Chapter 5, Problem 2A

Summary Introduction

To explain:

Genetic diversity refers to the variety of ecosystems that are present in the biosphere.

Introduction:

The term Biodiversity is referred to as the different variety of life forms in an area. This comprises of a number of different species present in that particular area. Biodiversity of an area depends on various factors such as environmental conditions, dominating species, etc. among these the environmental conditions play the key role. There are usually three types of biodiversity in the environment viz. Genetic diversity, Species diversity and Ecosystem diversity.

Explanation of Solution

Genetic diversity of an area can be termed as the total variety of genes or the heritable characters/factors which are present in the population at a particular area. Genetic diversity depends on several factors such as breeding, migration, etc. when any species breeds by out-breeding methods where the member of a species mate with a member of a different population of the same species or with sub-species. This can increase the heterozygosity of the genes/alleles and therefore the genetic diversity. Whereas, in-breeding increases the homozygosity of genes/alleles which in turn decreases genetic diversity.

The migration of the species out from an area decreases genetic diversity, whereas migration into an area increases the genetic diversity of that area.

Whereas Ecosystem diversity is referred to as the variety of ecosystems that are present in a biosphere. The ecosystem can be defined as the interaction of any species/population with its biotic as well as abiotic factors. Various ecosystems contain a variety of organisms and the corresponding abiotic factors.

Conclusion

Biodiversity plays a crucial role in the stability of the environment, biospheres and providing economic values to humans directly or indirectly. Humans get food and nutrition from plants and animal species. Various medicinal plant species helps in developing traditional as well as allopathic medicines. Indirectly humans get oxygen from plants. Plants also help in maintaining the proper precipitation, droughts and soil erosion.

Therefore, healthy biodiversity is the demand of hour as there is a continuous increase in global warming, climate change, floods, etc.