The faster we lose those species, the smaller the chance of discovering solutions. Once a species goes extinct, we will never be able to experience them. This type of thinking has driven the conservation of pandas, sea otters, and other charismatic animals.
These species are called flagship species, and their conservation can result in protection of biodiversity. Even though these animals are only a small part of the whole ecosystem, preserving them means preserving the ecosystem they occupy. Efforts to save the sea otter on the West Coast of North America have resulted in healthy kelp forests housing many thousands of other species 5.
Without protection of the sea otters, herbivores like sea urchins, which are usually eaten by the otters, are capable of completely devouring kelp forests leaving barren rocks where very few species could survive. To learn more about our GDPR policies click here. If you want more info regarding data storage, please contact gdpr jove.
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Login processing Estimating Biodiversity The differences in richness and evenness between two communities can be visualized by rank-abundance curves. Threats to Biodiversity and their Implications Biodiversity around the world is threatened by pollution, climate change, and invasive species.
References Knowlton, Nancy. The future of coral reefs. Andrea S. Downing, Egbert H. Mooij, Marten Scheffer. PLoS One. Wall, Monroe E. Camptothecin and taxol: Discovery to clinic. Med Res Rev. Yuh Fen Pung, Peter T. What is an example of an ecological niche? What is the difference between a broad vs. Do humans have a niche? What is it? See all questions in Biodiversity. Impact of this question views around the world.
Why Measure Biodiversity? Summarizing values to Describe Biodiversity What is biodiversity? Diversity can be use to describe variation in several forms: Genetic species, varieties, etc. Life form grasses, forb, trees, mosses, etc. Functional group deep rooted, nitrogen-fixing, soil crust, evergreen, etc. Why is biodiversity measured? Diverse habitats with a variety of plants can have benefits such as: Providing forage for a variety of insect and vertebrate species. From the definition alone, which is very broad, it is clear that no single measure of biodiversity will be adequate.
Biodiversity can not be captured in a single number. Species richness the number of species describes the number of elements but will not capture information on the number of individuals of the species.
Rarity and conservation status, dependant on how threatened a species is, can also provide a measure of biodiversity. Measures of biodiversity are commonly used as the basis for making conservation decisions or for planning more generally. Different measures of biodiversity may support different solutions.
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