Chapter 1 Biodiversity and Taxonomy
1. Biodiversity
1. -Biodiversity is a relatively recent term contracted from biological diversity (Wilson and Peter 1989).
-The variety of living organisms and the variety of ecosystems they formed are generally referred to as biodiversity.
-Biodiversity is the entire array of biological variety. It includes much more than simply the number of species known as species richness, encompassing archaea, bacteria, protists, plants, fungi and animals.
-Biodiversity occurs at all levels of biological organization, from populations to ecosystem.
-It takes into account genetic diversity, which is the genetic variety within a species, both among
individuals within a given populations and among geographically separate populations. [NOTE: An individual species may have hundreds of genetically distinct populations.]
-It also includes ecosystem diversity, the variety of ecosystems found on Earth, tropical rainforests, mangrove and peat swamp forests, prairies, deserts, lakes, coastal estuaries, coral reefs, and other ecosystems.
-Specifically, biodiversity can be defined as the structural and functional variety of life form at genetic, population, community and ecosystem levels.
-Biologists must consider all three levels of biological diversity - species richness, genetic diversity, and ecosystem diversity '' as they address the human impact on biodiversity.
-To measure and express biodiversity in ways that are objective and meaningful to others, one must clarify what level of diversity is under investigation and the dimension of that level is being evaluated.
1.2 -Unfortunately, human activity is seriously reducing biodiversity, and species are becoming extinct faster than researches can study them.
-According to the UN Global Biodiversity Assessment, which is based on the work of about 1500 scientists from around the world, more than 31,000 plant and animal species are...