Study Explores Patterns In Species Diversity And Genetic Diversity

© Jacques Marais

A new study by Mark Vellend in the August 2005 issue of The American Naturalist provides a theoretical model showing that the two central measures of biodiversity—the number of species in a system and the number of genetic variants within a specific species—respond similarly to changes in their environment.

For both measures, biodiversity is higher in scenarios with larger parcels of habitat available and where patches of intact habitat are closer together. These results concur with field observations and indicate that human activities that affect one type of biodiversity, such as causing the extinction of species, will produce a similar response in other measures of biodiversity.

National Biodiversity Institute launched

Environmental affairs and tourism minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk officially opened the new South African National Biodiversity Institute (...more