Brief Introduction & The Definition and Importance of Biodiversity

Hey there, I’m Wes Pew, a graduate student in Natural Resources at Virginia Tech. I have a background in a few different areas of biology, so that is the perspective I have in mind here. This blog is for my Biodiversity Stewardship Course, and I will be using the Saunders Woods Preserve as a focal point of my studies. I have very limited experience with blogs so excuse the bare bones structure, but hopefully both you and I will learn some new things through this experience.

To define biodiversity in a couple sentences, here is my two-part definition: 

(1) (noun) Biodiversity is a measure of species richness in a given area or ecosystem. (2) (noun) It can also be used as a word to collectively address/describe all organisms in an area or ecosystem. 

To provide examples for each usage: 

1. This forest has high biodiversity, or in other words high number of different species present. 
2. The biodiversity in this area depends on high amounts of rain.

Biodiversity is an important part of almost every ecosystem, as well as at a larger scale, for a few reasons. Evolutionarily, biodiversity is important because if one species dies out, then there are others that can potentially help to fill the ecological role/niche that the extinct species occupied. For example, if a certain type of pollinator like a bee went extinct, having high biodiversity in an ecosystem would be beneficial because other species of pollinators would still be pollinating flowers. Alternatively, if there were not a high level of biodiversity, then pollination would be impacted which could lead to less reproduction of vegetation. Another example would be if the climate changes in one way or another (more rain, less rain, hotter, colder, etc.). Having a high biodiversity would be beneficial because there would be a higher chance that more species survive this change, as opposed to widespread extinction. Or if an invasive species finds its way into an area where it decimates a certain plant or tree, having biodiversity will not destroy the whole local ecosystem. This benefit of diversity is similar to that of genetic diversity within a species for the same reasons: greater chance of survival. This is similar to bet hedging or the saying 'don't put all your eggs in one basket'. The more bets you place, the greater chance one hits, or in this case, the greater chance a species survives a change in their environment. Furthermore, higher biodiversity creates more ecological niches, which allows for more biodiversity somewhat of a positive feedback loop. More ecological niches and biodiversity mean a healthier and more productive ecosystem. If you're wondering why thats beneficial, healthy ecosystems provide benefits to those around them. These ecosystem services better air quality via oxygen production and carbon sequestration, more efficient nutrient and water cycles for nutrient rich soil for growing crops or other plants and improved water filtration, climate regulation. A healthy ecosystem also provides non tangible, 'cultural' benefits, such as providing people a place to immerse themselves in nature which has shown to be a therapeutic and much needed experience for many throughout human history. So the bottom line is that biodiversity makes an ecosystem healthier and more resilient, which allows nature's organisms to thrive as well as humans to reap the benefits.

Hamecha-Daniels, N. (n.d.). Importance of Biodiversity [Infographic]. Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.ru/pin/572942383831311316/