Ecosystem diversity

The Earth has many diverse ecosystems and ecosystem diversity. These are NASA composite images of the Earth: 2001 (left), 2002 (right), titled The Blue Marble.

See also: Ecosystem and Biome

Ecological diversity is a type of biodiversity. It is the variation in the ecosystems found in a region or the variation in ecosystems over the whole planet. Ecological diversity includes the variation in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Ecological diversity can also take into account the variation in the complexity of a biological community, including the number of different niches, the number of trophic levels and other ecological processes. An example of ecological diversity on a global scale would be the variation in ecosystems, such as deserts, forests, grasslands, wetlands and oceans. Ecological diversity is the largest scale of biodiversity, and within each ecosystem, there is a great deal of both species and genetic diversity.

Examples

Some examples of ecosystems that are rich in diversity are:

• Deserts
• Forests
• Large marine ecosystems
• Marine ecosystems
• Old growth forests
• Rainforests
• Tundra
• Coral Reefs

See also

• Bioregion
• Ecology
• Evolutionary biology
• Genetic diversity
• Nature
• Natural environment
• Species diversity
• Sustainable development