How does Biodiversity benefit natural and agricultural ecosystems?

PRODUCTIVITY: Conservation and management of broad-based genetic diversity within domesticated species have been improving agricultural production for 10,000 years, however diverse natural populations have been providing food and other products for much longer. A wide range of species provides many thousands of products through agriculture and from the harvest of natural populations. High production levels are sustained through maximising the beneficial impact of ecosystem services for agricultural, modified and natural ecosystems.

ADAPTATION: A diverse range of organisms contributes to the resilience of agricultural and natural ecosystems, their capacity to recover from environmental stress and their ability to evolve. Informed adaptive management of agricultural and natural biodiversity, above and below ground and under water secures sustained production.

MAINTENANCE OF ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS: Essential functions such as nutrient cycling, decomposition of organic matter, crusted or degraded soil rehabilitation, pest and disease regulation, water quality, and pollination are maintained by a wide range of biologically diverse populations in natural ecosystems and in and near agricultural ecosystems. Maintaining this diversity of species and building on and enhancing ecosystem functions reduces external input requirements by increased nutrient availability, improved water use and soil structure, and natural control of pests.

How does farming benefit Biodiversity?

DELIVERY OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES: Agriculture occupies more than one third of the land in most countries of the world. Agricultural systems managed sustainably as ecosystems contribute to wider ecosystem functions such as maintenance of water quality, waste removal, soil moisture retention with reduction of runoff, water infiltration, erosion control, carbon sequestration, pollination, dispersal of seeds of wild and endangered plants, and refugia for species during droughts.

INCENTIVES: A range of populations needed by agriculture such as pollinators and beneficial predators need habitat diversity to survive. Agriculture therefore provides incentives to preserve areas such as hedgerows and field borders. Farming of aquatic species often occurs in natural water bodies. Thus, here too aquaculture provides incentives to protect the aquatic environment from adverse impacts, for example from pollution and water diversion. The need for adaptation and potential for improvement in productivity provides an incentive for the conservation of a diverse range of genetic resources both in situ and ex situ.

ECOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE: A large part of the human legacy of knowledge of biodiversity, its importance, and functions have been gained and will continue to be gained across cultures through agriculture practices, as well as that gained from the harvesting of natural populations. This is a resource that should be more actively used, as in schools' programmes, to strengthen the ecological literacy of all citizens.

For more on how biodiversity benefits natural and agricultural ecosystems, please see the FAO Biodiversity Awareness Folder.