Biodiversity - wikipedia Biodiversity Biodiversity, a portmanteau of `` bio '' ( life ) and `` diversity, '' generally refers to the variety and variability of life on Earth. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, biodiversity typically measures variation at the genetic, the species, and the ecosystem level. Terrestrial biodiversity tends to be greater near the equator, which seems to be the result of the warm climate and high primary productivity. Biodiversity is not distributed evenly on Earth, and is richest in the tropics. These tropical forest ecosystems cover less than 10 per cent of earth 's surface, and contain about 90 percent of the world 's species. Marine biodiversity tends to be highest along coasts in the Western Pacific, where sea surface temperature is highest and in the mid-latitudinal band in all oceans. There are latitudinal gradients in species diversity. Biodiversity generally tends to cluster in hotspots, and has been increasing through time, but will be likely to slow in the future. Rapid environmental changes typically cause mass extinctions. More than 99.9 percent of all species that ever lived on Earth, amounting to over five billion species, are estimated to be extinct. Estimates on the number of Earth 's current species range from 10 million to 14 million, of which about 1.2 million have been documented and over 86 percent have not yet been described. More recently, in May 2016, scientists reported that 1 trillion species are estimated to be on Earth currently with only one - thousandth of one percent described. The total amount of related DNA base pairs on Earth is estimated at 5.0 x 10 and weighs 50 billion tonnes. In comparison, the total mass of the biosphere has been estimated to be as much as 4 TtC ( trillion tons of carbon ). In July 2016, scientists reported identifying a set of 355 genes from the Last Universal Common Ancestor ( LUCA ) of all organisms living on Earth. The age of the Earth is about 4.54 billion years. The earliest undisputed evidence of life on Earth dates at least from 3.5 billion years ago, during the Eoarchean Era after a geological crust started to solidify following the earlier molten Hadean Eon. 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. According to one of the researchers, `` If life arose relatively quickly on Earth... then it could be common in the universe. '' Since life began on Earth, five major mass extinctions and several minor events have led to large and sudden drops in biodiversity. The Phanerozoic eon ( the last 540 million years ) marked a rapid growth in biodiversity via the Cambrian explosion -- a period during which the majority of multicellular phyla first appeared. The next 400 million years included repeated, massive biodiversity losses classified as mass extinction events. In the Carboniferous, rainforest collapse led to a great loss of plant and animal life. The Permian -- Triassic extinction event, 251 million years ago, was the worst ; vertebrate recovery took 30 million years. The most recent, 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 dinosaurs. The period since the emergence of humans has displayed an ongoing biodiversity reduction and an accompanying loss of genetic diversity. Named the Holocene extinction, the reduction is caused primarily by human impacts, particularly habitat destruction. Conversely, biodiversity positively impacts human health in a number of ways, although a few negative effects are studied. The United Nations designated 2011 -- 2020 as the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity. Contents 1 Etymology 2 Definitions 3 Distribution 3.1 Latitudinal gradients 3.2 Hotspots 4 Evolution and history 4.1 Evolutionary diversification 5 Ecosystem services 5.1 The balance of evidence 5.1. 1 Services enhanced 5.1. 1.1 Provisioning services 5.1. 1.2 Regulating services 5.1. 2 Services with mixed evidence 5.1. 2.1 Provisioning services 5.1. 2.2 Regulating services 5.1. 3 Services hindered 5.1. 3.1 Provisioning services 5.1. 3.2 Regulating services 5.1. 3.3 Provisioning services 5.1. 3.4 Regulating services 5.2 Agriculture 5.3 Human health 5.4 Business and industry 5.5 Leisure, cultural and aesthetic value 5.6 Ecological services 6 Number of species 7 Measuring biodiversity 8 Species loss rates 9 Threats 9.1 Habitat destruction 9.2 Introduced and invasive species 9.2. 1 Genetic pollution 9.3 Overexploitation 9.4 Hybridization, genetic pollution / erosion and food security 9.5 Climate change 9.6 Human overpopulation 10 The Holocene extinction 11 Conservation 11.1 Protection and restoration techniques 12 Protected areas 12.1 National parks 12.2 Wildlife sanctuary 12.3 Forest reserves 12.3. 1 Steps to conserve the forest cover 12.4 Zoological parks 12.5 Botanical gardens 13 Resource allocation 14 Legal status 14.1 International 14.2 National level laws 15 Analytical limits 15.1 Taxonomic and size relationships 16 Diversity study ( botany ) 17 See also 18 References 19 Further reading 20 External links 20.1 Documents 20.2 Tools 20.3 Resources Etymology The term biological diversity was used first by wildlife scientist and conservationist Raymond F. Dasmann in the year 1968 lay book A Different Kind of Country advocating conservation. The term was widely adopted only after more than a decade, when in the 1980s it came into common usage in science and environmental policy. Thomas Lovejoy, in the foreword to the book Conservation Biology, introduced the term to the scientific community. Until then the term `` natural diversity '' was common, introduced by The Science Division of The Nature Conservancy in an important 1975 study, `` The Preservation of Natural Diversity. '' By the early 1980s TNC 's Science program and its head, Robert E. Jenkins, Lovejoy and other leading conservation scientists at the time in America advocated the use of the term `` biological diversity ''. The term 's contracted form biodiversity may have been coined by W.G. Rosen in 1985 while planning the 1986 National Forum on Biological Diversity organized by the National Research Council ( NRC ). It first appeared in a publication in 1988 when sociobiologist E.O. Wilson used it as the title of the proceedings of that forum. Since this period the term has achieved widespread use among biologists, environmentalists, political leaders and concerned citizens. A similar term in the United States is `` natural heritage. '' It pre-dates the others and is more accepted by the wider audience interested in conservation. Broader than biodiversity, it includes geology and landforms. Definitions A sampling of fungi collected during summer 2008 in Northern Saskatchewan mixed woods, near LaRonge is an example regarding the species diversity of fungi. In this photo, there are also leaf lichens and mosses. `` Biodiversity '' is most commonly used to replace the more clearly defined and long established terms, species diversity and species richness. Biologists most often define biodiversity as the `` totality of genes, species and ecosystems of a region ''. An advantage of this definition is that it seems to describe most circumstances and presents a unified view of the traditional types of biological variety previously identified : taxonomic diversity ( usually measured at the species diversity level ) ecological diversity often viewed from the perspective of ecosystem diversity morphological diversity which stems from genetic diversity and molecular diversity functional diversity which is a measure of the number of functionally disparate species within a population ( e.g. different feeding mechanism, different motility, predator vs prey, etc. ) This multilevel construct is consistent with Datman and Lovejoy. An explicit definition consistent with this interpretation was first given in a paper by Bruce A. Wilcox commissioned by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources ( IUCN ) for the 1982 World National Parks Conference. Wilcox 's definition was `` Biological diversity is the variety of life forms... at all levels of biological systems ( i.e., molecular, organismic, population, species and ecosystem )... ''. The 1992 United Nations Earth Summit defined `` biological diversity '' as `` the variability among living organisms from all sources, including, ' inter alia ', terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part : this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems ''. This definition is used in the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. One textbook 's definition is `` variation of life at all levels of biological organization ''. Biodiversity can be defined genetically as the diversity of alleles, genes and organisms. They study processes such as mutation and gene transfer that drive evolution. Measuring diversity at one level in a group of organisms may not precisely correspond to diversity at other levels. However, tetrapod ( terrestrial vertebrates ) taxonomic and ecological diversity shows a very close correlation. Distribution A conifer forest in the Swiss Alps ( National Park ) Biodiversity is not evenly distributed, rather it varies greatly across the globe as well as within regions. Among other factors, the diversity of all living things ( biota ) depends on temperature, precipitation, altitude, soils, geography and the presence of other species. The study of the spatial distribution of organisms, species and ecosystems, is the science of biogeography. Diversity consistently measures higher in the tropics and in other localized regions such as the Cape Floristic Region and lower in polar regions generally. Rain forests that have had wet climates for a long time, such as Yasuní National Park in Ecuador, have particularly high biodiversity. Terrestrial biodiversity is thought to be up to 25 times greater than ocean biodiversity. A recently discovered method put the total number of species on Earth at 8.7 million, of which 2.1 million were estimated to live in the ocean. However, this estimate seems to under - represent the diversity of microorganisms. Latitudinal gradients Main article : Latitudinal gradients in species diversity Generally, there is an increase in biodiversity from the poles to the tropics. Thus localities at lower latitudes have more species than localities at higher latitudes. This is often referred to as the latitudinal gradient in species diversity. Several ecological mechanisms may contribute to the gradient, but the ultimate factor behind many of them is the greater mean temperature at the equator compared to that of the poles. Even though terrestrial biodiversity declines from the equator to the poles, some studies claim that this characteristic is unverified in aquatic ecosystems, especially in marine ecosystems. The latitudinal distribution of parasites does not appear to follow this rule. Hotspots A biodiversity hotspot is a region with a high level of endemic species that has experienced great habitat loss. The term hotspot was introduced in 1988 by Norman Myers. While hotspots are spread all over the world, the majority are forest areas and most are located in the tropics. Brazil 's Atlantic Forest is considered one such hotspot, containing roughly 20,000 plant species, 1,350 vertebrates and millions of insects, about half of which occur nowhere else. The island of Madagascar and India are also particularly notable. Colombia is characterized by high biodiversity, with the highest rate of species by area unit worldwide and it has the largest number of endemics ( species that are not found naturally anywhere else ) of any country. About 10 % of the species of the Earth can be found in Colombia, including over 1,900 species of bird, more than in Europe and North America combined, Colombia has 10 % of the world 's mammals species, 14 % of the amphibian species and 18 % of the bird species of the world. Madagascar dry deciduous forests and lowland rainforests possess a high ratio of endemism. Since the island separated from mainland Africa 66 million years ago, many species and ecosystems have evolved independently. Indonesia 's 17,000 islands cover 735,355 square miles ( 1,904,560 km ) and contain 10 % of the world 's flowering plants, 12 % of mammals and 17 % of reptiles, amphibians and birds -- along with nearly 240 million people. Many regions of high biodiversity and / or endemism arise from specialized habitats which require unusual adaptations, for example, alpine environments in high mountains, or Northern European peat bogs. Accurately measuring differences in biodiversity can be difficult. Selection bias amongst researchers may contribute to biased empirical research for modern estimates of biodiversity. In 1768, Rev. Gilbert White succinctly observed of his Selborne, Hampshire `` all nature is so full, that that district produces the most variety which is the most examined. '' Evolution and history Main article : Evolution Apparent marine fossil diversity during the Phanerozoic Biodiversity is the result of 3.5 billion years of evolution. The origin of life has not been definitely established by science, however some evidence suggests that life may already have been well - established only a few hundred million years after the formation of the Earth. Until approximately 600 million years ago, all life consisted of archaea, bacteria, protozoans and similar single - celled organisms. The history of biodiversity during the Phanerozoic ( the last 540 million years ), starts with rapid growth during the Cambrian explosion -- a period during which nearly every phylum of multicellular organisms first appeared. Over the next 400 million years or so, invertebrate diversity showed little overall trend and vertebrate diversity shows an overall exponential trend. This dramatic rise in diversity was marked by periodic, massive losses of diversity classified as mass extinction events. A significant loss occurred when rainforests collapsed in the carboniferous. The worst was the Permian - Triassic extinction event, 251 million years ago. Vertebrates took 30 million years to recover from this event. The fossil record suggests that the last few million years featured the greatest biodiversity in history. However, not all scientists support this view, since there is uncertainty as to how strongly the fossil record is biased by the greater availability and preservation of recent geologic sections. Some scientists believe that corrected for sampling artifacts, modern biodiversity may not be much different from biodiversity 300 million years ago., whereas others consider the fossil record reasonably reflective of the diversification of life. Estimates of the present global macroscopic species diversity vary from 2 million to 100 million, with a best estimate of somewhere near 9 million, the vast majority arthropods. Diversity appears to increase continually in the absence of natural selection. Evolutionary diversification The existence of a `` global carrying capacity '', limiting the amount of life that can live at once, is debated, as is the question of whether such a limit would also cap the number of species. While records of life in the sea shows a logistic pattern of growth, life on land ( insects, plants and tetrapods ) shows an exponential rise in diversity. As one author states, `` Tetrapods have not yet invaded 64 per cent of potentially habitable modes and it could be that without human influence the ecological and taxonomic diversity of tetrapods would continue to increase in an exponential fashion until most or all of the available ecospace is filled. '' It also appears that the diversity continue to increase over time, especially after mass extinctions. On the other hand, changes through the Phanerozoic correlate much better with the hyperbolic model ( widely used in population biology, demography and macrosociology, as well as fossil biodiversity ) than with exponential and logistic models. The latter models imply that changes in diversity are guided by a first - order positive feedback ( more ancestors, more descendants ) and / or a negative feedback arising from resource limitation. Hyperbolic model implies a second - order positive feedback. The hyperbolic pattern of the world population growth arises from a second - order positive feedback between the population size and the rate of technological growth. The hyperbolic character of biodiversity growth can be similarly accounted for by a feedback between diversity and community structure complexity. The similarity between the curves of biodiversity and human population probably comes from the fact that both are derived from the interference of the hyperbolic trend with cyclical and stochastic dynamics. Most biologists agree however that the period since human emergence is part of a new mass extinction, named the Holocene extinction event, caused primarily by the impact humans are having on the environment. It has been argued that the present rate of extinction is sufficient to eliminate most species on the planet Earth within 100 years. New species are regularly discovered ( on average between 5 -- 10,000 new species each year, most of them insects ) and many, though discovered, are not yet classified ( estimates are that nearly 90 % of all arthropods are not yet classified ). Most of the terrestrial diversity is found in tropical forests and in general, land has more species than the ocean ; some 8.7 million species may exists on Earth, of which some 2.1 million live in the ocean. Ecosystem services Summer field in Belgium ( Hamois ). The blue flowers are Centaurea cyanus and the red are Papaver rhoeas. The balance of evidence `` Ecosystem services are the suite of benefits that ecosystems provide to humanity. '' The natural species, or biota, are the caretakers of all ecosystems. It is as if the natural world is an enormous bank account of capital assets capable of paying life sustaining dividends indefinitely, but only if the capital is maintained. These services come in three flavors : Provisioning services which involve the production of renewable resources ( e.g. : food, wood, fresh water ) Regulating services which