Biodiversity is the variety of life. It can be studied on a high level by looking at all the different species on Earth, or it can be studied in an area as small as a pond. It is extremely important to the Earth, and every living thing on it. Biodiversity can make ecosystems more productive where each species, no matter how small they may be, has an important role to play. In these healthy ecosystems, every life form is sustainable. In other words, every species will be able to use resources available to them, survive, and reproduce while still being kept in check. These type of diverse ecosystems can also withstand and recover from a wide range of disasters much faster than an ecosystem without any biodiversity. This may not seem important, but that is only because most people are unaware of the benefits and necessities that come from these type of diverse ecosystems. They also don’t realize how many consequences will arise if we lose this biodiversity in ecosystems because of deforestation.
The loss of biodiversity is mainly caused by humans. The human race is continuing to grow at a rapid speed, and we need new shelters for the growing population. We do this by cutting down swaths of forests at a time, and using the resources provided to create our houses. And as we destroy, reduce, and isolate habitats to make our own homes and other things we may need, the chances for interaction between species decreases dramatically. When this happens, biodiversity is lost. Every species needs a variety of genes to ensure that they will survive, so when people cut down forests, restrict species to only certain areas, and destroy their habitat, their chances of interaction drop. This is very harmful to the animals that live in the forests. Because they will have no genetic variety in their population, it would be very easy for them to die off. This could happen because of disease, lack of food and resources, or lack of shelter and habitat. Species could also go extinct because of hunting or poaching. About 80% of the world’s known species can be found in tropical rainforests, which are some of the forests most vulnerable to deforestation. When species in these areas lose their homes, they often cannot exist in the small fragments of land left behind. They become easier to find for hunters and poachers, and their numbers begin to dwindle, with some species even going extinct.
When species are killed off because of deforestation, people feel the effects as well. Biodiversity helps us out every day without many people realizing it. A diverse ecosystem provides people with many natural services, but as we are cutting down forests on a larger and larger scale, we are losing those services. For example, they provide pollution breakdown and absorption, they contribute to climate stability, and give us future resources for us to use. Because of deforestation, we are losing this biodiversity and the helping hand that it gives us.
There will always be people that say the loss of biodiversity isn’t that big of a problem. Some people may even say that biodiversity hasn’t even been lost yet. But unfortunately, it has, and soon we may begin to feel the effects of it. According to scientists, the loss of species that we are seeing today is somewhere in between 1,000 to 10,000 times the natural extinction rate, which means approximately 0.01-0.1% out of all of the species on Earth are going extinct every year. People would be right in saying that this is not a large number. But it really would have a very big impact over time. For example, if we assume that there are 100 million species on the Earth, then every year that would be 10,000 to 100,000 species disappearing every year. And yes, it is true that there are more factors contributing to the decrease in biodiversity and extinction than just deforestation. But that does not mean that deforestation isn’t very impactful on biodiversity. Almost an acre of rainforest is being cut down every second, and nearly 80,000 acres are being destroyed every day. According to scientists, the Amazon rainforest could be gone in around ten years because of deforestation. The Earth’s biodiversity would take a massive hit if this happened. It would be almost completely destroyed because of deforestation, and without it the entire web of life, including us humans, would collapse.
