Whatever Happened to Biodiversity?

What exactly is biodiversity and what does it mean for our environment? Biodiversity is the variation or differences within an ecosystem, biome, or even an entire planet. We are able to use biodiversity to measure the health of our ecosystems or earth as a whole (Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia 2011). Biodiversity is key to our ecosystems in that it boost the productivity. The larger the number of plant species the larger the crops. This will in turn extend all life forms (Shah 2011).
Due to the levels of extinction between species the loss of biodiversity has inevitably happened. The main causes of extinction are the oblivious as well as well aware human acts. Most of the time some ecosystems are destroyed in the name of progress to our human society. If the ecosystems are not destroyed they are decreased in their size. Also, the dumping of waste into seas and oceans cause potentcy to the ecosystems (Causes of loss 2010). This chain reaction of bombarding their ecosystems, destroying them in turn, then the inevitable extinction, leads to lower productivity. Lowere productivity means we as human beings suffer loss in crops and other resourses used from these ecosystems.

An example of what a lack of biodiversity can do is the Great Famine (Ireland). The Great Famine in Ireland in the mid 1800s was the massacre of some sort to a million of it's residents. Their deaths were the result of a potato disease called a potato blight. Potatoes were one of Irelands most highly consumed resources. However, the lack of biodiversity in the types of potatoes planted and where they planted them lead to starvation and a great drop in their population. They planted the same type of crop in which this crop unknowingly was tainted and later consumed (Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia 2011). This example would be an anology to our world of ecosystems without biodiversity. Preserving our ecosystems and the species that reside in them is very key in boosting our biodiversity (Shah 2011).

Sources:
Wikipedia the free encyclopedia (28 July 2011). Great Famine (Ireland).
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Ireland)

Wikipedia the free encyclopedia (28 July 2011). Biodiversity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiversity

Shah, A (28 July 2011). Why is Biodiversity So Important? Who Cares? Biodiversity.
http://www.globalissues.org/issue/169/biodiversity

Causes of Loss (28 July 2011). Causes of Biodiversity Loss.
http://www.airheadsscuba.com/kayesite1/causes.html