ecosystem: biodiversity

• Biodiversity


  How diverse living things are in a specific area
• Biodiversity


  • Organisms such as plants and animals, small or big, are part of biodiversity and are economically and ecologically valuable
  • Biodiversity sustains the balance flow of energy in an ecosystem
  • Biodiversity contributes to environmental stability
• Organisms


  • Their products are source of food, medicine, clothing, shelter and energy
  • They maintain balance in the ecosystem by performing their specific roles
• Value of species or organisms

  • Direct economic value
  • Indirect economic value
  • Aesthetic value
• Direct economic value


  • Some medicines being used nowadays have formulation extracted from plants or animals
• Indirect economic value


  • Certain species maintain the chemical quality of natural bodies of water, prevent soil erosion and floods, cycle materials in the soil and absorb pollutants
• Aesthetic value


  • Forested landscape, natural park, prayer mountains
• Population


  A group of organisms of the same species that live in a certain area or community
• Population density


  The number of organisms per unit area
• Carrying capacity


  The maximum population size of the species that the environment can sustain
• Carrying capacity


  • Determined by the amount of available resources like food, water or habitat
  • If population grows indefinitely, competition will increase and less resources will be available, leading to ecosystem collapse
• Factors limiting population growth

  • Density independent factors (food/nutrient limitation, pollutants, climate extremes)
  • Density dependent factors (diseases, competition, predation)
• Density dependent factors


  Can have either a positive or negative correlation to population size
• The stability of our environment is being threatened by human activities such as polluting the air, throwing plastics in bodies of water, forest fires, and using pesticides