Importance of maintaining biodiversity

In a nutshell

Maintaining biodiversity is important for ecological reasons, like protecting species, economic reasons as well as aesthetic reasons.

Ecological reasons

Protecting species

In an ecosystem, organisms are interdependent, this means they rely on each other for survival. This means a change in the population of one species can have far-reaching effects.

Examples

• Disruption to the population of primary consumers in a food chain means both the secondary and tertiary consumer populations will be affected.
• Disruption to the population of decomposers can affect nutrient cycles which can lead to less nutrients in the soil. This will affect plants and food chains.

Keystone species are species in an ecosystem that many other species rely on and without them, the whole ecosystem would be negatively affected. Maintaining biodiversity is therefore important to protect these keystone species.

Maintaining genetic resources

Maintaining biodiversity is important in maintaining genetic resources. Genetic resources includes any material from a living organism that contains genes and is valuable to humans. 

Examples 

• Plants and animals provide almost all the food we eat.
• Many items of clothing are made from materials provided by plants and animals.
• Some drugs are made from plant compounds.
• Many organisms, including microorganisms, are important in the production of renewable fuels. 

These genetic resources are important to the global economy, which is another reason why they need to be maintained.

Genetic resources can be used in genetic engineering to produce transgenic crops. These new varieties could cope with any new conditions that arise due to climate change. 

Economic reasons 

Agricultural methods such as monocultures cause soil depletion as all the nutrients in the soil are gradually used up. This doesn't occur in traditional farming as crops are rotated which allows organic matter to be replaced. 

Soil depletion has economic consequences as farmers need to now purchase fertilisers or they will have decreased yields which will reduce their profits even more.  

Aesthetic reasons 

Biodiversity should also be maintained for aesthetic reasons, this means it is visually appealing and people can enjoy visiting well-maintained, biodiverse landscapes. Attracting visitors to these attractive areas can also have economic benefits.