What is bio-diversity? Why is bio-diversity important for human lives?analyse. 5 marks
The term biodiversity refers to the variety of life on Earth at all its levels, from genes to ecosystems, and the ecological and evolutionary processes that sustain it. Biodiversity includes not only species we consider rare, threatened, or endangered, but every living thing—even organisms we still know little about, such as microbes, fungi, and invertebrates. Biodiversity is important everywhere; species and habitats in your area as well as those in distant lands all play a role in maintaining healthy ecosystems.
We need biodiversity to satisfy basic needs like food, drinking water, fuel, shelter, and medicine. Much of the world's population still uses plants and animals as a primary source of medicine, and in the United States alone, about 57% of the 150 most prescribed drugs have their origins in biodiversity. Ecosystems provide services such as pollination, seed dispersal, climate regulation, water purification, nutrient cycling, and control of agricultural pests. Many flowering plants depend on animals for pollination, and 30% of human crops depend on the free services of pollinators.