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Biodiversity:
Who cares?
Adapted from a presentation from the University of Florida
Which do you like better?
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Which do you like better?
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Which do you like better?
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Which do you like better?
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Which do you like better?
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Which do you like better?
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Which do you like better?
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What do you think biodiversity
means?
Biodiversity
What does “Bio” mean?
Bio =
Biodiversity
What does “Diversity” mean?
Diversity = Variety
Biodiversity is the variety of life on
Earth and the essential
interdependence of all living things
• Scientists have identified more than 2 million species. Tens
of millions -- remain unknown
•The tremendous variety of life on Earth is made possible by
complex interactions among all living things including
microscopic species like bacteria, algae and mites.
There are 3 components of
biodiversity
1.
Diversity of genes
Chihuahuas, beagles, and rottweilers are all dogs—but
they're not the same because their genes are different.
Chihuahua
Beagle
Rottweilers
There are 3 components of
biodiversity
2. Diversity of species
For example, squirrels, spiders, and
dandelions are all different species.
Squirrels
Spider
Dandelion
There are 3 components of
biodiversity
Variety of ecosystems
The tundra, rain forest and wetland are examples of
ecosystems. Each one is different, with its own set of
species living in it.
Labrador tundra
Manitoba wetland
BC Rain Forest
Canada’s biodiversity
There are many different ecosystems in
Canada – that fit into what are called
ecozones
Ecozones are just big areas that are often
divided by mountains, big lakes or very
different vegetation
Ecozones stretch from the arctic in the North
to the mixed wood plains in Southern
Ontario.
And from the Pacific Maritime ecozone to
the Atlantic Maritime ecozone.
Which is more diverse?
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Which is more diverse?
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Which is more diverse?
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Which is more diverse?
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Which has more cultural
diversity?
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Which has more biodiversity?
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Which has more biodiversity?
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So why care about biodiversity?
Well? It has value.
What value?
The value of biodiversity
1. Value just for being there – value in itself.
2. Value for something else – to produce goods
(e.g. forests), services (clean water).
What do we get from
biodiversity?
Oxygen
Food
Clean Water
Medicine
Aesthetics
Ideas
Should we be concerned about
biodiversity?
What we know:
The Earth is losing species at an alarming rate

Some scientists estimate that as many as 3 species per
hour are going extinct and 20,000 extinctions occur each
year.

when species of plants and animals go extinct, many
other species are affected.
Threats to biodiversity
Habitat destruction
Pollution
Species Introductions
Global Climate Change
Exploitation
Ecosystem Species Richness
Species losses from different biomes
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the variety of living things in an
ecosystem.
Monoculture
An environment with very low biodiversity (e.g.
a cornfield) is a monoculture.
The Risk of a Monocultures
Monocultures are very vulnerable to ecological
collapse: when all living things in an
ecosystem die.
Resilience
An ecosystem with high biodiversity is resilient:
it can recover from changes.
If most of the squirrels are
removed from the food
web (e.g. by disease), the
predators still have other
prey and the producers
still have other herbivores
eating them.