are those that lessen environmental change ( e.g. : climate regulation, pest / disease control ) Cultural services represent human value and enjoyment ( e.g. : landscape aesthetics, cultural heritage, outdoor recreation and spiritual significance ) There have been many claims about biodiversity 's effect on these ecosystem services, especially provisioning and regulating services. After an exhaustive survey through peer - reviewed literature to evaluate 36 different claims about biodiversity 's effect on ecosystem services, 14 of those claims have been validated, 6 demonstrate mixed support or are unsupported, 3 are incorrect and 13 lack enough evidence to draw definitive conclusions. Services enhanced Provisioning services Greater species diversity of plants increases fodder yield ( synthesis of 271 experimental studies ). Greater genetic diversity of plants ( i.e. : diversity within a single species ) increases overall crop yield ( synthesis of 575 experimental studies ). Although another review of 100 experimental studies reports mixed evidence. Greater species diversity of trees increases overall wood production ( Synthesis of 53 experimental studies ). However, there is not enough data to draw a conclusion about the effect of tree trait diversity on wood production. Regulating services Greater species diversity of fish increases the stability of fisheries yield ( Synthesis of 8 observational studies ) Greater species diversity of natural pest enemies decreases herbivorous pest populations ( Data from two separate reviews ; Synthesis of 266 experimental and observational studies ; Synthesis of 18 observational studies. Although another review of 38 experimental studies found mixed support for this claim, suggesting that in cases where mutual intraguild predation occurs, a single predatory species is often more effective Greater species diversity of plants decreases disease prevalence on plants ( Synthesis of 107 experimental studies ) Greater species diversity of plants increases resistance to plant invasion ( Data from two separate reviews ; Synthesis of 105 experimental studies ; Synthesis of 15 experimental studies ) Greater species diversity of plants increases carbon sequestration, but note that this finding only relates to actual uptake of carbon dioxide and not long term storage, see below ; Synthesis of 479 experimental studies ) Greater species diversity of plants increases soil nutrient remineralization ( Synthesis of 103 experimental studies ) Greater species diversity of plants increases soil organic matter ( Synthesis of 85 experimental studies ) Services with mixed evidence Provisioning services None to date Regulating services Greater species diversity of plants may or may not decrease herbivorous pest populations. Data from two separate reviews suggest that greater diversity decreases pest populations ( Synthesis of 40 observational studies ; Synthesis of 100 experimental studies ). One review found mixed evidence ( Synthesis of 287 experimental studies ), while another found contrary evidence ( Synthesis of 100 experimental studies ) Greater species diversity of animals may or may not decrease disease prevalence on those animals ( Synthesis of 45 experimental and observational studies ), although a 2013 study offers more support showing that biodiversity may in fact enhance disease resistance within animal communities, at least in amphibian frog ponds. Many more studies must be published in support of diversity to sway the balance of evidence will be such that we can draw a general rule on this service. Greater species and trait diversity of plants may or may not increase long term carbon storage ( Synthesis of 33 observational studies ) Greater pollinator diversity may or may not increase pollination ( Synthesis of 7 observational studies ), but a publication from March 2013 suggests that increased native pollinator diversity enhances pollen deposition ( although not necessarily fruit set as the authors would have you believe, for details explore their lengthy supplementary material ). Services hindered Provisioning services Greater species diversity of plants reduces primary production ( Synthesis of 7 experimental studies ) Regulating services Greater genetic and species diversity of a number of organisms reduces freshwater purification ( Synthesis of 8 experimental studies, although an attempt by the authors to investigate the effect of detritivore diversity on freshwater purification was unsuccessful due to a lack of available evidence ( only 1 observational study was found Provisioning services Effect of species diversity of plants on biofuel yield ( In a survey of the literature, the investigators only found 3 studies ) Effect of species diversity of fish on fishery yield ( In a survey of the literature, the investigators only found 4 experimental studies and 1 observational study ) Regulating services Effect of species diversity on the stability of biofuel yield ( In a survey of the literature, the investigators did not find any studies ) Effect of species diversity of plants on the stability of fodder yield ( In a survey of the literature, the investigators only found 2 studies ) Effect of species diversity of plants on the stability of crop yield ( In a survey of the literature, the investigators only found 1 study ) Effect of genetic diversity of plants on the stability of crop yield ( In a survey of the literature, the investigators only found 2 studies ) Effect of diversity on the stability of wood production ( In a survey of the literature, the investigators could not find any studies ) Effect of species diversity of multiple taxa on erosion control ( In a survey of the literature, the investigators could not find any studies -- they did however find studies on the effect of species diversity and root biomass ) Effect of diversity on flood regulation ( In a survey of the literature, the investigators could not find any studies ) Effect of species and trait diversity of plants on soil moisture ( In a survey of the literature, the investigators only found 2 studies ) Other sources have reported somewhat conflicting results and in 1997 Robert Costanza and colleagues reported the estimated global value of ecosystem services ( not captured in traditional markets ) at an average of $33 trillion annually. Since the stone age, species loss has accelerated above the average basal rate, driven by human activity. Estimates of species losses are at a rate 100 - 10,000 times as fast as is typical in the fossil record. Biodiversity also affords many non-material benefits including spiritual and aesthetic values, knowledge systems and education. Agriculture See also : Agricultural biodiversity Amazon Rainforest in South America Agricultural diversity can be divided into two categories : intraspecific diversity, which includes the genetic variety within a single species, like the potato ( Solanum tuberosum ) that is composed of many different forms and types ( e.g. : in the U.S. we might compare russet potatoes with new potatoes or purple potatoes, all different, but all part of the same species, S. tuberosum ). The other category of agricultural diversity is called interspecific diversity and refers to the number and types of different species. Thinking about this diversity we might note that many small vegetable farmers grow many different crops like potatoes and also carrots, peppers, lettuce etc. Agricultural diversity can also be divided by whether it is ' planned ' diversity or ' associated ' diversity. This is a functional classification that we impose and not an intrinsic feature of life or diversity. Planned diversity includes the crops which a farmer has encouraged, planted or raised ( e.g. : crops, covers, symbionts and livestock, among others ), which can be contrasted with the associated diversity that arrives among the crops, uninvited ( e.g. : herbivores, weed species and pathogens, among others ). The control of associated biodiversity is one of the great agricultural challenges that farmers face. On monoculture farms, the approach is generally to eradicate associated diversity using a suite of biologically destructive pesticides, mechanized tools and transgenic engineering techniques, then to rotate crops. Although some polyculture farmers use the same techniques, they also employ integrated pest management strategies as well as strategies that are more labor - intensive, but generally less dependent on capital, biotechnology and energy. Interspecific crop diversity is, in part, responsible for offering variety in what we eat. Intraspecific diversity, the variety of alleles within a single species, also offers us choice in our diets. If a crop fails in a monoculture, we rely on agricultural diversity to replant the land with something new. If a wheat crop is destroyed by a pest we may plant a hardier variety of wheat the next year, relying on intraspecific diversity. We may forgo wheat production in that area and plant a different species altogether, relying on interspecific diversity. Even an