What is Biodiversity?

Biodiversity is the variety and variability of life on earth. This variety of life can be observed
at three different levels: genes, species and ecosystem diversity. Genetic diversity is the
differences in the genetic composition of individuals belonging to the same species. Species
diversity is the variety and abundance of different types of individuals of a species in a given area.
Ecosystem diversity is the different types of ecosystems, including both terrestrial and aquatic
ecosystems, within a geographical location.

Why biodiversity is important?

The diversity of life has served as a support system which enabled different civilizations
in history to flourish. It represents the very foundation of human existence. The value of
biodiversity can be grouped into two main categories: utilitarian/instrumental/extrinsic value and
inherent value.

The utilitarian value of biodiversity is determined by its practical use or application.

Humans derive many direct and indirect benefits from the living world as the source of food,
medicine, energy, fiber, rubber and timber. The biological resources contain potentially useful
resources as well. It also serves as a source of information and offers cultural, aesthetics and
recreational benefits to us. Moreover, the diversity of organisms provides many ecological
services free of charge that are responsible for maintaining ecosystem health. The utilitarian and
inherent value of biodiversity are briefly described below.
A. Utilitarian Value
1. Source of Food

Biodiversity is very useful to modern agriculture in three ways: (i) as a source of new crops, (ii) as
a source material for breeding improved varieties, and (iii) as a source of new biodegradable
pesticides. In this manner, diversity is critical for developing new strains and breeds that fit a
particular environment or are resistant to pests or disease and as a source of new crops. Of the
several thousand species of edible plants, less than 20 plant species are cultivated to produce
about 85% of the world's food. Wheat, corn and rice, the three major carbohydrate crops, yield
nearly two-third of the food sustaining the human population.

The commercial, domesticated species are crossbred with their wild relatives to improve their
traits. Genes of wild species are used to confer new properties such as disease resistance or
improved yield in domesticated species. For example, rice grown in Asia is protected from the
four main diseases by genes received from a single wild rice species (Oryza nivara) from India.

In addition to farming and fishing herding became an important means of meeting the population’s
food demands leading to the development of agrobiodiversity.
2. Medicine

Biodiversity is a rich source of substances with therapeutic properties. Several important

pharmaceuticals have originated as plant-based substances. Examples of plant-derived
substances developed into valuable drugs are: Quinine (Chinchona ledgeriana) used for the
treatment of malaria; Atropine (Atopa belladonna) used as a relaxant and sedative; Codiene
(Papavum somniferum) used as painkiller; Menthol (Menta sp.) for nasal decongestion; Digoxin
(Digitalis purpurea) used in management of congestive heart failure; and Taxol, an anticancer
drug obtained from the bark of the yew tree (Taxus brevifolia, T. baccata). Currently, 25% of the
drugs in the Pharmacy are derived from a mere 120 species of plants while 57% of the 150 most-
prescribed drugs have their origins in biodiversity. But, throughout the world, traditional medicines
make use of thousands of plant species. Plants can also be used for the manufacture of
innumerable synthetic products, called botanochemicals.

In the Philippines, some known medicinal plants include Peppermint for relieving body aches;
Sambong as diuretic; Lagundi for cough and asthma; and Malunggayay as anti-oxidant, anti-
inflammatory and for increasing breastmilk production.
3. Energy

Humans rely on different sources of energy provided by the ecosystem thoughout history. For
example, heat energy from fire, coal (1000 BC), hydropower or water energy (400 BC), windmills
or wind energy (1300), natural gas (1820), kerosene (1850), solar powered generator (1860),
geothermal energy (1892) and nuclear energy (1942).
However, the demand for energy created a dramatic impact on biodiversity in terms of wildlife
mortality, habitat destruction, noise and light pollution, invasive cycle and changes carbon stock
and water resources.
4. Aesthetic and Cultural Benefits

Biodiversity has also great aesthetic value. Natural and wild landscapes are aesthetically
pleasing. Examples of aesthetic rewards include ecotourism, bird watching, wildlife, pet keeping
and gardening. Ecotourism is an increasingly becoming a lucrative industry, Further, we recognize
plants and animals as symbols of national pride and cultural heritage. The survival of natural areas
and species are important to different cultures around the world. Thousands of cultural groups in
the world, each have distinct traditions and knowledge for relating to natural world.
5. Ecosystem Services

Biodiversity is essential for the maintenance and sustainable utilization of goods and services
from ecological systems as well as from the individual species. These services include
maintenance of gaseous composition of the atmosphere, climate control by forests and oceanic
systems, natural pest control, pollination of plants by insects and birds, formation and protection
of soil, conservation and purification of water and nutrient cycling, etc. These ecosystem services
have been valued in the range of 16 to 54 trillion US dollars per year.

One specific example is how forests and other vegetation modify climate by affecting sun
reflectance, water vapor release, wind patterns and moisture loss. Forests help maintain a humid
environment, for example, half of rainfall in Amazon basin is produced locally from forest-
atmosphere cycle.

Not only that forest vegetation help in maintaining the water quality and quantity of the hydrologic
cycle, it also controls soil erosion. Roots increase water absorption and prevent soil erosion during
heavy rains.

Another example is the role of photosynthetic biodiversity (phytoplankton) which creates an

oxygenated atmosphere and also has the potential to moderate the rising amounts of atmospheric
carbon dioxide linked to global climate change.
In addition, many flowering plants depend on animals for pollination to produce food. When
specialized pollinators’ population decline this will lead to a reduction of number and quality of
fruits produced as well as plant genetic impoverishment.

Decomposers such as fungi and bacteria plays a critical role in nutrient cycling and renewal of
soil. By breaking down dead plants and animals, they enrich the soil and provides nutrients that
most plants use.

Wetland and mangrove ecosystem filter excess nutrients and trap sediments that would otherwise
impact neighbouring coastal and aquatic areas. They help in minimizing the damages by high
waves and floods.
B. Intrinsic Value

Intrinsic value, on the other hand, is the inherent right of species to exist. All species have intrinsic
value and that humans are no more important than other species. We have a moral duty to pass
on our biological resource in good order to our future children.

Biodiversity has an intrinsic value because it is part of the natural world. It cannot be denied that
the conservation of species with its genetic resources and ecosystem are important for the
maintenance of natural ecological processes.

Life forms should be conserved simply because they exist. This explains the altruistic or non-
humanistic value to support the intrinsic value of biodiversity. Every species is a product of a long
history of continuing evolution by means of ecological processes, and so it has the right to a
continued existence. It is ethical to protect the biological integrity of every species. Protecting its
inherent value is morally good because nowadays, human activities are contributing to the
unprecedented rate of extinction.

In conclusion, whatever value is our choice today in setting conservation priorities, our decision
is critical to the natural world to be inherited by the future generations.

References:
Biodiversity and its conservation. http://intranet.bhu.ac.in/unit4.pdf

Eleanor J. Sterling, Nora Bynum, Melina Laverty, Ian Harrison, Sacha Spector & Elizabeth
Johnson. (2003). Why Should You Care About Biological Diversity?
https://www.amnh.org/content/download/38147/561443/file/BiologicalDiversity.pdf
Quinto, E. J. M., A. D. Nieva. (2019). Science, Technology and Society. C&E Publishing, Inc.
Serafica, J. P. J., B. N. Caslib, Jr. (2019) Science, Technology and Society. Rex Bookstore Ince

The value of biodiversity.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/24014217_The_value_of_biodiversity/link/580a1c5908
aeef1bfee3d746/download

Why is biodiversity important?

https://www.cbd.int/cepa/toolkit/2008/doc/Why%20is%20biodiversity%20important.ppt