Life is Diversity
Biodiversity is the foundation of life on Earth and an irreplaceable resource for humankind. It holds immense economic, ecological, and cultural value – and we must do everything we can to protect and preserve it.
Jane Goodall, British primatologist
Biodiversity and ecosystems: The richer and more complex an ecosystem is, the more resilient it becomes to change — whether caused by climate shifts or human activity. Biodiversity helps protect habitats by enabling plants and animals to adapt to new environmental conditions. In fact, many of our ecosystems only exist because of human cultivation: meadows, pastures, vineyards, orchards, fields, hedgerows, parks, gardens, and forests are also valuable ecosystems with both economic and cultural importance.
For farmers, fruit growers, and gardeners, it is highly beneficial to promote biodiversity in the agricultural systems they manage. A diverse environment attracts pollinators that boost yields, as well as natural allies such as birds, ladybirds, hoverflies, and parasitic wasps. These beneficial organisms help control pests like aphids or codling moths. Scientists call this functional biodiversity and refer to the benefits it provides as ecosystem services.
Research Questions
The Julius Kühn Institute (JKI) in Braunschweig researches biodiversity on agricultural land and in urban areas. It develops recommendations on how to increase functional biodiversity in various cultivation systems, for example, by planting hedges or flower strips, implementing diverse crop rotations, strip cropping or mixed cropping, or by creating nesting sites or refuges for beneficial organisms.
Regarding research and questions: