Biodiversity and Species Concept

What is Biodiversity?
What are species?
Number of species

Biodiversity (Biological diversity) - is the variety and
variability among living organisms and the ecological
complexes in which they occur.


Genetic diversity refers to the variation of genes within species.

This covers distinct populations of the same species

(such as the thousands of traditional rice varieties in India) or

genetic variation within a populations

Species diversity refers to the variety of species within region.



Ecological diversity by structure
- refers to the physical patterns of life forms


Ecological diversity by function
- is an ecological processes create landscapes and diverse environmental
conditions out of life itself.
In the waters of the Philippines there are more than 2000
different kinds of fish. Added to that figure, the country counts
about 200 different kinds of reptiles and 25000 different
insects. The smallest monkey and the biggest fish in the
world, they both live in the Philippines.
Benefits of Biodiversity


Food
Drugs
Medicine
Ecological Benefits
Aesthetic and Cultural Benefits

Cultural Benefits

Aesthetic Benefits
Threats to Biodiversity
Natural causes
Human causes
According to the 2008 IUCN Red List of
Threatened Species, the Philippines has

a) 42 critically endangered animals,
b) 65 endangered species and
c) 318 vulnerable animal species.

Some of the endemic critically endangered
species include the tamaraw and the
Visayan warty pig.
There are about 36 species of Limnophila in the world, including 13
aquatic species
Limnophila sessiliflora is native to India, Ceylon and the Philippines
- is present in the Philippines (Pancho 1976)
- is present in Japan (Harada 1975; Kunii 1991), and was found in Japan as
early as 1932 (Kunii 1991)
- is a major weed problem in paddy rice fields of India, China, Japan and
the Philippines

Martha, the last Passenger
Pigeon







Species Categories
The Philippines is 9th in the over all ranking of
aquaculture production in the world. Indeed,
among the fisheries sector in the country, it is
also the best performing sector during the last
15 years. (Briones, 2009)

Forms of Restoration Ecology

1. Rehabilitation- to bring an area back to a useful state
for human purposes rather than a truly natural state.
2. Remediation- process of cleaning chemical
contamination from a polluted area by physical or
biological methods to protect human & ecosystem
health.
- use special bacteria to clean up oil spills in water
(bioremediation).
3. Reclamation- techniques used to restore the shape,
original contour and vegetation of a disturbed site.
4. Re-creation- attempts to construct a new biological
community on a site or to return to historic
condition.