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Biodiversity

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Biodiversity
Rachel Newell
Walter Zeller
International Relations
November 18,2013
Loss of Biodiversity

David Ehrenfeld says in his book Biodiversity “The value of biological diversity tells us a great deal about why biological diversity is in trouble”(212). People tend to over look the importance of biodiversity. Without it we would lose a lot of the resources that we use for important and everyday things. One example is that a lot of medicines come from plants, and the more plants we have on the planet, the greater chance we have for find cures to diseases. Having a greater diversity of plants and animals provides us with a variety of foods, and most importantly, Biodiversity shows the beauty of life, and should be shared with generations to come. Biodiversity has always changed. Since the beginning of time the way the earth and the creatures that inhabit it live together has been in constant motion. In each different time period there have been new and different difficulties for animals and plants to survive, many species learn to adapt to the weather and climate change or even to the destruction of their environment, but many die out because they cannot adapt fast enough with the changing and growing atmosphere they live in. Some species, such as crocodilians have been around since the time of the dinosaurs. They learned to change with the different environments and adapt to different living situations. The shark has also been around for a while and has lived through many different time periods. Its basic function has been the same but the size color and markings have changed to adapt to new food and dangers.
When you walk outside and look around, you will see green grass and birds flying around. You might hear the birds singing their songs while the bugs buzz around you, and you may even see worms moving through the soil. All of these things are a part of an ecosystem. An ecosystem is a community of living organisms, such as plants and animals, in conjunction



Cited: Allan, Eric, Wolfgang Weisser, Markus Fischer, Ernst-Detkef Schulze, Alexandra Weigelt, Christiane Roscher, Jussi Baade, Romain Barnard, Holger Beßler, Nina Buchmann, Anne Ebeling, Nico Eisenhauer, Christof Engels, Alexander Fergus, Gerd Gleixner, Marlen Gubsch, Stefan Halle, Alexandra Klein, Ilona Kertscher, and Annely Kuu. "A Comparison of the Strength of Biodiversity Effects across Multiple Functions." Oecologia 173.1 (2013): 223-37. Web. . Berwick, Mayor Mike. National Local Government Biodiversity Strategy. Sydney: n.p., 1998. Print.http://www.cbd.int/doc/nbsap/sbsap/au-sbsap-strategy-en.pdf "Biodiversity Protection." - Ontario Government, Ministry of Natural Resources. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. . Ehrenfeld, David. "Chapter 24." Biodiversity. N.p.: National Academies, 1988. 212+. Print. "The Loss of Biodiversity from Human Activity." The Loss of Biodiversity from Human Activity. Wheeling Jesuit University / Center for Educational Technologies, 2013. Web. 19 Oct. 2013. . Lutz, David A., Rebecca L. Powell, and Miles R. Silman. "Four Decades of Andean Timberline Migration and Implications for Biodiversity Loss with Climate Change." PLoS ONE. 8.9 (2013): 1-9. Web. . Wilkinson, Jessica B. "Preserving Biodiversity." Issues in S and T, Spring 1999, The State Role in Biodiversity Conservation. University of Texas, 2007. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. .

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