Who Will Protect the Web of Life?/ The Intricate Web of Life

"The variety of life is our insurance policy.  Our own lives and livelihood depend on it. -UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME

LIFE on earth is abundant and immensely diverse.  The  "biological diversity," or "biodiversity" for short, designates all the world's species, ranging from the smallest bacteria to the great sequoias; from earthworms to eagles.

All this lie on earth is part of one great, interdependent web that also includes  nonliving elements. Life depends on nonliving components such as earth's atmosphere, oceans, fresh water, rocks, and soils.  This community of life is called the biosphere, and humans are an integral part of it.

Biodiversity embraces all the bacteria and other microbes. Many of these are known to perform vital chemical functions that keep ecosystems operating. Biodiversity, or the web of life, also includes the green plants that produce the oxygen through photosynthesis, trapping solar energy and storing it in the form of sugars, which are the base of energy resources for most other forms of life. 

Next time: Who Will Protect the Web of Life?/The Intricate Web of Life

From the jw.org publications