What is biological diversity? Biological diversity as the most important factor of sustainable development.

The concept of “biodiversity” entered into wide scientific use in 1972 at the UN Stockholm Conference on the Environment, where ecologists managed to convince political leaders of the countries of the world community that the protection of wildlife should be a priority in any human activity on Earth. Twenty years later, in 1992, in Rio de Janeiro, during the UN Conference on Environment and Development, the Convention on Biological Diversity was adopted, which was signed by more than 180 countries, including Russia. Active implementation of the Convention on Biodiversity in Russia began after its ratification by the State Duma in 1995. At the federal level, a number of environmental laws were adopted, and in 1996, by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation, the “Concept for the Transition of the Russian Federation to Sustainable Development” was approved, which considers the conservation of biodiversity as one of the most important directions for the development of Russia. Russia, like other countries that have signed and ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity, does not act alone. The Global Environment Facility (GEF) project for the conservation of biodiversity in Russia, funded by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, started in December 1996. Since then, the National Strategy for Biodiversity Conservation of Russia has been developed and adopted in 2001, mechanisms for biodiversity conservation are being developed, national parks and nature reserves are being supported, and measures are being taken to conserve biodiversity and improve the environmental situation in various regions.

This series of tutorials and reference materials is intended to fill at least some of the vacuum that exists in Russia. It would seem that the problem of biodiversity conservation, discussed at various levels, should have long been reflected in curricula, educational standards, at least in environmental specialties. However, as a thorough analysis of the State Educational Standards has shown, sections related to the study of the phenomenon of biodiversity, methods of its assessment, the importance of biodiversity conservation for sustainable development, etc., are not explicitly included in any of them. There are practically no textbooks on this subject.

1. What is biological diversity?

Biodiversity – these are hundreds of thousands of species, and diversity within the populations of each species, and the diversity of biocenoses, that is, diversity is observed at every level - from genes to ecosystems. This phenomenon has long interested man. First, out of simple curiosity, and then quite consciously and often for practical purposes, a person studies his living environment. This process has no end, since with each century new tasks arise and the ways of understanding the composition and structure of the biosphere change. They are solved by the whole complex of biological sciences. The study of the diversity of the organic world of our planet became especially relevant after the role of diversity itself in maintaining the stability of the biosphere began to be clarified.

Conservation of biological diversity is the central task of the biology of wildlife conservation. Biodiversity is defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature (1989) as “the entire diversity of life forms on earth, the millions of species of plants, animals, micro-organisms with their gene sets, and the complex ecosystems that make up wildlife”. Therefore, biodiversity should

considered on three levels.

genetic diversity, reflecting intraspecific diversity and due to the variability of individuals;

species diversity, reflecting the diversity of living organisms (plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms). At present, about 1.7 million species have been described, although their total number, according to some estimates, is up to 50 million;

diversity of ecosystems covers differences between ecosystem types, habitat diversity and ecological processes. They note the diversity of ecosystems not only in terms of structural and functional components, but also in terms of scale - from microbiogeocenosis to the biosphere.

Signed in June 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, the International Convention on Biological Diversity can be seen mainly as an expression of general concern about the loss of what cannot be restored - species of living beings, each of which occupies a certain place in the structure of the biosphere. Will a united humanity be able to preserve biodiversity? This largely depends on the attention of historical processes and the current factors that have influenced the development of biological diversity as we know it, or, more precisely, we know it to a small extent.

We don't know how many species there are. In the rainforest canopy alone, there can be up to 30 million, although most researchers accept a more conservative figure of 5-6 million. There is only one way to save them - by protecting the tropical forest as an ecosystem from clear-cutting and pollution. In other words, in order to preserve species diversity, it is necessary first of all to take care of the diversity of a higher level - ecosystems. At this level, tundra and polar deserts deserve no less attention than tropical forests, with which they are comparable in spatial parameters as structural divisions of the biosphere, although they are much poorer in species.

Biological diversity (BD) is a variety of forms and processes in the organic world, manifested at the molecular genetic, population, taxonomic and cenotic levels of the organization of the living. Although the levels of organization are named here in their traditional bottom-up sequence (each subsequent level includes the previous ones), this order of consideration does little to understand the nature of BR. If we are interested in the reasons for the emergence of BR (according to religious beliefs, BR arose as a result of a creative act, the logic of which should also be available to a reasonable being), then it is better to move from top to bottom, starting with the biosphere - the earth's shell containing organisms and their metabolic products. The biosphere is superimposed on the physical shells of the Earth - the earth's crust, hydrosphere and atmosphere, the composition of which is largely determined by the biogenic circulation of substances.

Each of these shells, in turn, is heterogeneous in physical properties and chemical composition in the direction of gravity and rotational forces, which determine the division into the troposphere and stratosphere, oceans, marginal seas and inland water bodies, continents with their geomorphological heterogeneities, etc. Heterogeneity of conditions It is also created by the uneven distribution of incoming solar energy over the earth's surface. The latitudinal climatic zonality on the continents is complemented by climatic vectors directed from the coast inland. A regular change in conditions in terms of height above sea level and depth creates a vertical zonality, which is somewhat similar to latitudinal zonality. Life is superimposed on all these heterogeneities, forming a continuous film that does not break even in deserts.

Continuous living cover is the result of long evolution. Life arose at least 3.5 billion years ago, but for about 6/7 of this time, the land remained almost lifeless, as did the ocean depths. The expansion of life was carried out by adapting to different conditions of existence, differentiation of life forms, each of which, within its habitats, is most efficient in the use of natural resources (you can try to replace all diversity with one species, as modern man does, in essence, but the efficiency of use resources of the biosphere will sharply decrease as a result).

Conditions changed not only in space, but also in many respects similarly in time. Some forms of life have proven to be more adaptable to change than others. Life was interrupted in separate zones, but, at least in the last 600 million years, forms were constantly found that could survive the crisis and fill the gaps that had formed (remains of more tree organisms are not numerous, and we are not sure that during the Precambrian history life did not interrupted). Thus, BR ensures the continuity of life in time.

As life covered the surface of the planet with a continuous film, the organisms themselves increasingly acquired the importance of the main factor in the formation of living space, the functional structure of the biosphere, associated with the biogenic transformation of matter and energy carried out within its boundaries, the effectiveness of which is ensured by the distribution of roles between organisms, their functional specialization. . Each functional cell of the biosphere - an ecosystem - is a local set of organisms interacting in the process of biogenic circulation and components of their environment. The spatial expression of an ecosystem can be a landscape, its facies (in this case, they speak of a biogeocenosis, which, according to V.N. Sukachev, includes a geological substrate, soil, vegetation, animal and microbial population), any component of the landscape (water body, soil, plant community) or a single organism with its external internal symbionts.

The functional space of an ecosystem (multidimensional, in contrast to the physical one) is subdivided into ecological niches corresponding to the distribution of roles between organisms. Each niche has its own life form, a kind of role that determines the main morphophysiological features of organisms and depends on them in feedback. The formation of an ecological niche is a mutual process in which the organisms themselves play an active role. In this sense, niches do not exist apart from life forms. Nevertheless, the predetermination of the ecosystem structure, associated with its functional purpose, makes it possible to recognize “empty niches” that must be filled in order for the structure to be preserved.

Thus, biological diversity is necessary to preserve the functional structure of the biosphere and its constituent ecosystems.

A stable combination of functionally interconnected life forms forms a biotic community (biocenosis), the composition of which is the more diverse, the more complex the structure of the ecosystem, and this latter depends mainly on the stability of the processes occurring in the ecosystem. So, in the tropics, the diversity is higher, since photosynthesis is not interrupted during the year.

Another important function of the BR is associated with the development and restoration of the community - reparation. Species perform different roles in the course of autogenetic succession - a change in developmental stages from pioneer to climax. Pioneer species are undemanding in terms of quality and sustainability of the environment and have a high reproductive potential. Stabilizing the environment, they gradually give way to more competitive species. This process goes to the final phase (climax), which is capable of holding the territory for a long time, being in a state of dynamic equilibrium. Since a variety of external influences constantly disrupt succession, monoclimax most often remains a theoretical possibility. Stages of development are not completely replaced, but coexist in complex successional systems, providing them with the opportunity to recover from destructive impacts. The recovery function is usually performed by rapidly breeding pioneer species.

It would be an exaggeration to claim that we can accurately determine the functional purpose of each species in any of the many ecosystems. The removal of a species also does not always lead to their destruction. Much depends on the complexity of the ecosystem (in Arctic communities with a relatively simple trophic structure, the share of each species is much higher than in the tropics), its successional and evolutionary stages of development, which determine the overlap (duplication) of ecological niches and the redundancy of structural elements. At the same time, duplication and redundancy in systems theory are considered as stability factors, i.e., they have a functional meaning.

All of the above allows us to conclude that the random element in the BR does not play a significant role. BR is functional. Each of its components is formed by the system in which it is included, and in turn, according to the feedback principle, determines the features of its structure.

In general, BR reflects the spatio-temporal and functional structure of the biosphere, providing: 1) the continuity of the living cover of the planet and the development of life in time, 2) the efficiency of biogenic processes in the ecosystem, 3) the maintenance of dynamic balance and the restoration of communities.

These appointments determine the structure of the BR at all hierarchical levels of its organization.

^ Structure of biological diversity

The genetic material in most organisms is contained in huge DNA and RNA molecules, filamentous polynucleotides that can look like a ring chromosome or a set of linear chromosomes, which are extremely diverse in terms of total DNA content, number, shape, development of various types of heterochromatin. and also by the types of restructurings in which they participate. All this creates a variety of genomes as complex systems that make up - in higher organisms - from tens of thousands of discrete genetic elements, or genes. Their discreteness is structural in nature (for example, unique or repeatedly repeated nucleotide sequences) or expressed functionally, as in protein-coding, reproduced as a whole, co-managed, involved in cross-exchange between paired chromosomes, and, finally, moving through the genome elements. When molecular mechanisms were not understood, the idea of ​​a gene was abstract and endowed with all these functions, but now it is known that they are performed by structurally different genetic particles that make up a variety of gene types. As a result of changes in the nucleotide composition, or mutations, similar sections of paired chromosomes have a different structure. Such sites-chromosomal loci, known in several states, are called polymorphic. Genetic polymorphism is transformed into protein polymorphism, which is studied by molecular genetic methods, and, ultimately, into the genetic diversity of organisms. At these derived levels, the diversity of genes appears in an indirect form, since traits are determined by the genetic system, and not by individual genes.

N. I. Vavilov showed on extensive material that the diversity of hereditary characters in closely related species is repeated with such accuracy that it is possible to predict the existence of a variant not yet found in nature. Thus, the orderliness of genetic variability (contrary to the ideas about the unpredictability of mutations) was revealed, in which the properties of the genome as a system are manifested. This fundamental generalization, formulated as the law of homological series, underlies the study of the BR structure.

The transfer of hereditary information from one generation to another is carried out in the process of reproduction of organisms, which can be asexual, sexual, in the form of alternation of asexual and sexual generations. Superimposed on this diversity are differences in the mechanisms of sex determination, sex separation, etc. Suffice it to think of fish species that consist of some females (reproduction is stimulated by males of other species) or the ability of females to turn into males, if there are not enough of them, to imagine diversity. reproduction processes in vertebrates, not to mention organisms such as fungi, where it is many times higher.

Organisms involved in reproduction constitute the reproductive resources of a species, which are structured according to the diversity of reproductive processes. The units of the reproduction system are demo-local groupings of interbreeding individuals and populations - larger groupings within a landscape or ecosystem. Accordingly, geographical and coenotic populations are distinguished, although their boundaries may coincide.

In the process of reproduction, recombination of genes takes place, which, as it were, belong to the population as a whole, constituting its gene pool (the gene pool is also spoken of in a broader sense as the totality of fauna or flora genes; this is partly justified, since at least episodic gene exchange is possible during hybridization or transfer of genetic material by microorganisms). The unity of a population, however, is ensured not only by a common gene pool, but also by entry into geographic or biological systems of a higher level.

Populations of neighboring landscapes or ecosystems always show certain differences, although they may be so close that taxonomists consider them to be the same species. In essence, a species is a set of populations of a number of historically interconnected landscape and (or) cenotic complexes. The integrity of a species as a system is due to the historical community of its constituent populations, the flow of genes between them, as well as their adaptive similarity due to close living conditions and coenotic functions. The latter factors are also effective in relation to asexual organisms, determining the universal significance of a species as the main unit of biological diversity (the often encountered hypertrophied idea of ​​sexual gene transfer as the most significant criterion for a biological species makes us see it as a category peculiar exclusively to dioecious organisms, which contradicts taxonomic practice).

The properties of a species are determined, as we have already noted, by that part of the ecological space that it steadily occupies, i.e. ecological niche. At the early stages of the development of a biological community, there is a significant overlap of ecological niches, but in the established coenotic system, species, as a rule, occupy rather isolated niches, however, a transition from one niche to another in the growth sling is possible (for example, in attached forms with mobile larvae) , entry into various communities in some cases as a dominant, in others - a secondary species. There are certain disagreements among specialists regarding the nature of biotic communities - either random collections of species that have found suitable conditions for themselves, or integral systems like organisms. These extreme points of view, most likely, reflect the diversity of communities that are completely unequal in their systemic properties. Also, species are sensitive to their coenotic environment to varying degrees, from independent (conditionally, since they belong to communities of higher ranks) to “true”, according to which associations, unions and classes are distinguished. This classificatory approach was developed in Central Europe and is now widely accepted. A rougher "physiognomic" classification according to the dominant species is adopted in the northern countries, where relatively homogeneous forest formations still occupy vast areas. Within landscape-climatic zones, groups of characteristic formations form the biomes of tundra, taiga forests, steppes, etc.) - the largest landscape-coenotic subdivisions of the biosphere.

^ Evolution of biological diversity

BR develops into a process of interaction between the biosphere and the physical shells of the Earth, on which it is superimposed. The movement of the earth's crust and climatic events cause adaptive changes in the macrostructure of the biosphere. For example, a glacial climate is characterized by a higher diversity of biomes than a non-glacial one. Not only polar deserts, but also tropical rainforests owe their existence to the atmospheric circulation system, which is formed under the influence of polar ice (see above). The structure of biomes, in turn, reflects the contrast of relief and climate, the diversity of geological substrates and soils - the heterogeneity of the environment as a whole. The species diversity of the communities that make up them depends on the fragmentation of the division of the ecological space, and this latter depends on the stability of conditions. In general, the number of species is s==g – py, where a is the diversity of species in communities, p is the diversity of communities, and y is the diversity of biomes. These components change with a certain frequency, rebuilding the entire BR system. For example, in the Mesozoic (glacier-free climate), the diversity of plants approximately corresponds to the modern one in similar formations of hard-leaved shrubs and summer-green forests, but the total number of species is about half that of the modern one due to the low diversity.

Genetic diversity in turn changes as a function of the adaptive strategy of the species. The fundamental property of a population is that, theoretically, during its reproduction, the frequencies of genes and genotypes are preserved from generation to generation (the Hardy-Weinberg rule), changing only under the influence of mutations, genetic drift and natural selection. Variants of the structure of genetic loci that arise as a result of mutations - alleles - often do not have an adaptive effect and constitute a neutral part of polymorphism, subject to random changes - gene drift, and not directed selection - hence the model of "non-Darwinian" evolution.

