Biodiversity Case

Biodiversity is the variety of plant and animal species. Biodiversity is very important to our ecosystem. The biodiversity of species can provide a variety of food such as meat, vegetables, and fruit. Most of our medicinal drugs come from plants. The periwinkle plant found in Madagascar, helps treat a lot of patients' cancer. The yew tree also provides drugs that can fight cancer. Biodiversity is being threatened and we need to protect it. A boy named Jason Spaniel helped protect biodiversity by creating a wetland with a bird feeder.

An ecosystem is a level in the biosphere where organisms interact with their environment. Endangered species are in danger of becoming extinct because of harms to their population. Some examples of endangered species are whooping cranes, manatees, black-footed ferrets, and the Florida panther. Manatees became endangered because of boats. Since the manatees roam just below the water surface, the boat propellers cut them and either kills them or just leave them harmed. Their population is dying down because of this and is they don't reproduce fast enough to catch up with the individuals dying their species can get wiped out. Threatened species are likely to become endangered in the near future if the right actions to protect them are not taken. The bald eagle was endangered before but is now considered a threatened species because its population is increasing. There was once a very harmful environmental contaminant called DDT (Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) which caused harm as soon as it entered the environment. It was an insecticide used to kill mosquitoes and pests but it was sprayed from jets in the sky and on farm crops which killed and harmed bald eagles and fish when it washed into lakes and streams. The birds that ate the contaminated fish laid extremely thin-shelled eggs which cause the shells to break before the young could develop and hatch. Luckily it was banned in the U.S. in 1972 but small remains are still left in some soil. After the ban, the eagles' populations began to increase and are no longer endangered. This is an example of recovery because the eagles' chances of becoming extinct are reversed due to higher protection of its habitat.

Migratory is the moving of one place to another mostly for the purpose of weather like during fall, a transition from summer to winter or to find food. A habitat is the area where a plant or animal lives. It provides the food, water, shelter, and space the organism needs to survive. A wetland is an area where it's mostly saturated with water. They benefit people by removing pollutants and it provides food, shelter, a breeding place, and water for animals like the whooping cranes. Captive breeding is a program in which animals are held in captivity by humans to breed so their population can increase. Whooping cranes were helped by these programs. The young were kept in a crane like habitat and were fed from a fake whooping crane head so the young wouldn't grow up thinking that they're humans. They also were taught where to migrate to by a jet. When they were old enough to manage life by themselves, they were released into their proper habitat. Neotropical migrants are birds that breed in North America but migrate to the Caribbean or Latin America during the colder months like December. The loss of habitat