Question

(a) "India has greater ecosystem diversity than Norway". Do you agree with the statement? Give reasons in support of your answer.
(b) Write the different between genetic biodiversity and species biodiversity that exists at all the levels of biological organisation.

Answer 1

(a) Ecological diversity refers to the different types of habitats. It includes various biological zones, like lake, desert, coast, estuaries, wetlands, mangroves, coral reefs etc. A geographical region having different ecosystems will have more ecologically diverse organisms. At the ecosystem level, India, for instance, with its deserts, rainforests, mangroves, coral reefs, wetlands, estuaries, and alpine meadows has a greater ecosystem diversity than a Scandinavian country like Norway. Although India has only 2.4 percent of the world’s land area, its share of the global species diversity is an impressive 8.1 percent. That is what makes India one of the 12 megadiversity countries of the world. Nearly 45,000 species of plants and twice as many of animals have been recorded from India.

(b) Difference between genetic biodiversity and species biodiversity

Genetic biodiversity	Species biodiversity
Amount of variation in the genetic material within all members of a population	Amount of variation and variability of species in a particular area or volume at a particular time
It influences adaptability and distribution of a species in diverse habitats	It influences biotic interactions and stability of the community
Can be measured by evaluating the number of genes	Can be measured by evaluating the number of species and their evenness
Genetic diversity may not be directly viewed	Species diversity is always tangible
Genetic diversity has more potential to affect the species diversity	Species diversity has very less potential to affect the genetic diversity