What is the difference between flora and faun?
The earth comprises of living things and non-living things. The living organisms consist of plants and animals among many other things. Fauna and Flora are terms that are typically used to define either animals or plants. Many students tend to experience confusion when it comes to the distinction between these terms.
The lesson provides detailed insight into the difference between flora and fauna with examples. The main aim is to help students find an easy time when it comes to the revision of their exams in biological sciences.
What Is Flora?
It refers to a botanical term used to describe the plant life of a specific region or during a specific time period.
Flora is used to describing plant reproduction time, family and number of chromosomes among many other things. It can be scientific, common names, descriptions, flowering time, favorable climate and geographical distributions.
Flora is further classified into:
- Weed Flora refers to unwanted plants that grow along with the main plants
- Native Flora are plants that grow in specific regions or locations
- Horticultural Flora refers to plants meant for decorative purposes and they are planted by human beings.
- Agricultural Flora is plants meant to satisfy the needs of human beings.
What Is Fauna?
It refers to animal life found in a specific region or during a specific time period. The term is commonly used by zoologists and paleontologists to refer to a collection of animals found in a particular geographical area.
Fauna typically refers to the immobile heterotrophic organisms. They are further classified into the following:
- Infauna are animal species found inside the water
- Epifauna are aquatic species of animals found at the bottom of the water
- Macrofauna is small animals that live in the soil and cannot pass through the sieve of size 0.5mm.
- Megafauna refers to all animals that live on land
- Meiofauna refer to invertebrates organisms found in both fresh and salty water
Comparison Chart: Flora vs Fauna
| Basic Terms | Flora | Fauna |
| Meaning | Refers to plant life in a specific region | Refers to animal life in a specific region |
| Classification | Weed, agricultural, horticultural and native | Infauna, epifauna, macrofauna, megafauna, meiofauna |
| Nutrition | Autotrophs | Heterotrophs |
| Mobility | Non-mobile | Mobile |
| Field of Study | Botany | Zoology |
| The present of Cell Wall | Present | Absent |
| Chloroplast | Present | Absent |
| Represent | All plants | All animals |
| Development | Research shows they are the first form of life to appear on earth | They are the second form of life to appear on earth |
| Examples | Trees, shrubs, herbs, flowering, non-flowering, and vegetative plants. | Animals, fish, birds, and insects. |
Core Differences between Flora and Fauna
- Flora refers to plant life found in a specific region or during a specific time whereas fauna refers to animal life found in a particular region or during a specific time
- The field of study of flora is botany while that of fauna is zoology
- The mode of nutrition of flora is autotrophs while that of fauna is heterotrophs
- Flora tend to be immobile while fauna are mobile
- Flora is said to the first form of life on earth surface while fauna is the second of life in the universe
- Flora tend to have cell wall while fauna do not have it
- Flora have chloroplast unlike fauna
- Flora tend to experience indeterminate growth while fauna experiences determinate growth
- Flora secretes harmless products that are stored in certain parts while fauna excretes harmful products such as urea, ammonia and uric acid.
- Fauna has a nervous system and sense organs unlike flora
- Fauna reproduce either sexually or asexual while flora reproduce asexually
- Faun has a digestive system to digest the food before it gets absorbed into their bodies while flora does not have a digestive system.
- Flora is classified into weed, agricultural, horticultural and native while fauna is classified into infauna, epifauna, macrofauna, megafauna, and meiofauna.
- Examples of flora are trees, shrubs, herbs, flowering, non-flowering, and vegetative plants while fauna is animals, fish, birds, and insects.
Comparison Video
Summary
The core difference between flora and fauna is that flora describes the plant life of a particular region at a specific time whereas fauna describes the animal life of a specific region at a particular time.