Species Diversity: Understanding the Variety of Life on Earth

This document provides a comprehensive overview of species diversity, defining it as the variety of species in a given region and emphasizing its importance for ecosystem health and human well-being. It explores the components of species diversity, including species richness and evenness, and discusses various types of species based on their ecological niches (generalist, specialist, native, non-native, indicator, and keystone). The document highlights the significance of species diversity in maintaining biodiversity, ecosystem productivity, and providing essential resources. It also examines the impact of species loss and emphasizes the need for conservation efforts to prevent further decline and ensure the continued benefits of a diverse and thriving ecosystem. The document further provides examples of species diversity across the globe and the threats species face.

BLOG: SPECIES DIVERSITY
WHAT IS SPECIES DIVERSITY?

SPECIES DIVERSITY
3rd August 2019
Earth is a place to live for a highly astonishing diversity of species which is capable of providing
food, medicine, and other necessary infrastructure to ensure the existence and growth of
humankind. Species are the set of individual living things that have the same or distinct
characteristics and able to mate, produce, and reproduce new fertile offspring. In other words,
species are the largest group of living organisms that are capable of interbreeding and producing
fertile offspring. Diversity is the state of being diverse or a range of different things in terms of
nature, characteristics, looks, colure, skin, and other visible factors. Species diversity is the
variety of species present in a specific region or a given community.
Species diversity refers to the number of species as well as the abundance of different species
living in a specific geographical location. The types and number of species that live in a certain
location are known as species richness. If one can measure the richness of species in a forest,
he/she might find 50 types of plant species, 10 types of mammal species, and 20 types of bird
species. The abundance of species stands as the number of each species. For instance, in a
mountain area, 100 types of mountain beavers might be living there in the forest surrounding the
mountain area. Moreover, species diversity can be measured by focusing on a broad as well as a
small geographic area like the entire Earth and a particular forest respectively.

Definition and concept of Species Diversity
Species diversity means the variety and number of different forms of life present in a biological
community or particular region. The diversity prevailing in the creatures or the living beings
roaming on Earth is highly astounding. The definition of species diversity is the types and
number of different species as well as the abundance of every single group of species living in
the Earth. There are two component of species diversity such as species richness, and species
evenness. Species richness is the simplest and oldest concept in relation to species diversity. It
means the total number of different kinds of species present in a region or in a community.
McIntosh has coined the concept of species richness to elaborate the concept of species diversity.
The basic problem of measurement in terms of species richness is that sometimes it becomes
impossible to enumerate every kind of species in a region or natural community, more
specifically if someone deals with the tropical plant or insect communities' assemblages. Species
Heterogeneity includes two separate ideas such as species richness and species evenness. For a
number of decades, the ecologists believe that most of the communities of animals and plants
contain a small number of dominant species. There are a number of animals and plants species
which are uncommon compared to the others. Evenness of species is a measure that attempts to
count (quantify) such unequal representation of species against the hypothetical community
where all species (animals and plants) are found equally common. In short, Species evenness is
the abundance of individual members within specific species.
Primarily, the term biodiversity is related to the diversity of living beings or organisms which
means the abundant presence of various kinds of the animal, plant as well as microbial species.
Here, biodiversity stands for the variety of living organisms or life on this Earth. The biological
diversity of Earth is commonly known as biodiversity. The number of species in relation to
animals, plants, and microorganisms, the different types of ecosystems prevailing on earth like
mountains, rainforests, coral reefs, deserts, along with the enormous genetic diversity in the huge
number of species result in the biologically diverse planet. Species diversity maintains
biodiversity and it is the most important element that creates biodiversity. Appropriate
conservation as well as strategies related to sustainable development attempt to recognise this as
integral while undertaking any approach for preserving biodiversity. Each of the species

currently present in the biodiversity is highly required to preserve for boosting ecosystem
productivity.
Species Diversity on Earth
On Earth, there are around 8.7 million different types of species and out of these species nearly 1
million are classified as insects. In every year, new species of animal, plants, and insects are
discovered. Each year, around 13,000 different types of species come into existence and they are
contributing to the growth of the list of identified and known species. In 2013, in Honduras, a
species of a venomous snake was discovered and it was named as the green palm-pit viper. In the
next year, i.e. in 2014, in Ecuador and Colombia, a new type of carnivorous mammal was
discovered which was named as olinguito.
Oliguito

Green palm-pit viper
The tropical rainforests area is the most favourable and hottest spots that include species
diversity at a great extent. Though the tropical rainforests area comprises only seven percent of
the total land on Earth but it is habituated by fifty percent of all species currently present on
Earth. In the country of Costa Rica, approximately 1,400 types of orchid species, 1,200 types of
butterfly species, and 600 types of bird species are living. The most interesting and one of the
oldest species, in terms of age, of mammals, are living in this American country named Costa
Rica. The species include howler monkeys, sloths, and jaguars.
Types of Species that form Species Diversity
Species are classified by considering general ecological niche and specific ecological niche.
Here, ecological niche means the sum of a species life which include it's birth, survival, feeding
and reproduction activities. In terms of the general ecological niche, there are two kinds of
species such as generalist species, and specialist species. Generalist species include human
being, rats, and cockroaches those who are able to live in almost every environment, eat different
kinds of food as well as tolerate a wide range of fluctuating environmental conditions and
produce more. Specialist species are something that lives in a narrow niche because they are only
able to live in a specific habitat, eat specific kinds of food, sensitive to environmental changes
and produce new fertile offspring. For example, panda bears that only eat a specific bamboo
plant grown in China and Flamingo which eats a specific crustacean. Specialist species are very
vulnerable due to their limited and specific survival characteristics.

