DEBATE

__**Pro Protection**__:

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“As we lose biodiversity, we lose many opportunities for a rich and sustainable and healthy life,” Raven says. “It's biodiversity that makes this a living planet. Most of the species that are likely to be lost in the coming century have never been seen by anybody. We will never be able to exploit their potential.” []

"White-tailed deer are found from southern Canada to northern Brazil. There may have been more than 20 million of the animals in North America before European settlement, although their numbers began falling precipitately as soon as colonists unpacked their muskets. By the late 19th century, professional hunters—bagging deer for the venison market—had brought the species to near extinction throughout much of its range. With new hunting laws and help from conservationists, whitetails have rebounded with a vengeance, becoming this country’s most abundant large mammal." []

endangered species should be protected because, although we don't know what impact each individual species has on human lives, there is always the possibility that without certain species our environment would be changed and it would have a great impact on our lives.

"A 2002 UNEP estimate that gorilla habitat free of human impact would be reduced to only 10 percent of the original range by 2032 as a result of continued development is, according to the new report, 'too optimistic'." []

Biodiversity provides many ecosystem services that are often not readily visible. It plays a part in regulating the chemistry of our atmosphere and water supply. Biodiversity is directly involved in water purification, recycling nutrients and providing fertile soils. Experiments with controlled environments have shown that humans cannot easily build ecosystems to support human needs; for example insect pollination cannot be mimicked by human-made construction, and that activity alone represents tens of billions of dollars in ecosystem services per annum to humankind. The stability of ecosystems is also related to biodiversity, with higher biodiversity producing greater stability over time, reducing the chance that ecosystem services will be disrupted as a result of disturbances such as extreme weather events or human exploitation. []

Biodiversity boosts ecosystem productivity where each species, no matter how small, all have an important role to play. For example, a larger number of plant species means a greater variety of crops; greater species diversity ensures natural sustainability for all life forms; and healthy ecosystems can better withstand and recover from a variety of disasters. __[]__ __**Against Protection**__: "White-tailed deer are found from southern Canada to northern Brazil. There may have been more than 20 million of the animals in North America before European settlement, although their numbers began falling precipitately as soon as colonists unpacked their muskets. By the late 19th century, professional hunters—bagging deer for the venison market—had brought the species to near extinction throughout much of its range. With new hunting laws and help from conservationists, whitetails have rebounded with a vengeance, becoming this country’s most abundant large mammal." []

"According to a park service report, 'In the late 1980s (1987-1989) there were 39 deer sightings.' By 2003, however, cars were killing more deer than that on park roads every year." []

deer are a problem when it comes to traffic and car accidents moreso than for any other reason. also they stop seedlings from growing into trees and eat all of the underbrush in forests.

"park staff have shown that tree regeneration rates are declining and are well below the level considered necessary for forest regeneration." []

-Biodiversity includes pest species and organisms of no known interest or direct use. -It's expensive to protect, maintain, and prevent endangered species from extinction. -contradicts evolution to an extent that the strong survives and the weak gets wiped out -can't think of many cons []

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Endangered species //should// be protected Endangered species should be protected because it is unknown how important each individual species is to our environment. If an endangered species were to go extinct, other species’ lives could be jeopardized. The extinct species may have been one of their main sources of food, or a predator which kept other species’ populations controlled. The loss of one species could cause other species’ to become endangered or also extinct, or could cause a population explosion in another species. Many of the species which are becoming endangered now are due to human impacts on the environment and animal’s habitats. Humans have advanced far beyond all other species on the planet but this does not make it ok for us to harm the other animal species. We are tearing down and invading their habitats, using up their food resources, making it impossible for many other animal species to survive around us. If these animal species are endangered due to our actions, we should protect them against extinction because they may not have become endangered if it were not for our actions. Earth is as it is because of biodiversity. If we let that biodiversity diminish, our environment could become unstable. Different species have different roles to play in the maintaining of stability in our ecosystem but we don’t necessarily know which species does what. Without knowing this, we do not know what will happen if we let many endangered species become extinct.