Photo source: Net

Photo source: Net

• Earth is inhabited by millions of living organisms ranging

from microscopic bacteria to gigantic blue whale and
towering General Sherman (giant sequoia). All these
living organisms constitute biodiversity (also known as
biological diversity) of the Earth.
• Wildlife scientist and conservationist Entomologist E. O. Wilson (1988)
Raymond F. Dasmann (1968)

Bruce A. Wilcox (1982): Biological diversity is the variety of

life forms at all levels of biological systems (i.e., molecular,
organismic, population, species and ecosystem).

United Nations Earth Summit (1992): Biological diversity is

the variability among living organisms from all sources
Genetic Biodiversity

Photo source: Net

Genetic Biodiversity

Photo source: Net

Species Diversity

Photo source: Net

 Ecosystem Diversity
• Ecosystem is a community of living organisms including
plants, animals and microbes living in a given area,
interacting with each other and also with their non-living
environment (weather, sun, soil, climate, atmosphere etc.).
• Deserts, rain forests, mangroves, coral reefs, wetlands,
estuaries, and alpine meadows

Photo source: Net

Diversity of the Plants, Microbes & Fungi
S. No. Plants World India
1 Angiosperms 304,419 17,527
2 Gymnosperms 1,104 64
3 Pteridophytes 10,620 1,100
4 Bryophytes 34,556 2,850
5 Fungi 98,998 1650
(17,000 Lichens) (2,000 Lichens)

6 Algae 40,000 6,500

7 Bacteria 7,644 4,000
9 Viruses 2,085 1,50
 Diversity in the Animal Kingdom
S. No. Animals World India
1 Mammals 5,487 390
2 Birds 9,990 1,232
3 Reptiles 8,734 456
4 Amphibians 6,515 209
5 Fishes 31,153 2546
6 Insects 10,00,000 68,389
7 Molluscs 85,000 5070
8 Nematods 25,000 2,850
9 Protozoa 40,000 2,577
Diversity of Medicinal Plants in India &
Other Countries

17500

Source: Ghosh & Sur (2015)

International Journal of Current Research Vol. 7 (09): 19964-19969
 Diversity of Medicinal Plants in the
Indian Himalayan Region (IHR)
• About 1748 species of medicinal angiosperms, gymnosperms, and
pteridophytes in the IHR (Samant et al. 1998)
• 1123 species of ethno-medicinal plants in J&K (Tali, Khuroo, et al., 2019)

• 400 species of medicinal plants in Trans-Himalaya (Srivastava and Shukla

2013)
• 643 species of MAPs in Himachal Pradesh (Samant et al. (2007)

• 964 species of MAPs from Uttarakhand (Kala, 2010)

Source: Biodiversity of the Himalaya: Jammu and Kashmir State

Eds. G. H. Dar and A. A. Khuroo (2020)
Diversity
of
Medicinal
Plants in
Families

Source: State of the World's Plants ( 2017) by Willis KJ, Editor

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew