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THEMATIC REPORT 2: BIODIVERSITY MEASUREMENT

by Israel Adeoye | 20-05-2019 22:20 recommendations 1

In spite of a number of devices and data sources, biodiversity still remains a difficult task to execute to quantify it precisely. That is, it is difficult to know the exact number of species on earth. But precise answers are seldom needed to devise an effective understanding of where biodiversity is, how it is changing over space and time, the drivers responsible for such change, the consequences of such change for ecosystem services and human well-being, and the response options available. 

Normally, to assess and know the conditions and direction of biodiversity locally or globally, it it will be important to measure the abundance of all organisms over space and time, considering important factors such as the taxonomy (such as the number of species), functional traits (for example, the ecological type such as nitrogen-fixing plants like legumes versus non-nitrogen-fixing plants), and the interactions among species that affect their abilities and function which includes predation, parasitism, competition, and facilitation such as pollination. Though it is not possible to do this with much accuracy as we lack the resources, it will be very important to estimate the turnover of biodiversity not just only the estimates in space or time.

As we have a number of measures of biodiversity, a very important metric is the species richness which is reffered to as the number of species in a given area. But as important as this metric is, it mut be combined with other metrics for full cover of biodiversity. As a result of challenges the multidimensionality of biodiversity poses to its measurement, a variety of surrogate measures are many times used. These include the species richness of specific taxa, the number of distinct plant functional types (such as grasses, forbs, bushes, or trees), or the diversity of distinct gene sequences in a sample of microbial DNA taken from the soil. Other taxon-based measures of biodiversity, however, rarely capture key attributes such as variability, function, quantity, and distribution—all of which provide insight into the roles of biodiversity.

A scientific way of measuring biodiversity is the use of Ecological indicators which make use of quantitative data. ecosystem condition, services, or drivers of change, but no single ecological indicator captures all the dimensions of biodiversity. These Ecological indicators have now formed a critical component of monitoring, assessment, observing, decision-making and have been designed to communicate information quickly and easily to policy-makers. Economic indicators such as GDP are highly influential and well understood by decision-makers. On the same vein, environmental indicators, such as global mean temperature and atmospheric CO2 concentrations, are becoming widely accepted as measures of anthropogenic effects on global climate. Ecological indicators as they are founded on much of the same principles, carry with them similar characteristics.


Reference
GREENFACTS: Facts on Health and Environment
https://www.greenfacts.org/en/biodiversity/l-3/1-define-biodiversity.html
 
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9 Comments

  • Basanta Adhikari says :
    Greeting israel
    I hope you are doing well
    Nicely written
    Thank you so much for this report.
    Keep writing
    Green cheers!
    Regards
    Basanta
    Posted 23-03-2020 11:10

  • Hema Sapkota says :
    Greeting israel
    I hope you are doing well!
    Thank you so much for this report!
    Keep writing
    Green cheers
    Regards
    Hema
    Posted 22-03-2020 11:14

  • Horticulturist Susmita says :
    Hello israel
    I hope you are doing well

    Thank you so much for this report.
    Regards
    Sus
    Posted 29-02-2020 21:24

Kushal Naharki

  • Kushal Naharki says :
    Hello Israel

    Thank you for your report about biodiversity measurement. Keep up with your great research and this is really an impressive report. Great !!!

    Green Cheers from Nepal :)
    Keep writing great reports.
    We are eager to read more reports from you.

    Regards,
    Kushal Naharki

    Posted 17-06-2019 05:22

  • Louis Mentor says :
    Hi Israel,

    Thank you for writing about biodiversity measurements as it is critical to have proper indicators to measure our environments. When it comes to environmental analysis which is fairly difficult, these biodiversity measurements will definitely contribute to our understanding of environment. As there are so many factors that cannot be measured quantitatively, having a comprehensive and relatively accurate measurement system is very important these days. Overall this is a great report and please keep up with the hard work! :)

    Louis Mentor
    Posted 26-05-2019 16:50

  • Wonhee Mentor says :
    Hi Israel

    Thank you for bringing up this very important and interesting topic, measurements of biodiversity. Measurements of biodiversity or other environmental figures are very crucial when we want to analyze environmental problems and raise the awareness of them. As we can not track down all the species in the world, it is true that measurements of biodiversity is even more difficult than figuring out other environmental indicators. Thanks for pointing out this. I look forward to reading your next report. : )

    Wonhee Mentor

    Posted 25-05-2019 22:37

  • Eco Generation says :
    Greetings Israel,

    This is a really interesting topic towards biodiversity, covering the methods to measure them.
    Before, it has never occurred to me that economic indicators such as GDP can be highly influential. Thank you for teaching us about new things about biodiversity!

    Sincerely,
    Eco Generation
    Posted 23-05-2019 09:47

  • Asmita Gaire says :
    Hello israel
    Biodiversity measurement, it's a great step.
    Using of ecological indicators for biodiversity measurement, it's wow and it's one of the fruitful measure to quantify biodiversity.
    Thank you so much for this great piece of report.
    Green cheers!
    Posted 21-05-2019 01:54

  • Rosa Domingos says :
    Hey there Israel!

    I hope you are well! I like that fact that quantitative data collection has been taken a promanance in the field on biodiversity as it has to groundwater. More and more, we see the need to get the numbers in terms of populations right and with that, I truely believe it will make the communication of information much efficient and easy.

    I look forward to your next report. You never fail to furnish thought provoking reports and I admire that.

    Thank you for reporting!
    Warm regards,
    Rosa
    Posted 21-05-2019 01:36

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