agricultural society which primarily grows monocultures, relies on biodiversity at some point. The Irish potato blight of 1846 was a major factor in the deaths of one million people and the emigration of about two million. It was the result of planting only two potato varieties, both vulnerable to the blight, Phytophthora infestans, which arrived in 1845 When rice grassy stunt virus struck rice fields from Indonesia to India in the 1970s, 6,273 varieties were tested for resistance. Only one was resistant, an Indian variety and known to science only since 1966. This variety formed a hybrid with other varieties and is now widely grown. Coffee rust attacked coffee plantations in Sri Lanka, Brazil and Central America in 1970. A resistant variety was found in Ethiopia. The diseases are themselves a form of biodiversity. Monoculture was a contributing factor to several agricultural disasters, including the European wine industry collapse in the late 19th century and the US southern corn leaf blight epidemic of 1970. Although about 80 percent of humans ' food supply comes from just 20 kinds of plants, humans use at least 40,000 species. Many people depend on these species for food, shelter and clothing. Earth 's surviving biodiversity provides resources for increasing the range of food and other products suitable for human use, although the present extinction rate shrinks that potential. Human health The diverse forest canopy on Barro Colorado Island, Panama, yielded this display of different fruit Biodiversity 's relevance to human health is becoming an international political issue, as scientific evidence builds on the global health implications of biodiversity loss. This issue is closely linked with the issue of climate change, as many of the anticipated health risks of climate change are associated with changes in biodiversity ( e.g. changes in populations and distribution of disease vectors, scarcity of fresh water, impacts on agricultural biodiversity and food resources etc. ) This is because the species most likely to disappear are those that buffer against infectious disease transmission, while surviving species tend to be the ones that increase disease transmission, such as that of West Nile Virus, Lyme disease and Hantavirus, according to a study done co-authored by Felicia Keesing, an ecologist at Bard College and Drew Harvell, associate director for Environment of the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future ( ACSF ) at Cornell University. The growing demand and lack of drinkable water on the planet presents an additional challenge to the future of human health. Partly, the problem lies in the success of water suppliers to increase supplies and failure of groups promoting preservation of water resources. While the distribution of clean water increases, in some parts of the world it remains unequal. According to 2008 World Population Data Sheet, only 62 % of least developed countries are able to access clean water. Some of the health issues influenced by biodiversity include dietary health and nutrition security, infectious disease, medical science and medicinal resources, social and psychological health. Biodiversity is also known to have an important role in reducing disaster risk and in post-disaster relief and recovery efforts. Biodiversity provides critical support for drug discovery and the availability of medicinal resources. A significant proportion of drugs are derived, directly or indirectly, from biological sources : at least 50 % of the pharmaceutical compounds on the US market are derived from plants, animals and micro-organisms, while about 80 % of the world population depends on medicines from nature ( used in either modern or traditional medical practice ) for primary healthcare. Only a tiny fraction of wild species has been investigated for medical potential. Biodiversity has been critical to advances throughout the field of bionics. Evidence from market analysis and biodiversity science indicates that the decline in output from the pharmaceutical sector since the mid-1980s can be attributed to a move away from natural product exploration ( `` bioprospecting '' ) in favor of genomics and synthetic chemistry, indeed claims about the value of undiscovered pharmaceuticals may not provide enough incentive for companies in free markets to search for them because of the high cost of development ; meanwhile, natural products have a long history of supporting significant economic and health innovation. Marine ecosystems are particularly important, although inappropriate bioprospecting can increase biodiversity loss, as well as violating the laws of the communities and states from which the resources are taken. Business and industry Agriculture production, pictured is a tractor and a chaser bin Many industrial materials derive directly from biological sources. These include building materials, fibers, dyes, rubber and oil. Biodiversity is also important to the security of resources such as water, timber, paper, fiber and food. As a result, biodiversity loss is a significant risk factor in business development and a threat to long term economic sustainability. Leisure, cultural and aesthetic value Biodiversity enriches leisure activities such as hiking, birdwatching or natural history study. Biodiversity inspires musicians, painters, sculptors, writers and other artists. Many cultures view themselves as an integral part of the natural world which requires them to respect other living organisms. Popular activities such as gardening, fishkeeping and specimen collecting strongly depend on biodiversity. The number of species involved in such pursuits is in the tens of thousands, though the majority do not enter commerce. The relationships between the original natural areas of these often exotic animals and plants and commercial collectors, suppliers, breeders, propagators and those who promote their understanding and enjoyment are complex and poorly understood. The general public responds well to exposure to rare and unusual organisms, reflecting their inherent value. Philosophically it could be argued that biodiversity has intrinsic aesthetic and spiritual value to mankind in and of itself. This idea can be used as a counterweight to the notion that tropical forests and other ecological realms are only worthy of conservation because of the services they provide. Ecological services See also : Ecological effects of biodiversity Eagle Creek, Oregon hiking Biodiversity supports many ecosystem services : `` There is now unequivocal evidence that biodiversity loss reduces the efficiency by which ecological communities capture biologically essential resources, produce biomass, decompose and recycle biologically essential nutrients... There is mounting evidence that biodiversity increases the stability of ecosystem functions through time... Diverse communities are more productive because they contain key species that have a large influence on productivity and differences in functional traits among organisms increase total resource capture... The impacts of diversity loss on ecological processes might be sufficiently large to rival the impacts of many other global drivers of environmental change... Maintaining multiple ecosystem processes at multiple places and times requires higher levels of biodiversity than does a single process at a single place and time. '' It plays a part in regulating the chemistry of our atmosphere and water supply. Biodiversity is directly involved in water purification, recycling nutrients and providing fertile soils. Experiments with controlled environments have shown that humans can not easily build ecosystems to support human needs ; for example insect pollination can not be mimicked, and that activity alone represented between $2.1 - 14.6 billions in 2003. Number of species Main article : Global biodiversity Discovered and predicted total number of species on land and in the oceans According to Mora and colleagues, the total number of terrestrial species is estimated to be around 8.7 million while the number of oceanic species is much lower, estimated at 2.2 million. The authors note that these estimates are strongest for eukaryotic organisms and likely represent the lower bound of prokaryote diversity. Other estimates include : 220,000 vascular plants, estimated using the species - area relation method 0.7 - 1 million marine species 10 -- 30 million insects ; ( of some 0.9 million we know today ) 5 -- 10 million bacteria ; 1.5 - 3 million fungi, estimates based on data from the tropics, long - term non-tropical sites and molecular studies that have revealed cryptic speciation. Some 0.075 million species of fungi had been documented by 2001 ) 1 million mites The number of microbial species is not reliably known, but the Global Ocean Sampling Expedition dramatically increased the estimates of genetic diversity by identifying an enormous number of new genes from near - surface plankton samples at various marine locations, initially over the 2004 - 2006 period. The findings may eventually