Question

How can a large amount of biological diversity protect an ecosystem from environmental damage? Why are less biodiverse ecosystems at risk of suffering serious biological harm if subject to even small changes?

Answer 1

An ecosystem with a large amount of biodiversity can easily resist changes in the environment. This is because with more biodiversity there's more food web interactions and more linkages between these organisms. Since the organisms have greater survival options and better interactions with others any change can be easily resisted. Thus if any one organism is affected the other organisms can adjust with other options and linkages.

Less biodiverse systems are at high risk because there are very few organisms. These organisms have very few food web linkages and are highly dependent on the few organisms. They have very few survival options and hence if any change occurs in the environment then survival is affected.