Biodiversity: an overview

Biodiversity

The 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro defined biodiversity as “The variability among living organisms from all sources, including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part: this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems “. In simple words biodiversity means Variety of life forms or the combination of all life forms on Earth.

In 1980 Thomas Lovejoy first coined the term Biological diversity, while in 1986 the word biodiversity itself was coined by E.O. Wilson, in a report for the first American Forum on biological diversity. The staff of National Research Council (NRC) suggested the word biodiversity to E.O. Wilson, as more effective in terms of communication. 

Endangered Species

Species which are in danger of extinction in near future are known as endangered species.Some of the causes of endangerment include habitat distruction, climate change, overexploitation, pollution, disease and introduction of exotic species. For the conservation of these animals many international laws, acts and treaties are made, implemented and regulated by different world organisations. Protection of endangered animals is necessary for food web stability and their asteshtic beauty. Existence is the right of every living organism.

Sr. no.	Specie name	Range
1	African Wild Ass	Sumalia, Sudan and Ethiopia
2	American Black Bear	North America
3	Amur Leopard	Eastern Asia
4	Anatolian Leopard	Turkey
5	Andean Mountain Cat	Chile, peru, Argentina, Bolivia
6	Apennine Chamois	Italy
7	Argali	Eurasia
8	Asian Golden Cat	Nepal, Southeast Asia, China, Indonesia
9	Asian Wild Ass	Southwestern and Central Asia
10	Aye-aye	Madagascar
11	Babriusa	Indinesia
12	Bactrian Deer	Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan
13	Baluchistan Bear	Iran and Pakistan
14	Banteng	Southeast Asia
15	Beaver	Mongolia
16	Black Rhinoceros	Eastern and Central Africa
17	Black-footed Cat	South Africa
18	Blue Bear	China
19	Blue Whale	Oceanic
20	Bontebok	South Africa
21	Broom's Pygmy-possum	Australia
22	Brown Bear	Palearctic
23	Bulmer’s Fruit Bat (flaying fox)	Papua New Guinea
24	Bumblebee Bat	Thailand
25	Cheetah	Africa to India
26	Chinchilla	Bolivia
27	Cohcito	Mexico
28	Common Chimpanzee	Africa
29	Desert bandicoot	Australia
30	Elephant	Africa, Asia
31	Fin Whale	Oceanic
32	Flat-headed Cat	Malaysia, Indonesia
33	Florida Cougar	United States
34	Gazelle	Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, Sudan, Egypt, Libya, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Arabian Peninsula,Somalia, Ethiopia, Western Sahara, Sinai, Palestine.
35	Giant anteater	Central and South America
36	Giant Armadillo	South America
37	Giant Panda	China
38	Giant Sable Antelope	Angola
39	Golden Lion Tamarin	Brazil
40	Gorilla	Africa
41	Gray Bat	Central and Southeastern U.S.
42	Hawaii Hoary Bat	U.S.
43	Iberian Lynx	Portugal and Spain
44	Indiana Bat	Eastern and Midwestern U.S.
45	Iriomote Cat	Japan
46	Koala	Australia
47	Komodo Dragon	Indonesia
48	Lesser Long-nosed Bat	Mexico and Central America
49	Lesser Panda	Southern Asia
50	Lesser Rabbit bandicoot	Australia
51	Little Mariana Fruit Bat	Western Pacific Ocean and U.S.
52	Lowland Anoa	Indonesia
53	Malabar Large-Spotted Civet	India
54	Manipur Brow-Antlered Deer	India
55	Marbled Cat	Nepal, Southeast Asia, Indonesia
56	Marine Otter	South America
57	Mexican Bobcat	Central Mexico
58	Mexican Grizzly Bear	Holarctic
59	Mountain Anoa	Indonesia
60	Mountain Zebra	South Africa
61	Muskox	Sweden, Siberia, Norway
62	Oncillia	North Argentina
63	Ozark Big-eared Bat	U.S.
64	Pakistan Sand Cat	Pakistan
65	Pig-footed bandicoot	Australia
66	Pink Fairy Armadillo	Argentina
67	Polar Bear	Arctic Ocean
68	Rabbit bandicoot	Australia
69	Red Wolf	North America, Southeastern U.S.
70	Reindeer	U.S. and Canada
71	Right Whale	Oceans
72	Rodrigues Fruit bat (flying fox)	Indian Ocean, Rodrigues island
73	Seladung/Gaur	Southeast Asia, South asia
74	Short-tailed Chinchilla	South America
75	Singapore Roundleaf Horseshoe Bat	Malaysia
76	Snow Leopard	Eastern Asia
77	Sumatran Tiger	Indonesia
78	Tapir	South America, Central America, Southeast Asia
79	Texas Ocelot	Mexico and United states
80	Vicuna	South America
81	Western barred bandicoot	Australia
82	Western Giant Eland	Western Africa
83	White Rhinoceros	Southern Africa
84	Wild Bactrian Camel	Mongolia, China, Central Asia
85	Wild Yak	India, China
86	Wood Bison	Canada
87	Woolly Lemur	Madagascar
88	Kabul Markhor	Afghanistan, Pakistan
89	Urial	Cyprus