BIODIVERSITY

The term biological diversity was used first by wildlife scientist and
conservationist Raymond F. Dasmann in the 1968 book A Different Kind of
Country. Biodiversity is an abbreviation word of Biological Diversity and
shows variation of life forms like species, ecosystem, biome, and planet.
Earth is occupied by many kinds of living organism and earth is estimated
to have 5 to 30 million of living organism. Biodiversity takes an important
part on the planet. Air, water, animals, plants, and human beings are all
linked one another in a system. United Nation once held a world summit in
Johannesburg on 2002 and it discussed about the significant of
Biodiversity and it is conservation to ensure earth continuation. Because
Earth has a vast range of living organisms, the scientist made a proper
classification to differentiate all living organisms. The study of diversity
can be learned at three level : Gene, Species, and Ecosystem.

A. GENETIC DIVERSITY

All living organism were consist of deoxyribonucleic acid also known as

DNA. DNA is a linear molecule composed of four different nucleotide bases
: adenine, guanine, thymine, and cytosine. The combination of the four
pairs result in the genetic code. The pool of genetic diversity of a species
can exist in three different levels : genetic diversity within individuals,
genetic diversity among individuals within population and genetic
diversity among population. When a populations habitat changes, the
population may have to adapt to survive. Variation in the populations
gene pool provides variable traits among the individuals of that
population. These variable traits can be selected for ultimately leading to
an adaptive change in the population, allowing it to survive in the
changed environment.

a. DNA and Chromosomes

There are several way for assessing the level of genetic diversity. Genetic
diversity measured in the amount of DNA per cell. The actual quantity of
DNA per cell of different species of Eukaryotes varies. The number of
genes is believed to range from 1000 in a bacteria, 10.000 in fungi, and
400.000

in

many

plants.

Genetic

diversity

is

also

measured

in

chromosomes structure, size, and number in Eukaryotes. Levels of genetic

diversity can also be found from DNA elements. Example, on every plants,
the traits from every
parent

plants

heights

and

like
colors

will descend.

B.

SPECIES

DIVERSITY

Species richness is defined as the number of

species

in

Diversity

sample.
is

According

richness

in

to

Whittaker,

species

and

is

appropriately measured as the number of species

in a sample of standard size. The species
diversity is affected not only by the number of
individuals but also by the heterogeneity of the
sample. If individuals are drawn from different
environmental conditions, the species diversity of
the resulting set can be expected to be higher
than if all individuals are drawn from a similar
environment.

a. SPECIES DIVERSITY IN INDONESIA

Indonesia has riches of flora and fauna which
make Indonesia acknowledged as having the
highest biodiversity in the world. Some islands in Indonesia has their own
endemic species. Endemic species is unique and
local

species

that

can

only

be

found

in

particularistic area.
1. Flora Distribution in Indonesia
Tropical Rainforest in Indonesia

are

located

in

Sumatera,

Kalimantan, Papua, and Jambi. The species in tropical rainforests

are heterogeneous because there is a lot of species and not just
one specific species. Some flora in tropical rainforest are ebony,
rattan, camphor, and resin.

Liana Trees in
Kalimantan

Rainforest

Seasonal Forest is different from rain forest in terms of plant

diversity. The distribution of seasonal forests in Indonesia forms a
group of small forests which are located among other vegetation
types. Example of seasonal forests is Baluran National Park, East
Java. Some flora in seasonal forest are teak tree, sandalwood,
eucalyptus,
walnut,

and

tamarind.

Baluran National Park

Savanna is found in dry regions in Indonesia, in general is used as

hunting place and grazing field. Savanna is found in East Nusa
Tenggara, Timor island, Rote, and Sawu. Some plants in Savanna
are grass and herb, trees are rarely found.

Gili
Motang,
Komodo
National
Park

2. Fauna Distribution in Indonesia

Indonesia has many endemic animals which are not found in other
places. The number of endemic animals reaches 430 of 2.500

species of birds and 200 of 500 species of mammals.

West Indonesian Region
- Many kind of big mammal.
- The diversity of colorful bird is very low.
- Found the kinds of monkey, mainly in Kalimantan.
- Found endemic mammal, such as one horned rhinoceros, two
horned rhinoceros, orang utan, siamang, tarsius, bekantan, and

kukang.
East Indonesian Region
- Many pocked mammals (marsupials) are found, while big
-

mammals are rarely found.

The diversity of colorful bird is high
No species of monkey are found
Highly endemic animals, such as Cendrawasih birds, Komodo
dragons, Cuscus, Deer-hogs, Anoa, Maleo birds can be found in
this area.

C. ECOSYSTEM DIVERSITY

Every kind of living organism (biotic component) interact in their

environment with abiotic components (physical and chemical factors). The
biotic and abiotic components make up an ecosystem. In an ecosystem
there is a process of the taking and transfer of energy, material cycle, and
productivity. All processes are done by biotic components, through eating
and being eaten on order of producer, consumer, and decomposer. The
components of ecosystem are composed of biotic components and abiotic
components. If the composition of biotic components and the composition
of abiotic components are different, then the interaction will change.
Based on that, the ecosystem diversity develops. The example of

ecosystem

diversities

are

tropical

rain

forest

ecosystem,

beach

ecosystem, sea ecosystem and so on.

D. THE IMPORTANCE OF BIODIVERSITY

Biodiversity is the basis of human existence.

Ecosystems regulate

climatic processes, breakdown wastes and recycle nutrients, filter and

purify water, buffer against flooding, maintain soil fertility, purify air, and
provide natural resources such as wood, textiles, and of course food.

All

agriculture depends fundamentally on Biodiversity, as do marine and

freshwater food resources. To allow continued biodiversity loss means
losing the essential services that biodiversity provides, and prevents
handing down an invaluable gift to future generations.

Biodiversity

destruction has been related with the extinction of species and the loss of
habitats.

CONCLUSIONS

Biodiversity

is

the

diversity

organisms

(animal,

plants,

and

microorganism) in various places on Earth. Biodiversity exist in three

levels namely gene diversity, species diversity, and ecosystem diversity.
Gene diversity is the basic of species diversity, the diversity in individuals
are based by genetic factor and combination of genetic factor. Diversity in
one species is called variation. Diversity is richness in species and is
appropriately measured as the number of species in a sample of standard
size. The components of one ecosystem is composed of biotic and abiotic
component. Flora diversity in Indonesia is classified into three groups, wet
tropical forest, seasonal forest, and savanna. Meanwhile, fauna diversity in
Indonesia is divided into two, that is West Indonesian Region and East
Indonesian Region. Biodiversity is an important part that needs to
preserve to ensure the life cycle. Because, the destruction of biodiversity
can leads to extinction of many kinds of living organisms.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Krishnamurty, K.V. Text of Biodiversity. Enfield, SCIENCE PUBLISHER,Inc.,
2003.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_Diversity. 18 September 2013.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Species_diversity. 3 September 2013.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecosystem_diversity. 14 May 2013.
Nurhayati, Nunung. Biologi Bilingual SMA/MA . Bandung, CV. Yrama Widya,
2007.
Bresnick, Stephen. High Yield Biology. Philadelpia, Williams & Wilkins.
1996.

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