Although the evolution of population diversity is always the result of drift and selection, their relationship depends on the state of ecosystems. If the ecosystem structure is disturbed, stabilizing selection is weakened, then evolution acquires an incoherent character: genetic diversity increases due to mutagenesis and drift without a corresponding increase in species diversity. Ecosystem stabilization directs the strategy of populations towards a more efficient use of resources. At the same time, the heterogeneity (“coarse-grain”) of the environment, which is more pronounced, becomes a factor in the selection of genotypes that are most adapted to the “grain” of the landscape-coenotic mosaic. At the same time, neutral polymorphism acquires an adaptive value, the ratio of drift and selection changes in favor of the latter. The progressive differentiation of demes becomes the basis for the fragmentation of species. Evolving steadily over millennia, these processes create exceptionally high species diversity.

The system thus directs the evolution of its constituent organisms (to avoid misunderstandings, we note that there are no organisms that are not members of the coenotic systems: even the so-called coenophobic groups that disrupt the development of the community are included in systems of a higher rank).

The end-to-end evolutionary trend is one of increasing diversity, interrupted by sharp declines as a result of mass extinctions of species (about half at the end of the dinosaur era, 65 million years ago). The frequency of extinction coincides with the activation of geological processes (movement

Earth's crust, volcanism) and climatic changes, pointing to a common cause.

In the past, J. Cuvier explained such crises by the direct destruction of species as a result of marine transgressions and other catastrophes. Charles Darwin and his followers did not attribute crises at all, attributing them to the incompleteness of the geological Chronicle. Crises are now beyond doubt; moreover, we are experiencing one of them. A general explanation of crises is given by the ecosystem theory of evolution (see above), according to the second, the reduction in diversity occurs due to the stability of the environment, which determines the trend towards

simplifying the structure of ecosystems (some species are redundant),

interruption of successions (types of the final-climax - stages are doomed to extinction) and

an increase in the minimum size of the population (in a stable environment, a small number of individuals ensures reproduction, a “dense packing” of species is possible, but in a crisis a small population that is incapable of rapid growth can easily disappear).

These patterns are also valid for the anthropogenic crisis of our days.

^ Human Impact on Biodiversity

The direct ancestors of man appeared about 4.4 million years ago, at the beginning of the Gilbert paleomagnetic epoch, marked by the expansion of glaciation in the Antarctic, aridization and the spread of herbaceous vegetation in low latitudes. The habitat, borderline between the tropical forest and the savanna, the relatively weak specialization of the teeth, the anatomy of the limbs, adapted both for movement in open areas and for tree acrobatics, testify to the wide ecological louse of the African Australopithecus, the oldest representative of this group. In the future, evolution enters a coherent phase, and species diversity increases. Two lines of adaptive radiation - graceful and massive Australopithecus - developed along the path of food specialization, in the third - Homo labilis - at the level of 2.5 million years, signs of tool activity appeared as a prerequisite for expanding the food niche.

The latter turned out to be more promising in the unstable conditions of the Ice Age, the crisis phases of which correspond to the wide distribution of polymorphic species of Homo erectus and later Homo sapiens with a discrepancy between high genetic and low species diversity, characteristic of incoherent evolution. Each of them

Then it entered the phase of subspecific differentiation. About 30 thousand years ago, the specialized Neanderthal subspecies of the “reasonable” was supplanted by the nominative subspecies, the fragmentation of which was already proceeding along the line of cultural rather than biological evolution. Wide adaptive capabilities provided him with relative independence from local ecosystems, which has recently developed into cenophobia. As we have already noted, cenophobia is possible only up to a certain level of the hierarchy of natural systems. Cenophobia towards the biosphere as a whole dooms the species to self-destruction.

A person has an impact on all factors of BD - spatio-temporal heterogeneity of conditions, the structure of ecosystems and their stability. Disturbance of the climax community as a result of logging or fires can give some increase in species diversity due to pioneer and succession species. Spatial heterogeneity in some cases increases (for example, there is a dismemberment of vast forest tracts, accompanied by a certain increase in species diversity). More often, a person creates more homogeneous conditions. This is expressed in the leveling of the relief (in urbanized areas), deforestation, plowing up steppes, draining swamps, introducing alien species that are crowding out native ones, etc.

The influence of man on temporal factors is expressed in the multiple acceleration of natural processes, such as desertification or drying up of inland seas (for example, the Aral Sea, which in the past has repeatedly dried up without human intervention). Human impact on the global climate destabilizes biospheric rhythms and creates a general prerequisite for simplifying the structure of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and, consequently, for the loss of BR.

Over the past two decades, forests have been reduced by almost 200 million hectares, and now the damage is about 1% of the remaining area per year. These losses are distributed very unevenly: the greatest damage was done to the tropical forests of Central America, Madagascar, Southeast Asia, but also in the temperate zone, forest formations such as redwood in North America and China (metasequoia), Manchurian black fir forests in Primorye, etc. are on the verge of extinction. Almost no undisturbed habitats remain within the steppe biome. In the United States, more than half of the wetlands have been lost; in Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria, India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam, and New Zealand, more than 80%.

The loss of species due to habitat disturbance is difficult to assess, since the methods of accounting for species diversity are very imperfect. Assuming a "moderate" estimate of insect diversity of 5 million species for tropical forests and a number of species proportional to the fourth power of area, the loss due to deforestation would be 15,000 per year. Actual losses may differ significantly from the calculated ones. For example, in the Caribbean, no more than 1% of primary forests remain, but the diversity of native bird species has declined by only 11%, as many species have survived in secondary forests. Even more problematic is the assessment of the reduction in the BD of soil biota, which reaches 1000 species of invertebrates per sq. km. m. The loss of soil cover as a result of erosion is estimated in total at 6 million hectares per year - about 6 * 107 species can live in this area.

Probably, the most significant loss of species diversity is associated with the economic development and pollution of ecosystems, which are characterized by a particularly high level of endemism. These include hard-leaved formations of the Mediterranean and Kalekoy province in southern Africa (6000 endemic species), as well as rift lakes (Baikal - about 1500 endemics, Malawi - more than 500).

According to (McNeely, 1992), the loss of species diversity by groups since 1600 is:

Disappeared under threat

Higher plants 384 species (0.15%) 18699 (7.4%)

Pisces 23 -»- (0.12%) 320 (1.6%)

Amphibians 2-»-(0.05%) 48(1.1%)

Reptiles 21 -»- (0.33%) 1355 (21.5%)

Birds 113-»- (1.23%) 924 (10.0%)

Mammals 83 -»- (1.99%) 414 (10.0%)

Violation of the structure and function of ecosystems is associated with their use as raw materials, recreational and deposit (for waste disposal) resources, and raw and deposit use can give directly opposite results. Thus, overgrazing, the removal of canopy-forming trees or game animals disrupt the trophic structure and often return the ecosystem to the early stages of development, delaying succession. At the same time, the flow of organic pollutants into water bodies accelerates succession, passing the ecosystem through a eutrophic state to a hypertrophic one.

The size of the human population does not depend much on the size of the exterminated species, therefore, the feedback in the “predator-prey” system is violated, and a person gets the opportunity to completely exterminate one or another type of prey. In addition, in his role as a superpredator, a person exterminates not the weak and sick, but, on the contrary, the most complete individuals (this also applies to the practice of loggers to cut down the most powerful trees in the first place).

