biodiversity

• BIODIVERSITY: the variety of plant and animal life in the world or in a particular habitat, a high level of which is usually considered to be important and desirable.
• LEVELS OF BIODIERSITY - genetic, species & ecosystem
• Genetic Diversity -The number and variety of genotypes within a population or species, allowing populations to adapt and respond to changes
• Genetic Variation


  The different forms of a gene that exist within a population, occurring due to point mutations, insertions, deletions, and gene duplications.
• SPECIES DIVERSITY - The number of different species in a region or community.
• species biodiversity - simplest & most common measures of biodiversity
• endemic species - species that are found in a particular area and are not found anywhere else in the world
• ECOSYSTEM DIVERSITY - The variety of organisms ,by their nature & number, where living species interact with their environment and with each other ex: (aquatic; river), (marine; coral reef) , (terrestrial; rainforest)
• monoculture - when an ecosystem is dominated by one species, which can lead to a loss of biodiversity
• extinction -refer to the disappearance of species from the face of the earth
• endangered- on its way of being extinct. if the frequencies are at mid levels but the rate of reproduction level is quite low
• Genetic diversity is the sum total of information contained in the genes of species of plants, animals, and microorganisms
• Species diversity refers to the variety of species, including their abundance, distribution and functions or interactions within a given spatial context, which can be a geographical region/location/ecosystem
• there is two main factors when measuring species diversity, they are richness and evenness
• Richness is a measure of the number of different kinds of organisms present in a particular area regardless of scale,
• Evenness compares the similarity of the population size of each of the species present.
• Biodiversity is important because it provides us with food, fuel, medicine, building materials, clothing, recreation, and other products and services we need to survive and thrive.
• Ecosystem diversity refers to the distribution and abundance of habitats, biotic communities, and ecological processes in the biosphere
• Compositional biodiversity describes the type of elements and the number of representatives present at each level (genes, species and habitat) in an area. ex: genetic composition of population
• Structural biodiversity describes the variety of arrangement of these components, i.e. variety of ways in which different habitats, species or genes are arranged over space or time
• Functional biodiversity is the variety of biological processes(climatic, geologic, hydrologic, ecological, and evolutionary-which occur due to the interaction of different species with each other and with their physical environment generate biodiversity and continuously change it), functions or characteristics of a particular ecosystem/area
• Functional biodiversity is thought to be one of the main factors determining the long‐term stability and resiliency of an ecosystem
• Keystone species play essential community roles and their impact on the community or ecosystem are much larger relative to its abundance, and more influential than expected.
• keystone species - a species that is essential to the functioning of an ecosystem
• Umbrella species require such large areas of habitat that their protection might automatically protect a large number of naturally co-occurring species in several ecosystems and habitats
• umbrella species - a species that is important for the survival of other species in an ecosystem
• Indicator species - a species that is sensitive to environmental change and can be used to monitor the health of an ecosystem
• Flagship species are popular, charismatic species that serve as symbols and rallying points to stimulate conservation awareness and action. They serve to act as an ambassador, icon or symbol for a defined habitat, issue, campaign or environmental cause
• The top 10 biodiversity hotspots in the world where biodiversity is richest and most threatened:

  1.    Atlantic Forest of tropical South America

  2.    Cape Floristic Region, South Africa

  3.    Cerrado, Brazil

  4.    Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa

  5.    Himalaya

  6.    Indo-Burma

  7.    Madrean Pine-Oak Woodlands, Mexico and Southern US

  8.    Mesoamerica

  9.    Polynesia-Micronesia

  10. Philippines
• A biodiversity hotspot is a place on Earth that is both biologically rich and deeply threatened due to habitat loss by human activity
• The complex pattern of biodiversity distribution is determined by climate, geology and the evolutionary history of the planet

  These patterns are called "ecoregions" or "large unit of land or water containing a geographically distinct assemblage of species, natural communities, and environmental conditions
• the density of people is a key factor to species threat
• When a living species (animal, plant or microorganism) not commonly found in a specific location becomes dominant, it is referred to as invasive
• Invasive alien species (IAS), “species whose introduction and/or spread outside their natural past or present distribution threatens biological diversity
• eutrophication - excessive richness of nutrients in a lake or other body of water, frequently due to runoff from the land, which causes a dense growth of plant life and death of animal life from lack of oxygen.
• Changes in temperature and weather conditions impact living organisms by directly affecting their number and range of habitat
• Increase in the amount of greenhouse gases also severely affects biodiversity and ecosystems
• The Convention on Biological Diversity (2007) reported the following potential impacts of climate change on biodiversity:
• Warming of polar regions


  Will lead to the addition of freshwater to the ocean
• A fast-rising growth in population


  Will force the conversion from traditional to intensive agricultural practices that may endanger wild sources of food staple