The need for biodiversity

There are many reasons for the defence of biodiversity. Some are intuitive and are linked to the ethical motivation of respect for different forms of life, while others are based on a mechanistic vision of Nature where energy and nutritional cycles are effectuated through organisms that are specialised (and therefore different) for certain functions (e.g., primary production through photosynthesis, food chains that include heterotrophic organism). It is less evident when this motivation derives from a holistic view of the ecosystem, whereby the order and evolution of the organisation of the individual parts and the interactions between the different functions give rise to emergent properties that would otherwise not be possible. Therefore, the loss of an organism will impoverish the system in an unpredictable way, and depending on the time scale, this can bring about advantages or disadvantages, where the disadvantages are definitely more than likely to happen. By accepting the cyclical nature and the need for different functions within the production process as a starting point, we need to go further to describe the organisation of a natural system and a cultivated field we can emulate the functions that in Nature lead to the growth of the ecosystem, rather than to its impoverishment.