Ecosystem and
biodiversity
Unit 3 Part 3
Biodiversity
Biodiversity, a shortened form of Biological diversity, refers to the existence of
number of different species of plants and animals in an environment.
Biodiversity is also defined as the existence of variability among living organisms
on the earth, including the variability within and between species, and within
and between ecosystems.
The Convention on Biological Diversity (1992) of the United Nations gives a
formal definition of biodiversity in its Article 2: "Biological diversity means the
variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia,
terrestrial, marine, and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes
of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species
and of ecosystems."
The term biodiversity was coined in 1985.
Types of biodiversity
There are the following three different types of biodiversity:
Genetic Biodiversity
Species Biodiversity
Ecological Biodiversity
Genetic Biodiversity
It refers to the variations among the genetic resources of the organisms.
Every individual of a particular species differs from each other in their
genetic constitution.
That is why every human looks different from each other.
Similarly, there are different varieties in the same species of rice, wheat,
maize, barley, etc.
Note - Genetics is the study of heredity, or how certain features pass from
parents to their offspring, or young. Every kind of plant and animal produces
young of its own species, or type.
Species Diversity
Species diversity refers to the variety of different types of species found in a
particular area.
It is the biodiversity at the most basic level.
It includes all the species ranging from plants to different microorganism.
No two individuals of the same species are exactly similar. For example,
humans show a lot of diversity among themselves.
Ecological diversity
An ecosystem is a collection of living and non-living organisms and their
interaction with each other. Ecological biodiversity refers to the variations in
the plant and animal species living together and connected by food chains
and food webs.
It is the diversity observed among the different ecosystems in a region.
Diversity in different ecosystems like deserts, rainforests, mangroves, etc.,
include ecological diversity.
Levels of biodiversity
A variety of objective measures have been developed in order to measure
biodiversity empirically. Each measure of biodiversity relates to a particular
use of the data.
Most commonly used indicators for measuring biodiversity
Alpha biodiversity
Beta biodiversity
Gamma biodiversity
Alpha Biodiversity
Diversity within a particular area , community or ecosystem measured by
counting the number of taxa within the ecosystem usually species.
Beta Biodiversity
Diversity of species among various ecosystem . It involves comparing the
number of taxa that are unique to each of the ecosystem.
Gamma Biodiversity
It is the measurement of overall diversity for different ecosystem within a
region.
Whittaker described following three common matrix to measure species
diversity
Species richness
Simpson index
Shannon – wiener index
Recently new index mean species abundance index (MSA) is used.
Value of biodiversity
Biodiversity and its maintenance are very important for sustaining life on
earth.
Few of the reasons explaining the importance of biodiversity are:
Ecological Stability
Economic Importance
Ethical Importance
The value of biodiversity in various
fields like
Agriculture
Human health
Business and industry
Leisure, cultural and aesthetic value
Other ecological services
