Biodiversity
▪ The occurrence of different types of genes, gene pools, species, habitats and ecosystems in a particular place and various parts of earth is called biodiversity.
▪ The term ‘biodiversity’ was given by Edward Wilson.
▪ Biodiversity is divided into three levels :
i. Genetic diversity
• It is the measure of variety in genetic information contained in the organisms.
• It enables a population to adapt to its environment.
• For example, medicinal plant Rauwolfia vomitoria growing in Himalayan ranges shows variation in potency and concentration of the active chemical reserpine that it produces.
• There are more than 50,000 genetically different strains of rice and 1,000 varieties of mango in India.
ii. Species diversity
• It is a measure of the variety of species and their relative abundance present within a region.
• For example, the Western Ghats have a greater amphibian species diversity than the Eastern Ghats.
iii. Ecological diversity
• It is a measure of the diversity at community and ecosystem levels. They represent the local, unique habitat and regional components of species diversity.
• For example, ecological diversity is greater in India due to presence of large number of ecosystems like deserts, rainforests, coral reefs, wetlands, estuaries and alpine meadows.
