What is biodiversity?

Biodiversity means the variation of all the different life forms, both animals and
plants. Consider these statistics on animal biodiversity:
On our planet are:
60,000 vertebrates: 30, 000 fish, 10,000 birds, 8,000 reptiles, and over 5,000 each of
amphibians and mammals.
1,000,000 invertebrates: 950, 000 insects and over 100,000 shellfish.

Why is biodiversity important for agriculture?
Potatoes, rice and coffee have all suffered in the past from the effects of farmers
only planting one or two varieties, but all have been saved by cloning and
modifying the diseased varieties to improve them. It is easy for diseases to spread
because 80% of our food comes from just 20 types of plants that farmers grow. If
we continued to plant only a few varieties, there might be serious problems from
diseases again.

Why are we losing biodiversity?
If humans didnt exist, there wouldnt be such a big threat to biodiversity. The
worst factor is the destruction of natural habitats, but introducing new species to
an area is also dangerous. Pollution is a big problem, too.

Why is biodiversity important for Mexico?
In Mexico, there are over 200,000 different species: over 10% of the worlds
biodiversity. Mexico is the first country for reptiles, second for mammals, and
fourth for amphibians and plants. Many of the worlds favorite foods originated
here, such as chocolate, tomato, corn, and vanilla. If there were problems with food
production in the future, Mexican biodiversity could help feed the world.