Why is biodiversity important?
What does biodiversity mean?
Biodiversity comes from two words BIOlogical DIVERSITY and means the variety of life on earth.
Biodiversity = all living things on earth
Because biodiversity is one word to describe all of the plants and animals living on earth (which is a lot!) we can talk about biodiversity at different levels.
For example you might talk about Ireland’s biodiversity which would mean all the plants and animals that live in Ireland.
Or you might talk about woodland biodiversity which would be all the plants and animals living in a woodland.
Or you could even talk about the biodiversity of one type of animal or species, for example we could look at the diversity of frog species
Habitats
When you start to think about all the different animals and plants on earth, you might realise that they all live in specific places. For example, a squirrel lives in a woodland, while a fish lives in a river, and a camel lives in the desert.
The environment where a plant or animal lives is called a habitat, so a squirrel lives in a woodland habitat, a fish lives in a river habitat, and a camel lives in a desert habitat. Animals and plants often have special adaptations to help them to live in their particular habitats, like the shape of a fish allows it to move through water easily.
Do you remember what type of habitat the Freshwater Pearl Mussel lives in?
Lets have a look at some different habitats and where you might find them!
(Click on the habitat to learn more about it)
Desert habitat
Coral Reef habitat
Rainforest habitat
Rocky shore habitat
Raised Bog habitat
Savanna habitat
Ocean habitat
Mangrove habitat
Desert habitat
Desert habitats occur in dry areas that don't get much rain. You won't find any desert habitats in Ireland! Deserts can occur in warm or cold places and the animals and plants that live there are adapted to cope with very dry conditions.
Coral Reef habitat
Coral reef habitats usually occur in warm tropical waters. They are made up of a variety of coral species and all the other species, like fish, anemones, starfish, seahorses that live in or around the reef.
Rainforest habitat
Rainforest habitats are forest habitats that are found in warm places. They are densely vegetated and have a variety of animals. These habitats get a lot of rainfall each year to help all the plants grow!
Rocky shore habitat
The rocky shore habitat occurs along coastlines that have hard rocks. The rocky shore can either be covered by seawater all the time covered and uncovered by the tide (intertidal). The plants and animals that live here need to be able to cope with being under water and in the open air during different parts of the day and also being hit by waves.
Raised Bog habitat
Raised bogs are a type of wetland. The plants and animals that live here are adapted to live in wet, nutrient poor conditions. Deep layers of peat build up in raised bogs over time. The peat acts like a time capsule and preserves things like tools, seeds, plant remains, and even bog bodies!
Savanna habitat
A savanna is a type of grassland that occurs in warm areas that get a lot of rain in the summer months. You find both tress and grasses in a savanna, but the trees never form a closed canopy like in a woodland or rainforest habitat. That means that the animals that live in these open savanna habitats need to be aware of predators to protect themselves.
Ocean habitat
The ocean is comprised of saltwater and can vary from being shallow to deep. The animals that live in this habitat must be able to cope with living underwater and living in salty conditions.
Mangrove habitat
Mangroves occur in tropical tidal zones. The roots of the trees that make up the mangrove are submerged in water. These trees are specially adapted to cope with being submerged in salty water and release salt through their leaves!
Can you think of other examples of habitats and the animals and plants that live in them?
Why is biodiversity important?
To understand why biodiversity is important, first we need to learn a little bit about ecosystems.
We use the word ecosystem to describe all of the plants and and animals that interact with each other within a habitat. An ecosystem doesn’t just include the living things in the habitat it also includes non-living things like sand, water, and rocks.
All of the different plants and animals in an ecosystem do different things and each one is very important. All of the different parts of the system depend on each other.
For example, in a woodland ecosystem squirrels interact with oak trees by collecting acorns and storing them for food. The squirrel gets food and maybe even shelter from the oak tree and the squirrel helps new oak trees to survive by spreading acorns (oak tree seeds) throughout the woods.
Healthy ecosystems have high levels of biodiversity (lots of different plants and animals in the ecosystem).
What role do you think the Freshwater Pearl Mussel plays in the eocsystem?
Can you think of other animals or plants that rely on the Freshwater Pearl Mussel?
What do you think might happen to the ecosystem if Freshwater Pearl Mussels disappeared?
Healthy ecosystems are important for the plants and animals that live in them, but are also very important for humans!
This is because healthy ecosystems produce many things that humans use every day and rely on to live happy healthy lives.
Here are some examples:
Plants produce oxygen which we use to breathe
Earthworms help to create healthy soils which we use to grow food
The wood from trees can be used for buildings, making paper, or to produce heat by burning
Pollinators help plants produce food
Reeds clean pollutants out of the water that we drink
Many plants produce food which we eat
Spending time in nature helps us to stay healthy and feel good
These things that are provided to us by ecosystems are called ecosystem services.
Can you think of any other examples of ecosystem services?
Which ecosystem services does the Freshwater Pearl Mussel help to provide?
These ecosystem services are really important. Imagine if we didn't have soil to grow food or clean oceans to catch fish and swim in!!!
To make sure these services are provided to us in the future we need to help protect healthy ecosystems.
One simple way of doing this is to help to protect or conserve biodiversity!
Biodiversity and the Pearl Mussel Project
In the Pearl Mussel Project we are focused on helping one particular species, the Freshwater Pearl Mussel (you can learn all about it by clicking on the story map below)
The Freshwater Pearl Mussel lives in freshwater habitats (rivers, streams, and some lakes).
They are very sensitive to pollution and you will only find them in places with very clean water.
Because the Freshwater Pearl Mussel needs a really healthy environment to be able to survive we call it an 'Umbrella species".
This means that by helping to protect this species, you are also creating good environmental conditions for all the other species living in the same habitat (its like they are all protected under one umbrella).
So for example, even though we are focused on helping to make sure the environment is suitable for pearl mussels, by doing this we are also helping salmon, trout, mayflies, river plants, herons, kingfishers, and even humans!
Freshwater Pearl Mussels are endangered, so it is very important to try and protect them.
By conserving Freshwater Pearl Mussels we are helping to protect our biodiversity and making sure that all of the ecosystem services that we rely on Freshwater Pearl Mussel for are provided in the future.
The Pearl Mussel Project is helping to protect our river habitats and farmland habitats in eight areas in Ireland.
You can learn all about how the Pearl Mussel Project works and how we help to protect biodiversity in our next story map!
How can I help to protect biodiversity?
There are lots of easy things that you can do to help protect and increase biodiversity in your local area and even in other parts of the world too!
Here are some examples:
You could plant native wildflowers in your garden, or install a bee/insect hotel to help pollinators
You could make sure your family only buys peat free compost to help protect our wetlands, or even better, make your own compost from food waste at home
You could make sure that your family only puts on the dishwasher or washing machine when it is full to help conserve water
You could put up bird boxes or bat boxes in your local area to provide extra habitat for birds and bats
You could plant native trees in your garden or local area (you could even collect acorns and holly seeds in the autumn, plant them in pots, and watch them grow into trees the next spring)
You could make sure your family recycles as much as possible. For example recycling paper helps to reduce the amount of trees that are cut down to make paper
