The higher the biodiversity of an Habitat, the more
sustainable it is. Also, lower biodiversity equals less sustainability.
Explanation:
The term “biodiversity” is a coined from the phrase “biological diversity”. Biodiversity can be defined as the richness and variety of life of genes, species and ecosystem.
Biodiversity tells us a lot about the health of the biosphere. The greater the variety of species, the healthier the biosphere is. Why is this? This is because; the greater the species, the more links in food chains/webs. Also, the more the genes, the better chances for survival through adaptation.
On the other hand, Sustainability of an ecosystem is the ability of that ecosystem to maintain its structure and function over time in the face of inescapable external stress(e.g deforestation, tornadoes, floods, pollution, etc).
For an ecosystem, sustainability means maintaining ecological processes over long periods of time. These ecological processes includes evolution, food chains and webs, population dynamics, succession. e.t.c
So, if an ecosystem is able to maintain its structure and function over time in the face of external stress, it is said to be sustainable.
FURTHERMORE, The higher biodiversity in an ecosystem means that there is a greater variety of genes and species in that ecosystem. A great variety of genes and species means that the ecosystem is better able to carry out
natural processes. The ecosystem will therefore have more genes and species to help it carry out these processes. For example, there will be more species and more links in food webs, more plants to help with the biogeochemical cycles and more genes available for succession and evolution.
