Types, role, decline and protection of biological diversity. What is biodiversity - abstract

What is biological diversity?

Conservation of biological diversity is the central task of the biology of wildlife conservation. Biodiversity is defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature (1989) as “the entire diversity of life forms on earth, the millions of species of plants, animals, micro-organisms with their gene sets, and the complex ecosystems that make up wildlife”. Therefore, biodiversity should

considered at three levels. Biological diversity at the species level covers the entire range of species on Earth from bacteria and protozoa to the kingdom of multicellular plants, animals and fungi. On a smaller scale, biological diversity includes the genetic diversity of species, both from geographically distant populations and from individuals within the same population. Biological diversity also includes the diversity of biological communities, species, ecosystems formed by communities and the interactions between these levels.

For the continuous survival of species and natural communities, all levels of biological diversity are necessary, all of which are also important for humans. Species diversity demonstrates the richness of evolutionary and ecological adaptations of species to different environments. Species diversity serves as a source of diverse natural resources for humans. For example, tropical rainforests, with their richest array of species, produce a remarkable variety of plant and animal products that can be used for food, construction, and medicine. Genetic diversity is necessary for any species to maintain reproductive viability, resistance to diseases, and the ability to adapt to changing conditions. The genetic diversity of domestic animals and cultivated plants is especially valuable to those working on breeding programs to maintain and improve modern agricultural species.

Community-level diversity is the collective response of species to different environmental conditions. The biological communities found in deserts, steppes, forests and floodlands maintain the continuity of the normal functioning of the ecosystem by providing “maintenance” to it, for example, through flood control, soil erosion protection, air and water filtration.

What is biological diversity?

Thus, biodiversity should be considered at three levels. Biological diversity at the species level covers the entire range of species on Earth from bacteria and protozoa to the kingdom of multicellular plants, animals and fungi. On a smaller scale, biological diversity includes the genetic diversity of species, both from geographically distant populations and from individuals within the same population. Biological diversity also includes the diversity of biological communities, species, ecosystems formed by communities and the interactions between these levels.

A healthy environment is of great economic, aesthetic and ethical value. Maintaining a healthy environment means keeping all of its components in good condition: ecosystems, communities, species and genetic diversity. Initial small disturbances in each of these components can eventually lead to its complete destruction. At the same time, the communities degrade and shrink spatially, lose their importance in the ecosystem, and eventually finally collapse. But as long as all the original species for the community are preserved, it can still recover. When a species decreases, intraspecific variability decreases, which can lead to such genetic shifts from which the species can no longer recover. Potentially, after timely successful rescue measures, the species can restore its genetic variability through mutations, natural selection and recombinations. But in an endangered species, the uniqueness of the genetic information contained in its DNA and the combinations of traits that it possesses are lost forever. If a species is extinct, then its populations are no longer recoverable; the communities they belonged to are irretrievably impoverished, and the potential value of the species for humans is finally lost.

Although the habitat has not been overtly destroyed or fragmented, the communities that inhabit it can be deeply affected by human activities. External factors that do not change the dominant plant structure of a community can nevertheless lead to disturbances in biological communities and eventual extinction of species, although these disturbances are not immediately noticeable. For example, in temperate deciduous forests, habitat degradation can be caused by frequent uncontrolled lowland fires; these fires do not necessarily destroy mature trees, but gradually impoverish the rich communities of forest herbaceous plants and forest floor insects. Unbeknownst to the public, fishing vessels annually plow about 15 million km2 of the ocean floor with trawls, that is, they destroy an area 150 times larger than the area of forests cut down during the same period. Trawls from fishing boats damage delicate creatures such as anemones and sponges and reduce species diversity, biomass and change community structures.

Environmental pollution is the most universal and insidious form of its destruction. It is most often caused by pesticides, fertilizers and chemicals, industrial and municipal sewage, gas emissions from factories and automobiles, and sediment washed up from hills. Visually, these types of pollution are often not very noticeable, although they occur around us every day in almost every part of the world. The global impact of pollution on water quality, air quality and even the planet's climate is in the spotlight not only because of the threat to biodiversity, but also because of the impact on human health. Although environmental pollution is sometimes very visible and frightening, such as in the case of the massive oil spills and 500 oil well fires that took place during the Gulf War, hidden forms of pollution are the most threatening, mainly because their effect is manifested not right away.

