Biodiversity

Overview - What is Happening?

Photo credit: BC Parks

Biodiversity (biological diversity) describes the number and variety of living organisms and the ecosystems they depend upon. The ecological processes maintained by biodiversity provide a host of “ecosystem services” upon which people depend:

• food, water, and timber.
• regulating climate, floods, water quality, and waste treatment.
• soil formation, pollination, nutrient cycling, and other ecosystem functions.
• cultural, recreational, aesthetic, and spiritual pursuits.

Biodiversity on the coast appears to be declining, particularly in the most populated south coast:

• Since 1992, there has been no overall improvement in conservation status of coastal birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and freshwater fish. During that time 4 coastal species were added to the provincial red list and the status of most of those already on the red list did not improve.

• After 20 years of population increases, a decline in resident killer whale numbers in the late 1990s caused concern. The whales have been added to provincial and federal lists of species at risk.

• More than 600 alien plant species have become established on the B.C. coast. Some of these are extremely invasive. At least 85 species of animals, including marine organisms, have also been introduced.

• Sensitive ecosystems on eastern Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands lost almost 5% of their area over the past 10 years. At this rate, they could be gone in 20 years.

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WHY IS BIODIVERSITY DECLINING?

The B.C. coast is rich in biodiversity because it is a fragmented region of islands, inlets, and peninsulas, where freshwater, saltwater, and terrestrial ecosystems meet. This natural fragmentation has produced unique local populations and subspecies that live nowhere else.

These unique species are under pressure from B.C.’s rapidly growing concentration of people and their activities, especially on the south coast. Global climate change may be compounding the problem by causing changes to ecosystems and increasing the frequency and extent of fire, insect outbreaks and other disturbance.

For detailed information, including graph data, see In-Depth report [pdf].

Next: Conservation Status of Threatened and Endangered Vertebrates >>