cause a significant change in the way science defines species and other taxonomic categories. Since the rate of extinction has increased, many extant species may become extinct before they are described. Not surprisingly, in the animalia the most studied groups are birds and mammals, whereas fishes and arthropods are the least studied animals groups. Measuring biodiversity Main articles : diversity index and measurement of biodiversity Species loss rates Further information : Loss of biodiversity No longer do we have to justify the existence of humid tropical forests on the feeble grounds that they might carry plants with drugs that cure human disease. Gaia theory forces us to see that they offer much more than this. Through their capacity to evapotranspirate vast volumes of water vapor, they serve to keep the planet cool by wearing a sunshade of white reflecting cloud. Their replacement by cropland could precipitate a disaster that is global in scale. During the last century, decreases in biodiversity have been increasingly observed. In 2007, German Federal Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel cited estimates that up to 30 % of all species will be extinct by 2050. Of these, about one eighth of known plant species are threatened with extinction. Estimates reach as high as 140,000 species per year ( based on Species - area theory ). This figure indicates unsustainable ecological practices, because few species emerge each year. Almost all scientists acknowledge that the rate of species loss is greater now than at any time in human history, with extinctions occurring at rates hundreds of times higher than background extinction rates. As of 2012, some studies suggest that 25 % of all mammal species could be extinct in 20 years. In absolute terms, the planet has lost 52 % of its biodiversity since 1970 according to a 2014 study by the World Wildlife Fund. The Living Planet Report 2014 claims that `` the number of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish across the globe is, on average, about half the size it was 40 years ago ''. Of that number, 39 % accounts for the terrestrial wildlife gone, 39 % for the marine wildlife gone and 76 % for the freshwater wildlife gone. Biodiversity took the biggest hit in Latin America, plummeting 83 percent. High - income countries showed a 10 % increase in biodiversity, which was canceled out by a loss in low - income countries. This is despite the fact that high - income countries use five times the ecological resources of low - income countries, which was explained as a result of process whereby wealthy nations are outsourcing resource depletion to poorer nations, which are suffering the greatest ecosystem losses. Threats In 2006 many species were formally classified as rare or endangered or threatened ; moreover, scientists have estimated that millions more species are at risk which have not been formally recognized. About 40 percent of the 40,177 species assessed using the IUCN Red List criteria are now listed as threatened with extinction -- a total of 16,119. Jared Diamond describes an `` Evil Quartet '' of habitat destruction, overkill, introduced species and secondary extinctions. Edward O. Wilson prefers the acronym HIPPO, standing for Habitat destruction, Invasive species, Pollution, human over-Population and Over-harvesting. The most authoritative classification in use today is IUCN 's Classification of Direct Threats which has been adopted by major international conservation organizations such as the US Nature Conservancy, the World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International and BirdLife International. Habitat destruction Deforestation and increased road - building in the Amazon Rainforest are a significant concern because of increased human encroachment upon wild areas, increased resource extraction and further threats to biodiversity. Main article : Habitat destruction Habitat destruction has played a key role in extinctions, especially related to tropical forest destruction. Factors contributing to habitat loss are : overconsumption, overpopulation, land use change, deforestation, pollution ( air pollution, water pollution, soil contamination ) and global warming or climate change. Habitat size and numbers of species are systematically related. Physically larger species and those living at lower latitudes or in forests or oceans are more sensitive to reduction in habitat area. Conversion to `` trivial '' standardized ecosystems ( e.g., monoculture following deforestation ) effectively destroys habitat for the more diverse species that preceded the conversion. In some countries lack of property rights or lax law / regulatory enforcement necessarily leads to biodiversity loss ( degradation costs having to be supported by the community ). A 2007 study conducted by the National Science Foundation found that biodiversity and genetic diversity are codependent -- that diversity among species requires diversity within a species and vice versa. `` If any one type is removed from the system, the cycle can break down and the community becomes dominated by a single species. '' At present, the most threatened ecosystems are found in fresh water, according to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005, which was confirmed by the `` Freshwater Animal Diversity Assessment '', organised by the biodiversity platform and the French Institut de recherche pour le développement ( MNHNP ). Co-extinctions are a form of habitat destruction. Co-extinction occurs when the extinction or decline in one accompanies the other, such as in plants and beetles. Introduced and invasive species Main articles : Introduced species and Invasive species Male Lophura nycthemera ( silver pheasant ), a native of East Asia that has been introduced into parts of Europe for ornamental reasons Barriers such as large rivers, seas, oceans, mountains and deserts encourage diversity by enabling independent evolution on either side of the barrier, via the process of allopatric speciation. The term invasive species is applied to species that breach the natural barriers that would normally keep them constrained. Without barriers, such species occupy new territory, often supplanting native species by occupying their niches, or by using resources that would normally sustain native species. The number of species invasions has been on the rise at least since the beginning of the 1900s. Species are increasingly being moved by humans ( on purpose and accidentally ). In some cases the invaders are causing drastic changes and damage to their new habitats ( e.g. : zebra mussels and the emerald ash borer in the Great Lakes region and the lion fish along the North American Atlantic coast ). Some evidence suggests that invasive species are competitive in their new habitats because they are subject to less pathogen disturbance. Others report confounding evidence that occasionally suggest that species - rich communities harbor many native and exotic species simultaneously while some say that diverse ecosystems are more resilient and resist invasive plants and animals. An important question is, `` do invasive species cause extinctions ? '' Many studies cite effects of invasive species on natives, but not extinctions. Invasive species seem to increase local ( i.e. : alpha diversity ) diversity, which decreases turnover of diversity ( i.e. : beta diversity ). Overall gamma diversity may be lowered because species are going extinct because of other causes, but even some of the most insidious invaders ( e.g. : Dutch elm disease, emerald ash borer, chestnut blight in North America ) have not caused their host species to become extinct. Extirpation, population decline and homogenization of regional biodiversity are much more common. Human activities have frequently been the cause of invasive species circumventing their barriers, by introducing them for food and other purposes. Human activities therefore allow species to migrate to new areas ( and thus become invasive ) occurred on time scales much shorter than historically have been required for a species to extend its range. Not all introduced species are invasive, nor all invasive species deliberately introduced. In cases such as the zebra mussel, invasion of US waterways was unintentional. In other cases, such as mongooses in Hawaii, the introduction is deliberate but ineffective ( nocturnal rats were not vulnerable to the diurnal mongoose ). In other cases, such as oil palms in Indonesia and Malaysia, the introduction produces substantial economic benefits, but the benefits are accompanied by costly unintended consequences. Finally, an introduced species may unintentionally injure a species that depends on the species it replaces. In Belgium, Prunus spinosa from Eastern Europe leafs much sooner than its West European counterparts, disrupting the feeding habits of the Thecla betulae butterfly ( which feeds on the leaves ). Introducing new species often leaves endemic and other local species unable to compete with the exotic species and unable