"Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth."
Biodiversity can be examined at different levels, including genetic diversity, species diversity, and ecosystem diversity.
Definition of biodiversity: A clear understanding of what biodiversity means and its various components.
Genetic diversity: The different genetic variations that exist within a species or population.
Species diversity: The variety of species present in a specific area or habitat.
Ecosystem diversity: The diversity of ecosystems that exist in a particular region, each with unique physical and biological characteristics.
Biogeography: The study of how species and ecosystems are distributed across the planet.
Evolution: The process by which species change over time, resulting in the diversity of life we see today.
Anthropogenic impacts on biodiversity: The effects of human activity on biodiversity, including habitat destruction, overexploitation, pollution, and climate change.
Conservation biology: The study of how to protect and preserve biodiversity, including the use of protected areas and other conservation strategies.
Ecological services: The benefits that ecosystems provide to humans, such as clean water and air, nutrient cycling, and pollination.
Ethnobiology: The study of how different cultures interact with and utilize biodiversity for food, medicine, and cultural purposes.
Bioprospecting: The search for new and valuable compounds derived from living organisms, often for use in medicine or industry.
Biodiversity hotspots: Regions of the planet that are particularly rich in biodiversity but are also highly threatened by human activity.
Genetic diversity: The variety of genes within a species or population.
Species diversity: The variety and number of species within a particular ecosystem or geographic region.
Ecological diversity: The variety and complexity of habitats, niches, and ecological processes within a particular ecosystem.
Landscape or Ecosystem diversity: The variety of ecosystems or landscapes such as forests, grasslands or wetlands that exist within a particular region.
Functional diversity: The variety of functional roles played by different species and how they interact with each other and their environment.
Phylogenetic diversity: The variety of evolutionary lineages or branches within the tree of life.
Geographical diversity: The variety of ecosystems, habitats and species found within a particular geographic region.
Cultural diversity: The variety of human cultures and their interaction with the natural world.
Temporal diversity: The variety of species and the successional stages they pass through over time in a particular ecosystem or landscape.
Structural diversity: The variety of physical structures, patterns, and textures of ecosystems and landscapes, (e.g., the shape and size of leaves, trees, rocks, and soil particles).
"Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (genetic variability), species (species diversity), and ecosystem (ecosystem diversity) level."
"It is usually greater in the tropics as a result of the warm climate and high primary productivity in the region near the equator."
"Tropical forest ecosystems cover less than 10% of Earth's surface."
"Marine biodiversity is usually higher along coasts in the Western Pacific, where sea surface temperature is highest, and in the mid-latitudinal band in all oceans."
"Yes, there are latitudinal gradients in species diversity."
"Biodiversity generally tends to cluster in hotspots."
"More than 99.9% of all species that ever lived on Earth, amounting to over five billion species, are estimated to be extinct."
"About 1.2 million have been documented."
"The total amount of related DNA base pairs on Earth is estimated at 5.0 x 10^37."
"The age of Earth is about 4.54 billion years."
"The earliest undisputed evidence of life dates at least from 3.7 billion years ago."
"There are microbial mat fossils found in 3.48 billion-year-old sandstone discovered in Western Australia."
"Other early physical evidence of a biogenic substance is graphite in 3.7 billion-year-old meta-sedimentary rocks discovered in Western Greenland."
"More recently, in 2015, 'remains of biotic life' were found in 4.1 billion-year-old rocks in Western Australia."
"Since life began on Earth, five major mass extinctions and several minor events have led to large and sudden drops in biodiversity."
"The Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, occurred 65 million years ago and has often attracted more attention than others because it resulted in the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs."
"The ongoing global biodiversity crisis not only involves biological extinctions but also the loss of experience and the gradual fading of cultural knowledge and collective memory of species. The reduction is caused primarily by human impacts, particularly habitat destruction."
"Biodiversity positively impacts human health in many ways."
"A few negative effects are studied."