An integrated approach to protecting biodiversity and improving the lives of mankind, implemented through a system of strict rules, rewards and penalties, as well as environmental monitoring, should change the fundamental values of our material society. Environmental ethics, a new and vigorously developing direction in philosophy, reflects the ethical value of the nature of the world. If our society is based on the principles of environmental ethics, then the preservation of the natural environment and the maintenance of biological diversity will become a fundamental and priority direction. natural

the consequences will be: reduced consumption of resources, expansion of protected areas and efforts to limit the growth of the world's population. For thousands of years, many traditional cultures have successfully cohabited with each other thanks to

a social ethic that supports personal responsibility and effective management of resources – and this may become a priority for modern ones.

Several ethical arguments can be advanced in defense of the conservation of all species, regardless of their economic value. The following reasoning is important for conservation biology because it provides a logical defense of rare species and species of no apparent economic value.

Every species has a right to exist . All species represent a unique biological solution to the problem of survival. On this basis, the existence of each species must be guaranteed, regardless of the distribution of this species and its value to humanity. This does not depend on the abundance of the species, on its geographical distribution, whether it is an ancient or recently appeared species, whether it is economically significant or not. All species are part of being and therefore have as many rights to life as humans. Each species is valuable in itself, regardless of human need. In addition to the fact that people do not have the right to destroy species, they must also be responsible for taking measures to prevent the extinction of a species as a result of human activities. This argument anticipates that man will rise above a limited anthropocentric perspective, become part of life and identify with a larger community of life in which we will respect all species and their right to exist.

How is it possible to give the right to exist and legislate to protect species devoid of human consciousness and the concept of morality, right and duty? Further, how can non-animal species such as mosses or fungi have rights when they don't even have a nervous system to perceive their environment appropriately? Many environmental ethicists believe that species have a right to life because they reproduce and continually adapt to changing environments. Premature extinction of species as a result of human activity destroys this natural process and can be considered as “superkilling”, since it kills not only individual representatives, but also future generations of species, limiting the process of evolution and speciation.

All types are interdependent. . Species as parts of natural communities interact in complex ways. The loss of one species can have far-reaching consequences for other species in the community. As a result, other species may become extinct, and the entire community is destabilized as a result of the extinction of groups of species. The Gaia hypothesis is that as we learn more about global processes, we are increasingly discovering that many chemical and physical parameters of the atmosphere, climate and ocean are related to biological processes on the basis of self-regulation. If this is the case, then our instincts for self-preservation should drive us to conserve biodiversity. When the world around us thrives, we thrive. We have an obligation to preserve the system as a whole, since it only survives as a whole. People as diligent hosts are responsible for the Earth. Many followers of religious beliefs consider the destruction of species unacceptable, since they are all creations of God. If God created the world, then the species created by God have value. In accordance with the traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, human responsibility for the protection of animal and plant species is, as it were, an article of a contract with God. Hinduism and Buddhism also strictly demand the preservation of life in the natural environment.

People are responsible to future generations. From a strictly ethical point of view, if we deplete the Earth's natural resources and cause extinction of species, then future generations of people will have to pay the price of a lower level and quality of life. Therefore, modern humanity must use natural resources in a conservation mode, preventing the destruction of species and communities. We can imagine that we are borrowing the Earth from future generations, and when they get it back from us, they should find it in good condition.

Correlation between human interests and biological diversity. It is sometimes believed that concern for the protection of nature frees one from the need to care for human life, but this is not so. Understanding the complexity of human culture and the natural world makes a person respect and protect all life in its many forms. It is also true that people are likely to be better able to protect biodiversity when they have full political rights, secure livelihoods and knowledge of environmental issues. The struggle for social and political progress of a poor and disenfranchised people is comparable in effort to the protection of the environment. For a long time of the formation of man, he followed the natural path of “revealing all forms of life” and “understanding the value of these forms”. This is seen as an extension of the range of moral obligations of the individual:

extension of his personal responsibility to relatives, to his social group, to all mankind, animals, all species, ecosystems and, ultimately, to the whole Earth.

