Eli5 : Why is biodiversity important ?
In: Biology
1) Heritage argument – we owe it to our descendants to preserve nature for them to experience. We can also consider ourselves to be a part of the earth’s ecosystem and have some obligation (as the dominant species) to protect and preserve it as good stewards.
2) Complexity and tipping point – The ecosystem is very complex and interrelated. We don’t fully understand the factors that control it. The fear is that there might be a tipping point, beyond which if we lose biodiversity, it sets off a large and potentially uncontrollable decline in the entire ecosystem. For example; your body can tolerate and fight off some germs, but at some point, your immune system is overwhelmed and you get sick. We don’t precisely KNOW when this threshold is reached so it is best not to venture there.
3) Knowledge argument. There is much that humans can and have learnt from nature. Humans learn by observing and the loss of biodiversity gives us less opportunity to study and understand more about the nature of the universe. There is still a lot that we can learn from nature (for example how could alien life develop, or how could we colonize a nearby planet, new medicines, new construction methods etc).
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