Biodiversity, the force that balances the Earth's ecosystem!
What is biodiversity and how can we protect it?
Biodiversity and Extinction Stories for Youth

What if the world were devoid of life? A sky without pigeons or magpies, without flies, a forest without squirrels or frogs, without moss or grass, not even a streamside loach.
No one can survive in this environment.
What would it be like to have mountains with only one type of tree, fields with only one type of flower, and an ocean with only one type of fish? No one would want to live in such a place.
But unfortunately, the world is becoming more and more simple like this.
Instead of this world, what creates a richer and more colorful world is ‘biodiversity.’

Biodiversity is literally a measure of how diverse living things are.
It is confirmed through three major things.
Species diversity, genetic diversity, and ecosystem diversity.
We hope that diverse creatures live on Earth, that even within the same species, we hope that our genes are diverse, and that various ecosystems are preserved.
The creatures and nature that surround us are not simply a background.
We create a world where everyone can live by balancing air, water, and soil.
Biodiversity is the health of the planet.
In other words, biodiversity is essential for the health of all living things.


『10 Things You Should Know About Biodiversity』 is the twentieth book in the "10 Things You Should Know About Science" series, which contains stories about biodiversity and extinction that will determine the future of all living things, including humans.
Professor Kim Seong-ho, who has observed life for a long time and written easy and fun stories about life, conveys biodiversity in an easy-to-understand way in this book.
As I follow the teacher's story leisurely, as if walking along a country road, I soon come to understand the importance of biodiversity and the preciousness of life, which had previously sounded unfamiliar.
If you want to protect even one more species in the future, open a book now!

Biodiversity is a measure of how biologically healthy the Earth is.
There are three main things we want to see in diversity: species, genes, and ecosystems.
We call it species diversity, genetic diversity, and ecosystem diversity.
It is a wish for various species to live on Earth, for the same species to have diverse genes, and for the diverse ecosystem to be preserved without being destroyed.
--- p.28

Until now, mass extinctions were caused by unavoidable natural phenomena such as asteroid impacts, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and major earthquakes.
However, the sixth mass extinction is caused by climate change, which is caused by humans' endless greed and excessive laziness.
There are also many opinions that it will be an extinction that progresses at an extremely rapid pace.
Some scholars say that a mass extinction has already begun.
Moreover, the extinction that is happening right before our eyes is said to be occurring 100 to 1,000 times faster than the original natural frequency.
--- p.51

The root cause of biodiversity loss can be said to be environmental changes, including climate change.
To be more precise, it is environmental destruction.
The original ecosystem has the ability to purify itself.
Even if it is damaged or dirty, it has the power to return to its original form over time to a certain extent.
But there are limits to midnight power.
It means that once you cross a certain line, there is no going back.
Even though the limits of our midnight abilities are quite flexible, humans try to exceed even that margin.
--- p.73

Habitat destruction caused by excessive development, such as forest destruction, reclamation of wetlands including tidal flats, and road construction, is a direct cause of biodiversity loss.
As habitat area decreases, the number of species living within it inevitably decreases.
Because both intra- and inter-species competition is becoming fierce.
As space decreases and populations decline, the probability of inbreeding also increases.
The increase in inbreeding means that species are on the extinction train.
--- p.95

What do you think when you see Sihwa Lake? Isn't it so sad and painful? It makes you reproach yourself for what a terrible thing we've done.
It's like breaking a perfectly good, healthy leg on purpose and spending a lot of time and money to recover it to half its original size.
What's even more frustrating is that even now, more Sihwahos are being created here and there in our country.
--- p.112

The price paid for unification through unification rice was enormous.
If you only look at one and there's a problem with that one, it's bound to fall apart.
If it's perfect, that's fine.
But no breed manipulated by humans can be perfect.
It's always been like that.
This time, they said it was perfect, but it's never been perfect.
It will be like that in the future too.
There is only one thing you can trust completely.
The truth is that variety is healthy.
--- p.133

I believe that the most important thing for restoring and conserving biodiversity is to remember that nature and all living things within it are interconnected.
Wouldn't the idea of ​​maintaining nature in a sustainable state and the effort to preserve that idea follow? If we understand the importance of biodiversity, we will value the sustainability of the ecosystem above immediate profits or convenience.

--- p.138