Biodiversity and Marble House

Representation of Biodiversity

Class with Professor Toby today definitely opened my mind more toward biodiversity. I heard the term biodiversity before and knew what it meant. However, I never paid too much attention to it. Professor Toby made us read an essay of almost 27 pages which explains the risks of losing biodiversity. After reading it, I perfectly understand the importance of biodiversity on earth.In class, we discussed the essay and highlighted the main points that stood out. The definition of biodiversity was one of the main points we discussed. After reading and discussing it, biodiversity is to me the variety of every organism that inhabits in an ecosystem. Almost every organism in an ecosystem has a function. Biodiversity helps an ecosystem to be in balance, which means that the species in that ecosystem can survive while sharing the ecosystem with others.  If an organism is removed, this could distort the balance of the whole ecosystem.  Around the world, many ecosystems have been distorted by removing only one species. For instance, due to the extinction of certain predators, there has been an overpopulation of their pries. By having an overpopulation, the pries then use all the resources around them which also affect other animals that live from the same resources. The pries might also die due to starvation. This shows how an ecosystem might be distorted by affecting its biodiversity.
Utilitarian and Intrinsic laws were also discussed in the essay and in class. Utilitarian law refers to the law that permit an organism to live due to its function in an ecosystem an in human’s life. For instance, many organisms, either plants or animals, are kept dormant due to their big role in our lives. Some of these organisms are cows, pigs, specific plants and bacteria used for medicine and others. Intrinsic law, on the other hand, allows an organism to live due to the simple fact that every organism has the right to live just like we do. It does not matter if an organism does not have a function in an ecosystem, it still possess the right to live. Both of these laws help to reduce the loss of biodiversity.

Representation of Biodiversity

The loss of biodiversity can definitely have a great impact in the lives of many people. For instances, by removing butterflies from a community, the plants in this community might not be able to reproduce because they need butterflies to do so. Since these plants are not able to reproduce, they then are at risk of extinction.  As a result, the organisms living from this plants might also be at risk. Bacteria that feed from this plant could also be risk. Consequently, scientists could have a hard time creating antibiotics that come from this type of bacteria which is now at risk. Thus many ill people in need of antibiotics might suffer due to the distortion of an ecosystem. This and many other examples show the importance of biodiversity.

Desk at Marble House

Later in the afternoon, we visited the Marble House in Second Street. This house was built in 1825 and it belonged to three different families. The house now belonged to Rensselaer County Historical Society (RCHS).  This society keeps the marble house as a historical place.
The lamps of the house attracted my attention the most.  There was a different type of lamp in every room. These lamps ornate the rooms and give them a wonderful look. I do not like big, old houses. However, I would not mind to live in the Marble House. The way the house is decorated makes me feel like I was in the home I always wanted. I believe that the three different families that lived in this house gave the house a little bit of their own background and culture. This is why the house to me looked a little multi-cultural. The wall of the main hall was painted like a paradise which looked very classic. Meanwhile, the furniture were very elegant which made the house seemed like it was owned by very wealthy people. On the other hand, the big spaces that were between the furniture made the house look very simple. As a result, the house looked very classic, elegant and simple, all at the same time which are the qualities I loved the most.