Question

What is the definition of biodiversity as per Technological Assessment Report 1987 USA?

Answer 1

Biodiversity is defined as the measure of biological variation which occurs at the genetic, species as well as ecosystem levels. The distribution of biodiversity is not even on earth and this is a cause of many different factors.

Complete answer:
According to the Technological Assessment Report 1987y USA biodiversity is defined as “ The variety, difference and ecological complexity, found among creatures”. As mentioned above, biodiversity is not evenly distributed, it varies across the globe as well as within regions.

Factors that cause this uneven distribution are temperature, soils, altitude, geography and the presence of other species. For example, terrestrial biodiversity is much higher than ocean biodiversity. Biodiversity is measured in terms of the taxonomic richness of a geographical area over a fixed time interval. But during the last century, a decrease in biodiversity is being observed at very high rates. As a result of which many species were classified as rare or threatened or endangered.

The cause of loss of biodiversity may be increased urbanization which in turn leads to habitat loss, increase in agriculture, usage of biological resources in the form of hunting, destruction of plants, wood harvesting, etc.; climatic changes and presence of invasive species or pathogens.

Note: To minimize the loss of biodiversity many protection and restoration techniques have been formulated such as forest reserves and biosphere reserves that not only protect the wild animals but also their habitat. These protected areas have been set up all over the world and are useful not only to protect animals but also rare species of plants.