The Importance Of Biodiversity 775 Words | 4 Pages. Life in our seas produces a third of the oxygen that we breathe, offers a valuable source of protein and moderates global climatic change. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are essential to conserve the biodiversity of the oceans and to maintain productivity, especially of fish stocks. Biodiversity is important for human wellbeing since mankind, being part of the ecosystem depends on the biodiversity in it … Conservation is effort to create natural type of Ocean habitats back again. This is … This variance is underpinned by genetic diversity, which encodes the functional attributes, distribution and adaptability of species. Marine Biodiversity is not just important at a very local level. Only articles contributing to scientific progress in the field of marine biodiversity research can be considered for publication. Biodiversity is important, more than just the 'I want my children to enjoy it' reason. It is the number of different species of plants, animals, and microorganisms. This is because biodiversity is good at packaging nutrients, energy, matter and information, and transferring it between compartments. This means we value biodiversity both for what it provides to humans, and for the value it has in its own right. The journal is a relaunch of the well-known Senckenbergiana maritima" and covers research at gene, species and ecosystem level that focuses on describing the actors (genes and species), the patterns (gradients and distributions) and … It provides us with nourishment, housing, fuel, clothing and several other resources. . This can be done by recycling & storage of nutrients, controlling pollution, & stabilizing climate. SAVING THE OCEAN GENOME: Marine life is incredibly diverse, resulting in an abundance of genetic diversity that dwarfs the biodiversity found terrestrially. Marine culture can define and cement group identity, providing an important place attachment that can contribute to marine protection (Berkes et al. [4] Marine organisms contribute to many critical processes that have direct and indirect effects on the health of the oceans and humans. We also need to protect our water resources, protecting soil & maintaining eco-balance. Biologists estimate that species extinctions are currently 500–1000 times the normal, or background, rate seen previously in Earth’s history. The Importance of Sharks . Biodiversity is the amount of variety of life on Earth. The oceans cover 70% of the planet’s surface area, and marine and coastal environments contain diverse habitats that support an abundance of marine life. Marine biodiversity plays a key role through ecosystem services (provisioning and regulation, amongst others). Biodiversity includes social benefits too that is recreation & tourism, cultural value & education & research. By Cristiana Paşca Palmer. A growing body of research demonstrates that maintaining coastal and marine biodiversity is critical for sustained human and ecosystem health in a globally changing environment. Marine biodiversity of the United States (U.S.) is extensively documented, but data assembled by the United States National Committee for the Census of Marine Life demonstrate that even the most complete taxonomic inventories are based on records scattered in space and time. Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA) are 'sites contributing significantly to the global persistence of biodiversity’, in terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems. Mangrove forests were once generally dismissed as swampy wastelands. © Tittensor et al., Nature (2010). Marine life, or sea life or ocean life, is the plants, animals and other organisms that live in the salt water of the sea or ocean, or the brackish water of coastal estuaries.At a fundamental level, marine life affects the nature of the planet. 2. Nutrition and biodiversity are linked at many levels: the ecosystem, with food production as an ecosystem service; the species in the ecosystem and the genetic diversity w… Marine biodiversity is crucial to sustaining commercial fisheries, and in recent years several major U.S. fisheries have “collapsed”- experienced a population decline so sharp that fishing is no longer commercially viable. Utilitarian values include the many basic needs humans obtain from biodiversity such as food, fuel, shelter, and medicine. Functions of Coral Reefs: Coral reefs are important for many different reasons aside from supposedly containing the most diverse ecosystems on the planet. As apex predators, sharks play an important role in the ecosystem by maintaining the species below them in the food chain and serving as an indicator for ocean health. It includes organisms from Earth’s vastly different ecosystems, including deserts, rainforests, coral reefs, grasslands, tundra, and polar ice caps. In a landmark study published in … Why is Marine biodiversity important. They help remove the weak and the sick as well as keeping the balance with competitors helping to ensure species diversity. A common measure of this variety, called species richness, is the count of species in an area. Submitted manuscripts are first checked for English language, ethical issues, and plagiarism. We value biodiversity for many reasons, some utilitarian, some intrinsic. Biodiversity is also considered by many to have intrinsic value—that is, each species has a value and a right to exist, whether or not it is known to have value to humans. Map of marine biodiversity. Biodiversity plays a crucial role in human nutrition through its influence on world food production, as it ensures the sustainable productivity of soils and provides the genetic resources for all crops, livestock, and marine species harvested for food. They: protect coastlines from the damaging effects of wave action and tropical storms; provide habitats and shelter for many