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Biodiversity contributes to human quality of life in numerous
ways. Benefits range from the beauty of a wild flower or an
awe-inspiring wild landscape, to the functional services of
ensuring clean supplies of air and water, and a fertile soil.
We are reliant on plants, fungi and animals for all the food
we eat and many of the materials we use for making clothes
and furniture and building houses.
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Genetic diversity, of our crops and of native species, is
important for ensuring resistance to disease and to a changing
environment. Both genetic and species diversity allow life
to exist in wide and various environmental conditions, from
the bottom of the deep oceans to the icy poles. Diversity
at the species level also provides us with a varied diet,
a range of materials suited to different purposes and a wonderful
array of plants and creatures to study and enjoy.
It is diversity at the habitat and ecosystem level that provides
us with essential life-sustaining services such as climate
regulation, water storage and purification, and provision
of thick, fertile soils. While reedbeds and other aquatic
communities can very effectively remove heavy metals and organic
pollution from unclean water, a tropical forest will influence
rainfall and circulation of atmospheric gases, and salt-marshes
help to prevent coastal erosion.
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