The Diversity and Sustainability of an EcoSystem

                 Hello Everyone, my name is Rainy Willis and I am going to be talking about the diversity and sustainability of an ecosystem. First of all, let me explain what those words mean. Well, diversity is as the word says a diverse habitat. For example, if there is a field of wildflowers and only one species of bees, one species of bee isn't enough to pollinate all of the different types of flowers That would be an example of low species diversity because there aren't many opportunities for the habitat to grow and diversify. There wouldn't be enough species to do all of the different jobs that needed to get done. Sustainability-as intimidating as the word may sound-is actually quite a simple term that means: an ecosystem is able to support itself. 

            Now I would like to talk a bit more about diversity. First, there is genetic diversity which is sort of like a built-in ecosystem vaccine. Let's take the elm tree, for example; the D.utch E.lm D.isease which was introduced to Canada in 1940 has caused great damage to our elm trees. However, there is a specific string of elm trees that are not affected by D.E.D. This string of elm trees has a genetic immunity to the disease which is called Genetic Variety Diversity. Since some elms are not affected it is very hard to eliminate all elm trees, which gives the elm trees a good chance at repopulating. 

            The second topic I'll explain is biodiversity. Biodiversity is similar to the concept of Genetic Diversity, in the sense that problems shouldn't affect an ecosystem so badly that they are wiped out completely. Biodiversity is easy to see if you travel to three parts of the world:

            1. The northern and southern hemispheres are not very diverse they are both cold. this means that things are more fragile and there isn't as much opportunity and time for the ecosystem to grow very well.

        2. Rainforests are very diverse places in the world; in jungles, it is easy for ecosystems to thrive especially in the damp coolness of the jungle floor. It is also much warmer than in the northern and southern hemispheres which is also a deciding factor in the diversity of the ecosystem. 

        3. Deserts: Deserts have very low diversity seeing as nothing grows there, due to aridity. Now that is not to say that there is no life there, because some animals get along quite well in the desert. But that would be an instance of genetic diversity, not biodiversity. In terms of biodiversity the desert, either hot or cold is extremely low.  

        Lastly, let me explain sustainability. Sustainability is the ability of an ecosystem to support itself. There are four main things for an ecosystem to be sustainable. 1. Competition: Competition is important because if there is no competition then a group/herd/pride will quickly become overpopulated by males and in doing so, increasing the entire species population. 2. Symbiosis: Symbiosis is very important because it is a reliable relationship between two vulnerable species and in working together to protect one another they stay safe. Take for example the clownfish and the anemone. To any other fish, the anemone is deadly poisonous except for the clownfish, they have been genetically diversified to be immune to the anemone poison. So with the clownfish now given protection, it returns the favour: while getting himself a meal it is also at the same time protecting the anemone from harmful predators. 3. Predetation: Predation is what keeps the species under the carrying capacity which I will talk about in the next topic. If there were no predators to hunt off the excess of other species then certain species size would become too large; other populations would be underfed and would drop in numbers, resulting in an unbalanced and unsustainable ecosystem. 4. Carrying Capacity: Carrying Capacity is the natural population limit for animals, As I said before predation plays a big part in carrying capacity. The carrying capacity is a uniquely designed system that acts as an automatic self destruct button. Once things become unbalanced and certain things become out of sync then everything becomes unbalanced and starts to fall apart. To keep an ecosystem balanced all of the four things listed above need to be in place. If those four things are running smoothly then there isn't much to worry about.

        So at the end of this, I hope I have given you an understanding of genetic variety diversity, biodiversity, sustainability, and the four main things that keep an ecosystem balanced: competition, symbiosis, predation, and carrying capacity.