BIODIVERSITY

BIODIVERSITY

Biodiversity referes to the variety and abundance of living  organisms living in a particular region. It has a magnitude that is beyond any limit. The exact number of species present at a global level is still ambiguous. The number may vary from 10 to 100 million,  and is a product of 4 billion years  evolution. The term biological diversity was used first by wildlife scientist and conservationist  Ramond F. Dasmann is the year 1968. He wrote a book “ A Diffferent kind of Country”  advocating conservation. The term biological diversity was contracted to biodiversity; it was  coined by W.G. Rosen in 1985. Biodiversity is not easy to quantify precisely but various ecological indicators, such as, number of species in a given area ae used  to quantify different aspects of biodiversity. It is important for organism interactions and each plays a role in the web of life. Biodiversity is very crucial  for human survival. Although it is late, people now value biodiversity for many reason:

·         Human depends on other species for food, fiber and medicine.

·         Species are necessary for the functioning of ecosystems and the many benefits and services those ecosystems provide to humanity.

·         Humans derive enormous aesthetic pleasure from interacting with  organisms.

·         Extinctions deprive us of opportunities to study and understand ecological relationships among organsisms.

·         Living in ways that cause the extinction of other species is a huge loss since those species have intrnsic value.

Traditionall, three main levels of biodiversity are identfied.

(i)                  Genetic diversity

(ii)                Species diversity

(iii)               Ecosystem diversity

An additonal  level has been recently added, i.e.,

(iv)              Molecular diversity