Biodiversity

What is Biodiversity? All living things in a food web are connected. If the numbers of one species are affected it affects the numbers of all other species in the food web.

If the numbers of baboons decreased then this would affect every other living things in the food web. e.g. the number of scorpions would __________ as there are less baboons feeding on them.

What is Biodiversity? The word Biodiversity means ‘the total number of all species of living things found on earth.’ Species live together in groups called communities. The living things in these communities are all connected so damage to one community can affect another.

What is Biodiversity? Plants and animals that are not looked after may start to drop in number and may eventually become extinct. A high biodiversity means that there are a large number of plants and animals living in a particular area. A low biodiversity means that there are not a large number of plants and animals in a particular area.

Scotland's Biodiversity Scotland’s economy is dependant on high biodiversity for a range of activities including food production and production of raw materials such as wood. An example of poor management is overfishing which is threatening fish stocks and other species such as sea birds.

How important is Biodiversity? Biodiversity is the variety of life on Earth. It is essential for sustaining the natural living systems or ecosystems that provide us with food, fuel, health, wealth and other vital services. Humans are part of this biodiversity too and have the power to protect or damage it.

How important is Biodiversity? It is important to keep a wide variety of living things (i.e. a high biodiversity) as different living things have different uses. e.g many species have useful feature such as an ability to tolerate disease or drought. e.g many plants provide us with useful products such as medicines, food, fuels and raw materials.

What affects Biodiversity? There are changes in biodiversity worldwide. Factors affecting biodiversity can be natural – e.g. fires, volcanic eruptions, disease. These natural factors generally affect ecosystems for a short time. Factors can however be man made.

Impact of the human population The impact of the huge human population is the single biggest factor affecting the environment and other species. Many of these species are being driven to extinction. Since all species are interrelated this mass extinction is already affecting the prospects for the population.

Population Graphs

Impact of the human population Populations of living organisms fluctuate with time. Conditions change and some organisms do well while other populations reduce in size. The human population has not followed this general rule but we have increased dramatically over time. Most of this increase has been in relatively recent years.

Impact of the human population This type of population impacts on other living organisms and as the human population has been increasing, other populations have been decreasing as they cannot compete with humans for resources such as space to live and food. Currently, our activities are destroying biodiversity at alarming rates.

Impact of the human population These losses are irreversible, impoverish us all and damage the life support systems we rely on. Many populations of plants and animals are now endangered or extinct. This means that the world is losing its biodiversity.

Extinction Extinction of a particular animal or plant species occurs when there are no more individuals of that species alive anywhere in the world – the species has died out. The human population which has increased from 2 billion to 7 billion in a single generation affects many ecosystems worldwide.

Extinction The rise in the human population is causing the extinction of many species which are needed for our long term future. It is important that we keep a large variety of things (i.e. high biodiversity) as different things have different uses.

Useful Species Many species have useful features e.g. ability to tolerate disease or drought. They provide use with many useful products e.g. medicines, food, fuels and raw materials.