The word “Biodiversity” has become prominent in the press and in our daily language. What does it mean?
Often it just means how many kinds of plants or animals –- the number of species. A common aim is to conserve the highest number of species. But a large number of species with only few individuals of each kind is not a lasting community structure.
We really want a sustainable mix of species. A lot of species and lots of individuals of each species near the base of the food pyramid and not too many kinds or individuals of the top predators.
So when thinking about “Biodiversity” we need to consider more than just the number of species. We also should be interested in the different ecological roles of species and the number of individuals in each of those.