Nature has its own spiritual and aesthetic value that surpasses its economic value. Throughout history it has been noted that religious thinkers, poets, writers, artists and musicians have drawn inspiration from nature. For many people, admiring the pristine wilderness was an important source of inspiration. Merely reading about species or observing in museums, gardens, zoos, films about nature - all this is not enough. Almost everyone gets aesthetic pleasure from wildlife and landscapes. Millions of people enjoy active communication with nature. The loss of biodiversity diminishes that enjoyment. For example, if many whales, wild flowers and butterflies die out in the next few decades, then future generations of artists and children will forever be deprived of enchanting living paintings.

Biodiversity is necessary to determine the origin of life. There are three main mysteries in world science: how life originated, where all the diversity of life on Earth came from, and how humanity evolves. Thousands of biologists are working to solve these problems and have hardly come close to understanding them. For example, taxonomists recently discovered using molecular techniques that a bush from the island of New Caledonia in the Pacific Ocean represents the only surviving species from an ancient genus of flowering plants. However, when such species disappear, important clues to the solution of the main mysteries are lost, and the mystery becomes more and more unsolvable. If humans' closest relatives — chimpanzees, baboons, gorillas and orangutans — disappear, we will lose important clues to understanding human evolution.

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Introduction

The diversity of life has long been a subject of study. The first systems of living nature, known, for example, from the works of Aristotle (384-322 BC), already belong to the analysis of this phenomenon. The scientific and methodological basis for describing biodiversity was created by K. Liney for his "System of Nature". And then there was the accumulation of knowledge.

And in the last decade, the term "biodiversity" has become extraordinarily popular. Since the signing of the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1992 by many states, this word has been constantly heard in government resolutions, documents of state and public organizations, and in the media. Scientific research has proven that a sufficient level of natural diversity on our planet is a necessary condition for the normal functioning of ecosystems and the biosphere as a whole. At present, biological diversity is considered as the main parameter characterizing the state of supraorganismal systems. In a number of countries, it is the characteristic of biological diversity that acts as the basis for the environmental policy of the state, which seeks to preserve its biological resources in order to ensure sustainable economic development.

Biodiversity conservation is discussed at the global, national, and regional levels. However, the meaning of this word is not understood by everyone correctly. Why is biodiversity given such attention, what role does it play in the life of people and the planet, how it changes, what threatens it and what needs to be done to conserve it - my work is devoted to answering these questions.

The aim of the work was to study the methods and assessments of biodiversity

During the work, the following tasks were set:

1) consider the concept of "biodiversity";

2) identify the features of biodiversity;

3) study the methods and assessments of biodiversity.

The object of the study was biological diversity as a variety of natural ecosystems on the globe.

The subject of the study was the current state of biological diversity.

biological environmental policy

Biodiversity

The concept of biodiversity

The phrase "biological diversity", as noted by N.V. Lebedev and D.A. Krivolutsky, was first used by G. Bates in 1892 in the famous work "Naturalist in the Amazon", when he described his impressions of meeting with seven hundred species of butterflies during an hour-long excursion. The term "biodiversity" entered into wide scientific use in 1972 after the UN Stockholm Conference on the Environment, when environmentalists managed to convince the political leaders of the countries of the world community that the protection of wildlife is a priority task for any country.

Biological diversity is the totality of all biological species and biotic communities formed and developing in different habitats (terrestrial, soil, marine, freshwater). This is the basis for maintaining the life-supporting functions of the biosphere and human existence. National and global problems of biodiversity conservation cannot be realized without fundamental research in this area. Russia, with its vast territory, where the main diversity of ecosystems and species diversity of Northern Eurasia is preserved, needs the development of special studies aimed at inventorying, assessing the state of biodiversity, developing a system for monitoring it, as well as developing principles and methods for the conservation of natural biosystems.

According to the definition given by the World Wildlife Fund, biodiversity is "the whole variety of life forms on earth, millions of species of plants, animals, microorganisms with their sets of genes and complex ecosystems that form wildlife." With such a broad understanding of biodiversity, it is advisable to structure it in accordance with the levels of organization of living matter: population, species, community (a set of organisms of one taxonomic group in homogeneous conditions), biocenosis (a set of communities; biocenosis and environmental conditions are an ecosystem), territorial units of a larger rank - landscape, region, biosphere.

