What is Species Diversity?
species diversity is the number of different species in a particular area (species richness) weighted by some measure of abundance such as number of individuals or biomass. However, it is common for conservation biologists to speak of species diversity even when they are actually referring to species richness. Species diversity is caused by evolution. A region becomes diverse with the evolution of different species in an area.
What are the Components of Species Diversity?
- Species richness: Number of different species present in an ecosystem.
- Species evenness: Relative abundance of individuals of each of those species. High evenness leads to greater specific diversity
Why Is Species Diversity Important?
In a healthy ecosystem, diverse and balanced number of species exist to maintain the balance of an ecosystem. In an ecosystem, all the species depend on each other directly or indirectly. So to make a more efficient, productive and sustainable ecosystem, it is important to maintain high species diversity.
- Rich diversity is important for the survival of mankind
- Healthy biodiversity has benefits like nutrients storage, soil formation, climate stability etc
- Greater species richness and productivity makes an ecosystem more sustainable and stable
- Apart from these, there are other benefits such as recreation and tourism, education and research
