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Types of biodiversity
An overview of species, genetic, and ecological diversity.
This article reviews the concept of biodiversity and provides an overview of the same at an ecological, species, and genetic level.
Key terms
term | definition |
---|---|
biodiversity | variety of life or living organisms present in a region |
ecological biodiversity | diversity seen across different ecosystems |
species biodiversity | diversity in species number and type within an ecosystem |
genetic biodiversity | diversity in characteristics within a single species due to genetic differences |
What is biodiversity?
Imagine that you go on a hike in a tropical rainforest. You come across a stream in the middle of the forest, complete with mossy rocks and a small waterfall.
You look around at your surroundings, marvelling at all the types of life you see around you.
That's right - all of those types of life count as biodiversity of your surroundings! Broadly speaking, biodiversity simply means the variety of life present in a place - in a room, the ocean, or even the Earth.
Read on to discover more about the common types of biodiversity.
Types of biodiversity
Let's start with a bigger picture, and zoom into the details as we go.
Ecological biodiversity
This is the largest scale of biodiversity, because it compares the diversity across different ecosystems. For example, the distribution of life forms within a desert will be very different from those in a mangrove.
This is the largest scale of biodiversity, because it compares the diversity across different ecosystems. For example, the distribution of life forms within a desert will be very different from those in a mangrove.
Species biodiversity
Once we've entered an ecosystem, we can look at the life forms within that region. The types of species of organisms, and how many of each type there are in an area, together make up species biodiversity. For example, Antarctica might contain several types of penguins, but only one or two types of bear, and definitely no camels.
Genetic biodiversity
Zooming in even further, we can find more and more differences even within a single species. For example, if you've ever been to a botanical garden, you would have seen several types of roses (too many, some people might say), with different colors and sizes. This difference in characteristics is due to genetic variation within a species, or genetic biodiversity.
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- bottleneck effect model(1 vote)