BAT 311E: THE MANAGEMENT OF

AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS

BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY
 WHAT IS BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY?

VARIETY OF LIFE-FORMS AND ITS

INTERACTIONS

OR

NUMBER OF SPECIES/GENETIC TYPES IN AN

AREA
BASIC CONCEPTS OF BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY

1. GENETIC DIVERSITY
A) TOTAL NO. OF GENETIC CHARACTERISTICS
OF SPECIES/SUBSPECIES/GROUP OF SPECIES
B) ANY VARIATION IN THE NUCLEOTIDES,
GENES, CHROMOSOMES, OR WHOLE
GENOMES OF ORGANISMS
 BASIC CONCEPTS OF BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY

2. HABITAT DIVERSITY: DIFFERENT KINDS OF

HABITAT IN GIVEN AREA.
BASIC CONCEPTS OF BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY

3. SPECIES DIVERSITY;
•SPECIES RICHNESS – TOTAL ABUNDANCE
•SPECIES EVENNESS – RELATIVE ABUNDANCE
•SPECIES DOMINANCE – MOST ABUNDANT
HOW MANY SPECIES ON EARTH?
 HOW MANY SPECIES ON EARTH?

1. ONLY 1.5 MILLION SPECIES HAVE BEEN

NAMED
2. ESTIMATED SPECIES = BETWEEN 3 TO
100 MILLION.
3. NEW SPECIES DICOVERED =
EXTINCTION TO OTHER SPECIES
4. ABOUT 15,000 NEW SPECIES DESCRIBED EVERY YEAR
5. SOME 50% OF THE WORLD’S FLORA & FAUNA COULD BE ON A PATH
TO EXTINCTION WITHIN A HUNDRED YEARS (STUART PIMM, 1999).
Microcebus lehilahytsara – found at Madagascar in 2005
Dodo (flightless bird) - Mauritius.
Discovered 1598, extinct by 1681.
WHY ARE THERE SO MANY SPECIES?

1. INTERACTIONS BETWEEN SPECIES

 COMPETITION = NEGATIVE ON BOTH

 SYMBIOSIS = BENEFITS BOTH
 PREDATION – PARASITISM = BENEFIT ONE, BAD
TO ANOTHER

2. COMPETITIVE EXCLUSION PRINCIPLE = COMPLETE

COMPETITORS CANNOT COEXIST IN THE SAME HABITAT.
WHY ARE THERE SO MANY SPECIES?

3. ECOLOGICAL NICHE

 SPECIES THAT REQUIRE THE SAME RESOURCES

CAN COEXIST BY UTILIZING THOSE RESOURCES
UNDER DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTAL
CONDITIONS.
The ecological niche of an organism depends not
only on where it lives but also on what it does. By
analogy, it may be said that the habitat is the
organism's "address", and the niche is its
"profession", biologically speaking.

Odum - Fundamentals of Ecology - W B Saunders 1959

 MEASURING NICHE

 HUTCHINSONIAN NICHE =

DESCRIBE THE NICHE AS THE SET OF ALL

ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH
A SPECIES CAN PERSIST AND CARRY OUT ITS
LIFE FUNCTIONS
 SYMBIOSIS

 SYMBIOSIS =RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN 2 ORGANISMS THAT

BENEFICIAL TO BOTH AND ENHANCES EACH CHANCES OF

PERSISTING.
OBLIGATE SYMBIONTS = SYMBIONT THAT COULD NOT
SURVIVE WITHOUT THE OTHER.
SAVING SPECIES FROM EXTINCTION = SAVE THE HABITATS,
NICHE AND ALSO ITS SYMBIONTS.
 PREDATION AND PARASITISM

 PREDATION = AN ORGANISM (PREDATOR) FEEDS ON

OTHER LIVE ORGANISMS (PREY)

 PARASITISM = AN ORGANISM (PARASITE) LIVES ON, IN

OR WITHIN ANOTHER (HOST) & DEPENDS ON IT FOR
EXISTENCE – NO USEFUL OR HARM.

 PREDATION AND PARASITISM INCREASE DIVERSITY –

COMPETITIVE EXCLUSION PRINCIPLE.
ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS THAT
INFLUENCE DIVERSITY
Some Major Factors that Increase and Decrease Biological Diversity

A. Factors that tend to increase diversity

1. A physical diverse habitat
2. Moderate amounts of disturbance ( such as fire or storm in a forest
or a sudden flow of water from a storm into a pond)
3. A variation in environmental conditions (temperature, precipitation,
nutrient supply, etc)
4. High diversity at one trophic level increases the diversity another
trophic level. (Many kinds of trees provide habitats for many kinds of
birds and insects.)
5. An environment highly modified by life (eg. a rich organic soil)
6. Middle stages of succession
7. Evolution
Some Major Factors that Increase and Decrease Biological Diversity

B. Factors that tend to decrease diversity

1. Environmental stress
2. Extreme environments (conditions near the limit of what
living things can withstand)
3. A severe limitation in the supply of essential resource
4. Extreme amount of disturbance
5. Recent introduction of exotic species (species from other
area)
6. Geographic isolation (being on a real or ecological island)
 The End….

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