single type of plant and a single fruit. All species of herbivorous animals would have a single menu available. As a consequence of this, all these animal species should have evolved towards their adaptation to said plant, but also to In turn, this plant would have been forced to evolve for the stressful condition of being relentlessly preyed upon by whatever bug needs to eat it, and as you can imagine, no organism - except unicellular ones - can have such a rate of growth.

In this way, the variety of living species directly allows the possibility of sustaining each species, through a natural balance that humans strive to break.

Now, evaluating the value of biodiversity in a sense that is no longer strictly biological, but rather more chemical, the variety of life forms has been the crucial element for the development of processes that allow the constant regeneration of chemical resources available for life on the planet, through cycles with which each element finds a way to be returned by a species in its natural state, after having been used by any other form of life.

Nitrogen is a typical example of the role that biodiversity plays in the chemical balance of our earth. Taken from the soil by plants for the production of their own nutrients, it is then returned back to the soil by the animals that have fed on the plants and even by the animals that in turn fed on the previous.

Ecology: a never-ending study

Among the wide world of science, there is an area of ​​biology dedicated especially to understanding the relationships between living beings and between species and their environment, we call this wonderful line of study ecology. Knowing the importance that one species may have for another has provided public recognition that the importance of Biodiversity is finally receiving today, however, there is still much that must be done, so that every day there are more people aware of the need to help reduce the negative impact that humanity has been generating for centuries about the environment.

The possibilities of interrelationships between the species is even much broader than the number of existing species itself, since each one has a different way of relating to the others that surround it, a sample of this is provided by the exemplary industrious ants. These fantastic insects not only maintain a close relationship with certain plants in their environment, from which they obtain certain resources, but this behavior is based on the relationship they maintain with a specific type of fungus that does serve as food and for which they use these plants to cultivate it. The fungus certainly, even without the ants, could reproduce on its own, but if they did not take care of the sustenance to reproduce on a larger scale, quickly the ants could eliminate it from their environment, generating as a consequence the extinction of this species of fungus and therefore, leaving themselves without a source of food.

The tiny ants have been able by themselves to understand the importance of biodiversity and maintaining its balance, taking what they need while working for it. replenish it and this extraordinary dynamic is what allows all species to coexist with each other, avoiding the excessive proliferation of one over the others, so that resources reach for all.

Know and protect the biodiversity of your environment

Humans can also recover harmony with the rest of the species, since nature also provides the necessary resources to our survival, however, this is an arduous task that each of us must assume as part of our values essential. Beyond waiting for complicated legal regulations and action protocols to be drawn up by the large organizations that govern the world human, each person can begin to contribute their grain of sand after understanding the importance of biodiversity, generating personal respect about her.

For this, it is necessary that we begin by recognizing what are the other living beings that surround us. It does not matter if you are in the middle of a big city or if you live in the countryside, do you know who is part of the biodiversity of your environment? How do you relate to the other species around you? Do you know the important role that these species play in nature? The answers to these questions and all the others that you can ask yourself regarding the subject, will reveal the actions that you can undertake to recover and maintain a healthy balance with the other species, and thus recover one human at a time, the respect that biodiversity deserves.

summarizing

Its importance is recognized, socially, at the Earth Summit held by the United Nations in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, where it was highlighted for the first time the need to find a way through which human development impacts under the premise of "sustainability" for the conservation of biodiversity. In this way, not only is the transgression committed by the economic and social activities of Humanity recognized, but the imperative need to start looking for an intermediate solution that would not slow down economic growth but would have the least possible repercussions on the nature.

Thus, the importance of biodiversity can be summarized in two essential features. On the one hand, biodiversity is the fruit of Nature's work of millions of years, so its value is incalculable and irreplaceable. And on the other hand, the diversity of the species is a guarantee for the correct functioning of the system formed by living beings together with the environment in which they live and to which they contribute for their survival.

In short, we can affirm that biodiversity is not only significant for human beings, but that it is essential for the life of the Planet, and therefore, we must try to preserve it. The biodiversity of the species provides us with goods as necessary as food, or oxygen; it provides us with raw materials that favor economic development, it produces energy that we use as fuel, such as oil or coal; it is the origin of some medicines; and last but not least, it fills our retina with beautiful landscapes that we can enjoy.