However, indirect damage from impacts that disrupt the balanced relationships and processes in ecosystems and thereby change the direction of species evolution is of greatest importance. Evolutionary changes occur as a result of mutagenesis, genetic drift and natural selection. Radiation and chemical pollution have a mutagenic effect. Withdrawal of biological resources - a significant part of natural populations - turns into a gene drift factor, forcing natural population fluctuations, loss of genetic diversity and, giving an advantage to genotypes with accelerated puberty and high reproductive potential (because of this, indiscriminate removal usually leads to accelerated puberty and shredding ). The direction of natural selection can change under the influence of a variety of biological, chemical. physical (noise, electromagnetic, etc.) pollution. Biological pollution - the deliberate or accidental introduction of alien species and biotechnological products (including laboratory strains of microorganisms, artificial hybrids and transgenic organisms) - is a common factor in the loss of natural BR. The most famous examples are the introduction of placentals into Australia (actually a reintroduction, since they lived on this continent many millions of years ago), elodea into the reservoirs of Eurasia, ctenophores into the Sea of ​​Azov, amphipods Corophium cnrvispinHm into the Rhine from the Ponto-Caspian region (from the first appearance in In 1987, the number of this species increased to 100 thousand individuals per 1 sq.m., competing with local species of zoobenthos, which serve as food for commercial fish and waterfowl). Biological pollution is undoubtedly facilitated by changes in habitats as a result of physical and chemical impacts (increase in temperature and salinity, eutrophication in the case of the introduction of amphipod-thermophilic filter feeders),

In some cases, exposure causes a chain reaction with far-reaching consequences. For example, the entry of eutrophic substances into coastal waters from the continent and from mari culture causes dinoflaellate blooms, secondary pollution with toxic substances, the death of cetaceans, and an increase in the solubility of carbonates, the death of corals and other skeletal forms of benthos. Acid-forming pollution of water bodies, in addition to a direct impact on respiration (deposition of aluminum on the gills) and the reproductive function of amphibian fish, threatens the extinction of many species of aquatic vertebrates and semiaquatic birds due to a decrease in the biomass of larvae of stoneflies, mayflies, and chironomids.

The same factors change the ratio of genotypes in animal and plant populations, giving an advantage to those who are more resistant to various types of stress.

Pollution also becomes a powerful factor in natural selection. A classic example is the increase in the frequency of the melanistic form of Biston betularia butterflies in industrial areas, which was tried to be explained by the fact that on soot-covered trunks they are less noticeable to birds than light forms. This now textbook explanation seems naive, since melanistic forms are more resistant to pollution in many species, including domestic cats and humans. This example warns against simplistic notions of human impact on BR.

^ Biodiversity Conservation

In ancient times, as we have already noted, totemism and the religious ideas that grew out of it contributed to the preservation of individual species and their habitats. The preservation of such relics as ginkgo is due mainly to the religious rituals of the Eastern peoples. In North America, European Colonists took over from local tribes their normative attitude towards nature, while in European feudal countries nature was preserved mainly as royal hunting grounds and parks, with which the aristocracy protected itself from too close contact with the common people.

In early democracies, moral and aesthetic motives were supplanted by economic ones, which often came into conflict with the preservation of BR. The utilitarian attitude to nature acquired especially ugly forms in totalitarian countries. P. A. Manteifel, expressing the official attitude, wrote in 1934: “These groups (of animals) have developed without the influence (will) of man and do not correspond in the majority to the economic effect that could be obtained with a rational change in zoological boundaries and communities, and therefore we put forward the question of the reconstruction of the fauna, where, in particular, the artificial migration of animals should take a prominent place.

Nevertheless, the new aristocracy - the party leadership and persons close to it - also needed protected hunting grounds, which were called hunting reserves.

In the 1960s, the reserves underwent a two-fold reduction due to the extensive development of the economy. In addition, the allotment of huge areas for monoculture had an extremely unfavorable effect on the state of the BR. In the early 1980s, to fulfill the "food program", roadsides, borders and inconveniences were plowed, depriving wild species of their last refuges in the developed areas.

Unfortunately, these trends were further developed during the period of perestroika in connection with the transfer of waste land to farmers and the development of private enterprise in the conditions of legislative chaos. Self-occupation of land for vegetable gardens, deforestation in green belts around cities, illegal extraction of rare species and free sale of biological resources have become common practice. The reserves have never been very popular on the ground and with the weakening of control they are subject to increasing pressure from economic structures and poachers. The development of international tourism is damaging territories that were previously protected as sensitive. These include military training grounds and border lands (in Germany, the 600x5 km exclusion zone has turned into a kind of reserve over the years of confrontation, which is now trampled down by crowds of tourists).

At the same time, there is reason to hope for an improvement in the situation (and, in particular, the transformation of former regime areas into nature reserves) due to the universal recognition of the priority of conservation of the BR. The immediate task is to develop and strengthen national programs. Let us note some fundamental points arising in this connection. Inventory and protection of biological diversity. Identification of the species structure in many cases is necessary for the organization of protection. For example, the New Zealand tuatara (tuatara), the only representative of the oldest group of beak-headed reptiles, has been protected since 1895, but only recently it has become clear that there are two species of tuatara with subspecies, one of the species, S-guntheri and a subspecies of the other, S.punctata reischeki were on the verge of extinction, and ten out of forty populations have already disappeared; there is still a lot of work ahead of traditional systematics in the field of BR conservation.

At the same time, the idea quite often expressed that in order to preserve it is necessary, first of all, to inventory all taxonomic diversity, has a somewhat demagogic connotation. There can be no question of describing all the multimillion-dollar diversity of species in the foreseeable future. Species disappear without ever receiving the attention of a taxonomist. A more realistic approach is to develop a sufficiently detailed syntaxonomic classification of communities and organize in situ protection on this basis. The protection of the top-level system to a certain extent ensures the preservation of its components, some of which we do not know or know in the most general terms (but at least we do not exclude the possibility of learning in the future). In the following sections, we will consider some of the principles for organizing protection on a syntaxonomic basis to cover all or most of the taxonomic diversity.

Combining human rights with animal rights. Recognition of animal rights does not mean rejection of their use. In the end, people are also used legally. It cannot be denied that it is fair that a man has more rights than an animal, just as an adult has more rights than a child. However, without falling into environmental terrorism, which is mostly provocative, it should still be recognized that reasonable use has nothing to do with killing for pleasure or on a whim, as well as with cruel experimentation, which, moreover, is mostly senseless, according to

Biodiversity- short for "biological diversity" - means the diversity of living organisms in all its manifestations: from genes to the biosphere. The issues of study, use and conservation of biodiversity began to be given much attention after the signing by many states of the Convention on Biological Diversity (UN Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 1992).

There are three main type of biodiversity:

- genetic diversity, reflecting intraspecific diversity and due to the variability of individuals;

- species diversity, reflecting the diversity of living organisms (plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms). At present, about 1.7 million species have been described, although their total number, according to some estimates, is up to 50 million;

- diversity of ecosystems covers differences between ecosystem types, habitat diversity and ecological processes. They note the diversity of ecosystems not only in terms of structural and functional components, but also in terms of scale - from microbiogeocenosis to the biosphere;

All types of biological diversity interconnected: Genetic diversity ensures species diversity. The diversity of ecosystems and landscapes creates conditions for the formation of new species. An increase in species diversity increases the overall genetic potential of the living organisms of the Biosphere. Each species contributes to diversity - from this point of view, there are no useless and harmful species.

Distribution species on the surface of the planet unevenly. Species diversity in natural habitats is highest in the tropical zone and decreases with increasing latitude. The richest ecosystems in species diversity are tropical rainforests, which occupy about 7% of the planet's surface and contain more than 90% of all species.

In the geological history of the Earth in the biosphere, there has been a constant emergence and extinction of species All species have a finite lifetime. The extinction was compensated by the emergence of new species, and as a result, the total number of species in the biosphere increased. The extinction of species is a natural process of evolution that occurs without human intervention.

Currently, under the influence of anthropogenic factors, there is reduction biological diversity due to the elimination (extinction, destruction) of species. In the last century, under the influence of human activity, the rate of extinction of species has exceeded the natural rate by many times (according to some estimates, 40,000 times). There is an irreversible and uncompensated destruction of the unique gene pool of the planet.

Elimination of species as a result of human activities can occur in two directions- direct extermination (hunting, fishing) and indirect (habitat destruction, disturbance of trophic interactions). Overfishing is the most obvious direct cause of the direct decline of species, but it is much less likely to contribute to extinction than indirect causes of habitat change (eg, chemical pollution of a river or deforestation).

