What, I wonder, is the necessity of all life forms on this planet? There are those that believe that there are species that could be wiped out for the benefit of humans, without adversely affecting our existence or day to day life, and there are some that believe that all living things have their place in the circle of life.
According to one person who responded to this question, “The more diverse an ecosystem is, the easier it is for all such ecosystem’s individuals, working as a team, to buffer drastic changes in the environment so that it continues being habitable in a larger range of temperatures/atmospheric pressure/amount, power and wavelength of light.”
But there are those that believe that there are certain pests and parasites that, if destroyed, would have no impact upon the ecosystem at all – such as wasps, rats, certain feral animals, woodlice, and harmful organisms. However, there is certain evidence to support otherwise, such as evidence from a Brazilian study that the saliva of a particular type of flea has anti-cancer properties. This poses the question as to whether all life forms have some way of benefiting the human species in some way or another.
It could be thought of, perhaps, like that of bacteria. Some bacteria are good and some bacteria are bad – potentially, we could be much better off without bacteria that is harmful to us. However, perhaps those bad bacteria could be beneficial to us in the future, if we find a use for them, as with penicillin.
One thing for sure is, that there are those life forms and bacteria that we certainly do need for the functioning of our lives. Some of those life forms include primates, bats, and bees – because they are necessary for the spread, fertilization, and pollination of plants and seeds. Without these animals, many sources of food would be unable to produce fruit through lack of pollination, or by failing to give new plants the chance to be able to spread and grow.
Another interesting life form that the planet needs to survive, is fungi. Fungi works like nature’s recycler, by decomposing dead plants and animals, and returning the nutrients to the soil.
Whether there is some reason for all life forms, there are those species – such as mosquitos or flies – that I could certainly do without!
So while it isn’t exactly clear as to what the impact of the extinction of certain species of life forms has upon the ecosystem (such as pests like mosquitos), it can certainly be said that there are many, many species that if they did become extinct, would have a significantly negative impact upon humans – and other life forms – that depend upon those species to survive.
