Biodiversity

The term biodiversity refer to the variety of forms of life in an area.

One measure of biodiversity is species diversity. Species diversity, in turn, is reflected by both species richness and species eveness. Species richness refers to the number of unique qpecies within an area species eveness refers to the relative number of individuals of each species in an area.

Species evenness is harder to study than species richness but may be moreimportant to understanding ecosystems. Two location may have the same species richness yet differ in species evenness.

Another measure of biodiversity is genetic diversity, or the amount of variation in the genetic material within all members of a population.

Genetic diversity is important because it affects a populations ability to adapt in the face of environmental change. When poulations are reduced to small numbers, the amount of genetic varation is reduced formany generations to come. A reduction in a species genetic varation reduces the likelihood that the species will survive natural selection.

Measuring Biodiversity. Mamals are a small fration of biodiversity. Of all of the known species, a huge proportion is made up of insects. The number of species on Earth ranging from 2 million to 100 millionspecies.

Because of the frequency and ease with which new species are discovered, scientists acknowledge the likelihood that there are many undesribed species.

Our knowledge of smaller organisms and organisms in remote or extreme locations is especially poor. Scientist must use innovative approaches to find and describe these lesser-known organisms.

Valuing biodiversity

Biodiversity provides important benefits to people. Some people think that organisms and ecosystems are important for reasons other than their use to humans.