Biodiversity

Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an
entire planet. Biodiversity is one measure of the health of ecosystems. Life on Earth today
consists of many millions of distinct biological species. The United Nations declared the year
2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity.

Biodiversity is not uniform across the Earth. In terrestrial habitats, for example, tropical regions
are typically rich whereas polar regions support fewer species.

Types of biodivescity

species diversity: Species diversity is an index that incorporates the number of species in an
area and also their relative abundance. It is a more comprehensive value than species richness.[1]

ecosystem diversity: Ecosystem diversity refers to the diversity of a place at the level of
ecosystems. The term differs from biodiversity, which refers to variation in species rather than
ecosystems. Ecosystem diversity can also refer to the variety of ecosystems present in a biosphere, the
variety of species and ecological processes that occur in different physical settings.

genetic diversity: Genetic diversity, the level of biodiversity, refers to the total number of genetic
characteristics in the genetic makeup of a species. It is distinguished from genetic variability, which
describes the tendency of genetic characteristics to vary.