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Biodiversity or biological diversity it’s the name given to the wide variety of life found in one place or on Earth in general. It's the measure of variations at the genetic, species, and ecosystem levels.
As many of you know, life is not distributed evenly on our planet and this means biodiversity changes accordingly to the area. Living organisms depend on different factors to survive and thrive in a specific region such as temperature, precipitation, altitude, soils, geography, and are also affected by relations with other species.
Since the rapid environmental changes, many species walk rapidly towards extinction compromising entire ecosystems and also the wellbeing of humans. In order to raise awareness to this matter, The United Nations has proclaimed this day (22nd May) as The International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB) to increase understanding on biodiversity issues.
Which is the richest area in biodiversity?
The answer is the Tropics. Tropical forest ecosystems (found near the Equator) cover less than 10% of the earth’s surface and contain about 90% of the world’s known species
How can we measure biodiversity?
To measure biodiversity we can assess the species richness of an ecosystem by counting the total number of distinct species within a local community. Most of the time there are way too many species in an area making the counting method completely unrealistic to use.
When this happens some tools can be used such as quadrats (random sampling). A quadrat is a square frame with a known internal area, the quadrat is randomly placed in the field and the number of species is counted.
Transects (systematic sampling) can also be used, these transects are stretched across the field, and quadrats are then placed along the transect at regular intervals, this is a semi-random method and ensures ample coverage of sampling across the entire field to estimate its biodiversity.
fig.1 Quadrat and transect
Our biodiversity is at risk
The continuous human population growth and consequent increase in consumption have impacts on our environment. The need for land to cultivate (overexploitation) and establish populations lead to an increase in habitat loss for the species in certain regions. Also, the accidental introduction of nonnative species leads to modifications and disruption of environments. We must not forget that pollution, rapid environmental changes, ocean acidification, among others make the natural habitat harsh and even inhabitable to many species leading to deaths.
Biodiversity supports our society's needs including food, freshwater, the development of medicines, economic opportunities, and leisure activities that contribute to overall wellbeing. Biodiversity is not only about cute beings like polar bears but plants, bacterias, fungi, and animals people tend not to like (spiders, snakes…), our life depends on them and their survival depends on our actions.
References
Pimm, Stuart L.. "biodiversity". Encyclopedia Britannica, 26 Jul. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/science/biodiversity. Accessed 7 October 2021.
WWF. (2020, May 21). 5 ways to protect biodiversity - WWF - Medium. Retrieved October 7, 2021, from Medium website: https://wwf.medium.com/5-ways-to-protect-biodiversity-5def3447e103
Downing, A. S., van Nes, E. H., Mooij, W. M., & Scheffer, M. (2012). The Resilience and Resistance of an Ecosystem to a Collapse of Diversity. PLoS ONE, 7(9), e46135. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0046135
US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (2021). What can I do to protect coral reefs? Retrieved October 7, 2021, from Noaa.gov website: https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/ocean/earthday.html
Gaston, Kevin J. & Spicer, John I. (1998). Biodiversity : an introduction. Oxford ; Malden, MA, USA : Blackwell Science
IUCN 2021. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2021-2. https://www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on [7/10/2021].
fig. 1 Learning by Questions. (2021). Retrieved October 7, 2021, from Lbq.org website: https://www.lbq.org/search/biology?quickRef=11840
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