The biological diversity of the biosphere includes the diversity of all types of living beings inhabiting the biosphere, the diversity of genes that form the gene pool of any population of each species, as well as the diversity of biosphere ecosystems in various natural zones. The amazing diversity of life on Earth is not just the result of the adaptation of each species to specific environmental conditions, but also the most important mechanism for ensuring the stability of the biosphere. Only a few species in the ecosystem have a significant abundance, high biomass and productivity. Such species are called dominant. Rare or few species have low numbers and biomass. As a rule, dominant species are responsible for the main energy flow and are the main environment-formers that strongly influence the living conditions of other species. Few species constitute, as it were, a reserve, and when various external conditions change, they can become part of the dominant species or take their place. Rare species basically create species diversity. When characterizing diversity, such indicators as species richness and evenness of the distribution of individuals are taken into account. Species richness is expressed as the ratio of the total number of species to the total number of individuals or to a unit area. For example, 100 individuals live in two communities under equal conditions. But in the first, these 100 individuals are distributed among ten species, and in the second, among three species. In the example above, the first community has a richer species diversity than the second. Let us assume that both in the first and in the second community there are 100 individuals and 10 species. But in the first community, individuals are distributed between species by 10 in each, and in the second, one species has 82 individuals, and the rest by 2. As in the first example, the first community will have a greater evenness of the distribution of individuals than the second.

The total number of currently known species is about 2.5 million, and almost 1.5 million of them are insects, another 300 thousand are flowering plants. There are about as many other animals as there are flowering plants. A little more than 30 thousand algae are known, fungi - about 70 thousand, bacteria - less than 6 thousand, viruses - about a thousand. Mammals - no more than 4 thousand, fish - 40 thousand, birds - 8400, amphibians - 4000, reptiles - 8000, mollusks - 130000, protozoa - 36000, various worms - 35000 species.

About 80% of biodiversity is terrestrial species (terrestrial-air and soil life environments) and only 20% are aquatic life environments, which is quite understandable: the diversity of environmental conditions in water bodies is lower than on land. 74% of biological diversity is associated with the tropical belt. 24% - with temperate latitudes and only 2% - with polar regions.

As rainforests disappear catastrophically under pressure from plantations of hevea, bananas and other highly profitable tropical crops, as well as as sources of valuable timber, much of the biodiversity of these ecosystems may die without scientific names. This is a depressing prospect, and so far the efforts of the global environmental community have not yielded any tangible result in the conservation of tropical forests. The lack of complete collections also makes it impossible to reliably judge the number of species living in marine environments, which have become "... a kind of frontier of our knowledge of biological diversity." In recent years, completely new groups of animals have been discovered in marine environments.

To date, the biodiversity of the planet has not been fully identified. According to forecasts, the total number of species of organisms living on Earth is at least 5 million (and according to some forecasts - 15, 30 and even 150 million). The least studied are the following systematic groups: viruses, bacteria, nematodes, crustaceans, unicellular, algae. Mollusks, fungi, arachnids and insects are also insufficiently studied. Only vascular plants, mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians have been well studied.

Microbiologists have been able to identify fewer than 4,000 species of bacteria, but studies on bacterial DNA analysis performed in Norway have shown that more than 4,000 species of bacteria live in 1 gram of soil. The same high diversity of bacteria is predicted in samples of marine bottom sediments. The number of bacterial species that are not described is in the millions.

The number of species of living organisms living in marine environments is far from being completely revealed. "The marine environment has become a kind of frontier of our knowledge of biological diversity." New groups of marine animals of high taxonomic rank are constantly being identified. Communities of organisms unknown to science in recent years have been identified in the canopy of tropical forests (insects), in geothermal oases of the sea depths (bacteria and animals), in the earth's depths (bacteria at a depth of about 3 km).

The number of described species is indicated by the shaded parts of the bars.

