BRAINCAKEThe Importance of Biodiversity
Biodiversity matters for several connected reasons. The detailed ethical and economic arguments are covered in later lessons; this lesson gives the overview.
1. Ecosystem stability. In a diverse ecosystem, each species interacts with many others through food webs, pollination and nutrient cycling. If one species declines, others can take over its role, so the ecosystem is more stable and recovers better from disturbance such as disease, drought or climate change. A community with few species is more easily disrupted. For example, a large monoculture crop can be wiped out by a single pest or disease.
Sign in free to see the rest of this lesson, the R.E.C.I.P.E. recall steps and the quiz
BrainCake is free. Make an account in seconds and pick up where this page stops.
Key terms in this lesson
- ecosystem services
- The benefits that people obtain from ecosystems, such as food, clean water, pollination and climate regulation.
More in Biodiversity
- Biodiversity
- Species Richness
- Endemic Species
- Species Abundance
- Index of Diversity
- Biodiversity of Different Habitats
- Changing Biodiversity
- Allele Frequency
All 22 lessons in Biodiversity · All Edexcel AS-level Biology topics