We explain what flora and fauna are and what their main elements are. Also, what are the native flora and fauna.
What are flora and fauna?
Both flora and fauna are types of biotic elements of a given ecosystem That is, they are living elements that make up and in many cases constitute a specific biome of our planet.
These terms, separately or together, are used to refer to the type of life specific to a specific geographic region or country : when we refer to flora, we refer to plant life (trees, shrubs, fungi, photosynthetic bacteria, etc.); and when we refer to fauna, then to animals (reptiles, mammals, birds, protozoans, insects, etc.). In both cases these are forms of life adapted to the particular conditions of the environment to which we refer.
The relationships between flora and fauna are key to determining how life operates in a given place, whether it is an underwater habitat, an Amazon rainforest, or the intestinal bowels of a complex organism, such as the human body. In general terms, flora involves producing organisms, whether photosynthetic or not, and fauna, on the other hand, involves consumers at their different levels of trophic organization: herbivores, predators and decomposers.
Both categories are useful for studying a given region from different perspectives and disciplines, given that Life is one of the elements that most chemically and physically modify the environment along with erosion and other natural phenomena on the planet.
Native flora and fauna
On the other hand, we speak of native flora and/or native fauna when we want to refer to the plant and animal life, respectively, that is exclusive to a geographic region.
Since life migrates and spreads, and also changes over time, The categories of the native try to define the “native” species that is, unique to a place, often to understand its kinship ties with other more well-known ones, or to draw attention to its unique character in terms of preserving the planet's biodiversity.
Thus, a region can have rich or poor native flora or fauna, depending on whether the level of diversity of the species that live in its spaces is high or low.
The general impoverishment of biodiversity, as species become extinct due to pollution or destruction of their habitat, is one of the main ecological problems facing the post-industrial world, and for which humans are largely responsible.
