Isn’t it interesting to just know that you share this world with millions of other species that you didn’t even know of! In this chapter, we will look into the types of biodiversity in greater depths. We are sure it will take you into a different world altogether!
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Types of Biodiversity
Biodiversity further classifies into three major types. They are:
- Genetic Diversity
- Species Diversity
- Ecological Diversity
Let us now look at these classifications in more detail.
Browse more Topics under Biodiversity And Conservation
Genetic Diversity
It is basically the variety of species expressed at the genetic level by each individual in a species. No two individuals belonging to the same species are exactly similar. For example, in the species of human beings, each human shows a lot of diversity in comparison to another human. People living in different regions show a great level of variation.
Species Diversity
It is the biodiversity observed within a community. It stands for the number and distribution of species. The number of species in a region varies widely depending upon the varied environmental conditions. For example, it is usually observed that civilizations residing beside water bodies show more species than the one compared to the areas away from water bodies.
Ecological diversity
It defines the diversity observed among the ecosystems in a particular region. Different ecosystems like mangroves, rainforests, deserts, etc., show a great variety of life forms residing in them.
Now that we know the different types of biodiversity, let us look at the importance of biodiversity.
Learn more about the Conservation of Biodiversity here.
Importance of Biodiversity
All these diversities help in maintaining the correct balance of nature. But, gradually over the years, there has been a major loss in the biodiversity across the globe. The loss of biodiversity could adversely affect our environment as the balance is lost and the natural food web is disturbed.
Thus, due to its major role in our survival, conservation of biodiversity has now become a matter of high priority. Everybody is paying high attention to it. We still have not identified all the species living on the earth but of all the ones identified till now, many have already been marked as extinct.
Recently, the rate of extinction has gone high and this is causing direct impact on our earth like overuse of resources in some parts, the overpopulation of some species, etc. This has created a great imbalance in nature. Thus, we have to understand the importance of biodiversity.
Also, we must take necessary actions to maintain all the three diversities. Without the proper conservation of this diversity, we could end up in different precarious situations.
Question For You
Q. Explain Genetic Biodiversity.
Ans: It is basically the variety of species expressed at the genetic level by each individual in a species. No two individuals belonging to the same species are exactly similar. For example, in the species of human beings, each human shows a lot of diversity in comparison to another human. People living in different regions show a great level of variation.