Diversity of biotic cover, or biodiversity, is one of the factors for the optimal functioning of ecosystems and the biosphere as a whole. Biodiversity ensures the resilience of ecosystems to external stresses and maintains a dynamic balance in them. The living from the non-living, first of all, differs by several orders of magnitude in its great diversity and the ability not only to preserve this diversity, but also to significantly increase it in the course of evolution. In general, the evolution of life on Earth can be viewed as a process of structuring the biosphere, a process of increasing the diversity of living organisms, forms and levels of their organization, a process of the emergence of mechanisms that ensure the stability of living systems and ecosystems in the constantly changing conditions of our planet. It is the ability of ecosystems to maintain balance, using the hereditary information of living organisms for this, that makes the biosphere as a whole and local ecosystems material-energy systems in the full sense.

In this photo we see many types of plants growing together in a meadow in the floodplain of the river. Budyumkan in the southeast of the Chita region. Why did nature need so many species in one meadow? This is what this lecture is about.

Russian geobotanist L.G. Ramensky in 1910 he formulated the principle of ecological individuality of species - a principle that is the key to understanding the role of biodiversity in the biosphere. We see that many species live together in each ecosystem at the same time, but we rarely think about the ecological meaning of this. Ecological individuality plant species living in the same plant community in the same ecosystem allows the community to quickly rebuild when external conditions change. For example, in a dry summer in this ecosystem, the main role in ensuring the biological cycle is played by individuals of species A, which are more adapted to life with a moisture deficit. In a wet year, individuals of species A are not at their optimum and cannot ensure the biological cycle in the changed conditions. In this year, individuals of species B begin to play the main role in ensuring the biological cycle in this ecosystem. The third year turned out to be cooler; under these conditions, neither species A nor species B can ensure the full use of the ecological potential of this ecosystem. But the ecosystem is rapidly rebuilding, as it contains individuals of species B, which do not need warm weather and photosynthesize well at low temperatures.

Each species of living organisms can exist in a certain range of values ​​of external factors. Outside these values, individuals of the species die. In the diagram, we see the limits of endurance (limits of tolerance) of the species according to one of the factors. Within these limits, thereoptimum zone, the most favorable for the species, and two zones of oppression. Rule L.G. Ramensky on the ecological individuality of species argues that the limits of endurance and optimum zones in different species living together do not coincide.

In nature, we find a lot of factors or mechanisms that provide and maintain a high species diversity of local ecosystems. First of all, such factors include excessive reproduction and overproduction of seeds and fruits. In nature, seeds and fruits are produced hundreds and thousands of times more than is necessary to make up for the natural loss due to premature death and dying of old age.

Thanks to adaptations for distributing fruits and seeds over long distances, the rudiments of new plants fall not only on those areas that are favorable for their growth now, but also on those areas whose conditions are unfavorable for the growth and development of individuals of these species. Nevertheless, these seeds germinate here, exist in a depressed state for some time and die. This happens as long as environmental conditions are stable. But if the conditions change, then the seedlings of species unusual for this ecosystem, previously doomed to death, begin to grow and develop here, going through a full cycle of their ontogenetic (individual) development. Ecologists say that in nature there is powerful pressure of diversity of life to all local ecosystems.

General land cover gene pool- its flora-local ecosystems of this region are used most fully due to the pressure of biodiversity. At the same time, local ecosystems in terms of species become richer. During their formation and rearrangement, the ecological selection of suitable components is carried out from a larger number of applicants whose diagerms have found their way into a given habitat. Thus, the probability of forming an ecologically optimal plant community increases.

Thus, the stability factor of a local ecosystem is not only the diversity of species living in this local ecosystem, but also the diversity of species in neighboring ecosystems, from which the introduction of diagerms (seeds and spores) is possible. This applies not only to plants that lead an attached lifestyle, but even more so to animals that can move from one local ecosystem to another. Many animal individuals, not belonging specifically to any of the local ecosystems (biogeocenoses), nevertheless play an important ecological role and participate in ensuring the biological cycle in several ecosystems at once. Moreover, they can alienate biomass in one local ecosystem, and throw out excrement in another, stimulating the growth and development of plants in this second local ecosystem. Sometimes such a transfer of matter and energy from one ecosystem to another can be extremely powerful. This flow connects completely different ecosystems.

Diversity of species and diversity of life forms or ecobiomorph are not the same thing. I will demonstrate this with an example. In the meadow, species, genera and families of plants can live 2-3 times more than in the dark coniferous forest. However, in terms of ecobiomorphs and synusia, it turns out that the biodiversity of the dark coniferous forest as an ecosystem is much higher than the biodiversity of the meadow as an ecosystem. In the meadow, we have 2-3 classes of ecobiomorphs, and in the dark coniferous forest, 8-10 classes. There are many species in the meadow, but all of them belong either to the class of ecobiomorphs, perennial mesophytic summer-green grasses, or to the class of annual grasses, or to the class of green mosses. In the forest, different classes of ecobiomorphs are: dark coniferous trees, deciduous trees, deciduous shrubs, deciduous shrubs, perennial mesophytic summer green grasses, green mosses, epigeic lichens, epiphytic lichens.

The biodiversity of organisms in the biosphere is not limited to the diversity of taxa and the diversity of ecobiomorphs of living organisms. For example, we can get into an area that is entirely occupied by one local elemental ecosystem - a raised swamp, or a damp alder forest at the mouth of a large river. In another area on the same territory, we will meet at least 10-15 types of local elementary ecosystems. Ecosystems of coniferous-broad-leaved forests at the bottom of river valleys are regularly replaced here by ecosystems of cedar-oak mixed-shrub forests on the southern gentle slopes of mountains, larch-oak mixed-grass forests on the northern gentle slopes of mountains, spruce-fir forests in the upper part of the northern steep slopes of mountains and ecosystems steppe meadows and clump vegetation on the steep southern slopes of the mountains. It is easy to understand what is intra-landscape diversity of ecosystems determined not only by the diversity of their constituent species and ecobiomorphs, but also variety of ecological landscape background associated primarily with the diversity of landforms, the diversity of soils and their underlying rocks.

The processes of extinction of species in the biosphere are compensated by the processes of speciation. If the balance of these two processes is upset in favor of extinction, then the Earth will most likely face the fate of Venus - that is, an atmosphere of carbon dioxide and water vapor, a surface temperature of about +200 degrees Celsius, evaporated oceans and seas. Life on a protein basis in such conditions, of course, is simply impossible. Having become a powerful geological force, humanity must take responsibility not only for the future of its children and grandchildren, but also for the future of the entire biosphere. And this future will largely depend on how far the process of extinction of species in the Earth's biosphere lags behind the process of formation of new species.

For the accounting species that are on the verge of extinction, many countries create Red Books - lists of rare and endangered species of living organisms. To preserve and maintain biological diversity, specially protected natural areas are created - protected areas (reserves, national parks, etc.), genetic data banks. The preservation of an individual species is possible only if its habitat with the entire complex of species included in it, as well as climatic, geophysical and other conditions, is protected. A special role is played by the conservation of environment-forming species (edificatory species), which form the internal environment of the ecosystem. The creation of protected areas is aimed at protecting not only individual species, but also entire complexes and landscapes.

Reserves also serve to evaluate and monitoring state of biodiversity. There is no unified system for monitoring the state of biodiversity in Russia today. The most complete and permanent control over changes in biodiversity components is carried out in reserves. Every year, reserves prepare reports on the state of ecosystems ("Chronicles of Nature") - summaries of data on the state of protected areas, protected populations of plants and animals. Some reserves have been keeping "Chronicles of Nature" for more than 50 years, which include continuous series of data on the number of animals, biological diversity, ecosystem dynamics, as well as data on climate observations.

