Biodiversity forms a complex network in which every species and individual plays a role. Because all individuals and species support each other, we keep each other alive. Humans couldn’t exist without biodiversity.
Biodiversity is both strong and vulnerable
Nature must be able to deal with changes. This is what makes biodiversity so strong. When there are enough species and ecosystems, nature can handle many changes. Then, nature can better deal with the disappearance of a species because there are millions of other species that maintain the balance. So a large biodiversity makes nature more resilient.
But biodiversity can also be vulnerable. Just like a tower of building blocks, biodiversity is less stable when species disappear. If it’s a complex tower with many different kinds of blocks, then one less species doesn’t really matter. But if many species disappear, this has serious consequences.
Besides this, it’s important how one type of ecosystem functions in the complex network of biodiversity. We all live together in a food pyramid. In this food web, the species at the base – just like the bottommost building blocks in a tower – are crucially important.
Important connections
At the base of the food pyramid are the ‘producers’: plants that convert the sun’s energy into biomass. The second main level is the primary consumers: the herbivores that eat these plants. The third main level is carnivores (meat eaters) that live off these plant eaters.
The greatest part of the original energy is lost as heat, waste and energy to keep the organisms going. This loss of energy is why the layers get smaller and smaller as you climb higher in the food pyramid.
You can certainly imagine that when a lot of biodiversity disappears among the producers, this will have a major influence on all other levels. So it’s important that we all work together to keep biodiversity strong and resilient. In this way, it is able to deal with changes.