Ashley Olarte

Eportfolio Assignment, Why is Biodiversity Important? Who cares?

24 March 2015

Why is Biodiversity Important? Who Cares?

The rot cause of how Biodiversity is important because its everything that is a part of
nature. With that being said, let me expand more on this great environmental issue we have. First
I will explain what biodiversity is, biodiversity is a term that was first called biological
diversity which means a variety of life that we have on Earth, from the different ecosystems of
the plants, coral reefs, microorganisms, and rainforest. These things are all a part of the world we
live in and how it makes us survive and how we can use these items in our lives, its highly
important because it plays a huge role in our world. For example, the plant community
contributes so much of their species and this helps a lot with a variety of crops that we use for
food.
Without biodiversity, we wouldnt have natural services that it offers like ecosystem
service which include: protection of water resources, nutrient storage and recycling. Another
service would be biological food, medicinal resources and pharmaceutical drugs. Lastly, the
natural service that it has to offer would be social benefits which are cultural values and
recreation and tourism.
Biodiversity is occurring everywhere on the earth, as said in the article of visual.ly,
were losing it; all of our plants, animals and ecosystems are being threatened and eventually
everything will be extinct. This map of the United States, shows where Biodiversity is being
shown at our country. Fortunately, it is more around the south western part the globe and a
couple states on the south eastern part of the United States.

Now, why is it only occurring in those parts of the United States? According to Levi
Novey, the most dark green area on the map represents the species richness meaning the most
part where biodiversity is at, more of it being called biodiversity hotspot. Therefore, this map
was illustrated the way it is because Levi wanted to show how the population is affecting
biodiversity because of human growth and where our biodiversity is being impacted the most
according to this diagram above.
Biodiversity is occurring because its our health planet that we use for our ecosystems. In
order for us to survive, biodiversity is one of the causes to keep us alive. According to Anup
Shah, that phrase, survival of the fittest its really common amongst our environment because

most species depend on the favors that other species can provide to make sure that everyone in
society is getting the proper care and need they can get. In this case, I believe that survival of the
fittest can be good or bad depending on the situation because it can be a type of cooperation with
others or not, usually its more mutual because everyone wants something in return and if you
think about it, our environment is more of a balanced ecosystem.

In this picture from the website of Things to do, know and see in it shows the
relationships of all the species that are associated with biodiversity. As seen above, biodiversity
occurs in various ways to our planet whether it be a benefit to another specie or harm
biodiversity connects our ecosystem to one because without the help from each other then no one
would survive, we need all the help and support from one another so that many lives can function

the way they do. Now why does it still matter? It matters because we benefit from other species
whether its a small or big we have ways to get around it. In a scenario, lets say one community
needs more poultry and fish, and the other town needs milk and water in order for both of them
to get what they need they have to trade so that both towns get the satisfactory they need and
everyone is happy.
At this point in time, I believe that people are doing the best they can so that they are
taking care of their environment, it may be hard, but its a slow process that most individuals
should know so that our biodiversity doesnt extinct anytime soon. According to the Global
Change Project, there are a couple ways that can be done so that people can help save our
ecosystem those include: Protecting Areas, Preventing Species Instructions and
Informing/Educating. The first one about protecting areas is about how we take care of the places
we value the most by that, human activity within that area is very limited so that it doesnt
destroy any of the resources around it that makes it beautiful. The second one is about preventing
species instructions, with this issue, the government doesnt like it when they bring plants or
animals to the United States because those creatures can harm other species that are already here
so sometimes the government is strict about that. Finally, the last one involves
informing/educating, today our society is not aware about the loss of biodiversity so it makes
them not care about what is going on, but if people were notified and are educated about it then
most individuals can be more cautious of what they do and change their ways to help save
biodiversity.
Another thing that is being done to help save biodiversity is that the different kinds of
governments is helping to figure out how we can protect biodiversity. According to Biodiversity
BC, there are several governments that are helping to solve the issue. The Provincial government

is building new parks and recreation centers to help manage the species that are at risk. The
Federal government wants diversity with their idea so they came up with conserving ecosystems,
genetic diversity and preventing loss of species. Last but not least are the local and regional
governments, what they plan on doing is having biodiversity protection in their planning and
zoning processes. I believe that the government getting involved with biodiversity is a good day
way to express how they care about the planet and that they want to do something else with it
What I learned as I was researching my topic about Biodiversity is that it's very
important to us, it is very helpful to our environment and we are in need of it. Also, it shocked me
that the human growth impacts a lot of biodiversity because of how we are using it and most
plants/animals are getting extinct because of how we are in need of them. Overall, it has made
an impact on me because, I realize that biodiversity has many changes that will occur within the
next year's and many of our resources may or may not be gone forever but that's why at this
point in time we should be limited with our resources, it may be hard but if we want most of our
materials then we'd have to be more careful.

Works Cited
"Biodiversity Loss - What Can Be Done?" Biodiversity Loss - What Can Be Done? Web. 21 Mar.
2015. <http://www.priweb.org/globalchange/bioloss/bl_06.html>.
"Biodiversity in the United States (Map) | Ecopolitology." Ecopolitology Biodiversity in the
United States Map Comments. Web. 21 Mar. 2015.
<http://ecopolitology.org/2010/06/30/biodiversity-in-the-united-states-map/>.

"Earth's Biodiversity: What Do We Know and Where Are We Headed?" ScienceDaily.

ScienceDaily. Web. 21 Mar. 2015.
<http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110310173208.htm>.
"What's Being Done." What's Being Done. Web. 21 Mar. 2015.
<http://www.biodiversitybc.org/EN/main/22.html>.
"What's Happening to Biodiversity?" What's Happening to Biodiversity? Web. 21 Mar. 2015.
<http://visual.ly/whats-happening-biodiversity>.
"Why Is Biodiversity Important? Who Cares?" - Global Issues. Web. 21 Mar. 2015.
<http://www.globalissues.org/article/170/why-is-biodiversity-important-who-cares>.