6.13 - Maintaining Biodiversity

Conservation programmes

• When humans damage an ecosystem, biodiversity falls - but the trend can be reversed by reducing harmful practices or by protecting species and habitats so they recover.
• Conservation programmes are set up by scientists, governments, and concerned citizens to do this.

Breeding programmes

• Often set up for endangered species - those at high risk of extinction.
• Animals are bred in captivity (e.g. in zoos), where numbers can be built up safely with less infant mortality than in the wild.
• Individuals can later be reintroduced to the wild to boost an existing population or start a new one.
• This only works long term if the natural habitat is also safe.

Protecting and regenerating habitats

• Rare habitats worth protecting include mangroves, heathland, coral reefs, and wetlands.
• Protected areas - Creating national parks, nature reserves, and Sites of Special Scientific Interest, where building and farming are restricted.
• Managing habitats - For example, controlling water levels to conserve wetlands, and coppicing to conserve woodland.

Other conservation methods

• Seed banks - Store the seeds of rare and endangered plants, preserving their genetic diversity for the future.
• Controlling non-native species - The introduction of harmful non-native species can be controlled to protect native wildlife.
• Educating people - Teaching people about the value of biodiversity and how their choices affect it; public understanding and support make the other measures possible.

Conservation in farming and by law

Conservation can be built into farming, and supported by laws, international agreements, and ecotourism.

Conservation on farmland

• Field margins - Narrow strips around fields where wild flowers and grasses are left to grow. They provide habitats and food for a wider range of species than a single crop allows.
• Hedgerows - Also provide habitats and food for more species than a single crop.
• Governments encourage these methods, sometimes by paying farmers a subsidy.

Laws and international agreements

• Governments set quotas on deforestation and carbon dioxide emissions.
• The CITES agreement restricts trade in endangered species.
• Individuals can reduce waste sent to landfill by recycling.

Ecotourism

• Ecotourism is tourism focused on appreciating and conserving nature.
• It brings money into biodiverse areas and helps fund conservation work.

Why maintaining biodiversity is difficult

• Biodiversity is the variety of living species, and maintaining it on both a local and global scale brings real benefits - but it also brings challenges.
• Conservation is difficult because these benefits and challenges compete against each other, so the actions that would protect biodiversity are often harder to carry out than they first appear.

Benefits of maintaining biodiversity

• More stable ecosystems - A greater variety of species makes ecosystems less dependent on any single species
• Protected food chains - The loss of one species affects everything that feeds on it or is eaten by it
• Future resources - Safeguards resources such as medicines that may come from as-yet-undiscovered species
• Human food supply - Supports our food supply, for example by protecting fish stocks for future generations

Challenges of maintaining biodiversity

• Cost - Conservation costs money, and governments, companies, and individuals often choose to spend their limited resources elsewhere, sometimes because they overlook how much they benefit from high biodiversity
• Standard of living - Maintaining a high standard of living can damage the environment anyway - growing enough food needs fertilisers and pesticides, and obtaining metals for technology needs mining
• Conflict with livelihoods - Conservation can conflict with the needs of local people, who may rely on the environment for their livelihoods