Putting science
at the heart of development
Definitions
- Agri-biotech
- Biodiversity
- Desert science
- Improving early warning of disasters
- Indigenious Knowledge
- Tropical cyclones
List of terms for Biodiversity
Producing enough food for a rapidly growing population, and taking care of our planet are two of the world's biggest challenges.
F
Functional diversity
A measure of how individual species contribute to the workings of an ecosystem — for example, whether species improve soil fertility by facilitating the fixation of nitrogen, or can tolerate drought, or reduce soil erosion. Functional diversity provides more insights into the relationship between biodiversity and environmental processes, compared to simply counting the number of species in a given area.
Functional group
Most ecosystems contain hundreds to thousands of species. For any one ecosystem, these can be divided into one of three what are called 'functional groups', based on whether they produce, consume or decompose organic matter - the source of energy for living organisms. Every working ecosystem needs at least one species from each functional group if it is to process energy effectively.
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