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I'm having trouble with my biology home work, what is the advantage of having a greater amount of species diversity in an ecosystem?

All I can really think of is a greater genetic diversity in the ecosystem, making it more readily able to adapt to environmental changes, but not really beinging into biology, I don't really have anything more than that.

You don't have the every critter or plant consuming on the same resources and starving when they run out. You have some things filling the gaps and adding to the enviornment whatsomething else needs to live. This is true of any living thing.

I'm having trouble with my biology home work, what is the advantage of having a greater amount of species diversity in an ecosystem?

Not only does a greater diversity "spread the load" on an ecosystem with more things filling more niches, but greater species diversity aids in natural selection. If too many members of a species can be susceptible and/or easily influenced by the same thing, such as a virus or a niche food source, the species can easily lose too many members to it to be sustainable.

If something goes wrong, a system with more animals might be able to compensate for losing one to a disease or something. Whereas a system with only a couple species will feel the loss.

Also, diversity can simply be used as a measure of the health of an ecosystem- a healthy system will have more species than one that has been wrecked, which will probably just have a few survivor-types.

Plus, y'know, more species=more potentially tasty things to eat.

Do remember that Species diversity and abundance are two completely different things.

Diversity is how equal the percentages of different species in an area there are, so for example, there could be only two species of animal in a given habitat, both having 51% and 49% of the population respectively, this would lead to a very high diversity. This is measured using the simpsons' diversity index.

Abundance is the actual number of different species, but both are important.

In diversity dominance is a bad thing. For example, in planted Coniferous forests, used for commercial purposes here in Scotland, have a dominance of mosses, and a lower Species diversity and Abundance than other native Deciduous woodlands.

More genetic material floating around is always good, helps against disease, and lessens the impact of extinctions of one species. Much of our medicines require a good diversity and abundance, the Amazon provides a vast amount of our new and pioneering research into cures for some of the most damaging diseases around.

Diversity in plants also allows for a greater diversity and abundance of animals species. High plant diversity can also be important in keeping the soils fertile and insuring that the right nutrients are reabsorbed.

I admit, I really should be able to give you more reasons why it is important, but if i'm honest I can't think of many, most of the time its just a matter of "diversity = good" and just don't question it.

 Cheesecat wrote:
I'm having trouble with my biology home work, what is the advantage of having a greater amount of species diversity in an ecosystem?

An advantage to the ecosystem?

I'd guess the advantage would be the different things they provide. Many animals help to promote pollenation through differing means. Some animals carry seads on their skin, others in their feces, etc... A wide variety of animal species will help allow for more means of pollenation, allowing for a larger variety of plant life, promoting a more abundant ecosytem all together.

Diversity in a single species means that when the environment changes (Or a plague hits them) a few individuals may survive and continue to propagate. Because the ones with favorable mutations in their genes survived in this new paradigm that means the species as a whole will be able to thrive. Thus evolution starts.

To put it in another way if every member of a species is the same then if a disease arrives then either all of them will live or none of them will. This is why the genetically modified plants that Monsanto and it's ilk are pimping out are so problematic.