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Genetic Diversity is the diversity of genetic characteristics within a species (i.e. between individuals and populations of the same species). This component of biodiversity is important because it allows populations to adapt to environmental changes through the survival and reproduction of individuals within a population that have particular genetic characteristics that enable them to withstand these changes. The maintenance of high genetic diversity within populations is therefore a conservation and management priority as this provides the greatest capacity for any population to adapt to a broad range of environmental changes.
E.g . Different breeds of dogs, different varieties of rose flower, wheat, rice, mangoes, etc.
Species Diversity is simply the number and relative abundance of species found in a given biological organisation (population, ecosystem, Earth). Species are the basic units of biological classification and hence, this is the measure most commonly associated with the term 'biodiversity'. Worldwide, about 1.75 million different species have been identified. However, many environments and groups of organisms are not well studied and estimates of species numbers range from 3 to 100 million. Diversity in species is important for economic, biological, social and cultural reasons. Major threats to species diversity are loss of habitat and fragmentation, over exploitations (fishing, hunting, extraction), pollution, the introduction of invasive species (e.g Asian Green Mussels) and global climate change. In order to conserve species diversity, natural resource management and habitat protection are vital.
Australia's Great Barrier Reef is an example of species diversity.
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