Welcome to Biodiversity & Conservation. This online module was developed by UNB Sustainability with assistance from the Office of Experiential Education to introduce the concepts of biodiversity, ecosystems, and their conservation.  

Biodiversity refers to the variety of life forms on Earth, including the diversity of species, genes, and ecosystems. 

All living organisms in a community share their physical environment in a complex, interconnected web of nutrient and energy cycling, which functions as a unit referred to as an ecosystem.  

An ecosystem is a natural community, and they can exist anywhere on Earth. They are made up of biotic (or living) and abiotic (or non-living but life-supporting) factors. Ecosystems can vary in size, and examples include rainforests, frog ponds, or schoolyards. An ecosystem includes the abiotic factors of land, air, water, sunshine, nutrients, and all of the biotic factors (the plants, animals, bacteria, fungi, humans, and so on) that live within it. 

The various factors influencing an ecosystem result in very complex dynamics. An ecosystem will likely function differently depending on things such as the time of day or season, and have various processes occurring in different places, such as in the shade or in wet areas. In this sense, there are functional ecosystems within ecosystems.  

For example, a forest can be considered an ecosystem, but so can an individual pond in that forest, or even the patch of moss on the bark of a single tree. The planet Earth itself can even be considered one really big ecosystem, made up of all of the forest, desert, ocean, and other ecosystems within it. While there are no natural boundaries to an ecosystem in nature, we think of them as having them so we can learn more about them and how they work. 

Having a variety of healthy ecosystems allows for robust biodiversity. All living things have essential needs which must be met by their habitat. Some species are generalists and can live in a variety of ecosystem conditions, while others have more specific needs. It is because of this that protecting and conserving ecosystems is crucial to preserving biodiversity.  

Conservation is the protection and preservation of biodiversity through management and the mitigation of threats. Conservation is important because it protects the diversity of life on our planet. 

In this module, we will explore the value and importance of biodiversity, including its connections to the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals. We will also look at some common threats to biodiversity and why it is important that we mitigate these threats through conservation, along with some ways you can support biodiversity conservation in New Brunswick. 

We have defined biodiversity as the variety of life forms on Earth, with three main areas of diversity to consider. 

The most common type of biodiversity that is talked about is species diversity, which considers the number of species in a community or ecosystem and the abundance of each of those species. For example, a forest with high biodiversity might be home to dozens of species of birds, while a forest with low biodiversity might only support a few species.  

The value of high species diversity comes from the connections between species. We think of organisms as being connected in different ways – from which species they are eating or being eaten by to specific roles in an ecosystem, such as pollinators or decomposers, to connections through water, energy, and nutrient cycles.  

When there is high biodiversity among species, there are many different organisms filling each role in an ecosystem. This means that if something happens to an individual species that reduces their number, such as a disease or some other threat, there are other species that can fill in for the missing one and the overall community or ecosystem continues on.  

Ecosystem diversity looks at a wider scale, considering the variation of ecosystems within an area. For example, New Brunswick has a wide range of ecosystems, including different types of forests, wetlands, rivers, shorelines, ocean, and so on. Ecosystem diversity decreases when forests and wetland are cleared, shorelines are built up for human use, and ocean beds are cleared for harbours and shipping.  

Lower ecosystem diversity results in decreased species diversity, loss of ecosystem services, and lower resilience.  

The third type of biodiversity we’ll consider is genetic diversity. Genetic diversity is based on the number of different genes present in the genetic pool of a species. The more diverse the genetic pool is, the greater variability there is between individuals in a species. Greater variability usually leads to greater adaptability when conditions change because variability increases the chances that some individuals in a population are suited to the new conditions. This leads to a species surviving in an area, rather than being wiped out.  

In general, higher levels of biodiversity in all of its forms lead to greater resilience – of a species, an ecosystem, an area, or the planet. For that reason, biodiversity is an important measure of species and ecosystem health.