How is biodiversity important for ecosystem functioning?
Solution and Explanation
An ecosystem with high species diversity is much more stable than an ecosystem with low species diversity. Also high biodiversity makes the ecosystem more stable in productivity and more resistant towards disturbances such as alien species invasions and floods.
If an ecosystem is rich in biodiversity then the ecological balance would not get affected. As we all know various trophic levels are connected through food chains. If any one organism or all organisms of any one trophic level is killed then it will disrupt the entire food chain. For example in a food chain if all plants are killed then all deer's will die due to the lack of food. If all deer's are dead soon the tigers will also die. Therefore it can be concluded that if an ecosystem is rich in species then there will be other food alternatives at each trophic level which would not allow any organism to die due to the absence of their food resource.
Hence biodiversity plays an important role in maintaining the health and ecological balance of an ecosystem.
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Concepts Used:
Biodiversity and Conservation
The term ‘biodiversity’ is derived from the two words- ‘bios' which means life and ‘diversity’ i.e, differentiation or variation. Edward Wilson, the sociobiologist was the first to popularise the term ‘biodiversity’ in the year 1992. The term implies the occurrence of various plants and animals along with their variants such as biotypes, ecotypes and genes on earth. In our biosphere, the immense diversity or heterogeneity remains not only at the species level but also, at every level of biological organization that ranges from macromolecules in the cells to biomes.
Biodiversity and Conservation is a topic covered under the fifteenth chapter and Unit 5 of NCERT class 12 biology.