Why is agricultural biodiversity important?

摘要

Biodiversity, or biological diversity, is the variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or over the entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems; plant, animal, and microrganism biodiversity is absolutely essential to the survival of life on Earth. It is not like having extra pairs of shoes: we can live without shoes, but we cannot live without the myriad life-sustaining services provided by the complexes of living things around us—and of which we are a part. Examples of these ecosystem services include cycling and purification of water, air, and soil; stabilizations in the form of disease and pest control, flood and storm mitigation, carbon sequestration, and erosion control; the habitats created by ecosystems, and the genetic library of biological information that represents the enormous range of solutions created by life to environmental challenges; translocation processes such as pollination and the dispersal of seeds; and finally the physical and emotional wellbeing created by aesthetic and recreational beauty of the living world (this last, it is important to note, is not merely an extra benefit—there is scientific evidence that it is indeed intrinsic to health).