Biodiversity Hotspots Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Biodiversity Hotspots - Essay Example While some of the plant and animal species in an ecosystem may be increasing in population, others may be actually decreasing or facing extinction (Bowen, P. 56). The fact that these species of plants and animals may soon become extinct is a wake-up call to the governments and other stakeholder organizations and individuals to multiply their biodiversity conservation and preservation efforts. In fact, for organisms such as insects, algae and fungi on which little are known compared to other larger organisms, more needs to be done to protect them from extinction (Bowen, P. 55). In addition, there are myriad larger animal species that face severe extinction threats and more should be done to preserve them. A community of plants and animals living together in a location and the various environmental processes and factors that directly and indirectly influence their lives is referred to as ecosystem. In other words, ecosystem refers to the elements that make biodiversity possible by supp orting the lives of animals and plants living in a community through the provision of valuable resources. For in instance, in an ecosystem, wetlands help in the cleaning of water, controlling of floods and filtering of toxic substances out of water bodies. Similarly, estuaries are nurseries for marine life while forests are the chief suppliers of oxygen and fresh water to an ecosystem besides their role in controlling soil erosion and levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (Bowen, P. 56). Student 1 Biodiversity Hotspot Biodiversity hotspot refers to a region or an area in which natural ecosystems that are fundamentally native and intact species or communities of living organisms are naturally well represented and supported. In other definitions, a biodiversity hotspot could be an area that is richly populated with locally endemic species of plants and animals, which in most cases, are not found in regions outside the said hotspot (Novacek, P. 89). Unfortunate for most of the bio diversity hotspots in the world today, many of the management practices at these spots do great compromise and harm to the ecological balance at these spots since they place the natural values and resources of these spots at risk. This risk is likely to increase if not checked, resulting in the decreasing or extinction of certain endangered species of living organisms. There is thus the need for active conservation management practices at all the world’s biodiversity hotspots to ensure the survival of endangered species of plants and animals. The only source of hope for most biodiversity hotspots in the world is that most of the natural values of these spots are quite intact and it will only require the formulation and implementation of conservation actions that would maintain and improve these natural values (Novacek, P. 97). Protecting and conserving biodiversity hotspots should therefore be the concern of everyone in the society, more so governments. In this context, gover nments must establish programmes that emphasize activities that would improve the conservation of hotspots on both private and communal/public land. Similar course of action should be initiated at all levels of the society: that is, at the local, national, regional and international scales. There are quite a number of renowned biodiversity hotspots in the world. Most common are the thousands of islands in the major oceans of the world such as the Indian, the Pacific