to survive. The exotic organisms may be predators, parasites, or may simply outcompete indigenous species for nutrients, water and light. At present, several countries have already imported so many exotic species, particularly agricultural and ornamental plants, that their own indigenous fauna / flora may be outnumbered. For example, the introduction of kudzu from Southeast Asia to Canada and the United States has threatened biodiversity in certain areas. Genetic pollution Main article : Genetic pollution Endemic species can be threatened with extinction through the process of genetic pollution, i.e. uncontrolled hybridization, introgression and genetic swamping. Genetic pollution leads to homogenization or replacement of local genomes as a result of either a numerical and / or fitness advantage of an introduced species. Hybridization and introgression are side - effects of introduction and invasion. These phenomena can be especially detrimental to rare species that come into contact with more abundant ones. The abundant species can interbreed with the rare species, swamping its gene pool. This problem is not always apparent from morphological ( outward appearance ) observations alone. Some degree of gene flow is normal adaptation and not all gene and genotype constellations can be preserved. However, hybridization with or without introgression may, nevertheless, threaten a rare species ' existence. Overexploitation Main article : Overexploitation Overexploitation occurs when a resource is consumed at an unsustainable rate. This occurs on land in the form of overhunting, excessive logging, poor soil conservation in agriculture and the illegal wildlife trade. About 25 % of world fisheries are now overfished to the point where their current biomass is less than the level that maximizes their sustainable yield. The overkill hypothesis, a pattern of large animal extinctions connected with human migration patterns, can be used explain why megafaunal extinctions can occur within a relatively short time period. Hybridization, genetic pollution / erosion and food security The Yecoro wheat ( right ) cultivar is sensitive to salinity, plants resulting from a hybrid cross with cultivar W4910 ( left ) show greater tolerance to high salinity See also : Food security and Genetic erosion In agriculture and animal husbandry, the Green Revolution popularized the use of conventional hybridization to increase yield. Often hybridized breeds originated in developed countries and were further hybridized with local varieties in the developing world to create high yield strains resistant to local climate and diseases. Local governments and industry have been pushing hybridization. Formerly huge gene pools of various wild and indigenous breeds have collapsed causing widespread genetic erosion and genetic pollution. This has resulted in loss of genetic diversity and biodiversity as a whole. Genetically modified organisms contain genetic material that is altered through genetic engineering. Genetically modified crops have become a common source for genetic pollution in not only wild varieties, but also in domesticated varieties derived from classical hybridization. Genetic erosion and genetic pollution have the potential to destroy unique genotypes, threatening future access to food security. A decrease in genetic diversity weakens the ability of crops and livestock to be hybridized to resist disease and survive changes in climate. Climate change Main article : Effect of climate change on plant biodiversity Polar bears on the sea ice of the Arctic Ocean, near the North Pole. Climate change has started affecting bear populations. Global warming is also considered to be a major potential threat to global biodiversity in the future. For example, coral reefs - which are biodiversity hotspots - will be lost within the century if global warming continues at the current trend. Climate change has seen many claims about potential to affect biodiversity but evidence supporting the statement is tenuous. Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide certainly affects plant morphology and is acidifying oceans, and temperature affects species ranges, phenology, and weather, but the major impacts that have been predicted are still just potential impacts. We have not documented major extinctions yet, even as climate change drastically alters the biology of many species. In 2004, an international collaborative study on four continents estimated that 10 percent of species would become extinct by 2050 because of global warming. `` We need to limit climate change or we wind up with a lot of species in trouble, possibly extinct, '' said Dr. Lee Hannah, a co-author of the paper and chief climate change biologist at the Center for Applied Biodiversity Science at Conservation International. A recent study predicts that up to 35 % of the world terrestrial carnivores and ungulates will be at higher risk of extinction by 2050 because of the joint effects of predicted climate and land - use change under business - as - usual human development scenarios. Human overpopulation Main article : Human overpopulation From 1950 to 2011, world population increased from 2.5 billion to 7 billion and is forecast to reach a plateau of more than 9 billion during the 21st century. Some recent forecasts place the possible number of people on the planet at 11 billion or 15 billion by 2100. Sir David King, former chief scientific adviser to the UK government, told a parliamentary inquiry : `` It is self - evident that the massive growth in the human population through the 20th century has had more impact on biodiversity than any other single factor. '' At least until the middle of the 21st century, worldwide losses of pristine biodiverse land will probably depend much on the worldwide human birth rate. Biologists such as Paul R. Ehrlich and Stuart Pimm have noted that human population growth and overconsumption are the main drivers of species extinction. According to a 2014 study by the World Wildlife Fund, the global human population already exceeds planet 's biocapacity - it would take the equivalent of 1.5 Earths of biocapacity to meet our current demands. The report further points that if everyone on the planet had the Footprint of the average resident of Qatar, we would need 4.8 Earths and if we lived the lifestyle of a typical resident of the USA, we would need 3.9 Earths. The Holocene extinction Main article : Holocene extinction Rates of decline in biodiversity in this sixth mass extinction match or exceed rates of loss in the five previous mass extinction events in the fossil record. Loss of biodiversity results in the loss of natural capital that supplies ecosystem goods and services. From the perspective of the method known as Natural Economy the economic value of 17 ecosystem services for Earth 's biosphere ( calculated in 1997 ) has an estimated value of US $33 trillion ( 3.3 x10 ) per year. Conservation Main article : Conservation biology A schematic image illustrating the relationship between biodiversity, ecosystem services, human well - being and poverty. The illustration shows where conservation action, strategies and plans can influence the drivers of the current biodiversity crisis at local, regional, to global scales. The retreat of Aletsch Glacier in the Swiss Alps ( situation in 1979, 1991 and 2002 ), due to global warming. Conservation biology matured in the mid-20th century as ecologists, naturalists and other scientists began to research and address issues pertaining to global biodiversity declines. The conservation ethic advocates management of natural resources for the purpose of sustaining biodiversity in species, ecosystems, the evolutionary process and human culture and society. Conservation biology is reforming around strategic plans to protect biodiversity. Preserving global biodiversity is a priority in strategic conservation plans that are designed to engage public policy and concerns affecting local, regional and global scales of communities, ecosystems and cultures. Action plans identify ways of sustaining human well - being, employing natural capital, market capital and ecosystem services. In the EU Directive 1999 / 22 / EC zoos are described as having a role in the preservation of the biodiversity of wildlife animals by conducting research or participation in breeding programs. Protection and restoration techniques Removal of exotic species will allow the species that they have negatively impacted to recover their ecological niches. Exotic species that have become pests can be identified taxonomically ( e.g., with Digital Automated Identification SYstem ( DAISY ), using the barcode of life ). Removal is practical only given large groups of individuals due to the economic cost. As sustainable populations of the remaining native species in an area become assured, `` missing '' species that are candidates for reintroduction can be identified using databases such as the Encyclopedia of Life and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Biodiversity