Biodiversity – the Variety of Life
What is it?
The definition adopted by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity describes biodiversity as “the variability among living organisms from all sources and the ecological complexes of which they are part: this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems".
Biodiversity is richer in places that suit life the best (for example the tropics), where the temperature, humidity, and soil fertility are optimum.
Why is Biodiversity Important?
Diversity is a hugely important quality because it offers protection against extinction, no less! If there is genetic diversity within a species then, if an unusual environmental event occurs such as a drought, the variation within that species means that there will always be some who, unlike the “average”, will be able to survive the extreme situation. Individual members of the species might have perished, but the genetic information will go on, and the species will survive.
If an ecosystem is diverse then, again, it will be more robust and able to withstand changes. In the future diversity will be a species strongest defence in adapting to climate change. So it is incredibly important!
Biodiversity is also directly involved in water purification, recycling nutrients and providing fertile soils – those things known as “ecosystem services”. Humans are not able to easily build ecosystems to support our needs - for example insect pollination cannot be mimicked and this alone represents tens of billions of dollars per annum to humankind.
What’s Our Current State of Biodiversity?
Well, it’s not so great really...
The rate of species loss is greater now than at any time in human history, with extinctions occurring at rates hundreds of times higher than background extinction rates (that is, “normal” rates of extinction). About 40 percent of the 40,177 species assessed using the IUCN Red List criteria, are now listed as being threatened with extinction – therefore more than 16,000 plants and animals now face a very uncertain future. Because an ecosystem becomes less robust as its species disappear, the warning for us is that the global ecosystem could be destined for much more serious decline, even collapse, if its biodiversity levels are further reduced.
What About Biodiversity in New Zealand?
Often biodiversity can be especially rich in habitats separated by barriers, like large rivers, seas, mountains and deserts, or in New Zealand’s case, oceans. Left in these protected spaces, species adapt and specialise to match their environment – enhancing the level of biodiversity there. Humans however, through their invention of travel by air and sea, have enabled species that would never have met to suddenly find themselves in direct competition with one another. To make it even more difficult, this meeting can happen on a time scale of days, unlike the centuries that it would normally take if it had been a regular animal migration. The rats that stowed away on ships to NZ are a good example, and one that our mammal-free bird population was not prepared for – hence the devastating loss in biodiversity that our native animals have faced. Stats
Border control is one way we try to protect this from happening again, but it is definitely not failsafe.
Can We Enhance Our Biodiversity?
In addition to introduced exotic species, the other main contributor to declining biodiversity is habitat loss. As humans transform the land around them to better suit their needs, the habitats (that is, the homes) used by other animals are destroyed. Examples of this include logging a native forest for timber, or draining a wetland to use for farming . Pollution of all kinds also makes habitats less healthy places for animals to live, and climate change will in the future prove a significant cause of biodiversity loss.
What this tells us is that if we protect the habitat, then we protect the species! It’s not too difficult to understand, but the practice hasn’t always been easy. Marine reserves are a great example of protecting a habitat, and the Goat Island/Cape Rodney reserve near Auckland has been a wonderful success story. National parks also serve this purpose, but it is important that they are large enough, and that there are “green corridors” providing links between animal populations so they can interbreed and create as much genetic diversity as possible
How Can I Help?
In Nelson:
• Brook Waimarama Sanctuary – helping to restore a habitat to it’s original pest-free state so that the native birds will again thrive, and always keen for volunteers
• Marsden Valley Trapping Group (contact Don Sullivan 547 7705)
• Weedbusters Nelson for bush restoration projects
• DOC volunteer opportunities in Nelson
• Trust for Conservation Volunteers – local projects
• Forest and Bird local activities
Nationally
• Forest and Bird
• Forest and Bird Good Fish Guide
• Greenpeace guide to buying timber that isn’t unsustainably logged
• Greenpeace anti-whaling campaign
Globally
• WWF - did you know that there are about 4000 tigers remaining in the wild? WWF has numerous projects for animal conservation, rainforest, and ocean protection including the Conservation Action Network.
• Birdlife International
• Earthwatch recruits volunteers every year to collect field data in the areas of rainforest ecology, wildlife conservation, marine science, archaeology, and more.
• Conservation International
• Fauna and Flora International (FFI) - conserving the planet’s threatened species and ecosystems together with the people and communities who depend on them. They also offer a free subscription to Oryx - the International Journal of Conservation, which is a leading scientific journal in the field of conservation biology and management – if you join as a member of FFI.
• IUCN - The World Conservation Union - IUCN is the world’s oldest and largest global environmental network - a democratic membership union with more than 1,000 government and NGO member organisations, and almost 11,000 volunteer scientists in more than 160 countries.
• Plantlife – a wild plant conservation charity
• TRAFFIC - the wildlife trade monitoring network, works to ensure that trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to the conservation of nature
• The Nature Conservancy – with photos, blogs, projects all over the world, and a magazine
• Wetlands International
• World Resources Institute - an environmental think tank that uses research to find practical ways to protect the earth and improve people’s lives. Their mission is to move human society to live in sustainable ways.
• Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) - saves wildlife and wild land through careful science, international conservation, education, and the management of the world’s largest system of urban wildlife parks, led by the flagship Bronx Zoo.
Info for Youngsters
• American Museum of Natural History – cool projects and fun ways to learn about biodiversity
• Kiwi Conservation Children - arm of Forest and Bird with lots of fun for kids
Biodiversity Information Networks
GBIF - Global Biodiversity Information Facility - an initiative of the OECD
NBII National Biodiversity Information Infrastructure
GCRMN The Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network
ICRAN International Coral Reef Action Network
ICRI International Coral Reef Initiative
Intergovernmental Organisations and Programmes
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
International Tropical Timber Organization (IITO)
International Whaling Commission
