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.