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Home » Biodiversity (MA) » Level 3 » Question 1

Biodiversity & Human Well-being

1. Biodiversity: What is it, where is it, and why
Level 3 Questions Next Question
is it important?
Level 3: Source
Level 1: Summary Level 2: Details 1.1 What is biodiversity?

1.2 Where is biodiversity?

1. Biodiversity: What is it, where is it, and why is it important? 1.3 What is the link between
biodiversity and ecosystem services?
1.1 What is biodiversity?
1.2 Where is biodiversity? 2. Why is biodiversity loss a concern?

1.2.1 Spatial Patterns of Biodiversity 3. What are the current trends in biodiversity?
1.2.2 Temporal Patterns of Biodiversity 4. What factors lead to biodiversity loss?
1.3 What is the link between biodiversity and ecosystem services?
5. How might biodiversity change in the future
1.3.1 Supporting Services under various plausible scenarios?
1.3.2 Regulating Services
6. What actions can be taken to conserve
biodiversity?

1.1 What is biodiversity? 7. Can the 2010 biodiversity targets be met?

The source document for this Digest states: 8. Conclusion: main findings

Biodiversity is the variability among living organisms from all sources,

including terrestrial, marine, and other aquatic ecosystems and the
Glossary Links About
ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within
species, between species, and of ecosystems.
Biodiversity forms the foundation of the vast array of ecosystem services
that critically contribute to human well-being.
Biodiversity is important in human-managed as well as natural ecosystems.
Decisions humans make that influence biodiversity affect the well-being of
themselves and others.
Biodiversity is the foundation of ecosystem services to which human well-being is
intimately linked. No feature of Earth is more complex, dynamic, and varied than the layer
of living organisms that occupy its surfaces and its seas, and no feature is experiencing
more dramatic change at the hands of humans than this extraordinary, singularly unique
feature of Earth. This layer of living organisms—the biosphere—through the collective
metabolic activities of its innumerable plants, animals, and microbes physically and
chemically unites the atmosphere, geosphere, and hydrosphere into one environmental
system within which millions of species, including humans, have thrived. Breathable air,
potable water, fertile soils, productive lands, bountiful seas, the equitable climate of Earth’s
recent history, and other ecosystem services (see Box 1.1 and Key Question 2) are
manifestations of the workings of life. It follows that large-scale human influences over this
biota have tremendous impacts on human well-being. It also follows that the nature of these
impacts, good or bad, is within the power of humans to influence (CF2). Themes covered
Defining Biodiversity

Biodiversity is defined as “the variability among living organisms from all sources
including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the Publications A-Z
ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species,
between species and of ecosystems.” The importance of this definition is that it draws
attention to the many dimensions of biodiversity. It explicitly recognizes that every biota can
be characterized by its taxonomic, ecological, and genetic diversity and that the way these
dimensions of diversity vary over space and time is a key feature of biodiversity. Thus only
a multidimensional assessment of biodiversity can provide insights into the relationship
between changes in biodiversity and changes in ecosystem functioning and ecosystem
services (CF2).

Biodiversity includes all ecosystems—managed or unmanaged. Sometimes

biodiversity is presumed to be a relevant feature of only unmanaged ecosystems, such as
wildlands, nature preserves, or national parks. This is incorrect. Managed systems—be
they plantations, farms, croplands, aquaculture sites, rangelands, or even urban parks and Get involved!
urban ecosystems—have their own biodiversity. Given that cultivated systems alone now
account for more than 24% of Earth’s terrestrial surface, it is critical that any decision This summary is free and ad-free, as is all
concerning biodiversity or ecosystem services address the maintenance of biodiversity in of our content. You can help us remain free
these largely anthropogenic systems (C26.1). and independant as well as to develop new
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Measuring Biodiversity: Species Richness and Indicators becoming a Patron!

