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Can you imagine a world in which there were only humans, cows, and horses. No birds in the sky, no insects buzzing or crawling around, no fish, no reptiles, nothing else except humans, cows, and horses. It is very hard to imagine such a place!

This would also not be a very healthy place. The combination of everything around us helps to keep a natural balance on our earth. For example, the plants around us clean the air of toxic materials. Without plants, our air would not be as clean as it is right now. In this lesson, you will learn about biological diversity.

A wide variety of plants and animals is very important for the planet and for us. This biological diversity refers to all the various types of organisms on earth.

An organism refers to any form of life, such as a plant, an animal, a human, even bacteria! It refers to all living things.

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So, what is biological diversity?

Biological diversity — or biodiversity — is the existence of many different kinds of plants and animals in an environment.

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This includes all living species on earth and their relationship to each other. It is the variety within and between all species of plants, animals, and micro-organisms and the ecosystems within which they live and interact.

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The earth is a big area to study as a whole. Therefore, scientists divide their study of the earth into smaller groups called ecosystems. These are particular environments where living things interact with other living and non-living things.

In an ecosystem, living things are known as biotic, while non-living things are known as abiotic.

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There are many different types of ecosystems.

If you have ever walked by a prairie slough or walked through a mountain valley, you have walked through two different types of ecosystems.

What is a slough?

A slough (pronounced slew) is an area of soft, muddy ground, swamp, or swamplike region. This is one type of ecosystem.

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Let's take a closer look at a slough. How is that an ecosystem? Think of all the various animals you can find in and near a slough. You likely expect to find many types of flying insects such as mosquitoes, many types of geese and ducks, birds that eat the flying insects, small animals such as frogs and toads, as well as plants such as water lilies. These are all within a fairly fixed area and depend upon that area to survive.

What would happen to everything listed above if the slough dried up? Either they would die or they would be forced to move to another slough — if they could find one. All the things listed above, including the water, function together as a system. If one part of the system is in trouble, the other parts are affected as well.

Ecosystems are also affected by such factors as temperature and altitude as well as the amount of sunlight received, the amount of water available, and the amount of food available. If even one of these things changes, the ecosystem will change.

Consider the prairies. As the number of sloughs are reduced, less water is available for various plants, fewer insects live nearby, and the area changes, perhaps forever.
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Digging Deeper

Click here to go to the Study Jams! website to watch a video. When you have finished watching the video, click on the "close" button in the upper right-hand corner to exit the video. Then, click on the "Test Yourself" button to see how much you know about ecosystems.