banking places a monetary value on biodiversity. One example is the Australian Native Vegetation Management Framework. Gene banks are collections of specimens and genetic material. Some banks intend to reintroduce banked species to the ecosystem ( e.g., via tree nurseries ). Reduction of and better targeting of pesticides allows more species to survive in agricultural and urbanized areas. Location - specific approaches may be less useful for protecting migratory species. One approach is to create wildlife corridors that correspond to the animals ' movements. National and other boundaries can complicate corridor creation. Protected areas This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( April 2016 ) Protected areas is meant for affording protection to wild animals and their habitat which also includes forest reserves and biosphere reserves. Protected areas have been set up all over the world with the specific aim of protecting and conserving plants and animals. National Parks Main article : National park National park and nature reserve is the area selected by governments or private organizations for special protection against damage or degradation with the objective of biodiversity and landscape conservation. National parks are usually owned and managed by national or state governments. A limit is placed on the number of visitors permitted to enter certain fragile areas. Designated trails or roads are created. The visitors are allowed to enter only for study, cultural and recreation purposes. Forestry operations, grazing of animals and hunting of animals are regulated. Exploitation of habitat or wildlife is banned. Wildlife sanctuary Wildlife sanctuary aims only at conservation of species and have the following features : The boundaries of the sanctuaries are not limited by state legislation. The killing, hunting or capturing of any species is prohibited except by or under the control of the highest authority in the department which is responsible for the management of the sanctuary. Private ownership may be allowed. Forestry and other usages can also be permitted. Forest reserves The forests play a vital role in harbouring more than 45,000 floral and 81,000 faunal species of which 5150 floral and 1837 faunal species are endemic. Plant and animal species confined to a specific geographical area are called endemic species. In reserved forests, rights to activities like hunting and grazing are sometimes given to communities living on the fringes of the forest, who sustain their livelihood partially or wholly from forest resources or products. The unclassed forests covers 6.4 percent of the total forest area and they are marked by the following characteristics : They are large inaccessible forests. Many of these are unoccupied. They are ecologically and economically less important. Steps to conserve the forest cover An extensive reforestation / afforestation program should be followed. Alternative environment - friendly sources of fuel energy such as biogas other than wood should be used. Loss of biodiversity due to forest fire is a major problem, immediate steps to prevent forest fire need to be taken. Overgrazing by cattle can damage a forest seriously. Therefore, certain steps should be taken to prevent overgrazing by cattle. Hunting and poaching should be banned. Zoological Parks In zoological parks or zoos, live animals are kept for public recreation, education and conservation purposes. Modern zoos offer veterinary facilities, provide opportunities for threatened species to breed in captivity and usually build environments that simulate the native habitats of the animals in their care. Zoos play a major role in creating awareness among common people about the need to conserve nature. Botanical gardens Botanical garden is a garden in which plants are grown and displayed primarily for scientific and educational purposes. It consists of a collection of living plants, grown outdoors or under glass in greenhouses and conservatories. In addition, it includes a collection of dried plants or herbarium and such facilities as lecture rooms, laboratories, libraries, museums and experimental or research plantings. Resource allocation Focusing on limited areas of higher potential biodiversity promises greater immediate return on investment than spreading resources evenly or focusing on areas of little diversity but greater interest in biodiversity. A second strategy focuses on areas that retain most of their original diversity, which typically require little or no restoration. These are typically non-urbanized, non-agricultural areas. Tropical areas often fit both criteria, given their natively high diversity and relative lack of development. Legal status A great deal of work is occurring to preserve the natural characteristics of Hopetoun Falls, Australia while continuing to allow visitor access. International United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity ( 1992 ) and Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety ; Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species ( CITES ) ; Ramsar Convention ( Wetlands ) ; Bonn Convention on Migratory Species ; World Heritage Convention ( indirectly by protecting biodiversity habitats ) Regional Conventions such as the Apia Convention Bilateral agreements such as the Japan - Australia Migratory Bird Agreement. Global agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, give `` sovereign national rights over biological resources '' ( not property ). The agreements commit countries to `` conserve biodiversity '', `` develop resources for sustainability '' and `` share the benefits '' resulting from their use. Biodiverse countries that allow bioprospecting or collection of natural products, expect a share of the benefits rather than allowing the individual or institution that discovers / exploits the resource to capture them privately. Bioprospecting can become a type of biopiracy when such principles are not respected. Sovereignty principles can rely upon what is better known as Access and Benefit Sharing Agreements ( ABAs ). The Convention on Biodiversity implies informed consent between the source country and the collector, to establish which resource will be used and for what and to settle on a fair agreement on benefit sharing. National level laws Biodiversity is taken into account in some political and judicial decisions : The relationship between law and ecosystems is very ancient and has consequences for biodiversity. It is related to private and public property rights. It can define protection for threatened ecosystems, but also some rights and duties ( for example, fishing and hunting rights ). Law regarding species is more recent. It defines species that must be protected because they may be threatened by extinction. The U.S. Endangered Species Act is an example of an attempt to address the `` law and species '' issue. Laws regarding gene pools are only about a century old. Domestication and plant breeding methods are not new, but advances in genetic engineering have led to tighter laws covering distribution of genetically modified organisms, gene patents and process patents. Governments struggle to decide whether to focus on for example, genes, genomes, or organisms and species. Uniform approval for use of biodiversity as a legal standard has not been achieved, however. Bosselman argues that biodiversity should not be used as a legal standard, claiming that the remaining areas of scientific uncertainty cause unacceptable administrative waste and increase litigation without promoting preservation goals. India passed the Biological Diversity Act in 2002 for the conservation of biological diversity in India. The Act also provides mechanisms for equitable sharing of benefits from the use of traditional biological resources and knowledge. Analytical limits Taxonomic and size relationships 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. Diversity study ( Botany. ) 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. 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. See also Ecological indicator Global biodiversity Index of biodiversity articles Measurement of biodiversity Megadiverse countries Deforestation and climate change Defaunation Zero - Force Evolutionary Law References Jump up ^ `` What is biodiversity ? '' ( PDF ). United Nations Environment Programme, World Conservation Monitoring Centre. Jump up ^ Gaston, Kevin J. ( 11 May 2000 ). `` Global patterns in biodiversity ''. Nature. 405 ( 6783 ) : 220 -- 227. PMID 10821282. doi : 10.1038 / 35012228. Jump up ^ Field, Richard ; Hawkins, Bradford A. ; Cornell, Howard V. ; Currie, David J. ; Diniz - Filho, J. ( 1 January 2009 ). Alexandre F. ; Guégan, Jean - François ; Kaufman, Dawn M. ; Kerr, Jeremy T. ; Mittelbach, Gary G. ; Oberdorff, Thierry ; O'Brien, Eileen M. ; Turner, John R.G.. `` Spatial species - richness gradients across scales : a meta - analysis ''. Journal of Biogeography. 36 ( 1 ) : 132 -- 147. doi : 10.1111 / j. 1365 - 2699.2008. 