Year of Science Question of the Month: How Do You Think Biodiversity Affects You?
Posted on September 2nd, 2009 - 3:00 PMTweet
For each month in 2009, the Year of Science — we will pose a question related to science. Please let us know your thoughts as comments, and feel free to respond to earlier comments, or post new ideas.
The Year of Science theme for September is Biodiversity and Conservation. Biodiversity is a catch-all term that refers to the variety of life at all levels, from the range of genes within in a breeding population (more genetic diversity helps to prevent inbreeding problems), to how many different species there are, all the way to the variety of different ecosystems. EPA scientists are exploring how biodiversity is linked to human health and well being.
How do you think biodiversity affects you?
Tags: biodiversity, conservation, Science Wednesday, Year of Science
| Permalink | TrackBack
Subscribe to this blog's feed
Follow us on Twitter
Question of the Week
September 3rd, 2009 at 1:05 am
Biodiversity means to me all the multiplicity of life forms that exist from microscopic organisms on up. These life forms are what makes the earth a healthy place for people to live. Eliminating organisms can have a huge impact on the entire ecosystem. I live in Mission Viejo in California, and we have the Oso Creek running by my condo building and the Oso Creek Trail starts just across Marguerite Parkway from the complex. I see a huge variety of wildlife. Coyoties, bobcats, squirals, gophers, jack rabbets, box turtles, salamanders, lizzards of different kinds,, California Knat Catchers, Scrub Jays, great herrins, snowy herrins, doves, ravens, mallards, Egyption Geese, kingfishers, vultures, great horned owls, and etc. Each organism is important and each has its place. Best wishes, Michael E. Bailey.
[Reply]
September 3rd, 2009 at 1:54 pm
As Michael E. Bailey so eloquently describes, biodiversity means a living biosphere, but as population and commercial traffic grow and expand, millions of species are driven toward extinction and the air, water and soil contaminated. When will it end, when ecocide kills us all, or when population growth and economic greed are stopped?
[Reply]
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Biodiversity is affecting me, in the most philosophic way by bringing me to perpetual auto-analyze on different aspect of Earth evolution.
The most important one is human.
Back to my childhood, one day I was observing in my back yard, micro-bioorganic species evolution in a couple days creating by the Sun attraction on water and …in my back yard.
Biodiversity is one of the areas which, allow us to better understand our past, present and
[Reply]
September 4th, 2009 at 9:57 am
I see biodiversity as a safety net. The more diverse our plants and animals are, the more of a safety net we have for maintaining an ecosystem. Biodiversity allows a system to adjust to changes without completely crashing. The Dust Bowl is a good example of an ecosystem completely crashing. Having a variety of grasses, for example, keeps the plains and the topsoil intact, which impacts life at many levels. And if a disease strikes one type of grass, there are likely to be other types of grass that are resistant to disease and keep the ecosystem going. It is all about balance.
[Reply]