Biodiversity Conservation Valuing Biodiversity Services
Biodiversity Conservation Valuing Biodiversity Services
Biodiversity can be a complicated issue. The seeming complexity can be furthered by oversimplification leading to misunderstanding at one point, and the exaggeration of the complexity at another. Nowhere is this more evident than in biodiversity conservation and the valuation of biodiversity services.
Conserving biodiversity services
What are we conserving? Biodiversity services, that is, natural biodiversity services as opposed to human efforts to control the environment, are the services that nature in a given location supplies to itself. Included are such things as pollination, soil replacement, self fertilization, microbial activities for self composting, planting, and the self production of self sustaining fungal activities to name only a few. These activities themselves are dependent on the continued biodiversity of a given region. They are self sustaining only as long as each element in the environment remains intact, and productive.
Placing value on biodiversity services
Much has been written on the valuation of biodiversity services, that is, putting a price on the services that nature provides in sustaining itself, and the value it provides with regard to the effect of it’s continuation, or loss on the lives and productivity of human beings.
Following are a few of the elements that should be considered in this valuation:
Food production benefits of biodiversity conservation
As an example, consider that new crops for food production are being discovered on a fairly regular basis, and this needs to continue in order to meet growing global demands for food, and changing global climatic conditions. As weather conditions change, crop viability changes as well, longer winters mean shorter growing seasons, requiring food crops which can be grown and harvested within those limitations.
Biomedical benefits of biodiversity conservation
Other considerations are such things as biomedical research. How do we place a specific value on a thousand acres of pristine forest with regard to the potential discovery of new material of value to human beings as it relates to human health, or discoveries of value to industry? This also reaches into the area of human health on other levels. A decrease in the numbers and varieties of available species to host a pathogen, may cause the pathogen to mutate in order to survive in another species, and a decrease in biodiversity may mean a decrease in the predators available to destroy disease carrying insects and vermin.
Pest Control benefits of biodiversity conservation
Preserving species has a direct impact on insect populations. It has been determined that 99% of crop destroying, and disease carrying insects can be controlled by natural predations, with such normal biological controls as birds and bats. This service, that nature provides free of charge, can be adversely altered by severe changes in a regions biodiversity.
Shade and evapotranspiration to preserves local climates through water cycling.
The earths vegetation uses vast amounts of water, which are then transpired through foliage, and evaporate back into the atmosphere. This not only purifies the water, and cools the region, it also has an effect on regional weather patterns, some of which are needed for the local environments continued health and production.
Water and air filtration.
We all know that plants “breathe” carbon dioxide, and “exhale” oxygen and water. Vegetation is our most efficient air scrubber, cleansing the air that is needed to support animal life, and storing away carbon.
Breaking down of waste and production of soil nutrients
The necessary ingredients for breaking down plant and animal wastes exist in abundance in nature, and are needed for continued soil nutrient production, as well as soil stability.
Erosion control
The control of erosion on the planet is largely a function of plant life. Both the tops and the roots of vegetation prevent water from washing soil away. The quantity of rainfall on the earth each year is so high, that it could completely cover the worlds entire landmass. Regional vegetation is the most efficient control for the erosion that this huge quantity of water would otherwise cause.
Crop and forest pollination
Both the pollen that is needed for pollinating crops and forests, and the creatures needed for performing the pollination are produced as a result of biodiversity. This process is necessary for the sustainability of crops and continuation of of the process. When invasive vegetation destroys the biodiversity of a region, the native pollinators may decide to leave the region to seek more appropriate vegetation.
Replanting and plant migration
The diffusion of a plant species from an area of greater concentration, where it has less chance of getting the sunlight needed to grow to maturity, to an area of lesser concentration, where it can become established, to a great extent depends on the diverse animal life present. Mammals and birds in particular, help to spread seed to new locations. If the area lacks the diversity needed to maintain such species, they will move on. This, then leaves the plant species with little means of locomotion aside from wind and water.
Biodiversity conservation for natural beauty
This is one of the truly undervalued aspects of the service that nature provides. It may be a little ethereal, but it is important psychologically. Imagine a world without it!
Sustaining sustainability
The primary concern should be the continuation of these services, without which all other potential gains are lost.
Biodiversity conservation for advancing science.
There are more reasons for preserving regional biodiversity than for discovering new medications and food crops. Even on this account, there is more than what we can glean at the present. Looking into the future, and the way that various localized species interact and evolve in a given set of parameters such as physical location, and micro climates, has much to offer. The current tools for scientific investigation, are themselves evolving, and as they evolve, supplying a consistent, purely native setting to study is very important.
In our quest for new and practical genetic material of interest, we need to remember the fact that if these areas do not remain stable in their biodiversity, future benefits will be lost. After all, what good would further advances in scientific methods do, if there were nothing left to study?
- From a practical stand point, what we must do, is identify the problems. In our ecosystem in the Southern United States, that will be invasive exotic species.
- We must Isolate the problem to prevent any further spread.
- We must eradicate the problem using the most effective means, with the least impact to the rest of the habitat.
- We must prevent future infestations.
See also: Biodiversity Services Financing Biodiversity
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