Consequences
The Brown-headed spider monkey plays a significant role within the tropical forests near South and Central America (Ecuador/Columbia). The thought of this specie going extinct is horrifying and would definitely disturb and impact the ecosystem/environment around it very negatively. If the Brown-headed spider monkey were to become extinct mainly due to human actions there would be immense consequences. This primate plays a very major/important role in seed dispersing (scattering). The Brown-headed spider monkey is an indicator species, meaning that it is a part of the developing of new species by the act of scattering seeds. So if it were to go extinct, majorly due to habitat loss and human actions than there is a big chance that we are destroying species that have yet to be discovered. If the extinction were to happen, not many seeds would be spread throughout a forest which in turn other species could intentionally go extinct as well. We will not only lose an indicator species (Brown-headed spider monkey) however other animals like jaguars, puma’s, and large snakes would lose a source of food they consume. This consequence affects human life because if there were no more seeds being scattered then life its self will slowly disappear because humans are not producers; however are heterotrophic meaning that they eat/digest food that has already been produced by another organism. Then if life slowly started to disappear then humans will loose many sources of food, all due to the extinction of organisms, including the Brown-headed spider monkey who is a helper of this continuing life cycle, developing of new species on earth.
Personal Response
Biodiversity is found everywhere around the world, as long is there is life present than so is biodiversity. There are some parts in the world that are more biologically/physically diverse than others. Biodiversity is the diversity of life in an area. There are many reasons as to why biodiversity is precious to this earth and why it is very important to be able to sustain it. Biodiversity is what increases ecosystem efficiency and productivity, meaning that every single specie no matter the size, shape or colour has a major role that they play within there ecosystem in order to keep everything in balance and running smoothly. Plus a diverse ecosystem or an environment has the ability to restore/recover and prevent from many disasters, including natural disasters. If an area is healthy enough and has a balanced life cycle than the chances of restoring and maintaining the ecosystem is highly reasonable. Without biodiversity in the world, there would be no existence of the human race. Humans are heterotrophic living things, meaning that without producers they would not be able to survive in this world and without producers there would be no biodiversity because these are the organisms that create food for other species and continue on the life cycle. On the other hand food isn’t the only thing that humans are dependent on out of biodiversity in order to live, however one quarter of all prescription medicines in North America have ingredients from plants and so if a diverse ecosystem is more dynamic, it will intern be easier to get these plants and continue the cycle. Biodiversity greatly benefits humans because as read previously it provides the basic necessity and requirement of food for a human to live and on top of that humans also directly benefit from biodiversity due to plants absorbing greenhouse gases in order to stop global warming, wood products come from nature, and it provides us with oxygen in order to live/survive. Without the existence of one species an entire ecosystem can fail to maintain a healthy cycle and slowly banish. In all if biodiversity did not exists then life itself would not exists either, because the disappearance of just one specie can make a very big difference in an entire ecosystem and potentially an entire region. Right now the significance and price of biodiversity to us are free, however as we lose biodiversity the cost of restoring these- if possible- would be very high.