Thanks to humans, though, we may never get the chance to find them all. Biodiversity loss is becoming a bigger problem than we ever thought it could be. It's estimated that half of all the species on the planet could go extinct by 2050 — only 32 years from now. What is biodiversity loss, and why is it such a big problem?
Biodiversity is defined as the totality of genes, species, and ecosystems in a defined area. Everything from the smallest single-celled organism to the largest apex predator makes up the biodiversity of a given area.
Biodiversity loss, on the other hand, is the death of those ecosystems. Either the entire ecosystem is destroyed because of human intervention — including deforestation, urban development, and farming — or enough key species in an ecosystem die that the ecosystem collapses on its own. There are plenty of examples of how human intervention can be devastating to an ecosystem.
We're already experiencing biodiversity loss. It's estimated that in the last five decades, we've lost more than 60 percent of the planet's biodiversity.
What are the 5 major causes of biodiversity loss?
What causes these natural ecosystems to collapse?
Sometimes the collapse of an ecosystem is the result of natural causes. Forest fires, floods, and volcanic eruptions all have the potential to destroy an ecosystem in a given area. However, these natural types of biodiversity loss are normal — and the planet has a plan in place to restore them once the damage has passed. Some seeds, like those from a number of pine trees, won't even germinate unless their parent tree has burned in a wildfire.
Those aren't the kinds of biodiversity loss we should be concerned about.
Human intervention has caused the majority of biodiversity loss in the last few decades. Common causes include:
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1. Deforestation: When we cut down a forest to use its lumber, or claim the land for agricultural purposes, we are destroying unique ecosystems that can't exist anywhere else.
2. Invasive Species: Species introduced in an area where they have no natural predators can decimate an ecosystem. Good examples of this are the pythons in the Florida Everglades and lionfish in the Gulf of Mexico. Most of these invasive species are linked directly to human intervention.
3. Pollution: Garbage dumped into the water supply, chemical runoff from industrial applications, and air pollution from cars and factories all have a negative effect.
4. Climate Change: Changes in the climate can happen naturally over millions of years — just look at the end of the last ice age. This time, though, climate change has been the result of human intervention. It's happening too quickly, and species can't adapt quickly enough, so they're dying out.
5. Overfishing: It's difficult to put a number on overfishing because most of the ocean is still unexplored, but it's estimated that anywhere from 60 to 90 percent of the ocean has been overfished or is on the verge of collapse.
There are so many of us on the planet now that it's almost impossible not to have an impact on the world around us. What sort of impact will this loss of biodiversity have on us?
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As much as we like to try to keep ourselves apart from it, by building roads and houses to protect us from the elements, humans are intrinsically linked to the world around us. Biodiversity loss will affect us, too.
Maria Neira, director of WHO's Department for the Protection of the Human Environment, summed it up better than we ever could. "Human health is strongly linked to the health of the ecosystems, which meet many of our most critical needs."
We harvest plants from around the world for both modern and alternative medicine. Many of these medicines save lives, and we could lose half of these plants by 2050.
We harvest 200 billion pounds of food from the oceans every single year. Meat from wild animals also helps to sustain people around the world while bolstering their local economy.
Natural wonders like the Great Barrier Reef don't only contribute food to the local populations — they also help maintain Australia’s economy by bringing in tourists and visitors from around the world.
We're not just threatening the health of the planet's ecosystems — we're threatening our own survival. Climate change alone is threatening bees and other migratory pollinators, and if we lose the bees, we lose the majority of our food supply. Bees alone pollinate 70 of the 100 plants that feed more than 90 percent of the world.
If those plants die, so will the animals that feed on them, and on and on up the food chain, until multiple ecosystems around the world collapse. Between that and the constantly growing human population, we can't afford to keep turning a blind eye to biodiversity loss. What can we do to start reversing this damage that we've done to the planet?
