Biodiversity Conservation Efforts

 

 

Earth is home to thousands of types of living things of all sizes, habitats and needs. In just one area, for example, there are many living things that live, ranging from humans, animals, insects, fungi, to unicellular organisms. All these variations of life forms are called biodiversity.

 

Biodiversity is used to measure the health of biological systems. This means that the more diverse organisms found, the healthier the system will be. The living things we see today, such as birds, cats, dogs, and chickens, are the result of 3.5 billion years of organic evolution. The number of species currently known ranges from 1.7 to 1.8 million species.

 

A wide variety of organisms can be found in all types of habitats, from mountains, forests, oceans, lakes, to deserts. Biodiversity also occurs at the molecular level due to the different types of proteins and carbohydrates found in organisms.

 

Another term for this variety of life forms is also called biodiversity. Biodiversity refers to the whole or the total variation of life which includes the shape, number and other characteristics found at the level of genes, species and ecosystems.

 

To maintain ecosystem balance, biodiversity needs to be maintained. Unfortunately, many human activities have actually damaged it. Human activities that do not think about long-term effects often victimize animals and plants. This is important because in ecosystems, organisms depend on each other to survive, so that an imbalance of one species can have a domino effect for other organisms. If this is allowed, it can lead to rarity and extinction of certain species.

 

Some activities that can damage biodiversity are habitat destruction, for example coral reefs. Coral reefs are both a home and a source of food for several types of fish, so if coral reefs are damaged, they can affect the number of fish that can survive in these habitats. Therefore, efforts are needed to preserve it.

 

Preserving Biodiversity

 

There are several ways that humans can do to conserve biodiversity, including 

1.  Reforestation

Reforestation is the replanting of forest that has been cut down. Reforestation is useful for improving the quality of human life by absorbing pollution and dust from the air, rebuilding natural habitats and ecosystems, preventing global warming by capturing carbon dioxide from the air, and utilizing the results.

2.       Selective Cutting

Selective cutting is an action to overcome forest destruction, by cutting down trees that are ready for production to become wood (large trees) and leaving young trees not cut

3.       Biological Pest Control

Biological pest control can be done by releasing or breeding natural predators into the habitat.

4.       Nature Conservation

Nature conservation is the act of protecting certain species from extinction. Nature preservation can be done in situ or exitu. In-situ nature preservation is carried out in the original habitat of these species, while exitu nature preservation is carried out outside its natural habitat.

 

Ordinary people should not raise rare animals or plants that are vulnerable to extinction. Keeping birds, monkeys, or orangutans at home will cause these animals to become extinct more quickly. It is better if these animals are allowed to live naturally or given their care to an expert to be bred and then released back into their natural habitat. We can participate in preserving it by raising animals or plants from captivity or cultivation, for example canaries, ornamental fish, ornamental plants, cats and dogs.

 

We can help conserve the diversity of living things by:

a. Does not kill wild animals and plants

b. Don't play with wild animals and pick rare plants

c. When sightseeing or camping, keep maintaining the environment, do not bring home rare animals and plants

d. Do not throw garbage anywhere, because it can damage the health of the animal if eaten by the animal

e. Not throwing waste into the environment, for example household waste or pesticides, because it can endanger the life of the animals and plants in the environment.

Muhammad Farrel Al Rezky - X PB 2