Importance of Conservation Essay Example for Free

Importance of Conservation Essay The term wildlife has been used to refer to species of wild plants and animals. Nature is a term which infers not only life forms but also the interactions between those life forms. Biodiversity is a comprehensive word for the degree of nature’s variety, including both the number and frequency of ecosystems, species and genes in a given assemblage. It is a word which embraces both species richness and genetic diversity, both of which are being threatened throughout the world. Species extinctions and a reduction in genetic variability is taking place at rate never before witnesses. These losses can be attributed to various factors including pollution, physical disturbance, exploitation for food and other uses, deliberate extirpation, and habitat loss and fragmentation; the last of these is undoubtedly the most serious threat. Symptomatic of the rapidly growing human population, pollution, extinctions and habitat loss are all contributing to a diminished quality of life for future generations (Spellerberg, 1992). Conservation of Botanical Diversity Plants are the basis for life on Earth and without their capacity to capture the sun’s energy through the process of photosynthesis there would be no life in our planet. Therefore the conservation of plants is vital to the continued existence of life. There are between 250 and 300 thousand species of flowering plants, an estimated 200 thousand species of ferns, conifers, mosses and liverworts, giving a total of over half a million plant species in the world. Each species has different habitat requirements, performs different ecological functions in different ecosystems and has different uses or potential uses for humankind. It is not then enough to preserve a few selected plant species. For the survival of a quality of life, and the maintenance of the physical processes such as climate patterns, atmosphere and soil, the majority of plant species are needed. It is, therefore, of utmost importance that conservation techniques for plants aim at preserving as many species as possible (Maxted, Ford-Lloyd, Hawkes, 1997). Nature Conservation and Landscape Ecology Nature conservation generally focuses on land and distinguishes between two main types of protected area: the national or international parks, and reserves. Like in the case of Konza Prairie Trail, aside from research purposes, the site is also being conserved to preserve the biodiversity in the area and save the animals that are living in the site (Mason, 2007). National/international parks are heterogeneous areas in which generally different biotopes are present and in which some processes are sufficiently conserved. Reserves are generally patchy and smaller, being surrounded by an agricultural or developed matrix. Nature conservation plans are generally achieved following three main approaches: Conservation of threatened plants and animal populations; Conservation of representative biotopes (a piece of land with a particular type of nature), including communities and ecological processes; Conservation of areas with high biological and/or ecological diversity Generally conservation policies tend to conserve structures rather than processes. Landscape ecology can be useful for nature conservation because it takes into consideration the spatial arrangement of habitats, and consequently considers structures and processes as perceived by the different species. This perception often does not coincide with human perception, creating difficulties when management action is required. A compromise should be found, since in the future wild, remote and large areas will be increasingly rare because of human intrusion (Farina, 1997).