Biodiversity

Although we know how important biodiversity is, human activity has been making animals very scarce. Extinction rates are 1,000 times higher than normal, and will continue to rise to 10,000 in the next century. Every species in the races of amphibians. birds, mammals, reptiles, corals, and fish are all near threatened. Amphibians are especially endangered with population, equivalant to so to speak: "Canaries in a coal mine".Not only this, our climate change could wipe out 20% lizards species on the planet by the year of 2080. That's a lot considering how many lizards are out there. This accounts for sea life as well. A good example is the Japanese killing whales for "research". Because of this "research", thousands of whales have died. Not only this, but human activity has increased the amount of dead zones* in the ocean. This really has an effect on the species that live there, not giving them enough nutrients and depleting oxygen in the ocean (yes there is oxygen in the ocean).Now people have been thinking about biodiversity, debating whether it would be important enough to save, or should we stuff under the rug and pretend it's not there. Now, both view want the environment to stay alive, but for different purposes. The first side being the ones trying to stop extinction and use it for benefits like medicines and food. The other side is looking at it like a bank. Since resources come from the environment, resources=the most powerful word in the English language: money. Although being put against the argument of civilizations destroying other civilizations, these greenbacks use nature as a cash register. Our future potential for biodiversity, but scientists are using it as a way to save nature. Important ecosystems need the help of plants and animals to stay alive. If those abiotic factors are gone, the ecosystem wouldn't last.But, scientists have decided to test these plants for important nutrients. This created the magic of medicine, giving us extremely good health care. But, if biodiversity is destroyed, our ability to use medicine would go dry, unable to help the sick. An example that scientists found was that about 50,00 cone snail toxins have been shown to create powerful drugs (the good kind). Biomedicines have been growing at an extraordinary pace, and the ecosystem is to thank. But if biodiversity is taken away, there won't be any medicine to use.

*Dead zones are hypoxic (low-oxygen) areas in the world's oceans, the observed incidences of which have been increasing since oceanographers began noting them in the 1970s. These occur near inhabited coastlines, where aquatic life is most concentrated. (The vast middle portions of the oceans which naturally have little life are not considered "dead zones".) The term can also be applied to the identical phenomenon in large lakes.