The biological diversity of the planet includes the genetic intraspecific, species and diversity of ecosystems. Genetic diversity is due to the diversity of traits and properties in individuals of the same species, an example is the many varieties of herbaceous bluebell - more than 300 species and subspecies of woodpecker - about 210 (Fig. 1).

Fig.1 Genetic diversity of bluebell and woodpecker

Species diversity is the variety of species of animals, plants, fungi, lichens and bacteria. According to the results of research by biologists published in the journal PLoS Biology for 2011, the number of described living organisms on the planet is approximately 1.7 million, and the total number of species is estimated at approximately 8.7 million. It is noted that 86% have yet to be discovered. land dwellers and 91% of ocean dwellers. Biologists estimate that a full description of unknown species will require at least 480 years of enhanced research. Thus, the total number of species on the planet will not be known for a long time. The biological diversity of ecosystems depends on natural and climatic conditions, ecosystems are distinguished by structure and functions, in scale from microbiogeocenosis to the biosphere (Fig. 2).

Fig.2 Biological diversity of natural terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems

Biological diversity is the main natural resource of the planet, which provides an opportunity for sustainable development and is of great ecological, social, aesthetic and economic importance. Our planet can be represented as a complex multicellular organism that, through biological diversity, supports the self-organization of the biosphere, which is expressed in its restoration, resistance to negative natural and anthropogenic influences. Biodiversity allows you to regulate water flows, control erosion, form soils, perform climate-forming functions, and much more.

The genetic intraspecific, species and diversity of ecosystems are interconnected. Genetic diversity ensures species diversity, the diversity of natural ecosystems and landscapes creates conditions for the formation of new species, and an increase in species diversity increases the overall gene pool of the planet's biosphere. Therefore, each specific species contributes to biological diversity and cannot be without (with) beneficial or harmful. Each individual species will perform certain functions in any ecological system, and the loss of any animal or plant leads to an imbalance in the ecosystem. And the more species die out for a non-natural reason, the greater the imbalance. In confirmation of this, we can cite the words of the domestic scientist Nikolai Viktorovich Levashov, that "... the ecological system is nothing more than a balance between all forms and types of living organisms and their habitat ...". One cannot but agree with these words.

The distribution of species over the surface of the planet is uneven, and their biological diversity in natural ecosystems is greatest in tropical rainforests, which occupy 7% of the planet's surface and contain up to 70-80% of all animals and plants known to science. This is not surprising, since tropical forests are rich in plants, providing a huge number of ecological niches and, as a result, high species diversity. At the initial stages of the formation of the ecological system of the planet and up to the present day, a natural process of the emergence and disappearance of species has taken place and is taking place. The extinction of some species was compensated by the emergence of new species. This process was carried out without human intervention for a very long time. This fact is confirmed by the fact that in different geological epochs there was a process of extinction and appearance of species, which we can judge from the found fossils, imprints and traces of life activity (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3 Fossils of ammonites and shells of bivalve mollusks that lived on the planet about 150 million years ago, in the Jurassic period

However, at present, under the influence of human factors, there is a reduction in biological diversity. This became especially noticeable in the 20th century, when, under the influence of human activity, the rate of extinction of species exceeded the natural rate, which led to the destruction of the genetic potential of the biosphere of our planet. The main reasons for the reduction of the biodiversity of the planet can be considered hunting and fishing, forest fires (up to 90% of fires happen due to human fault), destruction and change of habitats (construction of roads, power lines, dishonest construction of residential complexes, deforestation, etc.) , pollution of natural components with chemicals, the introduction of alien species into unusual ecosystems, the selective use of natural resources, the introduction of GMO crops in agriculture (when pollinated by insects, genetically modified plants spread, which leads to the displacement of natural plant species from the ecosystem) and many other reasons . In confirmation of the above reasons, we can cite some facts of violations of natural ecosystems, which, unfortunately, are a huge number. So, on April 20, 2010, the largest man-made disaster occurred in the Gulf of Mexico, caused by an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform at the Macondo field (USA). As a result of this accident, about 5 million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico in 152 days, resulting in an oil slick with a total area of 75 thousand square kilometers (Fig. 4) . This is, according to the most conservative estimates, how much actually spilled out is unknown.

