What defines a species and why are rare species important?
There are several different schools of thought regarding how a “species” should be defined, but all generally refer to species as distinctly recognizable life-forms that can be separated from each other due to obvious physical differences, and generally do not interbreed with other species. Earth’s species are the building blocks of its ecosystems, and all Earth’s ecosystems taken together comprise our total biodiversity. AZE members believe that the human race should act as the custodian of this biodiversity for future generations. Protecting AZE sites and species is a next essential step in this custodianship. Rare species are important for a number of reasons: cultural, economic, and biological (e.g. as pollinators, predators, or prey). Species can either be recently descended from similar “parent” species, or be the last remnants of ancient genetic lineages, separated widely from other life-forms. They may also themselves become parent species of future diverse lineages. For exampl
