the importance of conserving biodiversity

• resources :

  • Wood : used in manufacture buildings ,tools furniture.
  • fibres: cotton , wool ,paper , silk, rayon.
  • Oils : vegetable and animal oils are used in foods , lubricants , soaps .
  • fuels : wood , charcoal , alcohol , vegetable oils.
  • food : plants , animals , algae and fungi .
• New food species :

  A lot of the few known species of plant or animal are used for human food .

  Indigenous species are usually better adapted than introduced species to local conditions such as climate , pests and soil conditions and therefore higher survival rates .

  Many plant species have the potential for commercial cultivation :

  • Potato bean of North America has a high protein content
  • Many plants in the spinach family can grow in soil with a high salt content

  Many species have been investigated for domestication including American bison and common eland.
• Biomimetics


  The use of knowledge of the adaptations of other species to improve the designs of manufactured items
• Vehicle design

  • Copying the feather structure of soaring birds has improved the aircraft wing designs to help increase fuel efficiency
• Infection control

  • Bacteria does not stick easily to shark skin. A coating material that imitates shark skin is used in hospital operating theatres to help control bacterial infections
• Architecture

  • The mounds that termites create above the ground absorb sunlight and become hot. The hot air inside rises creating convection current, this acts like a natural ventilation system and this system has been copied in shopping complexes and office blocks to create natural ventilation
• Adhesion


  • The toes of gecko lizards have pads that provide strong adhesion. Attempts are being made to copy this to provide adhesion without the need for glue
• Materials

  • Natural materials have properties that can be applied to the manufacture of synthetic materials. Strong spider silk is being used to produce car airbags and body armour
• Physiological research :

  Some species have evolved to become adapted to specific environmental conditions , studying these could give a greater understanding of human health problems .

  • Marsupials give birth to their young at a very early stage of development so studying a developing baby kangaroo is easier than studying a human baby of the same age and by doing this it gives us a greater understanding of developmental problems in unborn babies.
• Pest control species :

  a wide range of predators , herbivores , parasites and pathogens are used to control agricultural pests.

  • The populations of naual predators such as ladybirds and ground beetles can be increased by providing suitable habitats such as hedgerows and beetle banks .
  • herbivores may be introduced to control weeds .
• crop breeding programmes :

  domesticated crops often lack genetic diversity because they have been produced from a limited number of original plants . the search for new characteristics that can be bred into the commercial crops focuses on wild plats of the same species or or close relatives .  
• Characteristics introduced from CWR species

  • Disease resistance
  • Salt-tolerance
  • Resistance to drought
  • High yield
  • Improved taste or appearance
  • Nutrient uptake
• Disease resistance

  Sugar cane has been protected from the sugar cane mosaic virus by cross-breeding with a wild sugar cane variety from Indonesia
• Salt-tolerance


  The introduction of salt-tolerant characteristics from wild varieties of rice and barely has led to the breeding of plants that can be grown in saline soil
• Resistance to drought

  Varieties of cacao, the source of chocolate, that are more drought-tolerant have been developed by cross-breeding with wild plants from the Amazon rainforest
• High yield

  Oil palm yields have been increased by 25% by cross breeding
• centres of diversity :

  Russian biologist nikolai vavilov studies crop genetics in the early 1900s . he realised that some areas of the world had high concentration of the close relatives of important crop species . these were names centres of diversity , centres of origin or vavilov centres .
• gene-pool problems :

  A gene-pool is the total number of different genes present in all individuals in a population of a particular species .

  Domesticated species have often been produced by a small gene-pool and so they have similar characteristics and can be susceptible to disease and greater risk of inbreeding .
• ecosystem services :

  other species often influence the conditions on earth that are beneficial to humans . the importance of their actions is often not appreciated so so their conservation may be a low priority .
• Atmospheric composition :

  The composition of the atmosphere s related by many abiotic and biotic processes which act to cancel each other out , creating a dynamic equilibrium.

  For example , concentrations of carbon dioxide and oxygen are largely regulated by photosynthesis and aerobic respiration .
• The hydrological cycle :

  Evapotranspiration from vegetation produces a large amount of water vapour that forms clouds , controls surface temperatures and increases precipitation .
• biogeochemical cycle :

  living organisms are involved in many of the biogeochemical cycles such as the carbon ,nitrogen and phosphorus cycle . many of these are done by fungi and bacteria ( microbes ) .

  without these processes , waste products would build up and important nutrient resources would become depleted.
• soil maintenance : soil is vital for the growth and survival of almost all plants , providing support , nutrients and water. the organic matter and humus produced helps hold the so together while decomposition produces organic acids which aid n weathering and breakdown of rocks helping to produce more soil .
• interspecies relationship :

  no species can live in ecological isolation because their survival relies on other species for a range of resources and ecological services.
• food :

  All hetertrophs rely on other organisms as a source of energy and nutrients
• pollination :

  pollination of flowers by insects allows plants to have dispersed populations the insects search over long distances for the flowers .

  Insect pollination is more reliable than wind pollination which is unreliable over long distances .
• seed dispersal :

  seed dispersal by animals has lots of advantages because it allows the seeds to be carried a long distance therefore allowing the plant species to populate in a wide range of areas .

  also because the animals are living where the plants can survive they are likely to then disperse them at another location where they can survive.
• habitat provision :

  one species may provide habitats for other species .

  • trees provide sites for birds
  • hermit crabs live inside shells of dead molluscs.