The environmental consequences for the ecosystem of the bay and coastal areas are difficult to assess, since oil pollution disrupts natural processes, changes the habitats of all types of living organisms, and accumulates in biomass. Petroleum products have a long decay period and rather quickly cover the surface of the waters with a layer of oil film, which prevents the access of air and light. As of November 2, 2010, 6814 dead animals were collected as a result of the accident. But these are only the first losses, how many animals and plant organisms have died and will die when toxic substances enter the food chain is unknown. It is also unknown how such a man-made disaster will affect other regions of the planet. The natural ecosystem of the Gulf of Mexico and its coasts is capable of self-restoration, but this process can drag on for many years.

Another reason for the reduction of biological diversity is deforestation for the construction of roads, housing, agricultural land, etc. As a confirming fact, we can cite the construction of a high-speed highway Moscow - St. Petersburg through the Khimki forest. The Khimki forest was the largest undivided natural complex, which was part of the forest-park protective belt of Moscow and the Moscow region, and made it possible to maintain high biological diversity (Fig. 5). In addition, it served as the most important regulator of atmospheric air purity, a recreational natural complex for more than half a million residents of nearby settlements, capable of providing a favorable environment for living.

Fig. 5 Khimki forest before the construction of a high-speed highway

As a result of the construction of the high-speed highway, the Khimki forest park suffered irreparable environmental damage, which is expressed in the destruction of the only corridor that runs along the floodplain of the river. Klyazma and connecting the Khimki forest with neighboring forests (Fig. 6).

Rice. 6 Construction of a high-speed road through the Khimki forest

The migration routes of such animals as elk, wild boar, badger and other organisms have been disrupted, which will eventually lead to their disappearance from the Khimki forest. The construction of the road further led to the fragmentation of the forest, which will further increase the adverse edge effects on natural ecosystems (chemical pollution, the impact of acoustic noise, the collapse of forest walls adjacent to the highway, etc.) (Fig. 7). Unfortunately, there are a huge number of such examples throughout the country and around the world, and all together this causes irreparable environmental damage to biological diversity.

The fact of biodiversity reduction is also confirmed by (c) studies, which can be found in the works and. According to a report by the World Wildlife Fund, the total biodiversity of the planet has declined by approximately 28% since 1970. Considering that a huge number of living organisms have not yet been described and the fact that only known species were taken into account in the assessment of biodiversity, it can be assumed that biodiversity loss is mainly occurring at the regional level. However, if a person continues to develop in a technocratic and consumer way and does not take real actions to change the situation, then there is a real threat to global biodiversity, and, as a result, the possible death of civilization. The decrease in the diversity of life leads to a decrease in the maintenance of the functions of the biosphere in its natural state. Ignorance and denial of the laws of nature often leads to the misconception that the loss of one species of animal or plant in nature is interchangeable. Yes, this is so, if it is caused by the natural course of the evolution of living matter. However, today "intelligent" human activity has begun to predominate. I would like to recall one of the laws of ecology of the American ecologist Barry Commoner: "Everything is connected with everything." The law shows the integrity of the ecological system from the living organisms that form it and the environment. I would like to finish my little reflection with the words of the Bulgarian aphorist Veselin Georgiev: “Take care of nature in yourself, and not yourself in nature.”

It is based on species diversity. It includes millions of species of animals, plants, microorganisms living on our planet. However, biodiversity also covers the entire set of natural ecosystems that are composed of these species. Thus, biodiversity should be understood as the diversity of organisms and their natural combinations. On the basis of biodiversity, the structural and functional organization of the biosphere and its constituent ecosystems is created, which determines their stability and resistance to external influences.

Exist three main types of biodiversity:

genetic, reflecting intraspecific diversity and due to the variability of individuals;
species, reflecting the diversity of living organisms (plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms);
ecosystem diversity, encompassing differences between ecosystem types, habitats and ecological processes. The diversity of ecosystems is noted not only in terms of structural and functional components, but also in terms of scale - from the biocenosis to the biosphere.

All types of biological diversity are interrelated: genetic diversity ensures species diversity; the diversity of ecosystems and landscapes creates conditions for the formation of new species; an increase in species diversity increases the overall genetic potential of living organisms in the biosphere. Each species contributes to diversity, and from this point of view, there are no useless or harmful species.

