Maintaining biodiversity

Biodiversity declines naturally over time but the rate of loss has accelerated rapidly because of human activity. Programmes to maintain biodiversity include conservation, breeding programmes, reforestation and field margins.

Why protect biodiversity?

A simplified ecosystem can collapse: lose pollinators and you lose crops; lose top predators and prey populations explode; lose decomposers and nutrient cycles fail. Maintaining biodiversity protects:

• Ecosystem services — pollination, soil formation, water purification.
• Future medicines — many drugs come from plants and microbes.
• Cultural and aesthetic value — wildlife is intrinsically important to many people.
• Resilience to climate change.

Conservation programmes

National parks and nature reserves

Protected areas where habitats and species are managed to thrive. Examples: Yellowstone (USA), the Lake District (UK), Serengeti (Tanzania).

Endangered species protection

Animals like rhinos, tigers and pandas are protected through:

• Banning hunting and poaching.
• CITES — international trade restriction on endangered species.
• Captive breeding in zoos to boost numbers, then release into the wild.
• Anti-poaching patrols and rangers.

Captive breeding programmes

• Maintain a viable gene pool so the species can survive even if numbers in the wild drop.
• Successful examples: Arabian oryx (extinct in wild → reintroduced).
• Risks: small populations → inbreeding; difficulty re-adapting to wild life.

Reforestation

Planting trees on previously deforested or degraded land:

• Restores habitat for many species.
• Stabilises soil and reduces erosion.
• Re-establishes the carbon sink — trees absorb CO₂ as they grow.

Hedgerows and field margins

Modern intensive farming removed many hedgerows to make bigger fields. Restoring them helps because:

• Hedges are habitats for hundreds of species (insects, birds, small mammals).
• They provide wildlife corridors linking patches of habitat.
• They give space for plants that pollinators need.
• Field margins (uncultivated strips at the edge of crops) provide flowers for pollinators and food for farmland birds (e.g. yellowhammers).

Government and voluntary schemes

• Government agri-environment schemes pay farmers to maintain hedges, field margins and wildflower strips.
• Charity-led projects (e.g. RSPB, Woodland Trust) plant new woodland and protect specific habitats.

Conflicts of interest

Conservation often involves trade-offs:

• Farmers — paid to leave field margins → reduces yield.
• Loggers / oil companies — protected areas mean loss of profits.
• Local communities — restrictions on hunting / fishing may affect livelihoods.

GCSE answers commonly require you to discuss both sides in extended-response questions.

Links

Builds on B7.5 (causes of biodiversity loss) and B7.6 (climate change). Connects to B7.9 (sustainable food production).