Why the heck is biodiversity so important? ...or is it?

Question

Biodiversity - diversity of all aspects of life found on the Earth.

ok so my class had a discussion about biodiversity and i wuz kindof opose to the fact that we actually need other froms of biodiversity; i think that biodiversity is just stuff that fills the Earth... i mean, i believe we'd be just fine with some trees in the rainforests and cows or wutnot for food but humans have contributed to extictions (from historical records we know that over 650 species of plants and over 480 animal species have become extinct in just the last 400 years, but these only represent only the documented extictions. the actual number of extictions are almost certainly much higher) and i feel that if this amount of loss in biodiversity hasn't affected us, then surely no amount will, so what is the vital significance of biodiversity?

now i dont know if this is a question worth even thinking about but i just wanna know wut u think about biodiversity

dont copy paste some junk on from wiki -_-

thx

Answer 1

BIGGEST answer is this:

Lets say there was only 1 type of every animal (horse, frog, lizard, cat, dog, etc)

If a new disease mutates and has a negative effect on frogs, and lets say this disease kills the frogs, it would kill ALL the frogs.  This is because the disease has the same effect on all frogs, it kills them.  Now lets say there were different types of frogs.  Maybe those toads would get killed off, at least mostly, but you would still have frogs, and poison frogs, and all the other types of frogs (which i don't know, i am no frog expert).  So you see, biodiversity kept the frogs alive!  And it does that for everything!

Answer 2

Have you ever looked into a rainforest and saw how much stuff lives there?

  Biodiversity is what keeps the planet alive because no one organism can survive alone.

Take you body for example. Do you know how much stuff is living on and in your body? What are the four food groups and where do you get them from? What caused the Irish to immigrate to the US in masses in the 1840’s?  Why don’t you hear birds in a lumber forest?  Where does aspirin come from? What is the source of caviar and how is it different form different area’s.  What is the cause of Dutch elm disease?

  These are all questions related to biodiversity.  A mono-planet mono-crop or even a simple ecosystem is prone to suffer from a minor change where as a larger biodiversity is more able to adapt to that change and grow.

  Biodiversity is like a large city full of different ethnic restaurants. You are able to pick and choose what you want to eat. Would like to live in a city that has 10,000 taco bells and only 1 burger king?

Answer 3

Try eating potatoes only every single day for next one year in all meals, you will get an answer to your question possibly within 2-3 days if you are smart enough.