<P> Less than 1% of all species that have been described have been studied beyond simply noting their existence . The vast majority of Earth's species are microbial . Contemporary biodiversity physics is "firmly fixated on the visible (macroscopic) world". For example, microbial life is metabolically and environmentally more diverse than multicellular life (see e.g., extremophile). "On the tree of life, based on analyses of small - subunit ribosomal RNA, visible life consists of barely noticeable twigs . The inverse relationship of size and population recurs higher on the evolutionary ladder--to a first approximation, all multicellular species on Earth are insects". Insect extinction rates are high--supporting the Holocene extinction hypothesis . </P> <P> The number of morphological attributes that can be scored for diversity study is generally limited and prone to environmental influences; thereby reducing the fine resolution required to ascertain the phylogenetic relationships . DNA based markers - microsatellites otherwise known as simple sequence repeats (SSR) were therefore used for the diversity studies of certain species and their wild relatives . </P> <P> In the case of cowpea, a study conducted to assess the level of genetic diversity in cowpea germplasm and related wide species, where the relatedness among various taxa were compared, primers useful for classification of taxa identified, and the origin and phylogeny of cultivated cowpea classified show that SSR markers are useful in validating with species classification and revealing the center of diversity . </P>

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