What is biodiversity loss?

Biodiversity loss, also called loss of biodiversity, a decrease in biodiversity within a species, an ecosystem, a given geographic area, or Earth as a whole. Biodiversity, or biological diversity, is a term that refers to the number of genes, species, individual organisms within a given species, and biological communities within a defined geographic area, ranging from the smallest ecosystem to the global biosphere. (A biological community is an interacting group of various species in a common location.) Likewise, biodiversity loss describes the decline in the number, genetic variability, and variety of species, and the biological communities in a given area. This loss in the variety of life can lead to a breakdown in the functioning of the ecosystem where decline has happened.

Causes of biodiversity loss

1. Natural biodiversity loss:Different natural phenomenon like season change , flood, landslides, earthquake,forest-fire etc can cause biodiversity loss of any ecosystem.

2. Human driven biodiversity loss:In order to fulfil the unlimited requirement of human, they destroy the component of ecosystem eg.deforestation ,road construction,animal grazing,destruction of field for industries etc cause biodiversity loss of an area.

Effect of Biodiversity loss  

1. Ecological effects:Biodiversity is critical for maintaining ecosystem health. Declining biodiversity lowers an ecosystem’s productivity (the amount of food energy that is converted into the biomass) and lowers the quality of the ecosystem’s services (which often include maintaining the soil, purifying water that runs through it, and supplying food and shade, etc.).

2. Economical and societal effect:Biodiversity loss affects economic systems and human society. Humans rely on various plants, animals, and other organisms for food, building materials, and medicines, and their availability as commodities is important to many cultures. The loss of biodiversity among these critical natural resources threatens global food security and the development of new pharmaceuticals to deal with future diseases. Simplified, homogenized ecosystems can also represent an aesthetic loss.

Solutions to Biodiversity loss

1.Human activates like deforestation, forest-fire etc should be reduced. Every resources should be used in a way that it doesn't affects the ecosystem of that area.  

2.Governments, non-governmental organizations, and the scientific community must work together to create incentives to conserve natural habitats and protect the species within them from unnecessary harvesting, while disincentivizing behaviour that contributes to habitat loss and degradation.

3.People should be aware about importances of biodiversity and effect of biodiversity loss .