BiodiversityPrepared by Dakota Joiner & Lindsey bat Joseph for Alexander College Writing and Learning Centre, April 2015.

Research source: Krebs, Charles J. Ecology, 6th ed. Pearson: San Francisco, 2009.

What is Biodiversity?

• Biodiversity is the scientific term coined to describe the variety and diversity of organisms in a given ecosystem. • There are many different kinds of biological organisms in different

ecosystems.• E.g., a tropical rainforest ecosystem may contain thousands of

different species of animals, plants, insects, bacteria, etc.

What is Biodiversity?

• This idea generally refers to richness of species within a community.

Source: Walter Jetz Lab, Yale University, adapted from Jetz et al. 2007, 2008.

Why do you think southern countries have more species than northern countries?

What is Biodiversity?• Biodiversity is also used to describe taxonomical diversity,

ecological diversity, genetic diversity, and molecular diversity.

Figure 1. A phylogenetic tree showing basic taxonomic divisions

Source: Adl, Sina M.; Simpson, Alastair G. B.; et al. (2006). "Toward Automatic Reconstruction of a Highly Resolved Tree of Life". Science 311 (5765): 1283–1287.

What is a ‘community’?• A community is a group of organisms living in the same habitat

that are connected to each other by interactions, such as feeding or energy flow.

Source: Google Images

This is an example of the Antarctic community of organisms showing feeding relationships.

Characteristics of Biodiversity• Biodiversity is stratified in a latitudinal manner. This

is referred to as latitudinal species gradient.

Figure 1. A graph demonstrating the latitudinal species gradient in terms of different numbers of species of fish found in different latitudes.

Something to Think About:Why do you think fish biodiversity is highest around the equator?

Characteristics of Biodiversity

• The factors primarily affecting organismal diversity and distribution are:

• Temperature• Precipitation• Altitude• Soils• Geography • The presence of other species.

Something to Think About:Why do you think biodiversity is highest, both on land and in the seas, around the equator?

Some examples of the great biodiversity found in various ecosystems around the world:

Images from: http://www.talesmaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/

Not all sea dwellers are fish …

Nembrotha-cristata

Promachoteuthis-sulcus

Pistol Shrimp

Yeti Crab

Orcinus orca – Killer Whale

And not all “fish” are actually fish – Which of these are real fish?

Alarm Jellyfish

Frilled Shark

Red Cap Gold Fish

Lion’s Mane Jellyfish: Jellyfish are invertebrates

The Mexican Walking Fish is actually a type of salamander

Crocodile Fish

Frogs are amphibians: they live in water and on land

They have many different characteristics.

Amazon Milk Frog

Glass Frogs

Purple Frogs

Indian Bull Frog

Some sea creatures spend significant amounts of time on land

Hermit Crab

Leatherback Sea Turtle

AlbinismThis is a rare, recessive gene that produces some very unique and rare animals. Humans can exhibit traits of albinism too.

Birds

These unique creatures have evolved with many different characteristics.

Blue Footed Booby

King of Saxony Bird of Paradise

See the video about the Cornell University’s project on the Birds of Paradise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTR21os8gTA

Cardinal Gynandromorph – this isn’t a different species of bird – it’s a cardinal that is displaying characteristics of male and female genders.

Something to Think About:

What do you think that the booby’s bright blue

feet are for?

See the video about the Cornell University’s project on the Birds of Paradise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTR21os8gTA

To Learn More …

• Consult an ecology textbook to go further in depth. • See our school librarians for help finding books about

ecology.

• Also, David Attenborough’s natural productions with the BBC (such as Blue Planet and Planet Earth) are rich in portraying species diversity.• This is an excellent way to see the different types of

animals and plants around the world.