Convention on Biological Diversity

In accordance with the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity, to which 181 states are parties as of August 14, 2001, their governments have committed themselves to conserve biological diversity, use its components in a sustainable manner and equally share the benefits arising from the use of genetic resources. Despite this, the planet's biodiversity is being irreversibly lost at an alarming rate as a result of large scale deforestation and deforestation; the predatory scale of harvesting plants; indiscriminate use of pesticides and other persistent pesticides; drainage and backfilling of swamps; destruction of coral reefs and mangroves; the use of predatory fishing methods; climate change; water pollution; the transformation of untouched natural areas into agricultural land and urban areas.

In the capital of Malaysia - Kuala Lumpur in February 2004, under the auspices of the UN, the Seventh Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity was held. More than 2 thousand representatives from over 180 countries of the world took part in it. The conference discussed issues of protecting the environment and endangered species, exploring the possibility of creating a special network that would help the population of developing countries protect their heritage.

Director General of the UN Environment Program K. Toepfer stated at the forum that after 2000 about 60,000 biological species disappear annually on the planet, and this number is steadily growing.

Biodiversity characterizes the process of real evolution, which takes place at many levels of organization of the living. According to scientists, the total number of species of living beings is from 5 to 30 million. Of these, no more than 2.0 million are currently described. Thus, since the time of Linnaeus, who tried to create a classification of living organisms, the number of animal and plant species known to science , increased from 11 thousand to 2 million.

Animals are one of the leading components of the Earth's ecological systems. At present, a little more than 1 million species of animals are known (described) to science, which is about half of all that exist on the planet. The main groups of organisms and their abundance (number of species, thousand) are presented as follows:

The biological diversity of species is maximum among insects and higher plants. According to experts, the total number of organisms of all life forms ranges between 10 and 100 million. These millions of species of animals and plants support the conditions necessary for the continuation of life on Earth.

In 1982, the American researcher T. Erwin published an article that caused a heated controversy. He argued that more than 30 million species of arthropods, mostly insects, can live in tropical forests. The basis for such a bold conclusion was his estimate of the number of insect species specifically associated with only one species of trees from the legume family (Luehea seemanni) in the rainforest of Panama. Using insecticide fumigation of tree crowns and collecting all the fallen arthropods on a plastic sheet stretched below, Erwin counted the total number of beetle species (he believed that many of them were unknown to science) and came to the conclusion that the tree serves as a food plant for only 136 of them. Having made a number of assumptions, he calculated that the number of species of all arthropods associated with one type of tree (including those living on earth) reaches 600. Since there are about 50 thousand tree species in the tropics, it is easy to calculate that there were 30 million of them. Thus, with the species already known to science (about 1 million), this amounted to 31 million! Some entomologists were rather skeptical about Erwin's calculations: accepting his logic, one would expect that most insects in the tropics should belong to new species, but in fact they are not so common.

Recently, this hypothesis was tested by the Czech scientist V. Novotny (Institute of Entomology of the Czech Academy of Sciences) together with colleagues from the USA, Panama, Sweden and the Czech Republic.

Surveying a patch of lowland tropical rainforest in New Guinea for several years, scientists collected insects from the leaves of 51 plant species, including 13 species of the genus Ficus and four species of the genus Psychotria. In total, more than 50 thousand insects belonging to 935 species were collected, among which beetles, caterpillars of butterflies (lepidoptera) and orthoptera prevailed. In addition, the researchers grew caterpillars on different plants, trying to bring them to the chrysalis.

An analysis of this extensive material showed that, per one food species, there are 7.9 species of beetles, 13.3 of butterflies, and 2.9 of orthoptera. Thus, the idea of the extreme prevalence of stenophagy in the tropics turns out to be nothing more than a myth. Novotny and his colleagues also calculated how many species of insects could be associated with host plants at the genus level, and then calculated the total number of arthropod species: there were about 4.9 million of them, not 31 million, as Erwin had assumed.

Importance of biodiversity conservation

Biodiversity is the main source of satisfaction for many and serves as the basis for their adaptation to changing environmental conditions. The practical value of biodiversity lies in the fact that it is essentially an inexhaustible source of biological resources. These are, first of all, food products, medicines, sources of raw materials for clothing, production of building materials, etc. Biodiversity is of great importance for the organization of human recreation.

