Why is biodiversity important?

An educational resource created by the Pearl Mussel Project Ltd.

April 19, 2021

What does biodiversity mean?

Biodiversity comes from two words BIOlogical DIVERSITY and means the variety of life on earth.

Biodiversity = all living things on earth

Habitats

When you start to think about all the different animals and plants on earth, you might realise that they all live in specific places. For example, a squirrel lives in a woodland, while a fish lives in a river, and a camel lives in the desert.

The environment where a plant or animal lives is called a habitat, so a squirrel lives in a woodland habitat, a fish lives in a river habitat, and a camel lives in a desert habitat. Animals and plants often have special adaptations to help them to live in their particular habitats, like the shape of a fish allows it to move through water easily.

Do you remember what type of habitat the Freshwater Pearl Mussel lives in?

Lets have a look at some different habitats and where you might find them!

(Click on the habitat to learn more about it)

Desert habitat

Coral Reef habitat

Rainforest habitat

Rocky shore habitat

Raised Bog habitat

Savanna habitat

Ocean habitat

Mangrove habitat

Desert habitat

Desert habitats occur in dry areas that don't get much rain. You won't find any desert habitats in Ireland! Deserts can occur in warm or cold places and the animals and plants that live there are adapted to cope with very dry conditions.

Coral Reef habitat

Coral reef habitats usually occur in warm tropical waters. They are made up of a variety of coral species and all the other species, like fish, anemones, starfish, seahorses that live in or around the reef.

Rainforest habitat

Rainforest habitats are forest habitats that are found in warm places. They are densely vegetated and have a variety of animals. These habitats get a lot of rainfall each year to help all the plants grow!

Rocky shore habitat

The rocky shore habitat occurs along coastlines that have hard rocks. The rocky shore can either be covered by seawater all the time covered and uncovered by the tide (intertidal). The plants and animals that live here need to be able to cope with being under water and in the open air during different parts of the day and also being hit by waves.

Raised Bog habitat

Raised bogs are a type of wetland. The plants and animals that live here are adapted to live in wet, nutrient poor conditions. Deep layers of peat build up in raised bogs over time. The peat acts like a time capsule and preserves things like tools, seeds, plant remains, and even bog bodies!

Savanna habitat

A savanna is a type of grassland that occurs in warm areas that get a lot of rain in the summer months. You find both tress and grasses in a savanna, but the trees never form a closed canopy like in a woodland or rainforest habitat. That means that the animals that live in these open savanna habitats need to be aware of predators to protect themselves.

Ocean habitat

The ocean is comprised of saltwater and can vary from being shallow to deep. The animals that live in this habitat must be able to cope with living underwater and living in salty conditions.

Mangrove habitat

Mangroves occur in tropical tidal zones. The roots of the trees that make up the mangrove are submerged in water. These trees are specially adapted to cope with being submerged in salty water and release salt through their leaves!

Can you think of other examples of habitats and the animals and plants that live in them?

Why is biodiversity important?

01 / 05

Biodiversity and the Pearl Mussel Project

How can I help to protect biodiversity?

There are lots of easy things that you can do to help protect and increase biodiversity in your local area and even in other parts of the world too!

Here are some examples:

You could plant native wildflowers in your garden, or install a bee/insect hotel to help pollinators

You could make sure your family only buys peat free compost to help protect our wetlands, or even better, make your own compost from food waste at home

You could make sure that your family only puts on the dishwasher or washing machine when it is full to help conserve water

You could put up bird boxes or bat boxes in your local area to provide extra habitat for birds and bats

You could plant native trees in your garden or local area (you could even collect acorns and holly seeds in the autumn, plant them in pots, and watch them grow into trees the next spring)

You could make sure your family recycles as much as possible. For example recycling paper helps to reduce the amount of trees that are cut down to make paper