One main reason why we have nature reserves is to protect our biodiversity- the degree of variation of life. A sufficient biodiversity is required to keep our ecosystem in natural balance. With sufficient biodiversity, the loss of any part of the food chain will not lead to a serious disruption and effects on the other organisms as they can obtain nutrients in other ways. If not, any disruption in the food chain will lead to a stop in the nutrient cycle path and the collapse of the whole ecosystem over time.
A healthy biodiversity is of extreme importance to humanity as it provides a number of natural services for everyone. Firstly, it provides ecosystem regulating services. It maintains our ecosystem, as mention in the previous paragraph. Not only so, it also contribute to our climate stability, keeping Mother Earth warm enough for us to live in. They facilitate the nitrogen cycle so that we have fertile soil to grow crops on. It also helps to keep our water cycle going so that there is water resources for us to drink and for other purposes.
Secondly, a healthy biodiversity provides biological resources for us. It provides us with food our consumption and natural medicinal resources that allow us to recover our body to the pink of health. They also provides raw materials for businesses to create products that we use. (Eg. Papers)
Thirdly, it provides cultural services. With a healthy biodiversity, humans can study them for research and education so that we can understand our natural heritage better. It also allows many people to conduct recreation and tourism, to relax in a natural environment and travel back in time where many habitats have not be destroyed.
Therefore, in order to protect our biodiversity,we requires nature reserves where rules and regulations are enforced to restrict the types and amount of human activities that can be carried out in the area. Otherwise, the habitats, fauna, flora and the geology of the natural area can easily be harmed from neglect, uncontrolled human activities, or mismanagement by the community around the area. Nature reserves also gives high priority to protect the wildlife, habitats and natural features are gradually disappearing on Earth, to ensure that they wont extinct.
Nature reserves also allows a large gene pool to be conserved and protected so that it can serve as an invaluable resource for future usage. As the needs of the worlds population are ever-changing, the vast gene pool that we conserved and using technique such as cross-breeding or even genetic manipulation, researchers can invent and cultivate new food sources for our consumption.