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BiodiversityExtinction

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What is Biodiversity?

Biodiversity is the variety of plant and animal life in the world or in a particular habitat, a high level of which is usually considered to be important and desirable.

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Why is Biodiversity important?Having Biodiversity has: Economic values such as catching fish, timber and medicines.Natural resources such as clean water and air, soil nutrients and pollination.Cultural/recreational-people enjoy seeing natural beautyScientific understandingWater purification

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What is Extinction?Extinction occurs whenever the last individual that can be assigned to a taxonomic group (e.g. species, genus, family) dies. Species that are poorly adapted to their environment are less likely to survive than those that are adapted well. This means that those who are not adapted as well as other species, will unfortunately become extinct.

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Causes of Extinction

Climatic Heating and CoolingClimate Change is caused by a number of things. The effect that climate has on extinction is very big. The biodiverse Earth can't keep up with the rapid changes in temperature and climate. The species are not used to severe weather conditions.

Changes in Sea Levels or CurrentsThe changes in sea levels and currents is a result, in part, of the melting freshwater. The denser, saltier water sinks and forms the currents that marine life depends on.

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Causes of Extinction

AsteroidsAsteroids hit the earth with extreme force. The reverberations can be felt around the world. The impact site is completely destroyed.

Acid RainThe chemicals in Acid rain get absorbed by water droplets in the clouds, and eventually fall to the earth as acid precipitation. Acid rain increases the acidity of the soil which affects plant life. It can also disturb rivers and lakes to a possibly lethal level.

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Causes of Extinction

Spread of Invasive SpeciesInvasive species invade foreign territory. They use resources that the other species depend on. Once competition gets too great, the survival of the fittest will begin, and one of the species, usually the natural one, will die off.

Disease/EpidemicEach species has defence mechanisms like immunities and the ability to fight disease. With the changing climate and landscape certain species are losing their ability to fend off disease.

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What are we doing already to help Biodiversity?In the UK we already do lots of things in our daily lives. One example is that many people have started to use cloth/reusable bags when they shop instead of plastic bags. We also have many organisations and charities which are helping and improving the environment and making homes for animals.

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How can you help?We can do many simple things to improve and sustain the quality of life we enjoy now and to safeguard the quality of life for future generations. To help the Biodiversity on our planet thrive we can do many things. Ways we can help are: recycle, conserve energy, conserve water and protect water quality, learn more about biological diversity, do some gardening, dispose of waste properly and get involved with organisations that work to protect biodiversity.

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Thank you for watching!By Nandini Bindal