Of course biodiversity is essential for any species. The lack of this means that insufficient genetic variation is unavailable and that the species is likely to go extinct. As we depend on plants and animals for our own sustenance and every extinction affects the whole ecosystem from one-celled critters and on up the food chain, our own food supply is already being threatened and extinctions are happening apace, we are already losing much of our own food supply and are set to lose much more.
I certainly hope that some market-based solution exists but we have had this problem largely because of the market and greed.
So good luck with coming up with a plan. As you know, some extremely greedy people who run the market have absolutely no interest in any one but themselves.
The economic implications of biodiversity loss are too high, and we have to increase the awareness of farmers and people to help in conserving the biodiversity
Hello Md; The species that are members of any ecological community interact with one another, often in subtle ways that are not apparent without careful study. Losing one of the species may not disturb the pattern of interactions but losing a different species could cause collapse of the community. Here is a classic example. Northern sea otters (Enhydra lutra) feed on sea urchins as well as many other near-shore invertebrates. Sea urchins feed on algae, including the giant kelp whose biomass provide the physical structure of the "kelp forests" that provide cover for hundreds of species.
People nearly extinguished the otters for their fur. As a result there were population booms of urchins. The urchins decimated the kelp forests. The physical structure of the community collapsed. As a result several important fishery industries also collapsed. Nobody say that chain of cause and effect until it was quite late in the story. There are MANY examples of this problem.
If we understood all the interactions of all the ecosystems, maybe we could predict which species we (nature) could "afford" to lose...but we don't. So we would be wise to carefully avoid hamhandedly damaging our natural surroundings. Best regards, Jim Des Lauriers
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