Why is biodiversity important?

Biodiversity is important for all species' survival. We need a variety of habitats for all the
different species because each species is adapted to a certain set of environmental conditions. All
species depend on each other to survive, so if one becomes extinct another species that relies on
it could go extinct as well. Individual traits can allow some species to adapt to environmental
changes, but many species cannot adapt if their habitat and food chains are greatly altered.
All levels of biodiversity make up an ecosystem. If a level of biodiversity is removed from an
ecosystem the health of the ecosystem will suffer. The ecosystem is less resilient when parts of it
are lost to extinction. The more parts that are lost, the less resilient it is to environmental
changes and the less likely it will be able to function as a whole. For example, a car will function
properly when all parts are working. If one part stops working, such as a headlight, the car can
still function normally. However if the second headlight stops working, driving the car at night
would be dangerous and if the engine is removed the car won't work at all. If species are going
extinct in an ecosystem, it will start to not function as well and eventually not function at all.
Even one species going extinct is cause for concern, because that one species may be like the
engine in the car. Even if all the rest of the parts of the car are functional, without an engine the
car will not work. This is because most of the parts of the car rely on that one part in order to
work. Therefore, if one species goes extinct, the whole ecosystem may not survive.

Threats to Biodiversity
H.I.P.P.O.
There are many threats to biodiversity today. The biggest ones can be remembered by using the
acronym H.I.P.P.O.:Habitat Loss, Invasive Species, Pollution, Human Population,
and Overharvesting.

Habitat Loss
This occurs when a particular area is converted from usable to unusable habitat.
Industrial activities, agriculture, aquaculture, mining, deforestation, and water
extraction are all central causes of habitat loss. This includes deforestation for wood
for cooking food, such as we saw in the Module 2 discussion of biogas generators.
Habitat fragmentation, the loss of large units of habitat, is also a serious threat to
biodiversity. The picture below shows an example of habitat fragmentation in the
Amazon rainforest.
Invasive Species
When an animal, plant, or microbe moves into a new area, it can affect the resident
species in several different ways. New species can parasitize or predate upon
residents, hybridize with them, compete with them for food, bring unfamiliar
diseases, modify habitats, or disrupt important interactions. One famous and
striking example of an invasive species is the brown tree snake in Guam. Native to
Australia, the snake was accidentally transported to Guam in ship cargo following
World War II. Because Guam had basically no predators to keep the snake
population in check, it rapidly multiplied and caused the extirpation of most of the
resident bird species. Extirpation means extinction within a region: the species
survives elsewhere, but not in that region.
Pollution

The discharge of toxic synthetic chemicals and heavy metals into the environment
has a huge impact on species abundance, and can lead to extinctions. Its important
to remember that substances that are natural can become pollution when they
are too abundant in a certain area. For example, nitrogen and phosphorous are
important nutrients for plant growth, but when they concentrate in water systems
after being applied as agricultural fertilizers, they can cause dead zones that are
uninhabitable for fish and other wildlife. Also, carbon dioxide is a natural
component of the atmosphere, but is considered a pollutant when emitted by
human industrial activities.
Human Population

In the year 1800, there were fewer than 1 billion people on earth, and today there
are about 6.8 billion. Even without the vast increases in per capita resource use that
have occurred during this period, the pressures on biodiversity would have
increased during this time period simply based on population growth. While the
impacts that each human has on biodiversity varies widely depending on the types
and amounts of resources that he or she uses (as in the I=PAT equation), overall,
increasing populations have lead to increasing threats to biodiversity.
Overharvesting

This includes targeted hunting, gathering, or fishing for a particular species as well
as incidental harvesting such as by-catch in ocean fisheries. The megafauna
extinction example earlier was an example of overharvesting causing biodiversity
loss.
Ocean fisheries have been particularly vulnerable to overharvesting during the postWWII period because of technological developments like refrigeration, sonar, larger
nets, and onboard processing. The cod fishery in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean
was an important commercial fishery for hundreds of years, but only a few decades
of intense harvesting using these new technologies in the late twentieth century led
to a population collapse. The population declined by over 90%, and fishing for the
species was closed in both Canada and the United States. The loss of a top predator
like cod, along with reductions of other top predator fish populations like haddock
and flounder, has led to an explosion in prey fish populations like herring, capelin
and shrimp. Cod populations have not recovered, despite fishing pressures ceasing,
and this observation has made researchers speculate that the ecosystem may now
be in an alternative stable state that will prevent the recovery of cod populations
any time in the near future.
Scientific name

Common
name(s)

Acanthastrea spp.
Acerodon leucotis
Acrocephalus
sorghophilus
Acropora spp.

Palawan flying
fox
Streaked reedwarbler
Table corals

Actenoides
hombroni
Aetomylaeus
nichofii

Blue-capped
kingfisher
Banded eagle
ray

Local
name(s)

Distribution

Order

Native to the Indian Oceanand the

western Pacific Ocean
Endemic to Palawan and
neighboring islands
Native to China, Taiwan, and the
Philippines
Native to the Indian Oceanand the
western Pacific Ocean
Endemic to Mindanao

Scleractinia

Native to the Indian Oceanand the

western Pacific Ocean

Chiroptera
Passeriforme
s
Scleractinia
Coraciiforme
s
Myliobatifor
mes

Endangered Animals in the Philippines

Philippine Eagle
Philippine Spotted Deer
Philippine Freshwater Crocodile | Endangered Animals in the Philippines
Tamaraw | Endangered Animals in the Philippines
Philippine Tarsier | Endangered Animals in the Philippines