Flora and fauna

Flora and fauna are the set of living beings that are part of an ecosystem.

Flora refers to plant species, while fauna is the term used to categorize animals.

Although flora and fauna exist in almost the entire world, each set of plant and animal species responds to specific characteristics according to the geographical and climatic conditions of the region in which they develop, therefore, they are organisms that have evolved and adapted to their environment.

Both flora and fauna are essential to maintain balance in nature, and in many cases symbiotic relationships are established between both groups to ensure survival and therefore the prolongation of the existence of the ecosystem in which they coexist..

	Flora	Fauna
Definition	They are all the plant species that are part of an ecosystem.	They are all the animal species that are part of an ecosystem.
Types	Autochthonous flora. Agricultural flora.	Wildlife. Domesticated fauna.
Examples	Orchid (Orchidaceae). Pine (Pinus). Carnivorous aquatic plant (Aldrovanda vesiculosa). Melter thistle (Cirsium arvense).	Dwarf moss (Suncus etruscus). California tiger salamander (Ambystoma californiense). Flying lizard (Draco volans). European common hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus)

Flora

Flora are all the plant species that are part of the ecosystem of a given region, either because they grow spontaneously in that place or because they have been cultivated by human action..

The term includes plants with or without flowers, seeds or fruits, aquatic plant species and any plant that contributes to configure the vegetation of a geographical area..

Although flora and vegetation are often used as synonyms, the reality is that flora refers only to species, and vegetation refers to the distribution of those species in a given space..

The term flora comes from the homonymous Latin, which refers to the name of the goddess of spring.

Types of flora

There are two major classifications of flora

Native flora or native flora

It refers to the plant species that are typical of a particular geographical region, since they grow there naturally.

Examples of native florato japonica camellia, a flowering shrub native to Japan.

Agricultural flora

They are the plant species that have been introduced into a region by human action.

Examples of agricultural flora: the cultivation of tea in Argentina. The tea tree (camellia sinensis) is not indigenous to that area, the seeds were grown there for commercial purposes.

For a long time there was a third classification called weed flora, which was used to group plants considered as weeds. However, the category became obsolete as it was confirmed that these species play a role in the ecosystem in which they live..

You may be interested in knowing about the types of ecosystems.

Fauna

Fauna is the whole set of animal species that live in a given geographical area in the same period.

As with flora, different types of relationships (symbiotic, competitive) are established in fauna that are essential to maintain balance in nature..

Types of fauna

There are two types of fauna:

Wildlife

Also known as wild fauna, it is all species of animals that are typical of the region in which they are found..

Examples of wildlife: the gray wolf (canid lupus baileyi) and the scarlet macaw (for macao) are native species of Mexico.

Domesticated fauna

These are animal species introduced by humans in a geographical area of ​​which they are not native. Generally these actions are carried out for economic purposes in the agricultural and livestock sector and do not generate serious consequences.

In other cases, the introduced species end up creating an imbalance in the ecosystem and are known as invasive species. These introductions can be deliberate or accidental, but in any case once they occur they are very difficult to eradicate..

Examples of domesticated fauna: beef cattle, which were introduced to the world from the Middle East for commercial purposes.

An example of an invasive species is the salamander (ambystoma tigrinum), which was introduced in the United States to serve as bait on fishing trips and became a threat to the native salamander (Californian ambystoma).

See also:

• Difference between vertebrate and invertebrate animals.
• Difference between animal and plant cell.