Saguaro National Park, Arizona USA
The very existence of life depends upon a diversity of organisms
Biodiversity is defined as the totality of genes, species, and ecosystems of a region. This biodiversity is fundamental for healthy ecosystems and a healthy planet. Essential to the cycle of earth’s major elements–carbon, nitrogen, and water–are the interactions among life’s various forms. For example, soil bacteria known as diazotrophs are critical to the process of cycling atmospheric nitrogen into a form that can be used to build the basic building blocks of life–nucleotides; which compose DNA and RNA.
The multitudinous expressions of life found on this planet are a testament to the unique ways that life thrives and adapts. Life, in one form or another, has carved a niche in virtually every environment–from thermal vents in the ocean floor, to rain clouds up in the atmosphere. And there’s still more to explore: scientists estimate that between 10 to 100 million species have yet to be identified!
All of life is composed of DNA or RNA
While there is tremendous variability in the many expressions of life, the truth is that we share more similarities than differences. Every form of life on earth contains within its cells the same basic information: deoxyribose nucleic acid (DNA) and/or ribonucleic acid (RNA). Learn more about DNA from the National Human Genome Research Institute Click Here.
This basic template composes the amazing diversity of life, and it is our understanding of this template that allows us to create more efficient vaccinations, antibiotics, crop varieties, nutritional supplements, gene-replacement therapies, and many other biologically engineered products that are crucial to modern life. Learn more about biotechnology from the Biotech Industry Organization Click Here.
References: - Chen, Yin. 2004. Sources and fate of atmospheric nutrients over the remote oceans and their role on controlling marine diazotrophic organisms. Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park. - Sattler, B., H. Puxbaum, and R. Psenner (2001), Bacterial growth in supercooled cloud droplets, Geophys. Res. Lett., 28(2), 239–242, doi:10.1029/2000GL011684.Continue Reading About Biodiversity