"Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth."
The variety of living organisms in a specific habitat, including ecosystems, species, and genetic diversity.
Introduction to Biodiversity: Overview about Biodiversity, its importance, and basic concepts related to it.
Evolution and Ecology: Understanding of evolution, ecology and how biodiversity is impacted, and how natural selection and adaptation influence biodiversity.
Ecosystems and Biomes: Knowledge of different types of ecosystems and biomes, including their characteristics, and the biodiversity within them.
Species Interactions: Understanding the interactions between different species within an ecosystem such as competition, predation, and mutualism.
Biogeography: Exploring the distribution of living organisms and how they change over time in different regions, continents, and biomes.
Biodiversity Conservation: Learning about conservation biology, identifying biodiversity hotspots and the importance of preserving biodiversity.
Threats to Biodiversity: Understanding the main factors causing biodiversity loss, such as habitat loss, climate change, invasive species, pollution, and overexploitation.
Conservation Strategies: Learning about strategies for conserving biodiversity, including habitat conservation, species protection, and restoration ecology.
Biodiversity Monitoring: Understanding the need for monitoring biodiversity and learning about how to conduct biodiversity surveys, data analysis, and reporting.
Economic Value of Biodiversity: Understanding the economic benefits and values of biodiversity, such as ecosystem services, including food production, water regulation, climate regulation, and tourism.
Indigenous Knowledge Systems: Exploration of traditional ecological knowledge, and the value of indigenous peoples' knowledge systems when conserving biodiversity.
Biodiversity Policies: Understanding local and global policies aimed at conserving biodiversity, including regulations and laws dictating environmental protection.
Climate Change and Biodiversity: Learning about the impact of climate change on biodiversity and its potential consequences on the ecosystem and the human population.
Restoration Ecology: Understanding the methods and techniques involved in ecological restoration and rehabilitation, including reforestation, restoration of wetlands, and restoration of degraded ecosystems.
Species Biodiversity: Refers to the number of different species in a particular habitat, region or biosphere. It is the primary type of biodiversity measured in many conservation studies.
Ecological Biodiversity: Refers to the various habitats, systems, and ecological processes that support life on Earth. It includes the various biotic and abiotic components, such as climate, water, air, light, nutrients, and more.
Genetic Biodiversity: Refers to the variation between and within species, subspecies or individuals of a given species. It is essential for the adaptation and evolution of a species.
Ecosystem Biodiversity: Refers to the diversity of ecological processes, interactions, and organizations that create and sustain ecosystems over time.
Landscape Biodiversity: Refers to the diversity of landscape types, including forests, grasslands, wetlands, and other landscapes that support different species and ecosystems.
Cultural Biodiversity: Refers to the diversity of human cultures, traditions, and knowledge related to the environment, wildlife, and natural resources.
Molecular Biodiversity: Refers to the study of genetic diversity at the molecular level.
Functional Biodiversity: Refers to the role of species in supporting and regulating ecosystem services, such as pollination, nutrient cycling, and decomposition.
Phylogenetic Biodiversity: Refers to the relationships among different species, based on their evolutionary history and genetic relationships.
Soil Biodiversity: Refers to the diversity of living organisms in soil, including bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, and other organisms that play a critical role in soil health, fertility, and productivity.
Microbial Biodiversity: Refers to the diversity of microorganisms that live in different habitats, such as soil, water, or symbiotic relationships with plants or animals, and their critical roles in ecosystem processes.
Chemical Biodiversity: Refers to the diversity of natural compounds produced by living organisms, including plants, fungi, and animals, and their roles in the ecosystem.
Biodiversity Hotspots: Are regions of the world that have exceptionally high numbers of endemic species and are facing significant threats from habitat destruction, climate change, and other factors.
"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."