marine organisms Loss of biodiversity eventually threatens other species we do not impact directly because of their interconnectedness; as species disappear from an ecosystem other species are threatened by the changes in available resources. Why is marine biodiversity important? The Global Standard for the Identification of Key Biodiversity Areas (IUCN 2016) sets out globally agreed criteria for the identification of KBAs worldwide. Biodiversity is important to most aspects of our lives. What is Marine and Coastal Biodiversity? Biological diversity, or biodiversity, represents the variety of life on Earth, encompassing variation at all levels, from genes to species to ecosystems. The natural disaster prevention mechanisms in most ecosystems and other free services we all get from the surrounding environment are not easily replaceable or replicable, so maintaining biodiversity is important. It explicitly recognizes that every biota can be characterized by its taxonomic, ecological, and genetic diversity and that the way the… Access to a sufficiency of a nutritious variety of food is a fundamental determinant of health. Planners, scientists, and coastal dwellers have now come to value them as the remarkably diverse and important ecosystems they are. We are supporting biodiversity by: 1. hosting a workshop (1-3 April 2020, Edinburgh) for subnational governments in partnership with the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)(more information can be found at www.biodiversityworkshop2020.scot) 2. progressing the targets set out in the Scottish biodiversity strategy 3. promoting the sustainable management and protection of soils 4. preserving the Natura 2000network of Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) and Special Protection Areas (SPA) 5. pres… Biodiversity, also called biological diversity, the variety of life found in a place on Earth or, often, the total variety of life on Earth. In the Ecosystem. Biodiversity is important for maintaining an important balance of the ecosystem. High species diversity is important for the processes and functions of all ecosystems, whether terrestrial or marine, mountain top or deep sea trench. It is important to maintain high level of biodiversity in order to ensure the smooth functioning of the environment and for the survival of mankind. The importance of this definition is that it draws attention to the many dimensions of biodiversity. Importance of Biodiversity. Approximately 12% of the land area is protected, compared to roughly 1% of the world ocean and adjacent seas. What is obvious is that there are specific species and functional groups that play critical roles in important ecosystem processes, and the loss of these species may have significant influences on the whole ecosystem. Biodiversity is a variety of the same genes within a plant or animal species, or the variety of species among plants and animals exhibiting their richness in a particular ecosystem. 2006; Charles & Wilson 2009). It also extracts monetary benefits through tourism. 'Important Coastal and Marine Biodiversity Areas (ICMBA)' for their better management, in addition to the existing Marine Pr otected Areas. Oceans are seriously under-protected: just over 1% of the ocean surface is designated as protected areas, compared to nearly 15% of protected-area coverage on land. The easiest and possibly most important way to get involved is to get interested and conserve marine biodiversity where you live. Biodiversity and cultural diversity are closely linked (Dunn 2008; Pretty et al. It comprises millions of species of which the great majority remains undescribed. Biodiversity is defined as the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems. 5(a) Importance of Coral Reefs. Biodiversity is an essential part of the solution to climate change. For example, the richness of diversity allows medicines and foods to be naturally available. Biodiversity holds ecological and economic significance. However, with the growing air, water and land pollution on our planet it is becoming difficult to maintain biodiversity. However, such a development makes the degradation of natural resources increasingly fast, making it imperative and necessary to establish conservation-oriented guidelines, since biodiversity is of the utmost importance for the functioning of the ecosystem. Our coasts provide space to live and directly and indirectly create wealth, including millions of jobs in industries such as fishing, aquaculture and tourism. The best-known taxa are those of commercial importance. Body size is directly correlated with knowledge of a … It is important to conserve it on a global scale. 5.3 Importance of Biodiversity The Biodiversity Crisis. Protect habitats. 1. Marine Biodiversity is a peer-reviewed international journal devoted to all aspects of biodiversity research on marine ecosystems. The current high rates will cause a precipitous decline in the biodiversity of the planet in the next century or two. World Heritage marine sites represent in surface area one third of all marine protected areas. Biodiversity is important to humans for many reasons. The study of marine biodiversity is timely and fundamental for a number of reasons (CBD, Global Biodiversity Outlook 3, 2010). 2009), and the loss of one threatens the other (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005). call Development. In no other realm is the importance of biodiversity for sustainable development more essential than in the ocean. The seas provide a unique set of goods and services to society, including moderation of climate, processing of waste and toxicants, provision of vital food, medicines and employment for significant numbers of people. 2, with significant implications for marine biodiversity. The potential relevance and importance of the data and conclusions of the work should be highlighted in the manuscript.