Biodiversity plays an important role in maintaining ecosystems, creating economic value, and as a basis for scientific research. The loss of biodiversity poses a major threat to humanity and the Earth’s ecosystems, and efforts to conserve it are urgently needed.
The term biodiversity was originally used to describe the variety of species of organisms living in an area, but today it has expanded to include not only the diversity of species, but also the genetic diversity of each species and the diversity of the ecosystems in which they live. This expansion is not just in an academic sense, but is also deeply connected to the many benefits that biodiversity brings to humanity and nature. In particular, the value of biodiversity has been recognized in recent years for its ability to sustain ecosystems and bring many benefits to humanity.
The most basic value of biodiversity is its ecological service function. Organisms have been called the engineers of ecosystems, and they have great power to regulate and maintain their environment. Take forests, for example. Trees provide cool shade, and their roots draw water up from the ground, providing the right conditions for a wide variety of species to live. When forests are lost, their ability to allocate water decreases, causing flooding during the rainy season and complete drying out of the soil during the dry season. This drastically changes the habitat for living things, and eventually leads to the loss of many species. The trees, water, and soil that make up a forest, and the diverse life forms that live there, form an organic relationship with each other, playing a vital role in regulating and maintaining the environment of the ecosystem.
Biodiversity is also of great economic value. A prime example is the development of medicines. Humans have used around 20,000 species of plants in nature for medicinal purposes, and when you consider that only about 100 of them have been commercially extracted for their specific medicinal properties, the potential value of the entire plant kingdom is staggering. The value of biodiversity is further underscored by research showing that anti-cancer compounds can be extracted from the wings of monarch butterflies and the legs of stag beetles. Animals and microorganisms also bring enormous economic benefits, as evidenced by the fact that nearly 3,000 antibiotics, including penicillin and mycin, have been extracted from wild microbes. In addition to the development of medicines, biodiversity is also used to develop products such as cosmetics, and contributes to added value through ecotourism.
Biodiversity is also of great academic importance. For example, Charles Robert Darwin traced the evolution of the sophisticated and complex human eye by comparing the different eyes of extant animals. According to him, the human eye evolved from primitive light-sensing cells found in jellyfish. Initially, like starfish, they used a primitive concave shape that allowed them to detect the direction of light, then evolved into an early lens-shaped eye that increased their capacity and sensitivity to light, and finally into the current sharp-image-providing eye. As this example shows, every species has unique morphological characteristics that provide important information for tracing the evolution of life. In addition to morphological traits, comparative studies of the unique physiological and genetic characteristics of each species can provide a deeper understanding of life. This accumulated information is the basis for the rapidly growing field of life sciences.
In this way, humans have benefited from biodiversity for countless ecological and economic reasons and laid the foundation for scientific progress. It is concerning to note that biodiversity has been declining significantly in recent years due to rapid climate change, industrialization, and urbanization. The loss of biodiversity does not just mean the loss of species, but the resulting disruption of ecosystem functions and the sustainability of humanity. Therefore, ecosystem conservation measures to curb it are urgently needed. At the same time, research institutions for biodiversity conservation should be established and specialized personnel should be trained. This will help us better understand the value of biodiversity and contribute to preserving healthy ecosystems for future generations.
