Maintaining Biodiversity (AQA GCSE Biology)

Revision Note

Lára Marie McIvor

Written by: Lára Marie McIvor

Reviewed by: Lucy Kirkham

Positive & Negative Human Impact

  • The increasing human population and the activities of humans (including waste production, peat bog destruction, deforestation and our contributions to global warming) are causing a reduction in global and ecosystem-level biodiversity

  • These activities are considered as negative human interactions with ecosystems

  • There are, however, ways in which humans can interact positively with ecosystems

Methods to reduce negative impact on ecosystems & protect biodiversity

Methods used to reduce our negative impact on ecosystems and protect biodiversity_1, downloadable IGCSE & GCSE Biology revision notes

There are many conflicting pressures on maintaining biodiversity. Some examples include:

  • The cost of programmes:

    • Protecting biodiversity can be very expensive

    • Eg. the land used for field margins could be used by farmers to grow crops and sell them – governments sometimes pay farmers a subsidy to make up for the lost money

    • It costs money to check that programmes designed to maintain biodiversity are actually being followed

  • Protecting food security:

    • Land that is protected to maintain biodiversity could instead be used for farming – this can cause conflict in areas where there are food shortages

    • Sometimes organisms seen as a threat by farmers (eg. locusts and wolves) are killed to protect crops and livestock – this can negatively affect food chains / biodiversity and can cause conflict when species that are already under threat due to hunting or habitat loss are involved (eg. lions in parts of Africa)

  • The development of society:

    • Increasing amounts of land are required to sustain the increasing human population

    • Eg. land required for new housing developments or for new agricultural land in developing countries

    • This high demand means that land with undisturbed habitats and high biodiversity is increasingly being used for development

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Lára Marie McIvor

Author: Lára Marie McIvor

Expertise: Biology Lead

Lára graduated from Oxford University in Biological Sciences and has now been a science tutor working in the UK for several years. Lára has a particular interest in the area of infectious disease and epidemiology, and enjoys creating original educational materials that develop confidence and facilitate learning.

Lucy Kirkham

Author: Lucy Kirkham

Expertise: Head of STEM

Lucy has been a passionate Maths teacher for over 12 years, teaching maths across the UK and abroad helping to engage, interest and develop confidence in the subject at all levels.Working as a Head of Department and then Director of Maths, Lucy has advised schools and academy trusts in both Scotland and the East Midlands, where her role was to support and coach teachers to improve Maths teaching for all.