Question

What are the advantages and disadvantages of low diversity? What are the advantages and disadvantages of high diversity?

Answer 1

Diversity can be defined as a range of varieties that occurs naturally in any particular category. It can also be seen in organisms, environments, their habitat, etc. Low diversity or high diversity in any particular species or ecosystem has its own pros and cons.

Complete answer:
Low diversity for any species can be defined as the presence of a lesser variety of successful individuals such that they create an unstable and unhealthy ecosystem which is more likely to collapse in front of complex food webs and natural hurdles and thus possibly lead to extinction of the species.
Advantages of low diversity are as follows:
Organisms have less pressure for food requirements.
Low diversity reduces the number of threatening predators.
Disadvantages of low diversity are as follows:
Diseases are more likely to spread.
Ecosystem with low diversity is less productive.
High diversity for any species can be defined as the presence of a huge variety of successful individuals in abundance such that they create a stable and healthy ecosystem which is capable enough to fight against natural hurdles and thus keep the name of species.
Advantages of high diversity are as follows:
Small disturbances natural or manmade do not affect the ecosystem.
Survival rate of species is very high.
Disadvantages of high diversity are as follows:
There is a lot of pressure for food and energy on the ecosystem.
Organisms become prone to predators as the number of individuals are very high.

Note:
Besides all these factors, every organism and ecosystem expects its members to be highly variable and diverse so that they are capable enough to survive the natural challenges such as diseases, fire, predators attack, etc. This is because every species wants to survive and keep its name in the ecosystem.