Biodiversity

What is Biodiversity?


Biodiversity refers to the variety of life. It is seen in the number of species in an  ecosystems or on the entire Earth. Biodiversity gets used as a measure of the health of biological systems, and to see if there is a danger that too many species become extinct. The United Nations designated 2011–2020 as the "United Nations Decade on Biodiversity". ( Kids encyclopedia facts)




Why is Biodiversity so important?


Biodiversity is so important as it is a balance of everything the land, the food, the fibre and the native vegetation existing hand in hand.


Biodiversity and Horticulture are very closely connected. Horticulture is" Everything that Grows" and Biodiversity is everything in nature. We need all parts need to be working in harmony for everything to continue to survive.


                   "If all the insects were to disappear from the earth, within 50 years all life
                    on earth would end. If all human beings disappeared from the earth, within
                   50 years all forms of life would flourish." (Jonas Salk)


           

                     The Food Chain


                 1. The soil nurtures plants
                 2. Plants are eaten by animals
                 3. Animals are raised by humans for a variety of purposes

•         If one link goes missing then the chain is destroyed
•         If one link changed entire chain would be different

                           

Biodiversity in Horticulture


Horticulture relies on healthy soil to provide us with fruits, vegetables, flowers, grasses, nuts and spices.If we don't have healthy soil then one link in our chain isn't functioning to capacity which will affect other parts of the ecosystem.


Climate Change also affects plants and animals . Our extreme weather conditions can impact on the growing of plants and animals.


Being aware of any introduce species and reporting this to authorities. As if left undetected could impact on our crops.










  Benefits
             1. Food
             2. Beverages
             3. Medicine
             4. Building materials




Threats
             1. Extinction of species
             2. Hunting
             3. Habitat Loss
             4. Foreign Species being introduced
             5. Pollution
             6. Climate Change


Protecting Biodiversity is Important


The best way of doing this is by

•  limiting all threats
• reducing deforestation
• stopping the introducton of foreign species
• reducing, reusing, recycling

                                                       Biodiversity is Everywhere !!