Part of the reserves of Russia (18) is part of the international network of biosphere reserves, specially created to monitor the state of biodiversity, climatic, biogeochemical and other processes on the scale of the Biosphere.

reasons need conservation biodiversity many: the need for biological resources to meet the needs of mankind (food, materials, medicines, etc.), ethical and aesthetic aspects (life is valuable in itself), etc. However, the main reason for the conservation of biodiversity is that it plays a leading role in ensuring the sustainability of ecosystems and the Biosphere as a whole (absorption of pollution, climate stabilization, provision of conditions suitable for life). Biodiversity performs a regulatory function in the implementation of all biogeochemical, climatic and other processes on Earth. Each species, no matter how insignificant it may seem, contributes to ensuring the sustainability of not only the “native” local ecosystem, but the Biosphere as a whole.

SOIL ECOLOGY

LECTURE № 8,9,10

SUBJECT:

Ecological functions of soils. Biochemical transformation of the upper layers of the lithosphere. Transformation of surface waters into groundwater and participation in the formation of river runoff. Regulation of the gas regime of the atmosphere . Ecological function of soils. Participation of soils in the formation of the geochemical flow of elements.

The soil cover forms one of the geophysical shells of the Earth - the pedosphere. The main geospheric functions of the soil as a natural body are due to the position of the soil at the junction of animate and inanimate nature. And the main one is the provision of life on Earth. It is in the soil that terrestrial plants take root, small animals, a huge mass of microorganisms live in it. As a result of soil formation, it is in the soil that water and mineral nutrition elements that are vital for organisms are concentrated in the forms of chemical compounds available to them. Thus, soil is a condition for the existence of life, but at the same time soil is a consequence of life on Earth.

The global functions of soils in the biosphere are based on the following fundamental qualities. First, the soil serves as a habitat and physical support for a huge number of organisms; secondly, the soil is a necessary, irreplaceable link and regulator of biogeochemical cycles; practically, the cycles of all biogens are carried out through the soil.

What is biological diversity?

Conservation of biological diversity is the central task of the biology of wildlife conservation. Biodiversity is defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature (1989) as “the entire diversity of life forms on earth, the millions of species of plants, animals, micro-organisms with their gene sets, and the complex ecosystems that make up wildlife”.

Thus, biodiversity should be considered at three levels. Biological diversity at the species level covers the entire range of species on Earth from bacteria and protozoa to the kingdom of multicellular plants, animals and fungi. On a smaller scale, biological diversity includes the genetic diversity of species, both from geographically distant populations and from individuals within the same population. Biological diversity also includes the diversity of biological communities, species, ecosystems formed by communities and the interactions between these levels.

For the continuous survival of species and natural communities, all levels of biological diversity are necessary, all of which are also important for humans. Species diversity demonstrates the richness of evolutionary and ecological adaptations of species to different environments. Species diversity serves as a source of diverse natural resources for humans. For example, tropical rainforests, with their richest array of species, produce a remarkable variety of plant and animal products that can be used for food, construction, and medicine. Genetic diversity is necessary for any species to maintain reproductive viability, resistance to diseases, and the ability to adapt to changing conditions. The genetic diversity of domestic animals and cultivated plants is especially valuable to those working on breeding programs to maintain and improve modern agricultural species.

Community-level diversity is the collective response of species to different environmental conditions. The biological communities found in deserts, steppes, forests and floodlands maintain the continuity of the normal functioning of the ecosystem by providing “maintenance” to it, for example, through flood control, soil erosion protection, air and water filtration.

A healthy environment is of great economic, aesthetic and ethical value. Maintaining a healthy environment means keeping all of its components in good condition: ecosystems, communities, species and genetic diversity. Initial small disturbances in each of these components can eventually lead to its complete destruction. At the same time, the communities degrade and shrink spatially, lose their importance in the ecosystem, and eventually finally collapse. But as long as all the original species for the community are preserved, it can still recover. When a species decreases, intraspecific variability decreases, which can lead to such genetic shifts from which the species can no longer recover. Potentially, after timely successful rescue measures, the species can restore its genetic variability through mutations, natural selection and recombinations. But in an endangered species, the uniqueness of the genetic information contained in its DNA and the combinations of traits that it possesses are lost forever. If a species is extinct, then its populations are no longer recoverable; the communities they belonged to are irretrievably impoverished, and the potential value of the species for humans is finally lost.

Although the habitat has not been overtly destroyed or fragmented, the communities that inhabit it can be deeply affected by human activities. External factors that do not change the dominant plant structure of a community can nevertheless lead to disturbances in biological communities and eventual extinction of species, although these disturbances are not immediately noticeable. For example, in temperate deciduous forests, habitat degradation can be caused by frequent uncontrolled lowland fires; these fires do not necessarily destroy mature trees, but gradually impoverish the rich communities of forest herbaceous plants and forest floor insects. Unbeknownst to the public, fishing vessels annually plow about 15 million km2 of the ocean floor with trawls, that is, they destroy an area 150 times larger than the area of ​​forests cut down during the same period. Trawls from fishing boats damage delicate creatures such as anemones and sponges and reduce species diversity, biomass and change community structures.

Environmental pollution is the most universal and insidious form of its destruction. It is most often caused by pesticides, fertilizers and chemicals, industrial and municipal sewage, gas emissions from factories and automobiles, and sediment washed up from hills. Visually, these types of pollution are often not very noticeable, although they occur around us every day in almost every part of the world. The global impact of pollution on water quality, air quality and even the planet's climate is in the spotlight not only because of the threat to biodiversity, but also because of the impact on human health. While environmental pollution is sometimes very visible and frightening, such as in the case of the massive oil spills and 500 oil well fires that took place during the Gulf War, latent forms of pollution are the most threatening, mainly because their effect is manifested not right away.

An integrated approach to protecting biodiversity and improving the lives of mankind, implemented through a system of strict rules, rewards and penalties, as well as environmental monitoring, should change the fundamental values ​​of our material society. Environmental ethics, a new and vigorously developing direction in philosophy, reflects the ethical value of the nature of the world. If our society is based on the principles of environmental ethics, then the preservation of the natural environment and the maintenance of biological diversity will become a fundamental and priority direction. natural

the consequences will be: reduced consumption of resources, expansion of protected areas and efforts to limit the growth of the world's population. For thousands of years, many traditional cultures have successfully cohabited with each other thanks to

a social ethic that supports personal responsibility and effective management of resources – and this may become a priority for modern ones.

Several ethical arguments can be advanced in defense of the conservation of all species, regardless of their economic value. The following reasoning is important for conservation biology because it provides a logical defense of rare species and species of no apparent economic value.

Every species has a right to exist . All species represent a unique biological solution to the problem of survival. On this basis, the existence of each species must be guaranteed, regardless of the distribution of this species and its value to humanity. This does not depend on the abundance of the species, on its geographical distribution, whether it is an ancient or recently appeared species, whether it is economically significant or not. All species are part of being and therefore have as many rights to life as humans. Each species is valuable in itself, regardless of human need. In addition to the fact that people do not have the right to destroy species, they must also be responsible for taking measures to prevent the extinction of a species as a result of human activity. This argument anticipates that man will rise above a limited anthropocentric perspective, become part of life and identify with a larger community of life in which we will respect all species and their right to exist.

How is it possible to give the right to exist and legislate to protect species devoid of human consciousness and the concept of morality, right and duty? Further, how can non-animal species such as mosses or fungi have rights when they don't even have a nervous system to perceive their environment appropriately? Many environmental ethicists believe that species have a right to life because they reproduce and continually adapt to changing environments. Premature extinction of species as a result of human activity destroys this natural process and can be considered as “superkilling”, since it kills not only individual representatives, but also future generations of species, limiting the process of evolution and speciation.

