Ala Architect: 2011

What is biodiversity?

Biological diversity - or biodiversity - is a term we use to describe the variety of life on Earth. It refers to the wide variety of ecosystems and living organisms: animals, plants, their habitats and their genes.

Biodiversity is the foundation of life on Earth. It is crucial for the functioning of ecosystems which provide us with products and services without which we couldn’t live. Oxygen, food, fresh water, fertile soil, medicines, shelter, protection from storms and floods, stable climate and recreation - all have their source in nature and healthy ecosystems. But biodiversity gives us much more than this. We depend on it for our security and health; it strongly affects our social relations and gives us freedom and choice.

Biodiversity is extremely complex, dynamic and varied like no other feature of the Earth. Its innumerable plants, animals and microbes physically and chemically unite the atmosphere (the mixture of gases around the Earth), geosphere (the solid part of the Earth), and hydrosphere (the Earth's water, ice and water vapour) into one environmental system which makes it possible for millions of species, including people, to exist.

At the same time, no other feature of the Earth has been so dramatically influenced by man’s activities. By changing biodiversity, we strongly affect human well-being and the well-being of every other living creature.

USM lake site:

After a visit to the lake site inside USM, we have discovered the real meaning of biodiversity. following is an example of that where at least 30 species were discovered living in a very limited area. Many different kinds including plants, birds, animal and insects. follows some examples:

A- Plants:

1- eleusine indica: Eleusine indica (Indian goosegrass, Wiregrass, Crowfootgrass) is an invasive species in the grass family Poaceae. In Malay (Rumput).

2- Eriophorum

Eriophorum (Cottongrass, Cotton-grass or Cottonsedge) is a genus of about 25 species of flowering plants in the family Cyperaceae, the Sedge family. In Malay rumput kapas.

3- Mimosa Pudica

Mimosa pudica (from Latin: pudica "shy, bashful or shrinking"; also called Sensitive Plant and the touch-me-not). In Malay tumbuhan malu.

4- Bidens pilosa

Known as the Spanish Needle, the Local Name: Philipin: Pisau-Pisau/ Vietnam: Chi

5- Thunbergia fragrans

Known as the White Lady (Sweet. Clock vine)

6- Colocasia esculenta

Also known as Elephant’s ear, Taro, Eddoe, talas or keladi in Indonesia.

7- Oxalis barrelieri

Known as Lavender Sorrel, Melayu: Belimbing tanah, tongkong

8- Oxalis corniculata

Known as Procumbent Yellow-sorrel Sleeping Beauty

9- Phyllanthus amarus

Child Pick-A-Back, Gale of wind, Carry me seed.

B- Insects:

1- Formicidae

Ants are social insects of the family Formicidae and along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. More than 12,500 out of an estimated total of 22,000 species have been classified. In Malay Semut.

2- Fire ant

For the aggressive red weaver ants sometimes called "fire ants" in souththeast Asia, Oecophylla smaragdina. They have several common names, including ginger ants, tropical fire ants and red ants. In Malay Semut merah.

3- Exaireta spinigera

Exaireta spinigera (Garden soldier fly) is a pieces of The soldier flies family (Stratiomyidae, sometimes misspelled as Stratiomyiidae. From Greek στρατιώτης - soldier; μυια – fly). In Malay lalat taman.

4- Epidesmia chilonaria

Epidesmia chilonaria is a species of moth of the Geometridae family.

5- Helix aspersa

Helix aspersa, known by the common name garden snail, is a species of land snail, a pulmonate gastropod that is one of the best-known of all terrestrial molluscs.