In spite of many tools and data sources, biodiversity remains difficult to quantify
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precisely. But precise answers are seldom needed to devise an effective
understanding of where biodiversity is, how it is changing over space and time, the
drivers responsible for such change, the consequences of such change for
ecosystem services and human well-being, and the response options available.
Ideally, to assess the conditions and trends of biodiversity either globally or sub-globally, it
is necessary to measure the abundance of all organisms over space and time, using
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taxonomy (such as the number of species), functional traits (for example, the ecological
type such as nitrogen-fixing plants like legumes versus non-nitrogen-fixing plants), and the
Hazard, Risk & …
interactions among species that affect their dynamics and function (predation, parasitism,
competition, and facilitation such as pollination, for instance, and how strongly such
interactions affect ecosystems). Even more important would be to estimate turnover of
biodiversity, not just point estimates in space or time. Currently, it is not possible to do this
with much accuracy because the data are lacking. Even for the taxonomic component of
biodiversity, where information is the best, considerable uncertainty remains about the true
extent and changes in taxonomic diversity (C4).
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There are many measures of biodiversity; species richness (the number of species in
a given area) represents a single but important metric that is valuable as the
common currency of the diversity of life—but it must be integrated with other
metrics to fully capture biodiversity. Because the multidimensionality of biodiversity
poses formidable challenges to its measurement, a variety of surrogate or proxy measures
are often used. These include the species richness of specific taxa, the number of distinct
plant functional types (such as grasses, forbs, bushes, or trees), or the diversity of distinct
gene sequences in a sample of microbial DNA taken from the soil. Species- or other taxon-
based measures of biodiversity, however, rarely capture key attributes such as variability,
function, quantity, and distribution—all of which provide insight into the roles of biodiversity.
(See Box 1.2)

Ecological indicators are scientific constructs that use quantitative data to measure
aspects of biodiversity, ecosystem condition, services, or drivers of change, but no
single ecological indicator captures all the dimensions of biodiversity (C2.2.4). (See
Box 1.3) Ecological indicators form a critical component of monitoring, assessment, and
decision-making and are designed to communicate information quickly and easily to policy-
makers. In a similar manner, economic indicators such as GDP are highly influential and
well understood by decision-makers. Some environmental indicators, such as global mean
temperature and atmospheric CO2 concentrations, are becoming widely accepted as
measures of anthropogenic effects on global climate. Ecological indicators are founded on
much the same principles and therefore carry with them similar pros and cons (C2.2.4).
(See Box 1.4)."

Box 1.1 Linkages among Biodiversity, Ecosystem Services, and Human Well-being

Box 1.2: Measuring and Estimating Biodiversity: More than Species Richness

Box 1.3: Ecological Indicators and Biodiversity

Box 1.4: Criteria for Effective Ecological Indicators

Source & ©: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Biodiversity Synthesis (2005),

Chapter 1, p.18

Level 3: Source
Level 1: Summary Level 2: Details

1.2 Where is biodiversity?

1.2.1 Spatial Patterns of Biodiversity
1.2.2 Temporal Patterns of Biodiversity
The source document for this Digest states:

Biodiversity is essentially everywhere, ubiquitous on Earth’s surface and in every

drop of its bodies of water. The virtual omnipresence of life on Earth is seldom
appreciated because most organisms are small (<5 centimeters); their presence is sparse,
ephemeral, or cryptic, or, in the case of microbes, they are invisible to the unaided human
eye (CF2).

Documenting spatial patterns in biodiversity is difficult

because taxonomic, functional, trophic, genetic, and
other dimensions of biodiversity have been relatively
poorly quantified. Even knowledge of taxonomic diversity,
the best known dimension of biodiversity, is incomplete and
strongly biased toward the species level, megafauna, Figure 1.1 Estimates of the proportion

temperate systems, and components used by people. (See of named species

Figure 1.1) This results in significant gaps in knowledge,

especially regarding the status of tropical systems, marine and freshwater biota, plants,
invertebrates, microorganisms, and subterranean biota. For these reasons, estimates of the
total number of species on Earth range from 5 million to 30 million. Irrespective of actual
global species richness, however, it is clear that the 1.7–2 million species that have been
formally identified represent only a small portion of total species richness. More-complete
biotic inventories are badly needed to correct for this deficiency (C4).

Source & ©: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Biodiversity Synthesis (2005),

Chapter 1, p.19

Level 3: Source
Level 1: Summary Level 2: Details

1.2.1 Spatial Patterns of Biodiversity

The source document for this Digest states:

Spatial Patterns of Biodiversity: Hotspots, Biomes,1 Biogeographic Realms,

Ecosystems, and Ecoregions

While the data to hand are often insufficient to provide

accurate pictures of the extent and distribution of all
components of biodiversity, there are, nevertheless,
many patterns and tools that decision-makers can use
to derive useful approximations for both terrestrial and
marine ecosystems. North-temperate regions often have
usable data on spatial distributions of many taxa, and some
Figure 1.3 Map of the different biomes
groups (such as birds, mammals, reptiles, plants,
butterflies, and dragonflies) are reasonably well
documented globally. Biogeographic principles (such as gradients in species richness
associated with latitude, temperature, salinity, and water depth) or the use of indicators can
supplement available biotic inventories. Global and sub-global maps of species richness,
several of which are provided in the MA reports Current State and Trends and Scenarios,
provide valuable pictures of the distribution of biodiversity (C4, S10).

