Biodiversity is the variety and variability of life forms on earth. It is the internet of life or the world wide web of life that is expanded all across our mother planet Earth to form the global biospheric community. By this definition I present biodiversity =www.life @earth.com. The question arises how many different species are inhabiting here. Approximately 1.9 million have been documented but the probable total number may be 5 to 100 million, even more than that, no one knows exactly! How can we scientifically estimate that number? No i am not talking about guesstimate! .Again why so many species? Where some are adorned, glorified, useful, receive attention but majority are untold and unsung! But in the ecosystem level all have some role, some intrinsic value. Otherwise they might not have been selected and given space in the grand design and functioning of mother Nature's biosphere. We know, the failures are the fossils and the all living entities are the secrets of survival with some unique attributes. Indeed we might haven't yet read all the pages of all the books of the living library of Nature. Actually that's next to impossible too! Please give some insightful observations and relevant literature.
About 8.7 million. I think there are many ecological niches on earth and evolution allows the organisms to diversify to fill these niches.
Dear Dr. Singh & All friends,
What is the source of your answer? Why so many species? How can we evaluate the roles of all those species? Beyond our familiar 'biodiversity trinity' i.e. genetic diversity, species diversity and ecosystem/habitat diversity we can consider another diversity - the functional diversity, which can tell the truth but how? I am expecting some insightful response with explanatory note, not a quizical answer to my questions.
Regards,
Jayanta
About 1 Trillion...
http://www.livescience.com/54660-1-trillion-species-on-earth.html
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