In terms of Specific ecological niche, the types of species are native species, non-native species,
indicator species, and keystone species. Native species means the local or endemic species that
are found in only one place like bamboo bats of Philippine, Philippine Tarsier, the world's
smallest primate. Non-native species are something that is able to migrate from one ecosystem to
another either deliberately or accidentally like Tilapia, and Golden Apple Snail. Indicator species
act as biologically designed smoke alarm because they are able to give warning signals to other
species living in an ecosystem. Birds, frogs, and dogs are excellent as indicator species. The
keystone species include snakes and alligators which use to control the population of other
species by eating old and sick members of other species. Foundation species are the organisms
which help to create as well as reshape the ecosystem and habitat. For example, Beaver, that
makes dams as a protected area to live where a number of other organisms like insects, fish, and
small birds also live.
Importance of Species Diversity
There are a large number of reasons for which species diversity stands essential. Every single
species contribute to the Earth's ecosystem. For instance, bees act as the primary pollinators and
if bees went extinct the accordingly vegetables and fruits also went into extinction followed by,
animals who feed them. This represents a chain that links to humans. Not only we get food from
various species but also they contribute to breathable air, clean water, fertile soils, pollution
absorption, climate stability, building materials that we use for constructing our homes,
medicinal resources, prevention of different types of disease outbreaks, and more. For example,
species diversity uses to contribute to the ecosystem and makes it healthy. Each of the species
acts like a link or thread that hold the ecosystem together. If any of the species went into
extinction, an ecosystem in the whole can start to unroll.
Species diversity stands crucial for ecosystem health. For example, in the Pacific Northwest,
salmon holds together the entire ecosystem. For instance, Salmon, a species of fish, carries rich
nutrients which it collects from the ocean and when it dies, the nutrients it stored into its body
are gobbled by insects, mammals, birds, and plants. If it is assumed, that salmon went into
extinction, then it will influence the entire food chain in a negative manner. The species and their

composition in a particular ecosystem is a result of long-lasting evolution. Each of the species
has their individual ability to cope up with its individual niche which is characterised by some
specific features like availability of light or food, temperature range. These specific features
enable them to reproduce which ultimately help to maintain the population of the species.
While living in a particular ecosystem, species uses to interact with its surrounding environment
(e.g. reed forms its root systems, mussels use to take particles from water) and thus, uses to
perform some functions. The function includes increasing the availability of light for assisting in
plant growth, controlling the saltiness of ocean water, preventing erosion of sediment and more.
In the natural state, all these types of interactions ensure balance in the ecosystem. The extinction
of any one species uses to affect a number of other species as well as causes imbalance in the
ecosystem. Such extinction will result in the stoppage of several functions of the ecosystem and
the entire system is not being healthily carried out by other species anymore. Any of the species
that will take the place of the extinct species niche, will not certainly replace its functions as it
uses to perform. When species went into extinction, they put an end to serve the ecosystem and
global biosphere and lost forever and nothing stands capable of replacing it. A greater species
diversity and richness cause the entire ecosystems to perform its functions productively and more
efficiently by making as well as ensuring more natural resources available for all the other
species living in the ecosystem.
The Need for Preventing the Loss of Species Diversity
The loss of species diversity needs to be prevented because the species richness, as well as the
species diversity, cause the entire ecosystems to perform more efficiently. It ensures the
productivity in the ecosystem by ensuring the availability of resources within the entire
ecosystem. It should have become clear that the loss of species is accompanied by a loss of
functionality, some of which directly severely affect human life. The reduction in commercially
used stocks and erosion of soil and sediment are only two examples. Till date, scientists around
the world have counted as well as described approximately 1.7 million organisms that are living,
whereas the total number species currently existing in the planet is around 8.7 million. Over the

years, a number of species went into extinction and some new comes into existence by replacing
the place of the lost species, not in full but in, to some extent.
Each and every species on the Earth make its contribution in increasing the goodness and quality
of life of human beings. Therefore, it is necessary for the human to prevent or at least reduce the
loss of species diversity for avoiding the loss or reduction of opportunities for human beings to
extract benefits from it. In an ecosystem, a number of species use to live and they are dependent
on each other either directly or indirectly. The loss of species diversity creates a negative impact
on the ecosystem stability and the ecosystem stability uses to impact population growth, and
decay due to the increasing asymmetry between loss and gain in the ecosystem which is
governed by laws of power. The loss of species diversity has long-lasting impacts on the
ecosystem volatility which can lead more species went extinction. Species diversity stabilises
ecosystem and ecosystem diversity has stabilising impacts on the ecosystem's productivity.
The way Human Activities use to Affect Species Diversity
Over-exploitation, habitat conversion, and pollution are the major elements that severely affect
species diversity. All these elements are responsible jointly and individually for causing loss of
different types of species on global, regional, and local levels gradually. Furthermore, the
introduction or birth of new species into a new ecosystem uses to destroy the natural balance of
the ecosystem. The ever-growing tendencies of transport, profit-oriented production of food
items such as single-crop agriculture, and selective aquaculture, tourism, and development of the
huge amount of carbon emitting industries and some other human activities affect species
diversity. Increasing population growth and global warming continually increase pressures on
biodiversity. The growing demand for technology, network facilities of people severely affects
species diversity. One of such example is the increasing number of installation of mobile towers
for ensuring uninterrupted network become responsible for the extinction of some birds like
sparrow, pigeon, dove, bulbul, a few years back which were easily visible in urban areas. Around
70% of the 10,000 known species of bird are declining, some already went into extinction, due to
the activities of human whereas the population of frog, polar bear, penguin is declining due to the
increasing global warming.