1 Diversity in Living Organism
Every organism of the living world, whether it is a plant,an animal or a microorganisms,is unique in itself.This uniqueness of individuals is the basis of the diversity.
The term "biodiversity" is a concise form of "Biological Diversity" and was coined by Walter G.Rosen in 1986.Biodiversity is the occurrence of living beings which differ from one another in external appearance,size, colour pattern internal structure, nutrition, behavior,habitat,etc.Currently,there are 1.7-1.8 million organisms,all of which are different from one another.They range in size from microscopic bacteria, hardly a few micrometers in size,to Blue whales and Redwood trees of California.Similary some pine trees live for thousand years while may insects such as mosquitoes have a life span of a few days.There are transparent jelly fishes and worms on one hand to brightly coloured birds and flowers on the other hand. The diversity extends to habitat, habits, nutritive,forms,etc. Present day living forms are however,a few survivors of living beings that evolved of living beings that evolved and existed on Earth during the past 3.5 billion years.We already know most of the common and easily available animals and plants but the fauna and Flora of the unapproachable areas of forests, mountains, deserts,depth of oceans,etc.,are largely unexplored.In fact,it has been calculated that about 92 per cent biota of the world is still unexplored.
Uniqueness of Indian biodiversity.India is one of the 12 megabiodiversity countries in the world.The climatic conditions have resulted in a diversity of ecological habitats such as forests, grasslands,rivers and wetlands, coastal and marine ecosystems and deserts which harbour and sustain immense biodiversity.
Basic Issue In Scientific Naming
Taxonomy is a biological science which deals with identification, nomenclature and classification of organisms following certain rules.Thus,one of the functions of a taxonomist or systematic is to provide scientific name for every living creature.The need for a uniform international system of naming is obvious scientific name for every living creature.The need for a uniform international system of naming is obvious Common vernacular names for the same plant or animal vary from region to region.For example,the bird that we know as Gauraiya in Hindi in India and Pakistan is known by different names in other countries-house sparrow in England,Pardal in Spain,Musch in Holland,Suzune in Japan,and so on.Similarly, a dog is called 'kutta' in Hindi,Kukur in Bangla and 'Naai'in Tamil.These names are understood elsewhere.Moreover, the same common name may be used for different kinds of animals.For example, the name Kenchua is used both for the earthworm and Ascaris.It is, therefore, important to have a single scientific name to be followed all over the world.
Binomial nomenclature.In biology every organism is given two proper names.The first is the name of genus to which the organism belongs.It shares this name with a number of other closely related organisms.
