Wildlife and environment
Last updated | 20/10/2007
What is biodiversity?
You may have heard of the word 'biodiversity', but what does it mean? In simple terms, it means wildlife and nature. Biodiversity is all living things (species), from birds and bees to fish and trees. It also includes people too.
Each species, including man, has different but common needs, the basic ones being food, water and shelter. These are provided by each species' surroundings (where it lives, known as its habitat).
There is a very close relationship between a species and its habitat, so habitats are also an essential part of biodiversity. Where habitats becomes threatened, e.g. from pollution, species may have to move to another similar suitable area (if they can move easily, if there's any room, and where such areas are available). Where this isn't possible, wildlife can and does die.
Biodiversity is also about the differences among and between species. Obviously, birds are different to fish and trees, but also there are many different types of birds, fish and trees.
Why is biodiversity so important?
These differences are important in their own right, as they make our countryside and towns more colourful and enjoyable places to live in or visit, at every time of year. Walking in a bluebell woodland in the spring; seeing butterflies on a summer's day; listening to birdsong at dawn or dusk; watching bats fluttering in the evening (as they devour the dreaded midgie!), or seeing ducks and geese on a frozen loch in winter. These things can be magical, and they and many more happen on our doorstep in Perth and Kinross because of biodiversity!
The differences between species are also important because each and every living thing has slightly different needs and plays a slightly different role in life, the great majority of them bringing significant benefits to people all around the world.
For example, many of today's medicines come from nature - apparently, 1 in 4 of all prescribed medicines comes from just 40 different species of plants! A further 16% of our medicines come from animals or microbes. 99% of flowering plants have not been tested for their medicinal properties, so we lose them, and other species, at our peril.
Where would we be without our biodiversity?
Try to imagine...
...a Perth and Kinross with no, or only a few, insects or bees. Our trees, plants and crops might not be pollinated, and then could not reproduce or grow well enough to harvest. The social and economic consequences of widespread and regular harvest failure would be enormous.
...or a Perth and Kinross with only a few trees. This area is famous as Big Tree Country, and has some beautiful and varied woodlands which colour the landscape, provide fantastic areas for wildlife, walking, biking and other activities, as well as a source of timber for building, for paper and for (carbon-neutral!) firewood. Our lochs and rivers, and the salmon, trout and other species they support, and the water itself, are just as valuable - they all bring pleasure, money and jobs to our local economy. Without them, life here would be very different and much poorer, so we should value and protect our wildlife and landscape as key resources as they are so essential to our lives.
We must therefore recognise that biodiversity is not just about the importance of the species we all know and love, e.g. robins and primroses, or the rarer species, like freshwater pearl mussel or the water vole. We should protect all species.