Most macroscopic organisms have small, often clustered geographical ranges,

leading to centers of both high diversity and endemism, frequently concentrated in
isolated or topographically variable regions (islands, mountains, peninsulas). A large
proportion of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity at the species level is concentrated in a
small part of the world, mostly in the tropics. Even among the larger and more mobile
species, such as terrestrial vertebrates, more than one third of all species have ranges of
less than 1,000 square kilometers. In contrast, local and regional diversity of
microorganisms tends to be more similar to large-scale and global diversity because of their
large population size, greater dispersal, larger range sizes, and lower levels of regional
species clustering (C4.2.3).

Biomes and biogeographic realms provide broad

pictures of the distribution of functional diversity.
Functional diversity (the variety of different ecological
functions in a community independent of its taxonomic
diversity) shows patterns of associations (biota typical of
wetlands, forests, grasslands, estuaries, and so forth) with
geography and climate known as biomes (see Figure 1.2),
with ecosystems and ecoregions being smaller divisions
within biomes (see Figure 1.3). These can be used to
Figure 1.2 Species richness in different
provide first-order approximations of both expected
biomes
functional diversity as well as possible changes in the
distribution of these associations should environmental
conditions change.

Source & ©: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Biodiversity Synthesis (2005),

Chapter 1, p.20

Level 3: Source
Level 1: Summary Level 2: Details

1.2.2 Temporal Patterns of Biodiversity

The source document for this Digest states:

Temporal Patterns of Biodiversity: Background Rates of Extinction and Biodiversity

Loss

Knowledge of patterns of biodiversity over time allow for only very approximate
estimates of background rates of extinction or of how fast species have become
extinct over geological time. Except for the last 1,000 years, global biodiversity has been
relatively constant over most of human history, but the history of life is characterized by
considerable change. The estimated magnitude of background rates of extinction is roughly
0.1–1.0 extinctions per million species per year. Most measurements of this rate have come
from assessing the length of species’ lifetimes through the fossil record: these range over
0.5–13 million years, and possibly 0.2–16 million years. These data probably underestimate
background extinction rates because they are necessarily largely derived from taxa that are
abundant and widespread in the fossil record (C4.4.2). Current rates of extinction are
discussed in Key Question 3.

A mismatch exists between the dynamics of changes in natural systems and human
responses to those changes. This mismatch arises from the lags in ecological responses,
the complex feedbacks between socioeconomic and ecological systems, and the difficulty
of predicting thresholds. Multiple impacts (especially the addition of climate change to the
mix of forcing functions) can cause thresholds, or rapid and dramatic changes in ecosystem
function even though the increase in environmental stress has been small and constant
over time. Understanding such thresholds requires having long-term records, but such
records are usually lacking or monitoring has been too infrequent, of the wrong periodicity,
or too localized to provide the necessary data to analyze and predict threshold behavior
(C28, S3.3.1).

Shifts to different regimes may cause rapid substantial changes in biodiversity,

ecosystem services, and human well-being. Regime shifts have been commonly
documented in pelagic systems due to thresholds related to temperature regimes and
overexploitation (C19.2.1, C18). Some regime shifts are essentially irreversible, such as
coral reef ecosystems that undergo sudden shifts from coral-dominated to algal-dominated
reefs (C19.5). The trigger for such phase shifts usually includes increased nutrient inputs
leading to eutrophic conditions and removal of herbivorous fishes that maintain the balance
between corals and algae. Once the thresholds (both an upper and a lower threshold) for
the two ecological processes of nutrient loading and herbivory are passed, the phase shift
occurs quickly (within months), and the resulting ecosystem—though stable—is less
productive and less diverse. Consequently, human well-being is affected not only by
reductions in food supply and decreased income from reef-related industries (diving and
snorkeling, aquarium fish collecting, and so on), but also by increased costs due to
diminished ability of reefs to protect shorelines. (Algal reefs are more prone to being broken
up in storm events, leading to shoreline erosion and seawater breaches of land) (C19.3).
Such phase shifts have been documented in Jamaica, elsewhere in the Caribbean, and in
Indo-Pacific reefs (C19, S3.3.1).

