Importance of Biodiversity on all Scales

    Like many things, I think it is important to look at biodiversity as a system. If your viewpoint is always that of what is right in front of you, you may perceive only the issues that present themselves. More often than not, you will not see the root cause of these issues. Finding the root cause takes more understanding and systems thinking. It is the ability to look at all of the components that uphold a part in a system, and being able to find the deficiency in them that makes a person good investigator. 

    Taking this same knowledge into biodiversity, on any scale, will give you what's needed to understand the importance of biodiversity. I can break this down further. All living systems that affect the ocean can affect all living systems of the rainforest. All living systems in the dessert play a role in affecting the ocean. This can be difficult to see. Every biological being is an actor in their own environment. Some can say that they play a small part, but if they did not complete their part, the other parts of the system would not be able to complete theirs and the entire system could fail. Oceans flow into rivers which flow into the rainforest giving them abundant life. Migratory birds fly from colder regions to tropical regions and pass dessert oases where they feed from ponds or streams affected by the wildlife and micro-organisms in the area. These are just two small examples of how the systems affect each other. There are millions of other examples out there that can be made. Biodiversity is important not only to the ecosystem in which they belong, but also to any adjacent or non-adjacent ecosystem in some way. If they are part of Earth, they are in the macro system of which Earth operates. 

 

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