Biodiversity provides not only beauty, but also the future of our world

Original author: Elizabeth Boakes
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A little boy enthusiastically pulls on a fishing rod. The fishing line flies up, and a bristling fish spikes it right in the eye. He loves walking in nature, so he ignores the pain, but his eyesight worsens over the next few months. He continues to enjoy the love of nature, but, after he was left with one healthy eye, his possibilities are limited to studying creatures that are easier to see: insects. He grows up and becomes a world authority on ants, and in a later period of his life receives the nickname "father of biodiversity."

This is Edward Osbourne Wilson., an outstanding American biologist. In his 1992 Diversity of Life book, he described biodiversity as a collection that “consumed the storms, packed them into our genes, and created the world that created us.” It makes the world sustainable. ” We imagine biodiversity as landscapes full of jungle or coral reefs, and its destruction - as deforestation and the extinction of species. However, such paintings do not reflect the full importance of the balance described by Wilson. Biodiversity is not only the wealth of life on Earth. This is what maintains the resilience and flexibility of the environment as a whole, so that life can survive the inevitable “storms”.

World Convention on Biological Diversity[signed by 145 countries; The USA signed it, but still have not ratified it, and have not undertaken any obligations / approx. transl.] defines its essence as the diversity of living organisms at three different levels: within a species, between species and in ecosystems. Intraspecific diversity is contained at the level of genes. Species are composed of individuals. For example, the total number of individuals in 10,000 species of ants is estimated by an incredible number of 10 15. With rare exceptions in the form of twins, each of these individuals has its own unique combination of genes. If we destroy half of the ants of each species, we still have 10,000 species of ants left, but we will lose 50% of the genetic diversity of each species. In recent history, many species have reduced their numbers to much smaller numbers. Before the advent of North America, Columbus plains plowed 25 million bison. By the end of the 1880s, there were fewer than 100 of them left in the wild. And although intervention to preserve the species has since increased their number to hundreds of thousands, the lost genetic diversity will never be returned.

The value of biodiversity can be understood by examples from our species. People have different alleles, or form of genes, for eye color, curly hair, muscle tone, and so on. These alleles can be useful in one environment and useless in another. In cloudy northern climates, pale skin contributes well to the production of vitamin D, and in sunny regions it is harmful because people can earn sunburn and skin cancer. Efficient storage of fat will increase your chances of survival on the island with unpredictable food intake, but can lead to type 2 diabetes if you follow a Western diet high in sugar. Huge genetic diversity gives us more options in the face of rapid environmental change, it happens due to climatic conditions, the emergence of new diseases or the invasion of another species.

The second layer is interspecific diversity. We are best acquainted with this biodiversity - an amazing assortment of animals, plants and microorganisms in the world. According to a 2011 report, out of about 9 million species living on Earth, we were able to describe only about 1.2 million. We know plants, birds and mammals well. However, a trawler at sea can pull about 90% of unknown species to the surface. Species are unevenly distributed throughout the world. There are many hypotheses on why this is happening, but the pattern is obvious: the richness of species increases when moving from the poles to the equator.

And finally, we have a variety of ecosystems. Species interact with each other, with sunlight, air, soil and water, forming ecosystems. From the Arctic tundra to the tropical jungle, from river mouths to the midnight sea depths, the Earth is home to a huge number of ecosystems. It is not always obvious how to outline the boundaries of such zones. An ecosystem can be as large as the Great Barrier Reef , or as small as a community of sponges, algae and worms living on the shell of a spider crab . And if there is a clear separation between the coastal forest and the sea, then there is no definite point at which the forest ends and the savannah begins.

Views within the ecosystem compete with each other for resources such as light and food - but also rely on each other. Of all the flowering plants in the world, 87% are pollinated by animals, and coral reefs provide shelter for 25% of marine life. Bacteria process dead flesh into nitrates, the only compound from which plants can create proteins. Ecosystems provide “services” that support life inside and outside ecosystems. People could not have survived without these services, which include clean air, drinking water, waste recycling, and pollination of plants that go into food.

One intriguing natural phenomenon is that in any ecosystem, several species will differ in large numbers, and most species will be quite small. It turns out that there are few numerous species, and there are many small species. Just as genetic diversity provides species with resilience to environmental change, species diversity increases ecosystem resilience. For example, rare yeast species can be found in freshwater ecosystems in eastern Pennsylvania. In the presence of water-polluting mercury, this yeast shortens the metabolic pathway leading to poisoning of most other species. They store mercury in vacuoles, and then lay it on the surface of the stones. At this time, there is a lot of yeast, but a toxic environment reduces the number of other species. Once the yeast has cleared the environment of mercury, the state of the environment ceases to do good to them. Their number is decreasing, while the number of individuals of other species is growing. Under suitable conditions, any rare species is likely to be able to increase the number of individuals in its ecosystem. Thus, ecosystem diversity can report what happened to it in the past and indicate the potential for adaptation to future changes.

The irony is that the word “biodiversity” is widespread, mainly due to the fact that people are engaged in the destruction of what it means. This term was first used by the US National Research Council in 1985 at a forum on biodiversity loss. After that, the philosopher Brian Norton compared the Earth with a patient whose survival depends on the resuscitation apparatus. “There are so many wires and cogs in this car, they are unlikely to be needed,” the patient happily reassures. Would you risk in such a situation? Biodiversity supports the familiar life. This is exactly the device that keeps us in a steady state.

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