CHAPTER 1 UNDERSTANDING BIODIVERSITY

Learning goals At the end of the lesson, students should be able to: 1. 2. 3. 4. Define and explain biodiversity Explain the term systematic, taxonomy, classification and nomenclature Describe the important of biodiversity Explain the stages of biodiversity level.

1.1 INTRODUCTION Assalamualaikum to everyone! How are you today? Hopefully you guys in your best condition today because we are going to enter a new chapter that very crucial to understand in biological world that is Biodiversity. This topic will play as a fundamental knowledge that often use to encounter such messy problem in ecological and environment nowadays. It is important for us to get used with the term that will be stress on this chapter like systematic, taxonomy, classification, nomenclature and also biodiversity itself. However, no need to be worried in tackling with such term because as we go through, an example will be provided to ease the lesson. The global loss of biodiversity and degradation of ecosystem are arguably the greatest challenge our species has faced.

1.2 WHAT IS BIODIVERSITY? Biological diversity or Biodiversity usually referred as the variety of living organism and the variety of ecosystems they form, including on the terrestrial land and aquatic marine ecosystem. The Convention on Biological Diversity has defined biodiversity as the variability among living organism from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine, and other aquatic ecosystem and ecological complexes of which they are a part; this include diversity within species, between species and of the ecosystems. The easiest way to look on biodiversity is in terms of the tree of life/ the phylogenetic tree of all organisms. Phylogenetic tree is a branching diagram of life that shows an evolutionary relationship among species according to their differences and similarity. Figure 1.1: Phylogenetic tree

Source: http://www.bio.miami.edu/dana/160/160S11_3print.html To understand the diverse of life forms, such organization like the phylogenetic tree has to be done. The branching of such trees reflects the hierarchical classification of group nested within more inclusive group. The scientific study of the diversity of organism and their evolutionary relationship is called SYSTEMATICS. While the stage of naming, describing and classifying the organism is called TAXONOMY. Taxonomist has describe and given a name towards 1.78 million species of animal, plants and micro-organism. CLASSIFICATION involves arranging the organisms into groups based on their similarities. The taxonomic studies range from species to kingdom in the form of hierarchy. Closely related species are assigned to the same genus, and closely related genera (plural for genus) are grouped in a single family.

Families are grouped into orders, orders into classes, classes into phyla, and phyla into kingdoms or domains.

KINGDOM: Eg: Plantae

PHYLUM: Eg: Anthophyta

CLASS: Eg: Monocotyledons

ORDER: Eg: Commelinales

FAMILY: Eg: Poacceae

GENUS: Eg: Zea

SPECIES: Eg: Zea mays

1.3 TAXONOMIC SYSTEMS Usually, people might think that there is only two kingdom exist; Plantae and Animalia only. Well that is a common misconception due to its macroscopic structure that obvious in rough eyes, actually, there are five Kingdom exist in taxonomic systems that is Plantae, Fungi, Animalia, Protista and Monera. In earlier taxonomic system, Linnaeus (known as a father of taxonomic system) has divided all known forms of life into plant and animal. This system stay persisted where taxonomist placed bacteria in the plant kingdom due to the presence of cell wall structure in their morphological structure. While, eukaryotic cell with a chloroplast also were considered as a plant same like fungi due to it immobility (cannot move) factor. In this two kingdom system, unicellular that have ability to move and ingesting food were group under animalia kingdom. This system were applied for a period of time until Robert H. Whittaker argued for a system with five kingdom. He separates prokaryotes from all eukaryotes and place them under one kingdom MONERA. He then, distinguish three kingdoms of multicellular eukaryotes, PLANTAE, FUNGI and ANIMALIA according to their nutritional mode. The kingdom PROTISTA was not clearly defined in Whittakers five kingdom system because Protista consisted of all eukaryotes that did not fit the definitions of plants, fungi or animals. Figure 1.2: Five Kingdom System of Organism

Source: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/media/107934/The-Whittaker-five-kingdom-classification-of-life

1.4 LEVEL OF BIODIVERSITY Biologist has separated biodiversity into three level in order to make it easier to be analyzed. Those level are genetic diversity, species diversity and ecosystem diversity. Figure 1.3: Three level of Biodiversity

Sources: http://www.biodiversitybc.org/EN/main/downloads/tnp-1.html

i.

GENETIC DIVERSITY It refer to the total genetic information contained within all individuals of a species and is measured as the number and relative frequency of alleles presents in a species. Because no two members of the same species are genetically identical, each species is the repository of an immense array of alleles. At this level, biodiversity is everywhere around you because each organism posses a different genetic material than others including different types of grapes, rice and many more. The more variation in genetic exist, the better chances of at least individual posses a genetic and feature that is favor by the nature where they can survive in which those genetic material will be passed to the offspring. If there is a loss in certain genetic diversity, it will lead towards the loss of species diversity and eventually loss in the biological diversity.

