Biodiversi-who?

 

Hey Everyone!

Biodiversity is a heck of a thing, and in fact it is in an indicator of the ecological health of a given area! In the fossil record, biodiversity typically peaks in the millions of years directly post cataclysmic extinctions as there are a huge variety of niches that have directly opened up. 

Naturally going extinct isn't on our bucket list, and since we are so intertwined with the natural world it is important to acknowledge and promote the health of our living world. While fossil fuels are not technically dinosaurs, they are still remnants of ancient microbial life, namely those that photosynthesized and decayed millions upon millions of years ago. It is within these early times we can come to realize the importance of Biodiversity.

The Great Oxidation Event is something that really should be talked about more. There was a time where oxygen was a scarce resource, that oh-so-special substance that is now necessary for the majority of macroscopic life to exist. Photosynthetic Cyanobacteria took advantage of this inhospitable world without major predators and without species competition as we know it. Perhaps among the most peaceful times in earth's history until it wasn't. You see, even a microscopic bacteria has the ability to fundamentally change the course of a planet's trajectory, even the trajectory of life itself. What happens when these photosynthetic organisms run out of the repulsive carbon dioxide they are using to fuel their chemical processes?

Before they ran out of carbon dioxide, there was enough oxygen produced to displace elements within the atmosphere, leading to the creation of the ozone layer and the start of an ice age that froze most of the world! These early cells were anaerobic, not requiring oxygen to survive, and even more, the oxygen in the air and water directly interfered with their life processes, essentially making oxygen poisonous to them. Over the course of hundreds of millions of years, they had created their own mass extinction, one of the first major extinctions earth had ever faced. 

I highlight this case, as if there had already existed microbes dependent on oxygen, a system would have been established, and equilibrium would have been much harder to upset. In this day and age, every species lost is a tragedy for the greater web of life. Life can be thought of as interconnected nodes, where more nodes means more interactions and more possibilities. As the candle of each species is snuffed out by the breath of extinction, so too are the connections that had and could have been.

Biodiversity is an indicator of what is, can, and could be. The more variables the better!

The passages above are referenced largely on the work of others, namely an article by Kartik and those who have dedicated themselves to their respective fields of science and science education.

Below is my definition of Biodiversity at the beginning of Su26 Biodiversity Stewardship.

"Biodiversity is the abundance of different forms of life, and the amount of said life, within a given area. The more suitable area and abundance of resources within the sphere of influence, there is a trend of increasing amounts of Biodiversity."

References

Aiyer, Kartik. “The Great Oxidation Event: How Cyanobacteria Changed Life.” American Society for Microbiology, 18 Feb. 2022, asm.org/Articles/2022/February/The-Great-Oxidation-Event-How-Cyanobacteria-Change. Accessed 2 June 2026.