BIODIVERSITY

BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY OR BIODIVERSITY REFERS TO NUMBERS, VARIETY, AND VARIABILITY OF LIVING ORGANISMS AND ECOSYSTEMS.

THE TERM ‘BIODIVERSITY’ INCLUDES ALL TERRESTRIAL MARINE, AND OTHER AQUATIC ORGANISMS. IT ALSO COVERS DIVERSITY WITHIN SPECIES, BETWEEN SPECIES, AS WELL AS THE VARIATION AMONG ECOSYSTEMS. IT IS CONCERNED ALSO WITH THEIR COMPLEX ECOLOGICAL INTERRELATIONSHIPS.
 
THE TERMS ‘FLORA’ AND ‘FAUNA’ REFER RESPECTIVELY TO ALL THE PLANTS AND ALL THE ANIMALS FOUND IN A PARTICULAR AREA. A SPECIES FOUND IN AN AREA AND NOT FOUND ANYWHERE ELSE IS SAID TO BE ENDEMIC TO THAT AREA.

THE BIODIVERSITY IN THE WORLD IS COMPRISED OF THREE THINGS THESE ARE

• SPECIES
• POPULATION AND COMMUNITY
• ECOSYSTEM                                   

 THE BIODIVERSITY IS BEING DIVIDED INTO VARIOUS PARTS SUCH AS :
      *SPECIES DIVERSITY
      *GENETIC DIVERSITY
      *ECOSYSTEM IN THE WORLD

NUMBER OF SPECIES IN THE WORLD

WE DON'T KNOW EXACTLY HOW MANY SPECIES IN HABIT THIS EARTH. ESTIMATES RANGE FROM 4 MILLION TO 100 MILLION. THE BEST GUESS IS 10 - 14 MILLION. MOST OF THE SPECIES IN THE WORLD ARE INSECTS AND MICRO ORGANISMS NOT VISIBLE TO THE NAKED EYE.

SO FAR ABOUT 1.8 MILLION SPECIES ( NOT INCLUDING BACTERIA ) HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED, NAMED, AND CATLOGUED. THESE INCLUDE 270,000 PLANT SPECIES, 45,000 VERTEBRATES,AND 950,000 INSECTS. ROUGHLY 10,000 NEW SPECIES ARE IDENTIFIED EVERY YEAR.

OVERALL, OUR KNOWLEDGE OF SPECIES AND ECOSYSTEMS IS POOR. EVEN OUT OF THE IDENTIFIED SPECIES , ONLY A THIRD HAVE BEEN STUDIED TO SOME LEVEL. AMONG THESE AGAIN, WE UNDERSTAND THE EXACT ROLES AND INTERACTIONS OF JUST A SMALL NUMBER OF SPECIES