Introduced invasive species can act as a trigger for dramatic changes in ecosystem
structure, function, and delivery of services. For example, the introduction of the
carnivorous ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi (a jellyfish-like animal) in the Black Sea caused
the loss of 26 major fisheries species and has been implicated (along with other factors) in
the subsequent growth of the oxygen-deprived “dead” zone (C19.2.1).

Source & ©: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Biodiversity Synthesis (2005),

Chapter 1, p.21

Level 3: Source
Level 1: Summary Level 2: Details

1.3 What is the link between biodiversity and ecosystem services?

1.3.1 Supporting Services
1.3.2 Regulating Services
The source document for this Digest states:

Biodiversity plays an important role in ecosystem functions that provide supporting,

provisioning, regulating, and cultural services. These services are essential for human
well-being. However, at present there are few studies that link changes in biodiversity with
changes in ecosystem functioning to changes in human well-being. Protecting the Catskill
watersheds that provide drinking water for New York City is one case where safeguarding
ecosystem services paid a dividend of several billion dollars. Further work that
demonstrates the links between biodiversity, regulating and supporting services, and
human well-being is needed to show this vital but often unappreciated value of biodiversity
(C4, C7, C11).

Species composition matters as much or more than species richness when it comes
to ecosystem services. Ecosystem functioning, and hence ecosystem services, at any
given moment in time is strongly influenced by the ecological characteristics of the most
abundant species, not by the number of species. The relative importance of a species to
ecosystem functioning is determined by its traits and its relative abundance. For example,
the traits of the dominant or most abundant plant species—such as how long they live, how
big they are, how fast they assimilate carbon and nutrients, how decomposable their leaves
are, or how dense their wood is—are usually the key species drivers of an ecosystem’s
processing of matter and energy. Thus conserving or restoring the composition of biological
communities, rather than simply maximizing species numbers, is critical to maintaining
ecosystem services (C11.2.1, C11.3).

Local or functional extinction, or the reduction of populations to the point that they
no longer contribute to ecosystem functioning, can have dramatic impacts on
ecosystem services. Local extinctions (the loss of a species from a local area) and
functional extinctions (the reduction of a species such that it no longer plays a significant
role in ecosystem function) have received little attention compared with global extinctions
(loss of all individuals of a species from its entire range). Loss of ecosystem functions, and
the services derived from them, however, occurs long before global extinction. Often, when
the functioning of a local ecosystem has been pushed beyond a certain limit by direct or
indirect biodiversity alterations, the ecosystem-service losses may persist for a very long
time (C11).

Changes in biotic interactions among species—predation, parasitism, competition,

and facilitation—can lead to disproportionately large, irreversible, and often negative
alterations of ecosystem processes. In addition to direct interactions, such as predation,
parasitism, or facilitation, the maintenance of ecosystem processes depends on indirect
interactions as well, such as a predator preying on a dominant competitor such that the
dominant is suppressed, which permits subordinate species to coexist. Interactions with
important consequences for ecosystem services include pollination; links between plants
and soil communities, including mycorrhizal fungi and nitrogen-fixing microorganisms; links
between plants and herbivores and seed dispersers; interactions involving organisms that
modify habitat conditions (beavers that build ponds, for instance, or tussock grasses that
increase fire frequency); and indirect interactions involving more than two species (such as
top predators, parasites, or pathogens that control herbivores and thus avoid overgrazing of
plants or algal communities) (C11.3.2).

Many changes in ecosystem services are brought about by the removal or

introduction of organisms in ecosystems that disrupt biotic interactions or
ecosystem processes. Because the network of interactions among species and the
network of linkages among ecosystem processes are complex, the impacts of either the
removal of existing species or the introduction of new species are difficult to anticipate
(C11). (See Table 1.1)

Table 1.1: Ecological Surprises Caused by Complex Interactions

As in terrestrial and aquatic communities, the loss of individual species involved in

key interactions in marine ecosystems can also influence ecosystem processes and
the provisioning of ecological services. For example, coral reefs and the ecosystem
services they provide are directly dependent on the maintenance of some key interactions
between animals and algae. As one of the most species-rich communities on Earth, coral
reefs are responsible for maintaining a vast storehouse of genetic and biological diversity.
Substantial ecosystem services are provided by coral reefs—such as habitat construction,
nurseries, and spawning grounds for fish; nutrient cycling and carbon and nitrogen fixing in
nutrient-poor environments; and wave buffering and sediment stabilization. The total
economic value of reefs and associated services is estimated as hundreds of millions of
dollars. Yet all coral reefs are dependent on a single key biotic interaction: symbiosis with
algae. The dramatic effects of climate change and variability (such as El Niño oscillations)
on coral reefs are mediated by the disruption of this symbiosis (C11.4.2)."

