Importance of biodiversity - Global and India

Biodiversity is the variety of life on Earth — the number of different species of flora, fauna and micro-organisms that between them inhabit every kind of ecosystem, from rainforests and coral reefs to grasslands, deserts, tundra and the polar ice caps — and this variety is essential to the wellbeing of the planet and the sustenance of life as a whole. The chapter measures and views its importance under three headings: (a) ecosystem services, (b) biological resources, and (c) social benefits of biodiversity. Concretely, biodiversity underpins the continuity of nutrient or biogeochemical cycles (nitrogen, carbon, water, phosphorus, sulphur); soil formation and the maintenance of soil fertility through microbial diversity working alongside different trophic levels; higher ecosystem productivity and food-resource supply; water trapping, filtering and flow regulation through forest cover and vegetation; climate stability, since forests regulate rainfall, temperature and CO2 absorption; sustainable forest-resource management; balance between biotic components; the clean-up of pollutants, since microbes are the biggest degraders of both natural and anthropogenic molecules in effluents, sewage, garbage and agro-chemicals; ecological stability, since species variety and richness directly contribute to a system's stability and survival; a reservoir of biological resources — food, gene pools, genetic resources, medicinal compounds and bio-prospecting opportunities; unique aesthetic and ecotourism value with real commercial significance; and, through the presence or absence of endemic species, a working indicator of overall ecosystem health. The interdependence this creates is illu …