SPECIES DIVERSITY

INTRODUCTION
Today, scientists have identified about 1.75 million species. Yet,
millions more have yet to be discovered.

Researchers continue to discover new species and scientists

have estimated anywhere between 2 and 100 million additional
species have yet to be discovered.

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 SPECIES DIVERSITY
The number and variety of life forms present in a biological community.

SPECIES DIVERSITY
• A group of living organisms • A state of being diverse or
consisting of similar variety
individuals capable of
exchanging genes or
interbreeding.

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 SPECIES DIVERSITY
It incorporates the number of species in a community and the evenness of
species’ abundances.
SPECIES RICHNESS SPECIES EVENNESS

• The number of different • The abundance of the

species in a particular area. individual members within
a particular species.

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ECOLOGICAL NICHE
• Each species plays a specific ecological role called niche.
• It is a species’ way of life in a community and includes everything
that affects its survival and reproduction, such as:
a. How much water and sunlight it needs
b. How much space it requires
c. What it feeds on or what feeds on it
d. The temperatures and other conditions it can
tolerate.

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ECOLOGICAL NICHE
• A species niche should not be confused with its habitat, which is
the place or type of ecosystem in which it lives and obtains what it
needs to survive.

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TYPES OF SPECIES BASED ON
ECOLOGICAL NICHE

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GENERALIST SPECIES
q Species that have a broad
way of life, they can live in a
variety of environments, eat
many kinds of different
foods and often can tolerate
a wide range of
environmental conditions
and produce more young.

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SPECIALIST SPECIES q Species that live in a narrow
niche.
q They are able to live in one
habitat, eat specific food,
sensitive to changes in the
environment and usually
produce new offspring.
q They are vulnerable to
extinction because of its
limited survival characteristics.

EX. Pandas which eats a specific

bamboo in China.
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NATIVE SPECIES

q Species that are endemic or

local
q They are organisms that can
be found in one place and
nowhere else.

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 Local name: Kagwang
Scientific Name: Cynocephalus volans

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 Local name: Tamaraw/ Philippine
Tamaraw
Scientific Name: Bubalus mindorensis

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Name: Rafflesia/ Corpse Lily
Scientific Name: Rafflesia lagascae (1845)

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NON-NATIVE SPECIES

q Species that are exotic,

invasive or alien.
q They are species that migrates
either accidentally or
deliberately introduced into a
new ecosystem.

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 NON-NATIVE SPECIES
q Alien invasive species can influence
species diversity, richness, composition
and abundance.

Direct effects of alien invasive species occur through

processes such as:
Predation
Competition
Pathogens/diseases
Parasite transmission to individual organisms

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 NON-NATIVE SPECIES
q Alien invasive species can influence
species diversity, richness, composition
and abundance.

Direct effects of alien invasive species occur through

processes such as:

Eventually leading to population declines and species

extinctions

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Name: Golden Kuhol or Golden Apple Snail
Scientific Name: Pomacea canaliculata

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Name: Tilapia (Redbelly Tilapia)
Scientific Name: Tilapia zilli

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INDICATOR SPECIES

q Species that provide early

warnings of environmental
change in community or an
ecosystem.
q They are like biological smoke
alarms.

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 A recent decline in amphibians particularly in
frogs has been suspected due to Climate
change caused by atmospheric warming
(Global warming).

Local name: Palakang kanal/ Palakang bato

Scientific Name: Kaloula walteri

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Approximately 70% of 10,000 known bird
species of the world are declining due to
human activities/impacts.

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KEYSTONE SPECIES
q Species that exist only in
limited numbers but it has a
large effect on the types and
abundance of other species in
an ecosystem.

q They perform roles such as

controlling the population of
other species by eating the
sick and old members
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 KEYSTONE SPECIES
They play several critical roles in helping to sustain ecosystems

Pollinators Top Predators

• Bees, Butterflies, • Sharks, Wolves, Leopards,
Hummingbirds and Bats Lions and Alligators.

• The loss of a keystone species can lead to population crashes and extinctions of
other species that depend on them for certain ecosystem services.
• This is why it is so important to scientists to identify them and work to protect them.
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FACTORS AFFECTING SPECIES
DIVERSITY

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SPECIATION
The evolutionary process by which new
biological species arise.

There are two causes of Speciation:

Geographic Isolation
The populations were prevented from
interbreeding

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SPECIATION
The evolutionary process by which new
biological species arise.

There are two causes of Speciation:

Reduction of Gene flow

The population extends over a broad
geographic range, and mating
throughout the population is not
random.

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 EXTINCTION
The reduction of species to such low
abundance that, although it is still present in
the community, it no longer interacts
significantly with other species.
There are six causes of Extinction:

Taking for Profit

Hunting and Trapping
Overharvesting
Introduced Species
Destruction of Habitat
Pollution
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DIVERSITY PATTERN IN TIME AND SPACE

Ecosystem must have diverse species or many kinds of species

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Thank You!

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