Figure 1.4: Rice with a various genetic diversity

Source:http://irri.org/index.php?option=com_k2&view=itemlist&task=category&id=865:sharing-rices-geneticdiversity-responsibly&lang=en

ii.

SPECIES DIVERSITY Species diversity is the most discussed biodiversity in public where it covers the diversity of individual in group within an ecological community. It refers to the number of different species that exist in the collection of individuals. Figure 1.5: Diversity of frog species

Source: http://blogs.thehindu.com/delhi/?p=13294

Species diversity usually be measured according to this two aspect: a. Species Richness = refer to the variation of species, how many of species presence in the community. b. Species Evenness = relative abundance of species in the community, the number of individuals within species and their degree of differences with number of individuals within other species and see how close the differences in number are. iii. ECOSYSTEM DIVERSITY It refer to the variety of biotic communities in a region like forest, grasslands, desserts and others along with abiotic components, such as soils, water and nutrients. It involves a network of community interactions among populations of different species within an ecosystem. Ecosystem diversity is more difficult to define and measure than genetic or species diversity because ecosystem do not have sharp boundaries (too general). Figure 2.6: Relationship between each level of biodiversity

Source: http://www.bio.utexas.edu/faculty/sjasper/Bio301M/biodiversity.html

1.5 THE IMPORTANCE OF BIODIVERSITY i. ECOSYSTEM SERVICES Biodiversity has provide an ecosystem services that improve the quality of abiotic environment. Green plants with other photosynthetic organism has produce an oxygen for human and other organism to breathe. The presence of land plants builds soil, reduces soil erosion, moderates local temperatures and wind conditions, and increases the volume of water retained in the lakes, streams, soils. Species from throughout the tree of life are involve in cycling nitrogen, carbon, and other nutrients through ecosystem. Biodiversity also provide a place for relaxation and recreational purpose. The landscape consist of various flora and fauna has its own aesthetic (beauty) value that is suitable to release a stress and tension. The dispersal of seeds by dispersal agent is among the importance of biodiversity in providing an ecosystem services. Other than that, the ecosystem service serves by biodiversity are mentioned below: PURIFICATION OF WATER REDUCTION OF THE SEVERITY OF DROUGHTS AND FLOODS GENERATION AND PRESERVATION OF FERTILE SOILS DETOXIFICATION AND DECOMPOSITION OF WASTES POLLINATION OF CROPS AND NATURAL VEGETATION DISPERSAL OF SEEDS CYCLING OF NUTRIENTS BIOLOGICAL CONTROL AGENT PROTECTION OF SHORELINE FROM EROSION PROTECTION FROM ULTRAVIOLET RAYS MODERATION OF WEATHER EXTREMES PROVISION OF BEAUTY AND RECREATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES ii. SUPPORT FOOD SECURITY AND LIVELIHOOD SUSTAINABILIY.

The diversity in genetic level in food system has become a basic concept in the development of crop for food security. Some genetic material in crop may have a high resistance towards disease and pest attack has improved the yield of crop production in agricultural sector. The diversity of agricultural product give more option towards human diet which aid in pointing out certain diet for macronutrient that is more suitable for certain disease and illness. Therefore, a loss in agricultural biodiversity may lead towards the stunt improvement in human health quality.

Figure 2.7: Food pyramid

Source: http://www.weight-loss-program.com/art05-pyramid.html

Food pyramid is an example where the importance of biodiversity were applied in our daily diet. Without those diversity, such alternative in meal would not exist and we all would be depending on only a few type of food where the sustainable security of it would be questioned as it threatened towards depletion in a faster rate. What happen if food only come form a few sources?

iii.

RESOURCES FOR MEDICINAL RESEARCH

Most of the medication uses in the hospital to treat an illness were extracted from the flora and fauna that is widely found in nature. Biodiversity of flora and fauna found in nature has become a stock reservoir for medicinal purposes. The loss of biodiversity may lead to worst case scenario as it leads to the depletion of natural resources required in producing medicine.

iv.

IMPROVE THE ECONOMIC STATUS

Recreation based on visiting wild places or ecotourism is a major industry internationally and Is growing rapidly. In south Africa, for example the number of tourist visiting wildlife preserves increased from 454, 428 in 1986 to over 6 million in 1999. In 2004, ecotourism grew three times faster than the tourism industry as a whole. Besides that, the uses of biological control agent has improves crop production in term of preventing it from pest attack without the use of chemical pesticides that is hazardous towards human health.

Quick check

1. The classification level which classes with similar characteristics are grouped is called ______________________ 2. Orders with common properties are combined into _______________________ 3. Similar families are combined into _________________________ 4. The classification level in which similar genera are grouped is called _____________________ 5. Linnaeus develop a system for naming and classifying organisms, which is called _____________________ 6. Biodiversity can be separated into three level which are ________________, __________________ and ________________. How does these level different from each other? ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ 7. Biodiversity has an important role in giving an Ecosystem services. Could you explain, how does those ecosystem services gives benefit towards human? ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________