Source & ©: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Biodiversity Synthesis (2005),

Chapter 1, p.22

Level 3: Source
Level 1: Summary Level 2: Details

1.3.1 Supporting Services

The source document for this Digest states:

Biodiversity affects key ecosystem processes in

terrestrial ecosystems such as biomass production,
nutrient and water cycling, and soil formation and
retention—all of which govern and ensure supporting
services (high certainty). The relationship between
biodiversity and supporting ecosystem services depends on
composition, relative abundance, functional diversity, and,
to a lesser extent, taxonomic diversity. If multiple
dimensions of biodiversity are driven to very low levels,
especially trophic or functional diversity within an
ecosystem, both the level and stability (for instance,
Figure 1.4 Biodiversity and ecosystem
biological insurance) of supportive services may decrease
services
(CF2, C11). (See Figure 1.4)

Region-to-region differences in ecosystem processes are driven mostly by climate,

resource availability, disturbance, and other extrinsic factors and not by differences
in species richness (high certainty). In natural ecosystems, the effects of abiotic and land
use drivers on ecosystem services are usually more important than changes in species
richness. Plant productivity, nutrient retention, and resistance to invasions and diseases
sometimes grow with increasing species numbers in experimental ecosystems that have
been reduced to low levels of biodiversity. In natural ecosystems, however, these direct
effects of increasing species richness are usually overridden by the effects of climate,
resource availability, or disturbance regime (C11.3).

Even if losses of biodiversity have small short-term impacts on ecosystem function,

such losses may reduce the capacity of ecosystems for adjustment to changing
environments (that is, ecosystem stability or resilience, resistance, and biological
insurance) (high certainty). The loss of multiple components of biodiversity, especially
functional and ecosystem diversity at the landscape level, will lead to lowered ecosystem
stability (high certainty). Although the stability of an ecosystem depends to a large extent on
the characteristics of the dominant species (such as life span, growth rate, or regeneration
strategy), less abundant species also contribute to the long-term preservation of ecosystem
functioning. There is evidence that a large number of resident species, including those that
are rare, may act as “insurance” that buffers ecosystem processes in the face of changes in
the physical and biological environment (such as changes in precipitation, temperature,
pathogens) (C11.3.2). As tragically illustrated by social conflict and humanitarian crisis over
droughts, floods, and other ecosystem collapses, stability of ecosystems underpins most
components of human well-being, including health, security, satisfactory social relations,
and freedom of choice and action (C6; see also Key Question 2).

Source & ©: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Biodiversity Synthesis (2005),

Chapter 1, p.21

Level 3: Source
Level 1: Summary Level 2: Details

1.3.2 Regulating Services

The source document for this Digest states:

Invasion resistance

The preservation of the number, types, and relative abundance of resident species
can enhance invasion resistance in a wide range of natural and semi-natural
ecosystems (medium certainty). Although areas of high species richness (such as
biodiversity hot spots) are more susceptible to invasion than species-poor areas, within a
given habitat the preservation of its natural species pool appears to increase its resistance
to invasions by non-native species. This is also supported by evidence from several marine
ecosystems, where decreases in the richness of native taxa were correlated with increased
survival and percent cover of invading species (C11.3.1, C11.4.1).

Pollination

Pollination is essential for the provision of plant-derived ecosystem services, yet

there have been worldwide declines in pollinator diversity (medium certainty). Many
fruits and vegetables require pollinators, thus pollination services are critical to the
production of a considerable portion of the vitamins and minerals in the human diet.
Although there is no assessment at the continental level, documented declines in more-
restricted geographical areas include mammals (lemurs and bats, for example) and birds
(hummingbirds and sunbirds, for instance), bumblebees in Britain and Germany,
honeybees in the United States and some European countries, and butterflies in Europe.
The causes of these declines are multiple, but habitat destruction and the use of pesticide
are especially important. Estimates of the global annual monetary value of pollination vary
widely, but they are in the order of hundreds of billions of dollars (C11.3.2, Box C11.2).

