Importance of Species Diversity to the Ecosystem

 Importance of Species Diversity to the Ecosystem


(i) According to ecologists, communities with more species tend to be more stable than those with less species.


(ii) Attributes of a stable community are


(a) It should not show too much variation in productivity from year to year.

(b) It must be either resistant or resilient to occasional disturbances (natural or man made).

(c) It must be resistant to invasions by alien species.


(iii) David Tilman’s longterm experiments on ecosystem found that plots with more species showed less year-to-year variation in total biomass. He also showed that increased diversity contributed to higher productivity.


(iv) It is not clear how species richness contributes to the well-being of an ecosystem. But, it is enough to realise that rich biodiversity is not only essential for ecosystem health but imperative for the survival of the human race on this planet.


(v) Paul Ehrlich through his rivet popper hypothesis tried to explain the importance of biodiversity for the survival of species.


(a) The hypothesis assumes the ecosystem to be an airplane and the species to be the rivets joining all parts together.

(b) If every passenger pops a rivet to take home (resulting in species extinction), it may not affect the flight safety initially (proper ecosystem functioning) but with time as more and more rivets are removed, the plane becomes dangerously weak.

(c) Loss of rivet on the wings (key species that drives major ecosystem functions) is a more serious threat to flight safety than loss of a few rivets on the seats or windows of the plane.