The
Republic of Mauritius as well as a couple of other island in the Mascarene
region has a unique native biodiversity. This is mainly due to the fact that
the native biodiversity on these islands have had ample time to go
through various evolutionary processes before the arrival of humans. Native species
had adapted and evolve in relation to their unique environments and ecosystems;
consequently there were a great number of endemic biodiversity on different
islands.
The
term “biodiversity”, short for biological diversity came into use in the 1980’s
by scientists to refer to the richness of biological variation on earth or
within a particular region. Since its use, the term “biodiversity” has had many
definition and ecologists Reed Noss and Allen Coorperrider define “biodiversity”
as:
“
the variety of life and its processes. It includes the variety of living
organisms, the genetic differences among them, the various ecosystem in which
they occur, and the ecological and evolutionary processes that keep them
functioning yet ever changing and adapting”.
-
R.Noss & A. Coorperrider
Saving Nature’s Legacy
Hence one can say that
biodiversity exists on several levels. Biodiversity in Mauritius has been
subjected to different evolutionary processes at different regional level,
although the island is relative small (1,860km2). Unfortunately extinction
of numerous indigenous and endemic species started with the arrival of man on
the island and with the first human colonisation the number of species loss
only increased. Conservation and rehabilitation of the forests in Mauritius is
an ongoing process as there is still a great extent of native forest under
threat by Alien Invasive Species and exotic fauna.
