Loss of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Balance: Major Threats to Biodiversity
Reflective Critical Report
In a one and a half hour PowerPoint lecture titled “Loss of biodiversity and ecosystem balance” by Professor Dale F. Webber the importance of biodiversity in our ecosystem was explained and an even more detailed observation of the major threats to the biodiversity were highlighted. Of the twenty four top causes, climate change, environmental degradation, conservation issues and exploitation of energy reserves were deemed the most contributing.
With the exception of climate change, which occurs regardless of the presence of humans on the earth, all other contributing factors have directly been aided by humans and also by the drive towards industrialization. This essay speaks to the importance of biodiversity particularly that in the Portland Bight and the loss Jamaica would be facing should they proceed with the development of the logistics hub in the area.
Biodiversity or biological diversity is the abundance of various species of animals, fungi and plants (organisms) living in an aquatic, marine or terrestrial ecosystem (habitat) and can be determined within a select habitat, genetically or taxonomically. An area is considered biologically diverse when there are variety of interactions among the different organisms living there. Tropical rainforests have a notably high diversity and are able to support a wide range of invertebrates, birds and mammals. In areas surrounding the equator the largest amount of tropical rainforests are found (UNEP, 2013) and is considered especially diverse as there is a continuous supply of recycling nutrients, variety in primary producers, steady supply of sunlight throughout the year i.e. long growing season and continuous of rainfall. For this reason Latin
America and the Caribbean carries a significant percentage of the world’s ecological variation.
According to UNEP, “the Americas, including large portions of Central and South America as well as the Caribbean contain approximately
In a one and a half hour PowerPoint lecture titled “Loss of biodiversity and ecosystem balance” by Professor Dale F. Webber the importance of biodiversity in our ecosystem was explained and an even more detailed observation of the major threats to the biodiversity were highlighted. Of the twenty four top causes, climate change, environmental degradation, conservation issues and exploitation of energy reserves were deemed the most contributing.
With the exception of climate change, which occurs regardless of the presence of humans on the earth, all other contributing factors have directly been aided by humans and also by the drive towards industrialization. This essay speaks to the importance of biodiversity particularly that in the Portland Bight and the loss Jamaica would be facing should they proceed with the development of the logistics hub in the area.
Biodiversity or biological diversity is the abundance of various species of animals, fungi and plants (organisms) living in an aquatic, marine or terrestrial ecosystem (habitat) and can be determined within a select habitat, genetically or taxonomically. An area is considered biologically diverse when there are variety of interactions among the different organisms living there. Tropical rainforests have a notably high diversity and are able to support a wide range of invertebrates, birds and mammals. In areas surrounding the equator the largest amount of tropical rainforests are found (UNEP, 2013) and is considered especially diverse as there is a continuous supply of recycling nutrients, variety in primary producers, steady supply of sunlight throughout the year i.e. long growing season and continuous of rainfall. For this reason Latin
America and the Caribbean carries a significant percentage of the world’s ecological variation.
According to UNEP, “the Americas, including large portions of Central and South America as well as the Caribbean contain approximately