Take a look around your classroom and notice what is around you. Maybe you see other students, furniture, and school supplies. This variety of different items represents diversity.
Next, zoom in on one of those types of items: Let's take school supplies, for example. Just as there was diversity at the larger scale, there is also a variety of different types of school supplies. There is diversity in every category!
Biodiversity, a special category of diversity, is the variety of living things. This can include variety at many different levels, such as entire ecosystems, communities, and single species.
Ecuador is a highly biodiverse country. There is so much to explore! Let’s take a look at the interesting levels of biodiversity within Ecuador.
Ecosystems!
Ecosystems are communities of living things that interact with their environment. Ecuador is home to many different ecosystems: Amazon rainforests, Andean cloud forests, grasslands, dry forests, and coastal wetlands. Rain and temperature are really important in determining where certain ecosystems exist. For example (as you might remember me mentioning a couple weeks ago), the coast of Ecuador is very hot and humid. What are some of the ecosystems near where you live?
Communities!
