Ecological And Economic Importance Of Biodiversity 3y326l

Ecological and economic importance of biodiversity

As stated earlier, biodiversity is manifested in the form of biological resources. However, the presence of biological resources is only the end result of a set of interrelated ecosystem processes, or functions: •

Water cycle. The status of a water cycle in any given environment ranges from ‘ineffective’ to ‘effective’. An effective water cycle is one that retains and makes available to the system the greatest percentage of rainfall received. One characteristic tends to be higher and longer duration river/stream flows. High levels of plant cover (whether grasses or otherwise) are usually required to facilitate an effective water cycle, which in turn results in higher ecosystem productivity; together with higher biodiversity levels.

• Mineral cycle.

Productive systems are dependent on a varied and available

supply of minerals for regeneration.

Greater biomass levels contribute healthy

mineral supplies, which in turn result in higher ecosystem productivity and higher biodiversity levels. • Energy flow. Energy flow is a measure of the productivity of the system, and is determined by the system’s ability to convert sunlight into plant production through photosynthesis, which in turn is dependent on plant cover. •

The three processes act in tandem, and therefore constitute a set of processes. This set can move in three directions: ‘spiralling up’, resulting in greater ecosystem productivity and manifested by greater biodiversity; ‘ spiralling down’, manifested by decreased productivity and biodiversity; and ‘neutral’.

From an ecological perspective, the diversity increases the ecosystem's stability (capacity to maintain itself into healthy margins of variation adapting recurrently to changes) and resilience (ability to respond and recover to great stress events), which is an extraordinary quality, because it means that biodiversity is able to maintain itself in the time, owing to the called biogeochemical cycles:

1.

Energy, using the photosynthesis by which green plants convert sunlight, water, nutrients, and carbon dioxide into chemical fuel (carbohydrates), which is the basis of all food webs, and is the foremost important source of energy (even including the fossil one, that derives from it);

2.

Water, activated by solar energy, the transpiration and evapo-transpiration of the vegetation contribute to the water purification by catching, holding and recycling rainwater; in addition, wetlands and estuaries purify water and prevent and control flooding;

3.

Carbon and oxygen cycles, the carbon dioxide produced by animal respiration, plant decomposition and fuel burning is absorbed by green plants in the biosphere and phytoplankton in the hydrosphere, which later release oxygen back to the atmosphere, in order to get a gaseous equilibrium, that enable almost all forms of life to exist.

4. Nitrogen cycle, nitrogen is a key component of all organisms (base of the amino- acid molecules that integrate proteins), on its natural atmospheric form isn’t accessible to most organisms, needs to be available being transformed by some bacteria that live in the roots of legumes. From economics perspective, biodiversity is important in of its use or potential use value to society i.e. a ‘utilitarian’ view. These uses, which are discussed further in Chapter 4, include:

Extractive use encomes direct use of biological resources, for either production or consumption: • Fuelwood, timber, water, fish, ivory, medicinal plants, fodder, construction material, dyes, etc. •

Employment

Non-extractive use entails use value without extracting the resource (‘indirect’ use), either for production or consumption: •

Recreation/Tourism

•

Education and Research

•

Employment opportunities

• Ecosystem services (as opposed to ‘goods’) provided by ecosystem processes, including: o Plant production through photosynthesis o Plant reproduction through pollination, cross-fertilization, gene flow, etc. o Watershed protection, recharging ground water and buffering extreme conditions (e.g. floods, drought) o Production of soil and protection of soil from erosion o Supply of essential nutrients o Absorption and breakdown of pollutants and organic waste Non-use values encom value that is not derived from use: •

Spiritual, historical or cultural value is well-being derived from, for example, a ‘sense of belonging’.

• Existence value derived from knowing that a landscape, habitat or species exists, even though an individual may have no intention of ever visiting that area. • Option value is the value attached to retain the option, or possibility, of having future access to a given landscape, habitat or species. This value reflects an individual or society’s perception of uncertainty, both in of future needs or desires; and future threats to the biological resource(s) in question. • Bequest value is closely related to existence value, and is the value derived from knowing that certain landscapes, habitat or species exist for the benefit of future generations.