Abstract

Biotic diversity has been a hot topic internationally in recent years. Biotic diversity includes diversity at three different levels, namely ecosytem diversity, species diversity and genetic diversity. Issues of concern include the formation, current status and evaluation of biodiversity, causes for the loss of biodiversity and the far-reaching consequences of such loss, and the conservation and preservation of biodiversity. Among all these issues, genetic diversity, which includes diversity of microbes, plants, animals as well as human beings, is probably the central issue. This article will introduce some general concepts about the issue, and the application of these concepts by using some of our work as example.