by Guest Blogger – Lorian Flores, a member of the Chihuahuan Desert Education Coalition Board of Directors.

You can help prevent biodiversity loss by becoming a Conservation Ambassador at the Zoo.


Biodiversity refers to the variety of living organisms found on Earth including all animals, plants, fungi, microorganisms and even us! It is one of the most complex systems on our planet and very important to the sustainability of the environment. Most of the organisms rely and interact with one another in many ways and the balance of the population of each species is dependent on the rest. Just like the food web and life cycles, many species rely on others to grow, get protection and to eat. This interaction helps create populations of species, communities among each other and entire ecosystems where all the parts depend on each other to achieve sustainability. Even though it is such a complex and broad system, it can be damaged very easily. Some of the results of biodiversity loss may be permanent, which is why it is very important to find a way in which biodiversity is protected and taken care of.

Biodiversity Loss

Biodiversity loss is constantly increasing as we keep losing many species of all types of organisms. Something very important to consider is how the number of organisms that we know about is very small compared to the actual number of species found on the planet. This is because there are many areas that have not been fully investigated around the world, especially in the ocean. Because of this, there is a high chance that there are many species that have become extinct, and we didn’t even know about their existence.

At first it does not sound so bad because the extinction of organisms, including mass extinctions, has occurred many times before due to natural selection, ice ages and other natural phenomena that have occurred throughout Earth’s history. This means that it is normal for many organisms to go extinct, but the decrease in biodiversity over the past few decades is very different because it has been caused mainly by humans.

Many scientists believe that we are going through a sixth mass extinction and for the first time in history it is not something biological, but something caused by humanity’s poor decision making and lack of education. Many who don’t know much about this topic would believe that this is something that does not necessarily concern us as it is only plants and animals. But the reality here is that it affects us all and it should concern us for many reasons. Biodiversity has such great impact in our lives because it helps us obtain food and water. There are many animals, plants and other organisms that help to filter the water and keep it clean enough to use. Many of these organisms also help clean the environment, the same environment from which we can breathe clean oxygen which we need to survive. With biodiversity we can also obtain food that we need and love and products that we use every day including fruits and vegetables, all kinds of meat and animal products. For many of these organisms, that benefit us, biodiversity is very important as they might depend on other organisms for food and coexistence.