What are humans' role in endangering species and limiting biodiversity?
1 Answer
Main humans' impact on biodiversity are habitat loss, fragmentation, degradation through urbanisation, resources exploitation but also general pollution.
Explanation:
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If you consider fragmentation, for example, plants will have trouble dispersing since they can’t move and the dispersion of their seeds relies mostly on insects and seeds, roads are then a huge obstacle. If you have less dispersion, communities tend to be more homogenous which results in a loss of diversity. Concerning animals they will have trouble to find resources and partners when reproduction time comes and will thus threaten their reproduction success and the survival of the species.
Degradation of habitats is also a big issue, especially with the intensification and expansion of agriculture. In most agricultural patterns, they grow just one species at a time, say corn or wheat, making less space available for plant species. If you have less biodiversity in plant communities you, most of the time, see the same pattern in animal biodiversity because it reduces the variety of resources available. It’s like the human body, the less diversified your alimentation is, the more likely you will be vitamins/protein deficient.
Degradation of habitats also concerns soils and water polluting, most species are as sensible as us (or even more) regarding pollution. There is also deforestation, hunting, fishing…
Overall the main issues are we are considerably diminishing the quality and size of liveable habitats for other species. Only the species that succeed in adapting to these conditions are moke likely to survive and thrive which often represent just a small part of all the species currently living on earth.
