China has one of the richest biological diversities on earth. China possesses more than 30,000 species of higher plants and 6347 species of vertebrates, constituting 10% and 14% of world's total, respectively. China has 599 types of terrestrial ecosystems. China also has rich germplasm resources of cultivated plants and domesticated animals, as well as their wild relatives. In addition, numerous endemic genera and species with ancient origin are distributed in China.¡¡

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The richness and uniqueness of China's biodiversity have the following features (Table 1-7):

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(1) High species richness. China possesses more than 30,000 species of higher plants. China has 2,200 species of bryophytes, accounting for 9.1% of the world's total. China has 52 families of ferns, containing between 2,200-2,600 species, making up 80% and 22% of the world's total ,respectively. The world's gymnosperms comprise 15 families, 79 genera and about 850 species. China has 10 families, 34 genera and about 250 species so that the country is the most species rich in terms of gymnosperms. The animals of China are also diverse. There are 6,347 species of vertebrates, constituting 13.97% of the world's total. China is one of the countries with the most diverse assemblage of birds, with 1,244 species, making up 13.1% of the world's total. The number of fish species in China is 3,862, that is, 20.3% of the world total.

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(2) Numerous endemic genera and species. Within China there exist great numbers of ancient and relic groups (paleoendemic genera and species) and also newly produced groups (neoendemic species). The former particularly attracts attention. For example, species known as "living fossils" include Ailuropoda melanoleuca, Lipotes vexillifer, Metasequoia glyptostroboides, Ginkgo biloba, Cathaya argyrophylla, Cycas  panzhihuaensis and others. Among higher plants, the 17,300 endemic species, constitute more than 57% of China's higher plant total. Among 6347 species of vertebrates, there exist 667 endemic species, constituting 10.5% of China's vertebrate total.

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(3) Ancient origin of China's flora and fauna. Because most parts of China rose as land above the sea since the end of the Mesozoic era and during the Quarternary Period, it was not subjected to the severe influence of continental ice sheets, so that ancient and relic elements of the Cretaceous and Tertiary Periods have been preserved, to various extents, in different areas. For example, pines and firs appeared in the late Palaeozoic, thrived in the Mesozoic, and began to decline in the Tertiary. Their distributional ranges shrank greatly during the Quaternary glaciation. There exists  7 families of these plants in the world, and China has 6 of them. There are also many ancient animals, such as Budorcas taxicolor, Lipotes vexillifer, and Alligator sinensis.

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(4) The rich germplasm resources of cultivated plants and domesticated animals, as well as their wild relatives. The history of agriculture in China goes back more than 7,000 years. Since early times, the industrious and ingenious Chinese people have engaged in exploiting, utilizing, cultivating and breeding the rich and varied genetic resources contained in the complicated and diversifies natural environments of China's vast territory. The richness of China's cultivated plants and domesticated animals are incomparable in the world. Not only did many plants and animals on which human survival depends originate in China, but it also retains large numbers of their wild prototypes and relatives. China is one of the origins of rice (Oryza sativa) and soybean (Glycine max). The former has 50,000 local varieties, while the latter has 20,000. More than 11,000 species of medicinal plants have been discovered in China and 4,215 species of forage plants recorded. China is the origin of 30 genera and 2,238 species of ornamental species. China may be listed as the country with the richest varieties and types of domesticated animals, with 1938 varieties and types being recorded.

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(5) Plentiful ecosystems. Representatives of most terrestrial ecosystem types (forests, shrublands, steppes, meadows, savanna, deserts and alpine tundra) can be found in China, and each of them consists of several climatic and /or edaphic types.  According to preliminary statistics, there are 212 types of forests with tree as either dominants, co-dominants, or characteristic species, 36 types of bamboo forests, 113 types of shrublands, 77 types of meadows (27 typical, 20 salinized, 9 marshy, 21 cold), 19 types of marshlands (14 herbaceous, 4 woody, 1 peaty), 18 types of mangrove, 55 types of steppe, 52 types of deserts, and 17 alpine tundra, apline-cushionlike vegetation and alpine talus vegetation. The types of freshwater and marine ecosystems have not yet been counted precisely.

¡¡Table 1 Endemic species of vertebrates in China

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Table 2 Comparison of the species number of freshwater algae

between China and the whole world

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Table 3 Species number of lichens and vascular plants of China

in comparison with that of the world

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Table 4 The species number of animals in China

in comparison with that of the world

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Table 5 The species number of insects in China

in comparison with that of the world

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Tabel 6 Species number of different class of fungi in China

in comparison with that of the world

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Table 7 Species number of different orders of Ocmycota and Eumycota

in China in comparison with that of the world

Data sources: State Environmental Protection Administration, China's Biodiversity : A Country Study,  Beijing: China Environmental Sciences Press, 1998