Water and Biodiversity in the Freshwater Biome Is Under Attack
Freshwater biodiversity seem to be under attack worldwide, due in part largely to freshwater pollution and the introduction of non-native species to freshwater ecosystems that have devastating impact on the local flora and fauna. Freshwater diversity is under threat by pollution and human introduction of these non-native pests and is a serious issue that humans need to deal with quickly.
What Is Freshwater Biodiversity?
Simply stated, Freshwater ecosystems include rivers, streams, ponds, lakes, wetlands such as swamps, etc as well as geothermal systems and underground aquifers. Freshwater Biodiversity consists of all the numerous lifeforms that inhabit these waters, from birds, mammals and fish down to the smallest hydrothermal bacteria that live in superheated geothermal hot pools. The rate of extinction of species in freshwater ecosystems is alarming, to say the least. The United States Environmental Protection Agency states that of the known 822 native American fish species, 21 of these have disappeared forever. Unfortunately this isn’t all. Native species in water and biodiversity are under attack world wide.
Water and Biodiversity Conservation Strategy
As critical as our water and biodiversity are, humans need to develop a conservancy strategy and we need to deliver it quickly. Unfortunately there are many factors that complicate this process greatly and the longer we delay the greater the threat to our water and biodiversity. Threats include land use and how to mitigate its impact on our water and biodiversity, how far we need to take conservation efforts, and a general lack of knowledge needed to make a consistent plan when it comes to developing our freshwater conservancy strategies.
More Facts Needed
We need more studies done on how land is used, what native species exist currently and how many are at risk for being lost. Water and biodiversity cannot be taken lightly as our lives on this planet may be at stake. Serious decline in water and biodiversity outstrip declines in most other ecosystems and constitute one of our most at risk ecosystem challenges to date. If we don’t gather more facts and study this problem we may find it irreversible.
How Important Is Water and Biodiversity?
Water and biodiversity is of critical importance to the world. To inventory all the freshwater species world wide would be quite a task, however it is estimated that 40% of the worlds fish species belong to freshwater. Since such a large portion of our water and biodiversity is dependent on freshwater ecosystems it seems prudent to do more research on the possible threats to our water and biodiversity and how they may be impacted by global climate change, pollution as well as other human activities. Pollution probably has the greatest impact on water and biodiversity in the form of sewage, industrial output and agricultural runoff, among other causes. As a species, we need to sit up and pay attention to our water and biodiversity as a real and ongoing issue, or we may find someday that we cannot reverse the damage.
