Maintaining Biodiversity

This lesson covers: 

  1. What conservation is
  2. Reasons for conservation
  3. Managing succession to conserve habitats

What is conservation?

Conservation is the sustainable management of the Earth's natural resources and ecosystems by humans in a way that allows for maximum future use. It involves active intervention to maintain ecosystems and biodiversity.


Key elements of conservation include:

  • Management of resources to ensure future productivity and resource availability.
  • Intervention to protect natural habitats and species.
  • Preserving genetic diversity.
  • Rehabilitating and reclaiming damaged ecosystems.


Conservation requires active human intervention through approaches like:

  1. Habitat restoration.
  2. Wildlife protection laws.
  3. Controlled land-use planning.


The goal is to ensure the long-term health and viability of the natural world.

Reasons for conservation

There are several key rationales behind conservation efforts.


Personal reasons:

  • To safeguard global life support systems.
  • To provide resources for current and future generations.


Ethical reasons:

  • Species have intrinsic rights to exist.
  • Humans should enable the coexistence of species.
  • Respecting nature is ethically preferable.


Economic reasons:

  • Ecosystems contain valuable genetic resources.
  • Balanced ecosystems maximise productivity.
  • Future discoveries and industries relying on biodiversity.


Cultural and aesthetic reasons:

  • Wildlife and scenery enrich human lives.
  • Inspiring art, music, culture, and recreation.

Managing succession to conserve habitats

Climax communities develop through succession, where the later stages cause loss of earlier habitats and species. Unmanaged succession can lead to a change in the ecosystem, often resulting in the development of a climax community.

Diagram showing the stages of ecological succession from bare ground to climax community with trees.

Succession management may conserve threatened habitats and the species they contain e.g. by preventing transition from moorland to forest. This is done by manipulating environmental conditions to inhibit progression to the next stage.


Examples include:

  • Burning vegetation
  • Grazing by livestock
  • Removing saplings
  • Mowing