Session 1: Biodiversity

Introduction

Figure 1 A species-rich floodplain meadow.

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A field with a range of different grasses and herbs seen at knee height.

Figure 1 A species-rich floodplain meadow.

In this session you will learn about floodplain meadow species and plant communities, and the importance of biodiversity in resilience.

Biodiversity is a term that encompasses all the variation in living things. Maintaining and enhancing biodiversity is important because greater variation gives living systems more resilience. If an extreme event occurs, a system with fifty different species may remain stable because while some may fail, others will survive to fill the gaps; whereas a system with just five species will probably be left with holes after an extreme event eliminates two of the species, because there are no others similar enough to replace them. In addition to stabilising the ecosystem, diverse communities tend to be superior in terms of delivering benefits in an uncertain environment, such as carbon fixation, food production and waste processing.

This session is the first of seven sessions on different but related topics that you might be interested in. The sessions in this course are as follows:

• Session 1: Biodiversity [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)]
• Session 2: Climate change
• Session 3: Flood risk
• Session 4: Food security
• Session 5: Connection to nature
• Session 6: Water quality
• Session 7: Next steps