Biodiversity

ApoorvaHemadri

IX – ‘C’

Biodiversity

What is Biodiversity?Biodiversity is short form for biological diversity.

Biological diversity is the variety and variability among living organisms and the ecological complexes in which they occur.Biodiversity is in a simplest term means " the variety of life on earth". This variety can be measured on several different levels, viz., Genetic, species and ecosystem.

To make some sense of this great biodiversity, organisms are grouped into categories. Scientists recognise three Domains and six Kingdoms which can be further subdivided into several phyla, (singular: phylum) and into further divisions such as class, order, family, genus and species.

The three Domains of Life are: • Archae • Bacteria• Eukaryota

Six Kingdoms of life are • Archaebacteria - the Archaea bacteria which form one of the Domains of Life.• Eubacteria - true bacteria and cyanobacteria.• Protista - single-celled organisms such as algae and Protozoans.• Fungi - uni-cellular and multicellular fungi, yeasts and moulds.• Plantae - multicellular plants.• Animalia - multicellular animals.

Division of Biodiversity

Division of Archae

Divisions of Eubacteria

Division of protistaRhodophyta (red algae)Chromista

Heterokontophyta (heterokonts)HaptophytaCryptophyta (cryptomonads)AlveolatesDinoflagellataApicomplexaCiliophora (ciliates)ExcavatesEuglenozoaPercolozoaMetamonadaRhizariaRadiolariaForaminiferaCercozoaAmoebozoaChoanozoaMany others; classification varies

Rhizaria

Chromista

Excavates

Division of Fungi

Division of Plantae

Division of animalia

Species - species diversity is the variety of species in a given region or area.

Estimates of global species diversity vary enormously because it is so difficult to guess how many species there may be in less well explored habitats such as untouched rain forest.

Global species estimates range from 2 million to 100 million species. Ten million is probably nearer the mark. Only 1.4 million species have been named. Of these, approximately 250,000 are plants and 750,000 are insects. New species are continually being discovered every year. It has been estimated that the deep sea floor may contain as many as a million undescribed new species. To put it simply, we really have absolutely no idea how many species there are!

Species

A DNA “barcode” refers to a short region of a gene that changes over evolutionary time at a rate that results in measurable distinctions among species (analogous to the barcodes on products in stores). The Consortium for the Barcode of Life [see CBOL] has brought together natural history museums and other research organizations with the goal of producing DNA bar-coding information for all named species on the planet.

DNA bar-coding programs can address two different goals. First, such programs may be concerned about diagnosis and identification of already-known species. Second, such programs may be interested in the discovery of new species, including "cryptic" species that may not be revealed by morphological or other characters. The second goal raises issues about species concepts and the nature of DNA bar-coding based evidence for species status.

DNA Barcoding

Genetic - variation between individuals of the same species. This includes genetic variation between individuals in a single population , as well as variations between different populations of the same species. Genetic differences can now be measured using increasingly sophisticated techniques. These differences are the raw material of evolution.

Genetic Variation

Ecosystem - Communities of plants and animals, together with the physical characteristics of their environment (e.g. geology, soil and climate) interlink together as an ecological system, or 'ecosystem'. Ecosystem diversity is more difficult to measure because there are rarely clear boundaries between different ecosystems and they grade into one another. However, if consistent criteria are chosen to define the limits of an ecosystem, then their number and distribution can also be measured.

Ecologist Jerry Franklin portrays ecosystems as having three primary attributes: composition, structure, and function.

Ecosystem components:

Ecosystem structure:.

Ecosystem functions:

ECOSYSTEM

Kingdom: AnimaliaPhylum : chordataclass : AmphibiaOrder : Anura / SalientiaFamily : RanidaeGenus : Ranaspecies : tigrina Kingdom: Plantae

Phylum: MagnoliophytaClass: Magnoliopsida Order: FagalesFamily: FagaceaeGenus: QuercusSpecies: alba

Rana tigrina 

White Oak

Classification of Life forms

Ecological degradation and its corollary - biodiversity loss - pose a serious threat to development. 'Ecologically destructive economic activities are inefficient not merely because of the resulting resource misallocation but also because of the (excessive) scale of activity levels; excessive in relation to the limited availability of natural capital when the latter is complementary to human-made capital'. In order to bring about sustainable resource conservation and management, it is essential to adopt several different approaches for managing our forests and biodiversity.

 Protecting biodiversity does not merely involve setting aside chunks of area as reserves. Instead, all the ecological processes that have maintained the area's biodiversity such as predation, pollination, parasitism, seed dispersal, and herbivory, involving complex interactions between several species of plants and animal needs to be ensured . This, however, is possible only if reserves are large enough to maintain these processes and some of the other crucial links in the web of life.

Loss and Conservation of

biodiversity

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