At the end of the lesson, the students are expected to:

1. identify the importance of biodiversity as a source of different biological resources;

2. discuss the adverse effects of resource depletion on society and the measures to
mitigate them;
3. manifest the value of awareness on the importance of biodiversity by citing the
different protocols and environmental laws implemented worldwide to protect our
biodiversity.

PRELIMENARY ACTIVITY

INSTRUCTION: By using the chart below, share your insights about what biodiversity
is all about.

BIODIVERSITY

BIODIVERSITY

 It is defined as the variety of life present in an ecosystem.

 Biodiversity is the sum of all the different species of animals, plants, fungi and
microbial organisms living on Earth and the variety of habitats in which they live.
Scientists estimate that more than 10 million different species inhabit Earth.

 The society, particularly humans, utilize the different resources in the biodiversity to
be able to survive.
DISCUSSION

TYPES OF BIODIVERSITY

1. GENETIC BIODIVERSITY – it refers to the variations among

organisms of the same species.
Ex: There are different breeds / variations of dogs such as
beagle, pitbull, german shepherd etc.

- Though they have different genetic compositions, they belong

to the same species (dogs).

Figure 10. Different

Variations /
Breeds of
Dogs
2. SPECIES BIODIVERSITY – is the variety of species within a
habitat or a region. Some habitats, such as rainforests and coral
reefs, have species that adapt and can survive in that specific
habitat.

Ex: Rainforest regions have different species of woody trees

and wild animals while desert regions have species of organisms
that can withstand extreme temperatures.

Figure 11. Different

species of
animals

3. ECOLOGICAL BIODIVERSITY- is the variety of ecosystems in

a given place. An ecosystem is a community of organisms
and their physical environment interacting together.

An ecosystem can cover a large area, such as a whole forest,

or a small area, such as a pond.

Figure 12. Different

types of
ecosystem

 Society benefits greatly from the richness of biodiversity since humans can use
nature’s biological resources such as food, medicine, energy and more. Biodiversity in
natural ecosystem can also regulate climate, flood, pollution, water and air quality,
water storage, decomposition of wastes, among others. However, these numerous
benefits of biodiversity is vulnerable to exploitation. Humans need to be responsible
in optimizing the benefits of biodiversity through the proper utilization of science and
technology.

BIODIVERSITY AND HEALTH AND MEDICINE

 Since 2600 BC, people have been using plants to

treat illness, hence the practice of herbal medicine.
 Herbal medicines were also used in healing rituals and
in the treatment of injuries resulting from wars or accidents.

 The use of herbal medicine was prominent in the different Figure 13. Herbal
Medicines
parts of the world from the ancient period such as China,
Egypt, during the Middle Age in England, France and
Germany.

 The use of herbal medicine in ancient civilization was

dependent on the biodiversity present in their respective
environments.

 Many medicinal products available in the market today are derived from natural
substances from plants such as:

- Salicylic acid, the active ingredient of the anti-inflammatory drug.

- Aspirin, which is derived from the bark of a willow tree.
- Morphine, a widely-known painkiller is derived from Opium poppy.
- Digitoxin, used in management of heart failure is derived from Digitalis
purpurea.

BIODIVERSITY AND FOOD

 Food is a basic need for human survival. During the

Stone Age, humans relied only on hunting and foraging
to get food depending on what the ecosystem can
provide them.

 As the Earth’s population grew, the demand for food

Increased.

 Crops can now be grown were cultivated and animals

were domesticated.
Figure14. Crops from
Biodiversity
 Ways to cultivate desired species of crops and animals
suitable for consumption also evolved throughout time.

BIODIVERSITY AND ENERGY

 Humans rely on energy provided by ecosystems to

 do the necessary activities in order to survive.

 In the Stone Age, heat energy from fire was used mainly
for survival against harsh cold environments, for cooking
and for communication in the form or smoke.

 In 1000 BC, coal was used by the people in China for

heating and cooking. Figure 15. Wind
Energy

 In 400 BC, water and hydro power was used by the Ancient
Greeks for irrigation.

 Wind energy was also used to navigate through bodies of water.

 During the 1700s and 1800s, biomass as a primary source of energy was replaced
with coal and the British discovered that by burning, coal is transformed into a hot-
burning coke, a fuel with high carbon content and few impurities. With this, the use of
coal became widespread all over the world.

