BIODIVERSITY

• Definition and Concept

• The Pattern
• Measurement of Diversity Index
• The benefit
• What threatens
Biodiversity refers to the number of
species in a given area
The total number of species in the world
is still not known.

So far, more less 1.4 million species have been

described & given scientific names

Flowering plants (220,000)‫‏‬

Insects (750,000)‫‏‬

 ONLY A SMALL PERCENTAGE OF THE TRUE NUMBER

 What is a species?
- there is no precise definition of the species concept
(there are many exceptions to general definition)
“a group of similar organisms capable of interbreeding
with each other but not with other organisms”

TAXONOMY & SYSTEMATICS – the sciences of biological

classification

The criteria used to designate species:

morphology, physiology, biochemistry, behavior, or
genetics
 The basic principles of biological classification:
the 18th-century Swedish Biologist, Carl Linnaeus
(Systemae Naturae)

Development of Classification
- morphology (structure)
- physiology & biochemistry (e.g. protein in body fluids)
- behavior (mating, activity patterns, communication)
- genetics (chromosome patterns, genes, DNA
sequences)
Known living species by taxonomists
Mosses
Ferns
Dragonfly
Conifer
 Biodiversity (1)
Genetic diversity
• A measure of the variety of different version
of the same genes within individual species
 Biodiversity (2)
Species diversity
• The number of different kind of organism
within an ecosystem
 Biodiversity (3)
Ecological diversity
• Richness and complexity of a biological
community
PATTERNS OF BIODIVERSITY

Geographical Variation
- Latitude
- Area and Isolation (island size)
- Altitude

Temporal Variation
- successional stage
Latitude
General feature with some exceptions
the greatest biodiversity in tropical forest near the
equator as latitude increase toward the poles
biodiversity decreases

Altitude
Species diversity usually decrease with increasing
altitude (coastal area to mountain)

Topography variation: alpha-, beta-, gamma-diversity

(within habitats, between different habitat, over a broad region)
Biodiversity in the trophics
 Measurement of diversity

THE BASIC EXPRESSION: the number of different

species in a given location
(include relative numbers of different species)
Calculating Simpsons Diversity Index
How important the other living
creatures are?
What does diversity do for us ?
 How do we benefit from Biodiversity
(1)
Food from wild species
 How do we benefit from Biodiversity
(2)
Drugs and medicines
 How do we benefit from Biodiversity
(3)
Ecological benefit
• The role of biodiversity in ecological stability
• Biodiversity provides essential pest control
service
 How do we benefit from Biodiversity
(4)
• Aesthetic and culture benefits
 Human activities
that threaten biodiversity
So, what threatens biodiversity?
 What threatens biodiversity?
• Elimination of a species is a normal process of the
natural world
• But HUMAN caused reduction in biodiversity
tragically :
1. habitat destruction
2. commercial products and live specimens
3. predator and pest control (pesticides)
4. pollution
5. hunting & fishing
 Invasive species

Asian tiger
Crayfish
mosquito

Asian long horne

 Endangered seafood
• Shark: slow growing, low reproduction rate
• Sea scallop: harvesting caused disruption the
habitat
• Shrimp: harvesting caused loosing rare sea
turtle
Those who have the privilege to know
have the duty to act
-Einstein-