Biodiversity research
The Earth supports an immense wealth of biodiversity: Science is aware of several million living species, but there are many more that have not yet been catalogued.
While considerable publicity is given to conservation efforts focused on large organisms such as birds, mammals and plants, much of the life on Earth is in the form of invertebrates and microbes. Although these are less popular they are no less important and are instrumental components of the Earth’s life support system. The millions of species of all sizes contribute to a complex balance in which biological and geological processes keep the world’s climate within reasonable limits, maintaining conditions in which life can flourish. Humans need biodiversity and benefit from the life functions necessary for agriculture, provision of medicine, industrial materials, leisure and cultural and aesthetic value. The ecological services that natural biodiversity provides includes climatic regulation, sequestration of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, water purification, biological pest and disease control and pollination.
A better understanding of biodiversity helps to focus conservation efforts and policies to allow us to make sustainable use of natural resources, as well as enabling us to address existing environmental problems such as climate change and invasive species.
Further information
- Back to introduction.
- Find out about the pressures on biodiversity.
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Updated: 11 Feb 2010, Content by: CN
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