Biodiversity&Its Conservation

What is Biodiversity?

Short for biological diversity, biodiversity includes all organisms, species, and populations; the geneticvariation among these; and all their complex assemblages of communities and ecosystems.  It alsorefers to the interrelatedness of genes, species, and ecosystems and their interactions with theenvironment.  Usually three levels of biodiversity are discussed—genetic, species, and ecosystemdiversity.[pic]

Genetic diversity is all the different genes contained in all  individualplants, animals, fungi, and microorganisms.  It occurs within a species aswell as between species.

Species diversity is all the differences within and between populationsof species, as well as between different species.

Ecosystem diversity is all the different habitats, biological communities,and ecological processes, as well as variation within individual ecosystems.

Biological diversity – or biodiversity – is the term given to the variety of life on Earth and the natural patterns it forms. The biodiversity we see today is the fruit of billions of years of evolution, shaped by natural processes and, increasingly, by the influence of humans. It forms the web of life of which we are an integral part and upon which we so fully depend.

This diversity is often understood in terms of the wide variety of plants, animals and microorganisms. So far, about 1.75 million species have been identified, mostly small creatures such as insects.

Scientists reckon that there are actually about 13 million species, though estimates range from three to [pic]

100million.

Biodiversity also includes genetic differences within each species – for example, between varieties of crops and breeds of livestock. Chromosomes, genes, and DNA-the building blocks of life-determine the uniqueness of each individual and each species.

Yet another aspect of biodiversity is the variety of ecosystems such as those that occur in deserts, forests, wetlands, mountains, lakes, rivers, and agricultural...