Climate regulation

Biodiversity influences climate at local, regional, and global scales, thus changes in
land use and land cover that affect biodiversity can affect climate. The important
components of biodiversity include plant functional diversity and the type and distribution of
habitats across landscapes. These influence the capacity of terrestrial ecosystems to
sequester carbon, albedo (proportion of incoming radiation from the Sun that is reflected by
the land surface back to space), evapotranspiration, temperature, and fire regime—all of
which influence climate, especially at the landscape, ecosystem, or biome levels. For
example, forests have higher evapotranspiration than other ecosystems, such as
grasslands, because of their deeper roots and greater leaf area. Thus forests have a net
moistening effect on the atmosphere and become a moisture source for downwind
ecosystems. In the Amazon, for example, 60% of precipitation comes from water transpired
by upwind ecosystems (C11.3.3).

In addition to biodiversity within habitats, the diversity of habitats in a landscape

exerts additional impacts on climate across multiple scales. Landscape-level patches
(>10 kilometers in diameter) that have lower albedo and higher surface temperature than
neighboring patches create cells of rising warm air above the patch (convection). This air is
replaced by cooler moister air that flows laterally from adjacent patches (advection).
Climate models suggest that these landscape-level effects can substantially modify local-to-
regional climate. In Western Australia, for example, the replacement of native heath
vegetation by wheatlands increased regional albedo. As a result, air tended to rise over the
dark (more solar-absorptive and therefore warmer) heathland, drawing moist air from the
wheatlands to the heathlands. The net effect was a 10% increase in precipitation over
heathlands and a 30% decrease in precipitation over croplands (C11.3.3).

Some components of biodiversity affect carbon sequestration and thus are

important in carbon-based climate change mitigation when afforestation,
reforestation, reduced deforestation, and biofuel plantations are involved (high
certainty). Biodiversity affects carbon sequestration primarily through its effects on species
characteristics, which determine how much carbon is taken up from the atmosphere
(assimilation) and how much is released into it (decomposition, combustion). Particularly
important are how fast plants can grow, which governs carbon inputs, and woodiness,
which enhances carbon sequestration because woody plants tend to contain more carbon,
live longer, and decompose more slowly than smaller herbaceous plants. Plant species also
strongly influence carbon loss via decomposition and their effects on disturbance. Plant
traits also influence the probability of disturbances such as fire, windthrow, and human
harvest, which temporarily change forests from accumulating carbon to releasing it
(C11.3.3).

The major importance of marine biodiversity in climate regulation appears to be via

its effect on biogeochemical cycling and carbon sequestration. The ocean, through its
sheer volume and links to the terrestrial biosphere, plays a huge role in cycling of almost
every material involved in biotic processes. Of these, the anthropogenic effects on carbon
and nitrogen cycling are especially prominent. Biodiversity influences the effectiveness of
the biological pump that moves carbon from the surface ocean and sequesters it in deep
waters and sediments. Some of the carbon that is absorbed by marine photosynthesis and
transferred through food webs to grazers sinks to the deep ocean as fecal pellets and dead
cells. The efficiency of this trophic transfer and therefore the extent of carbon sequestration
is sensitive to the species richness and composition of the plankton community (C11.4.3).

Pest, disease, and pollution control

The maintenance of natural pest control services, which benefits food security, rural
household incomes, and national incomes of many countries, is strongly dependent
on biodiversity. Yields of desired products from agroecosystems may be reduced by
attacks of animal herbivores and microbial pathogens, above and below ground, and by
competition with weeds. Increasing associated biodiversity with low-diversity
agroecosystems, however, can enhance biological control and reduce the dependency and
costs associated with biocides. Moreover, high-biodiversity agriculture has cultural and
aesthetic value and can reduce many of the externalized costs of irrigation, fertilizer,
pesticide, and herbicide inputs associated with monoculture agriculture (C11.3.4, Boxes
C11.3 and C11.4).

The marine microbial community provides critical detoxification services, but how
biodiversity influences them is not well understood. There is very little information on
how many species are necessary to provide detoxification services, but these services may
critically depend on one or a few species. Some marine organisms provide the ecosystem
service of filtering water and reducing effects of eutrophication. For example, American
oysters in Chesapeake Bay were once abundant but have sharply declined—and with
them, their filtering ecosystem services. Areas like the Chesapeake might have much
clearer water if large populations of filtering oysters could be reintroduced. Some marine
microbes can degrade toxic hydrocarbons, such as those in an oil spill, into carbon and
water, using a process that requires oxygen. Thus this service is threatened by nutrient
pollution, which generates oxygen deprivation (C11.4.4).

Source & ©: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Biodiversity Synthesis (2005),

Chapter 1, p.25

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