All types are interdependent. . Species as parts of natural communities interact in complex ways. The loss of one species can have far-reaching consequences for other species in the community. As a result, other species may become extinct, and the entire community is destabilized as a result of the extinction of groups of species. The Gaia hypothesis is that as we learn more about global processes, we are increasingly discovering that many chemical and physical parameters of the atmosphere, climate and ocean are related to biological processes on the basis of self-regulation. If this is the case, then our instincts for self-preservation should drive us to conserve biodiversity. When the world around us thrives, we thrive. We have an obligation to preserve the system as a whole, since it only survives as a whole. People as diligent hosts are responsible for the Earth. Many followers of religious beliefs consider the destruction of species unacceptable, since they are all creations of God. If God created the world, then the species created by God have value. In accordance with the traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, human responsibility for the protection of animal and plant species is, as it were, an article of a contract with God. Hinduism and Buddhism also strictly demand the preservation of life in the natural environment.

People are responsible to future generations. From a strictly ethical point of view, if we deplete the Earth's natural resources and cause extinction of species, then future generations of people will have to pay the price of a lower level and quality of life. Therefore, modern humanity must use natural resources in a conservation mode, preventing the destruction of species and communities. We can imagine that we are borrowing the Earth from future generations, and when they get it back from us, they should find it in good condition.

Correlation between human interests and biological diversity. It is sometimes believed that concern for the protection of nature frees one from the need to care for human life, but this is not so. Understanding the complexity of human culture and the natural world makes a person respect and protect all life in its many forms. It is also true that people are likely to be better able to protect biodiversity when they have full political rights, secure livelihoods and knowledge of environmental issues. The struggle for social and political progress of a poor and disenfranchised people is comparable in effort to the protection of the environment. For a long time of the formation of man, he followed the natural path of “revealing all forms of life” and “understanding the value of these forms”. This is seen as an extension of the range of moral obligations of the individual:

extension of his personal responsibility to relatives, to his social group, to all mankind, animals, all species, ecosystems and, ultimately, to the whole Earth.

Nature has its own spiritual and aesthetic value that surpasses its economic value. Throughout history it has been noted that religious thinkers, poets, writers, artists and musicians have drawn inspiration from nature. For many people, admiring the pristine wilderness was an important source of inspiration. Merely reading about species or observing in museums, gardens, zoos, films about nature - all this is not enough. Almost everyone gets aesthetic pleasure from wildlife and landscapes. Millions of people enjoy active communication with nature. The loss of biodiversity diminishes that enjoyment. For example, if many whales, wild flowers and butterflies die out in the next few decades, then future generations of artists and children will forever be deprived of enchanting living paintings.

Biodiversity is necessary to determine the origin of life. There are three main mysteries in world science: how life originated, where all the diversity of life on Earth came from, and how humanity evolves. Thousands of biologists are working to solve these problems and have hardly come close to understanding them. For example, taxonomists recently discovered using molecular techniques that a bush from the island of New Caledonia in the Pacific Ocean represents the only surviving species from an ancient genus of flowering plants. However, when such species disappear, important clues to the solution of the main mysteries are lost, and the mystery becomes more and more unsolvable. If humans' closest relatives — chimpanzees, baboons, gorillas and orangutans — disappear, we will lose important clues to understanding human evolution.

etc. All this proves What philosophy distinguishes diversity approaches to one's own... methods of knowledge (physical, chemical, biological etc.), although she, for the most part ... and consideration of whether What such philosophy itself, the study of its history...

Biodiversity

biodiversity (biological diversity) - the diversity of life in all its manifestations. Biodiversity is also understood as diversity at three levels of organization: genetic diversity (the diversity of genes and their variants - alleles), species diversity (the diversity of species in ecosystems) and, finally, ecosystem diversity, that is, the diversity of the ecosystems themselves.
The main scientific concepts of biodiversity were formulated only in the middle of the twentieth century, which is directly related to the development of quantitative methods in biology.

Story

The origin of the term "biodiversity" is debatable. It is believed that the phrase "biological diversity" was first used by G. Bates in 1892. On the other hand, it is argued that the term "BioDiversity" was first introduced by V. Rosen in 1986 at the national forum "US Strategy for Biological Diversity", and "neologism appeared as an abbreviated version of" biological diversity ", originally used only to describe the number of species. »

Biodiversity- the variability of living organisms from all sources, including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this concept includes diversity within species, between species, and ecosystem diversity.

Meaning

The value of biodiversity both within the species and within the entire biosphere is recognized in biology as one of the main indicators of the viability (survivability) of the species and the ecosystem as a whole and is called the "Principle of biological diversity". Indeed, with a large uniformity of characteristics of individuals within the same species (from humans to plants and microbes), any significant change in external conditions (weather, epidemic, change in feed, etc.) will more critically affect the survival of the species than in the case when the latter has a greater degree biological diversity. The same (on a different level) applies to the richness (biodiversity) of species in the biosphere as a whole.

The history of mankind has already accumulated a number of examples of the negative consequences of attempts at too rough and simplified "appointment" of some biological species, families and even ecosystems as unambiguously positive or unambiguously negative. Drainage of swamps led not only to a decrease in malarial mosquitoes, but also to more violent spring floods when nearby fields dried up in summer, the shooting of wolves (“offenders” of peaceful fluffy deer) on a closed plateau led to an immoderate increase in the number of these deer, almost complete extermination of food and subsequent generalized case.

Biodiversity is a key concept in conservation discourse. This definition has become an official definition in terms of the letter of the law, as it is included in the UN biodiversity convention, which is accepted by all countries of the Earth, with the exception of Andorra, Brunei, Vatican, Iraq, Somalia and the United States. The UN established the International Day for Biological Diversity.

It is rather difficult to determine the need to conserve and maintain biodiversity in any objective way, since it depends on the point of view of the one who evaluates this need. However, there are four main reasons to conserve biodiversity:

1. From the point of view of the consumer, the elements of biodiversity are natural pantries, which already today provide a visible benefit to humans or may be useful in the future.
2. Biodiversity as such provides both economic and scientific benefits (for example, in the search for new drugs or treatments).
3. The choice to conserve biodiversity is an ethical choice. Mankind as a whole is a part of the ecological system of the planet, and therefore it must carefully treat the biosphere (in fact, we all depend on its well-being).
4. The significance of biodiversity can also be characterized in aesthetic, substantive and ethical terms. Nature is glorified and sung by artists, poets and musicians all over the world; for man, nature is an eternal and enduring value.

theories

Due to the fact that the field of biology that studies the causes of biodiversity has not yet developed, a huge number of theories and individual hypotheses are observed in this area. The most comprehensive review of theories claiming to explain the patterns of biodiversity change was provided by the famous theoretical biologist Brian McGill:

Signs and quantification

In the first approximation, the biological diversity of species is characterized by two features - species richness and evenness.
Species richness reflects the number of species found within an ecosystem, while evenness characterizes the evenness of the distribution of animal numbers. The allocation of these components is due to the fact that, with rare exceptions in ecosystems among organisms belonging to the same trophic level, ecological or taxonomic group, most of the biomass is achieved due to the contribution of very few species.

The number of forest birds in the area of ​​birch pine forest during the nesting period (pairs/ha). The finch is the dominant species.

To quantify inventory diversity, diversity measures or their dual concentration measures are used. It is understood that the most diverse community is a "strategic reserve" of biological evolution, and therefore the quantitative determination of such communities allows such unique communities to be protected. A closely related concept is the concept evenness(evenness or equitability) of the species composition of the community.

Another direction of quantitative assessment is to determine the proportion of rare and abundant species, as well as their impact on the structure of communities as a whole. A related direction is the assessment of species dominance, within the framework of which the concept of species significance is used. Significance can be understood as an assessment of its place in the ecosystem - biomass, abundance, etc..
Another (very popular and significant) direction in this area is the prediction of the number of unseen species in a community. For these purposes, they use: simple statistical extrapolations based on time series analysis methods, species-area dependency curves, building models based on fractal patterns, and so on.
AV Markov and AV Korotaev demonstrated the applicability of hyperbolic models of positive feedback for the mathematical description of the macrodynamics of biological diversity.

