High biodiversity ecosystems are more resilient to disturbances for several reasons:

Functional redundancy: Different species within an ecosystem often play similar roles, meaning they perform the same essential functions like pollination, decomposition, and nutrient cycling. When a disturbance occurs and one species is negatively impacted, other species with similar functions can take over, ensuring that the ecosystem's key processes continue to function. This is similar to having backups in a computer system; if one component fails, others can pick up the slack.

Increased adaptability: A greater variety of species means a greater pool of genetic diversity and different adaptations to environmental conditions. This allows the ecosystem to adapt to changes in temperature, precipitation, light availability, and other factors. For example, a diverse plant community may contain species that are drought-resistant, shade-tolerant, or able to thrive in poor soil conditions. When environmental conditions change, some species may decline, but others will be able to survive and thrive, allowing the overall ecosystem to adapt and persist.

📷Opens in a new window📷coral.org

coral reef, a highly biodiverse ecosystem

Enhanced resource utilization: Diverse communities are often more efficient at utilizing resources. This is because different species have different niches and specialize in different resources. For example, a diverse plant community can use a wider range of soil nutrients and sunlight, leaving fewer resources available for opportunistic species that could harm the ecosystem.

Reduced risk of cascading effects: In a less diverse ecosystem, the loss of a single species can have a domino effect, leading to the decline of other species that depend on it. In a more diverse ecosystem, there are more species playing similar roles, so the loss of one species is less likely to have a significant impact on the overall ecosystem.

Components needed to ensure ecosystem stability:

• Species diversity: As discussed above, a high number of different species helps to ensure the availability of essential functions and the ability to adapt to change.
• Genetic diversity: Within each species, genetic diversity provides the raw material for evolution and adaptation.
• Functional diversity: The variety of roles that different species play in the ecosystem is essential for its stability.
• Habitat heterogeneity: A diverse range of habitats provides different niches for different species and helps to maintain overall biodiversity.
• Connectivity: Connections between different habitats allow species to move and disperse, which is important for maintaining genetic diversity and ensuring that populations remain viable.
• Human actions: Human activities like pollution, habitat destruction, and climate change can all negatively impact ecosystem stability. Minimizing these impacts is essential for ensuring the health of ecosystems.

By protecting and promoting biodiversity, we can help to ensure that ecosystems are resilient to disturbances and able to provide the essential services that we all rely on.

Dr Murtadha Shukur thank you for your contribution to the discussion

Generally speaking, greater species diversity (alpha diversity) leads to greater ecosystem stability. This is termed the "diversity–stability hypothesis." An ecosystem that has a greater number of species is more likely to withstand a disturbance than an ecosystem of the same size with a lower number of species. The biologically diverse communities are also more likely to contain species that confer resilience to that ecosystem because as a community accumulates species, there is a higher chance of any one of them having traits that enable them to adapt to a changing environment. If an ecosystem has a diverse community of organisms, they are not all likely to be affected by a disturbance in the same way. So, if one species is nearly killed off, a functionally similar species can take its place, maintaining the function of the ecosystem as a whole.The main components needed to ensure ecosystem stability are food, water, shelter, and biodiversity. Hence option C is correct. Food is essential for the survival of organisms within an ecosystem as it provides energy for growth, reproduction, and other biological functions. Greater biodiversity in ecosystems, species, and individuals leads to greater stability. As species with high genetic diversity and many populations that are adapted to a wide variety of conditions are more likely to be able to weather disturbances, disease, and climate change. An ecosystem with a large number of species is more resilient against disturbances, because it has a greater overall biodiversity. This biodiversity enhances the overall sustainability and fitness of all organisms. Ecosystems with higher species diversity tend to be more resilient. If an ecosystem has a diverse community of organisms, they are not all likely to be affected by a disturbance in the same way.Ecosystems that are disturbed more frequently are resilient by nature and are more likely to return to their pre-disturbance composition and species interactions, therefore ongoing disturbance is an important part of protecting ecosystems. The main components needed to ensure ecosystem stability are food, water, shelter, and biodiversity. Food is essential for the survival of organisms within an ecosystem as it provides energy for growth, reproduction, and other biological functions. Variation among species in their response to such fluctuation is an essential requirement for ecosystem stability, as is the presence of species that can compensate for the function of species that are lost. The main components that insure ecosystem stability include a balanced food chain or food web, biodiversity, and the ability of the ecosystem to resist disturbances and recover quickly, a characteristic as resilience. Every ecosystem has two components, namely, biotic components and abiotic components. Biotic components refer to all living organisms in ecology while abiotically refer to the non-living things. These biotic and abiotic interactions maintain the equilibrium in the environment.