Question

Does it really matter to us if a few species become extinct?

Answer 1

Part 1: Definition of extinct
A species is said to be extinct when all members of that species are dead.

Part 2: Effect of extinction of species
The following are the effects of the extinction of the species:-

• Imbalance in the food chain- Since the food chain is a sequence depicting a nutritional or energy flow, one missing species would bring about the extinction of another.
• Keystone species- A species that has a huge impact on the ecosystem and is the source of energy for many species eg. Ficus species are called keystone species. The extinction of such species will have a major and immediate impact on other dependent species.
• Humans usually belong to the top trophic level and an extinction of a species would slowly lead to the extinction of the human species too.
• Rivet popper hypothesis by Paurl Ehrlich- In an aeroplane (ecosystem) all parts are joined by thousands of rivets (species)and if passengers start popping (killing) a rivet then initially there will be no impact but when more and more rivets are removed it makes the plane weak (wiping out of the ecosystem)

Thus extinction of few species will in turn affect human beings. The effect might not be seen immediately but over a due course of time.