We know very little about the beneficial properties of most organisms. In the asset of mankind, for example, there are only about 150 species of cultivated plants that are widely used, and out of 265 thousand species of all plant organisms, only 5 thousand have ever been cultivated by man. To an even lesser extent, the diversity of microorganisms and fungi is taken into account.

Currently, there are about 65 thousand species of mushrooms. And how many of them does a person use?

Natural vegetation is the main base for obtaining medicines, with the help of which mankind got rid of many diseases. So, for example, if the cinchona tree (Chinchona), which gives quinine, was not found in the selva on the eastern slopes of the Andes, the inhabitants of the tropics, subtropics and many inhabitants of the temperate zones would be doomed to suffer from malaria. The appearance of synthetic analogues of this drug became possible only thanks to a detailed study of the original. Mexican yam, belonging to the genus Dioscorea, is a source of diosgenin, which is used in the production of cortisone and hydrocortisone.

Trying to change natural conditions, man came into conflict with the forces of natural self-regulation. One of the results of this conflict has been the decline in the biological diversity of natural ecosystems. Currently, the number of species on Earth is rapidly decreasing. Up to 10 animal species disappear daily and 1 plant species disappears weekly. The death of one plant species leads to the destruction of about 30 species of small animals (primarily insects and roundworms - nematodes) associated with it in the process of feeding. In the next 20-30 years, humanity may lose about 1 million species. This will be a serious blow to the integrity and stability of our natural environment.

The reduction of biodiversity occupies a special place among the main environmental problems of our time. There is a massive destruction of natural ecosystems and the disappearance of many species of living organisms. Natural ecosystems have been completely changed or destroyed on a fifth of the land. Since 1600, 484 animal species and 654 plant species have been recorded extinct.

Species are distributed unevenly over the surface of the planet. Species diversity in natural habitats is highest in the tropical zone and decreases with increasing latitude. The richest ecosystems in terms of species diversity are tropical rainforests, which occupy about 7% of the planet's surface and contain more than 90% of all species. Coral reefs and Mediterranean ecosystems are also rich in species diversity.

Biodiversity provides genetic resources for agriculture, constitutes the biological basis for world food security and is a necessary condition for the existence of mankind. A number of wild plants related to crops are very important for the economy at the national and global levels. For example, Ethiopian varieties of Californian barley provide protection against disease-causing viruses worth $160 million. USA per year. Genetic disease resistance achieved with wild wheat varieties in Turkey is estimated at $50 million.

There are many reasons for the need to preserve biodiversity: the need for biological resources to meet the needs of mankind (food, materials, medicines, etc.), ethical and aesthetic aspects, etc. However, the main reason is that biodiversity plays a leading role in ensuring the sustainability of ecosystems and the biosphere as a whole (absorption of pollution, stabilization of the climate, provision of conditions suitable for life). Biodiversity performs a regulatory function in the implementation of all biogeochemical, climatic and other processes on Earth. Each species, no matter how insignificant it may seem, makes a certain contribution to ensuring the sustainability of not only its local ecosystem, but also the biosphere as a whole.

As the anthropogenic impact on nature intensifies, leading to the depletion of biological diversity, the study of the organization of specific communities and ecosystems, as well as the analysis of changes in their diversity, becomes an urgent need. In 1992, the UN Conference on Environment and Development was held in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). The Convention on Biological Diversity was signed by representatives of most of the world's states.

In the Convention, "biological diversity" refers to the variability of living organisms from all sources, including terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this concept includes diversity within species, between species, and ecosystem diversity.

The goal of the Convention on Biological Diversity was formulated as follows: "the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the equitable distribution of income from the use of genetic resources."

In addition to the Convention, a Program of Action for the 21st Century was adopted. It recommends directing the activities of mankind primarily to identify the state of biodiversity and potential threats to it in each of the countries that recognize the values proclaimed at this conference.

Today it is obvious that the preservation of the diversity of living organisms and biological systems on Earth is a necessary condition for human survival and the sustainable development of civilization.

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