Similarity measures are used to assess differentiating diversity. In fact, the assessment of this type of diversity occurs through the comparison and identification of similar elements of biosystems.

Reasons for the reduction

The extinction of biological species is a normal process of development of life on Earth. In the process of evolution, mass extinction of species has repeatedly occurred. An example is the Permian extinction event, which led to the extinction of all trilobites.
Since the 17th century, human economic activity has become the main factor in accelerating extinction. In general, the reasons for the decline in diversity are the growing consumption of resources, neglect of species and ecosystems, insufficiently thought-out state policy in the field of exploitation of natural resources, a lack of understanding of the importance of biological diversity and an increase in the population of the Earth.
The reasons for the extinction of individual species are usually habitat disturbance and overexploitation. Due to the destruction of ecosystems, many dozens of species have already died. About 100 species have disappeared only near the inhabitants of tropical forests. Game animals suffer from over-harvesting, especially those that are highly valued on the international market. Rare species with collection value are under threat.
Other reasons include: the impact of introduced species, the deterioration of the food supply, targeted destruction in order to protect agriculture and commercial facilities. It is believed that 12 species of living beings were destroyed by accident.

Security

1. When taking into account long-term economic interests is difficult or simply impossible, the ethical principle should be applied: “All living beings are unique in their own way and somehow important for the biosphere as a whole and for humanity, as its particles.”
2. Humankind-wide biodiversity conservation efforts cannot be limited to protecting a few particularly species-rich ecosystems (such as tropical forests or coral reefs).
3. This activity should focus not only on protected natural areas (for example, reserves, habitats of certain rare species, etc.), but also on areas where people live and work.
4. As the priority areas of this activity, it is advisable to take reasonable measures for the conservation and reasonable accounting of biological diversity within humanity itself, as a biological species, and individual peoples inhabiting it. Leveling, "average" approaches to a person (when there is a possibility and social validity of taking into account the biodiversity of an individual) lead to huge and unjustified economic, moral and environmental damage. Sick, poor and illiterate (due to such approaches) citizens simply do not have the strength and enthusiasm to think about long-term environmental consequences.
5. Increasing funding for biodiversity conservation alone will not slow down the rate of extinction of species, habitats and landscapes. A special policy of states and a whole set of changes (in legislation, the structure of environmental activities, etc.) are needed that will create conditions under which an increase in spending on biodiversity conservation will indeed be successful (for a given time period).
6. Biodiversity conservation is the preservation of natural gifts that are important both at the local level and from the point of view of the country and all of humanity. However, the economic benefit of biodiversity conservation is noticeably manifested only when its long-term consequences are taken into account and at the level of a large country, mainland, the entire globe and the interests of their population over a long period, therefore, in order to prevent damage to biodiversity from momentary and selfish motives, it is necessary to use appropriate as restrictive (for violators ), and supporting (for conscious) legislative, economic and educational measures. In other words, competent, timely and appropriate efforts to conserve biodiversity should be morally and financially beneficial at all levels of society (from an individual, institution to a ministry and the country as a whole), while other efforts are less or not beneficial at all.
7. Conservation of biodiversity in the future can only be sustainable if the awareness and responsibility of society (at all its levels), the conviction of the need for action in this direction will constantly increase.
8. It is very important that politicians and officials have both the necessary information, on the basis of which they could make an informed choice and take appropriate actions, and legislative responsibility for not making (or untimely adoption) of relevant decisions (and, of course, bonuses, awards and other public recognition - for timely and competent decisions).
9. Strengthening the accountability of politicians, ministries and departments to society in their activities (including on issues of biodiversity conservation) is closely related to the expansion of legislative opportunities for responsible and competent participation and awareness of the public, volunteer societies in resolving relevant issues. Both of these are the most important conditions under which successful biodiversity conservation is possible.
10. The costs that are necessary for the conservation of biodiversity, the income and profit that this activity gives or will give in the future, it is advisable to more fairly distribute between different countries and between people within individual countries. This principle implies both a high level of international cooperation, in the limit - brotherhood and mutual assistance, and a thorough and verified legislative and scientific support (including mathematical modeling of the consequences of decisions) to prevent both denials of assistance and support at all levels and for all issues, where it is really deserved and necessary, and dependency and other possible abuses in other cases.
11. Priorities in the field of biodiversity conservation differ at different levels. Local preferences may not coincide with national or universal, however, taking into account and, as far as possible, correct setting of local interests for biodiversity conservation here and now is important and essential, since any restrictive and prohibitive measures, if they significantly contradict local economic interests and customs of the population, will either otherwise manage and be violated.
12. As part of an even larger effort to achieve the sustainable development of mankind, the conservation of biodiversity requires a fundamental change in the approaches, composition and practice of developing economic activities around the world.
13. Cultural diversity is closely related to natural diversity. Humanity's ideas about the diversity of nature, its meaning and use are based on the cultural diversity of peoples and vice versa, actions to preserve biological diversity often enhance cultural integration and increase its significance.

Tasks in the field of biodiversity protection

1. Economic - the inclusion of biodiversity in the country's macroeconomic indicators; potential economic income from biodiversity, including: direct (medicine, raw materials for breeding and pharmacy, etc.), and indirect (ecotourism), as well as costs - restoration of destroyed biodiversity.
2. Managerial - the creation of cooperation through the involvement in joint activities of state and commercial institutions, the army and navy, non-state associations, the local population and the entire public.
3. Legal - the inclusion of definitions and concepts related to biodiversity in all relevant legislative norms, the creation of legal support for the conservation of biodiversity.
4. Scientific - formalization of decision-making procedures, search for biodiversity indicators, compilation of biodiversity inventories, organization of monitoring.
5. Environmental education - environmental education of the population, the dissemination of ideas for the protection of biodiversity, as the most important component of the Biosphere.

Year of Biodiversity

On 20 December 2006, the General Assembly, by its resolution 61/203, proclaimed 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity.

On 19 December 2008, the Assembly called on all Member States to meet their commitments to significantly reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010 by giving due attention to this issue in their respective strategies and programs (resolution 63/219). The Assembly invited all Member States to establish national committees for the International Year of Biodiversity, including representatives of indigenous peoples and local communities, and invited all international organizations to also commemorate the occasion.

In support of the International Year of Biodiversity, the Assembly will hold a one-day high-level meeting in 2010 during its sixty-fifth session, with the participation of heads of state, government and delegations.

Notes

Sources

Links

• Biodiversity of the Altai-Sayan Ecoregion - Biodiversity of Altai-Sayan Ecoregion
• UNDP/GEF Project "Biodiversity Conservation in the Russian Part of the Altai-Sayan Ecoregion"
• Biodiversity Project on the Practical Science website
• Library on evolution on the network page "Problems of evolution".
• "Green Gateway" - a selection of links on ecology and nature conservation
• Borinskaya S.A. Genetic diversity of peoples // Priroda, No. 10, 2004
• Bronevich M. A."The role of biodiversity in wildlife", abstract
• Markov A.V. , Korotaev A.V. Hyperbolic growth of Phanerozoic marine and continental biota diversity and community evolution // Journal of General Biology. 2008. No. 3. S. 175-194.
• Elena Naimark. Biodiversity, like population, is growing in hyperbole (journalistic article based on the article by the above-mentioned A.V. Markov and A.V. Korotaev in the same edition (Journal of General Biology) from 2007)
• Actual problems of biodiversity conservation in Russia Ret Code: Page not found (as of 1.06.2012).

Bibliography

• Biodiversity conservation and water quality: the role of feedback in ecosystems // Reports of the Academy of Sciences (DAN). 2002. v.382. No. 1. C.138-141