 In 1830s, the electric generator was developed based on Michael Faraday’s discovery
on electromagnetism.

 In 1860s, Augustine Mouchot developed the first solar powered system for industrial
machinery.

 In 1892, the geothermal energy was first used.

 In 1942, The first nuclear fission reactor was designed and built.

 In th 19th and 20th century, the utilization of coal energy shaped the industrialization
of the US, UK and other European countries.

 From the development of the use of energy sources throughout history, it can be seen
that there was no direct exhaustion of biodiversity in the utilization of energy
resources. However, as early as 1973, the effects on the environment and the risk of
potential accidents when using energy alarmed many environmental organizations.
Some of them are:

- 1979 – a nuclear reactor accident at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania happened.

- 1980 – the biggest oil spill in US waters, the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska
occurred.
- 2000 – a number of catastrophic events happened; coal ash spill in Tennessee, oil
spill in Gulf of Mexico and Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan.

The demands for energy created a positive impact on unconventional ways of producing
energy but in return, have resulted to adverse effects on biodiversity in terms of wildlife
mortality, habitat loss, fragmentation, noise and light pollution, invasive species, and
changes in the carbon stock and water resources.

BIODIVERSITY AND WATER STORAGE AND FLOOD CONTROL

 The earliest recorded civilizations were situated

near rivers or lakes which makes their livelihoods
dependent on water.

 Water from rivers and lakes was also used for irrigation.

 To cope with the adverse effects of the changing tides,

floodways were utilized to prevent flooding in nearby
communities that usually result in damaged crops.
Figure 16. Aqueducts
 Aqueducts were invented and built by Romans and the
Greeks, to maintain stable water supplies to communities
that were far from bodies of water.

 In the 19th century, dams were built to maintain water supply in communities.

 Biodiversity in forests play a crucial role in water resources such as the following:

a. Forests provide natural filtration and storage systems to provide freshwater.

b. Forests play a major role in the water cycle.
c. Forests prevent flooding, but flooding also has its benefits such as it helps in the
distribution of nutrients that particular patches of soil lacked.

 Though flooding has its benefits, they are not achieved most of the time, flooding
causes long term damages.

BIODIVERSITY AND AIR AND WATER TREATMENT

 Biodiversity also plays a role in the treatment of water and air.

 Excessive nitrogen in the air stimulates nitrogen-loving plants but affects plants that
do cannot adapt to environment with high amount of nitrogen.

 The effects of excessive nitrogen in the air may not be felt at once. It takes decades
but it definitely weakens the resilience of soil and plants.

 Aside from nitrogen, ozone is also a pollutant that can be good or bad, depending on
where it is found.

 Ozone found at the ground level is considered as bad ozone that has adverse effects
on plants.

 Negative impacts on vegetation reduce the capacity for carbon dioxide and ozone,
enhancing their atmosphere concentrations and affecting the global water cycle.
 Soils store air pollutants temporarily that affect water purification and these stored
pollutants have adverse effects on soil functioning and create problems when the
retention capacity of soil is reached or disturbed.

 Worldwide efforts are being made to decrease nitrogen deposition to the biosphere to
enhance plant species biodiversity and relative species.

PROTOCOLS IN BIODIVERSITY

Several protocols were implemented worldwide to ensure the protection of our

biodiversity and here are some of them:

- Montreal Protocol - an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer

by phasing out the production of numerous substances that are responsible for
ozone depletion.

- Kyoto Protocol - operates the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate

Change by committing industrialized countries to limit and reduce greenhouse
gases (GHG) emissions in accordance with agreed individual targets.

- Cartagena Protocol - international agreement which aims to ensure the safe

handling, transport and use of living modified organisms (LMOs) resulting from
modern biotechnology that may have adverse effects on biological diversity.

 Locally, strict implementation of environmental laws among industries and

communities alike must be ensured to prevent further damage of biodiversity. There
should also be efforts to ensure that whatever treatment is employed, it should not
promote mass pollution transfer from one environment to another.

ACTIVITY 2 METACOGNITIVE READING REPORT

INSTRUCTION: You are going to read T.C.H. Sunderlands’ article entitled “Food security:
Why is biodiversity important?”. Answer the Metacognitive Reading Report that
follows.

Link: http://www.cifor.org/knowledge/publication/3577/
Note: Download the article first

1. Difficult Concepts (3)

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