01963. x. Jump up ^ Young, Anthony. `` Global Environmental Outlook 3 ( GEO - 3 ) : Past, Present and Future Perspectives. '' The Geographical Journal, vol. 169, 2003, p. 120. Jump up ^ Tittensor, Derek P. ; Mora, Camilo ; Jetz, Walter ; Lotze, Heike K. ; Ricard, Daniel ; Berghe, Edward Vanden ; Worm, Boris ( 28 July 2010 ). `` Global patterns and predictors of marine biodiversity across taxa ''. Nature. 466 ( 7310 ) : 1098 -- 1101. Bibcode : 2010Natur. 466.1098 T. PMID 20668450. doi : 10.1038 / nature09329. Jump up ^ Myers, Norman ; Mittermeier, Russell A. ; Mittermeier, Cristina G. ; Da Fonseca, Gustavo A.B. ; Kent, Jennifer ( 24 February 2000 ). `` Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities ''. Nature. 403 ( 6772 ) : 853 -- 858. Bibcode : 2000Natur. 403... 853M. PMID 10706275. doi : 10.1038 / 35002501. Jump up ^ McPeek, Mark A. ; Brown, Jonathan M. ( 1 April 2007 ). `` Clade Age and Not Diversification Rate Explains Species Richness among Animal Taxa ''. The American Naturalist. 169 ( 4 ) : E97 -- E106. PMID 17427118. doi : 10.1086 / 512135. Jump up ^ Peters, Shanan. `` Sepkoski 's Online Genus Database ''. University of Wisconsin - Madison. Retrieved 10 April 2013. Jump up ^ Rabosky, Daniel L. ( 1 August 2009 ). `` Ecological limits and diversification rate : alternative paradigms to explain the variation in species richness among clades and regions ''. Ecology Letters. 12 ( 8 ) : 735 -- 743. PMID 19558515. doi : 10.1111 / j. 1461 - 0248.2009. 01333. x. Jump up ^ Charles Cockell ; Christian Koeberl & Iain Gilmour ( 18 May 2006 ). Biological Processes Associated with Impact Events ( 1 ed. ). Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 197 -- 219. ISBN 978 - 3 - 540 - 25736 - 3. Jump up ^ Algeo, T.J. ; Scheckler, S.E. ( 29 January 1998 ). `` Terrestrial - marine teleconnections in the Devonian : links between the evolution of land plants, weathering processes, and marine anoxic events ''. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B : Biological Sciences. 353 ( 1365 ) : 113 -- 130. doi : 10.1098 / rstb. 1998.0195. Jump up ^ Bond, David P.G. ; Wignall, Paul B. ( 1 June 2008 ). `` The role of sea - level change and marine anoxia in the Frasnian -- Famennian ( Late Devonian ) mass extinction ''. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 263 ( 3 -- 4 ) : 107 -- 118. doi : 10.1016 / j. palaeo. 2008.02. 015. Jump up ^ Kunin, W.E. ; Gaston, Kevin, eds. ( 31 December 1996 ). The Biology of Rarity : Causes and consequences of rare -- common differences. ISBN 978 - 0412633805. Retrieved 26 May 2015. Jump up ^ Stearns, Beverly Peterson ; Stearns, S.C. ; Stearns, Stephen C. ( 2000 ). Watching, from the Edge of Extinction. Yale University Press. p. preface x. ISBN 978 - 0 - 300 - 08469 - 6. Retrieved 30 May 2017. Jump up ^ Novacek, Michael J. ( 8 November 2014 ). `` Prehistory 's Brilliant Future ''. New York Times. Retrieved 2014 - 12 - 25. Jump up ^ G. Miller ; Scott Spoolman ( 2012 ). Environmental Science - Biodiversity Is a Crucial Part of the Earth 's Natural Capital. Cengage Learning. p. 62. ISBN 1 - 133 - 70787 - 4. Retrieved 2014 - 12 - 27. Jump up ^ Mora, C. ; Tittensor, D.P. ; Adl, S. ; Simpson, A.G. ; Worm, B. ( 23 August 2011 ). `` How many species are there on Earth and in the ocean ? ''. PLOS Biology. 9 ( 8 ) : e1001127. PMC 3160336. PMID 21886479. doi : 10.1371 / journal. pbio. 1001127. Jump up ^ Staff ( 2 May 2016 ). `` Researchers find that Earth may be home to 1 trillion species ''. National Science Foundation. Retrieved 6 May 2016. Jump up ^ Nuwer, Rachel ( 18 July 2015 ). `` Counting All the DNA on Earth ''. The New York Times. New York : The New York Times Company. ISSN 0362 - 4331. Retrieved 2015 - 07 - 18. Jump up ^ `` The Biosphere : Diversity of Life ''. Aspen Global Change Institute. Basalt, CO. Retrieved 2015 - 07 - 19. Jump up ^ Wade, Nicholas ( 25 July 2016 ). `` Meet Luca, the Ancestor of All Living Things ''. New York Times. Retrieved 25 July 2016. Jump up ^ `` Age of the Earth ''. U.S. Geological Survey. 1997. Archived from the original on 23 December 2005. Retrieved 2006 - 01 - 10. Jump up ^ Dalrymple, G. Brent ( 2001 ). `` The age of the Earth in the twentieth century : a problem ( mostly ) solved ''. Special Publications, Geological Society of London. 190 ( 1 ) : 205 -- 221. Bibcode : 2001GSLSP. 190... 205D. doi : 10.1144 / GSL. SP. 2001.190. 01.14. Jump up ^ Manhesa, Gérard ; Allègre, Claude J. ; Dupréa, Bernard & Hamelin, Bruno ( 1980 ). `` Lead isotope study of basic - ultrabasic layered complexes : Speculations about the age of the earth and primitive mantle characteristics ''. Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 47 ( 3 ) : 370 -- 382. Bibcode : 1980E&PSL... 47... 370M. doi : 10.1016 / 0012 - 821X ( 80 ) 90024 - 2. Jump up ^ Schopf, J. William ; Kudryavtsev, Anatoliy B. ; Czaja, Andrew D. ; Tripathi, Abhishek B. ( 2007 - 10 - 05 ). `` Evidence of Archean life : Stromatolites and microfossils ''. Precambrian Research. Earliest Evidence of Life on Earth. 158 ( 3 -- 4 ) : 141 -- 155. doi : 10.1016 / j. precamres. 2007.04. 009. Jump up ^ Schopf, J. William ( 2006 - 06 - 29 ). `` Fossil evidence of Archaean life ''. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B : Biological Sciences. 361 ( 1470 ) : 869 -- 885. ISSN 0962 - 8436. PMC 1578735. PMID 16754604. doi : 10.1098 / rstb. 2006.1834. Jump up ^ Hamilton Raven, Peter ; Brooks Johnson, George ( 2002 ). Biology. McGraw - Hill Education. p. 68. ISBN 978 - 0 - 07 - 112261 - 0. Retrieved 2013 - 07 - 07. Jump up ^ Borenstein, Seth ( 13 November 2013 ). `` Oldest fossil found : Meet your microbial mom ''. AP News. Jump up ^ Pearlman, Jonathan ( 13 November 2013 ). `` ' Oldest signs of life on Earth found ' - Scientists discover potentially oldest signs of life on Earth -- 3.5 billion - year - old microbe traces in rocks in Australia ''. The Telegraph. Retrieved 2014 - 12 - 15. Jump up ^ Noffke, Nora ; Christian, Daniel ; Wacey, David ; Hazen, Robert M. ( 8 November 2013 ). `` Microbially Induced Sedimentary Structures Recording an Ancient Ecosystem in the ca. 3.48 Billion - Year - Old Dresser Formation, Pilbara, Western Australia ''. Astrobiology. 13 ( 12 ) : 1103 -- 24. Bibcode : 2013AsBio... 13.1103 N. PMC 3870916. PMID 24205812. doi : 10.1089 / ast. 2013.1030. Jump up ^ Ohtomo, Yoko ; Kakegawa, Takeshi ; Ishida, Akizumi ; Nagase, Toshiro ; Rosing, Minik T. ( 8 December 2013 ). `` Evidence for biogenic graphite in early Archaean Isua metasedimentary rocks ''. Nature Geoscience. 7 : 25 -- 28. Bibcode : 2014NatGe... 7... 25O. doi : 10.1038 / ngeo2025. ^ Jump up to : Borenstein, Seth ( 19 October 2011 ). `` Hints of life on what was thought to be desolate early Earth ''. Jump up ^ Bell, Elizabeth A. ; Boehnike, Patrick ; Harrison, T. Mark ; et al. ( 19 October 2015 ). `` Potentially biogenic carbon preserved in a 4.1 billion - year - old zircon '' ( PDF ). Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. Washington, D.C. : National Academy of Sciences. 112 : 14518 -- 21. ISSN 1091 - 6490. PMC 4664351. PMID 26483481. doi : 10.1073 / pnas. 1517557112. Retrieved 2015 - 10 - 20. Early edition, published online before print. Jump up ^ `` The Cambrian Period ''. University of California Museum of Paleontology. Retrieved May 17, 2012. ^ Jump up to : Sahney, S. ; Benton, M.J. & Falcon - Lang, H.J. ( 2010 ). `` Rainforest collapse triggered Pennsylvanian tetrapod diversification in Euramerica '' ( PDF ). Geology. 38 ( 12 ) : 1079 -- 1082. Bibcode : 2010Geo... 38.1079 S. doi : 10.1130 / G31182. 1. ^ Jump up to : Sahney, S. & Benton, M.J. ( 2008 ). `` Recovery from the most profound mass extinction of all time '' ( PDF ). Proceedings of the Royal Society : Biological. 275 ( 1636 ) : 759 -- 65. PMC 2596898. PMID 18198148. doi : 10.1098 / rspb. 2007.1370. Jump up ^ `` BBC Nature - Cretaceous - Tertiary mass extinction videos, news and facts ''. Retrieved 2017 - 06 - 05. Jump up ^ `` Vanishing fauna ( Special issue ) ''. Science. 345 ( 6195 ) : 392 -- 412. 25 July 2014. doi : 10.1126 / science. 345.6195. 392. Jump up ^ Sala, Osvaldo E. ; Meyerson, Laura A. ; Parmesan, Camille ( 26 January 2009 ). Biodiversity change and human health : from ecosystem services to spread of disease. Island Press. pp. 3 -- 5. ISBN 978 - 1 - 59726 - 497 - 6. Retrieved 28 June 2011. Jump up ^ `` United Nations Decade on Biodiversity United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ''. www.unesco.org. Retrieved 2017 - 08 - 11. Jump up ^ Dasmann, Raymond Fredric ( 1968 ). A Different Kind of Country. Collier Books. ISBN 978 - 0 - 02 - 072810 - 8. Jump up ^ Soulé, Michael E. ; Wilcox, Bruce A. ( 1980 ). Conservation biology : an evolutionary - ecological perspective. Sunderland, Mass : Sinauer Associates. ISBN 0 - 87893 - 800 - 1. Jump up ^ `` Robert E. Jenkins ''. Nature.org. 2011 - 08 - 18. Retrieved 2011 - 09 - 24. Jump up ^ Wilson, E.O. ( 1 January 1988 ). Biodiversity. National Academies Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 309 - 03739 - 6. online edition Archived 13 September 2006 at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ Global Biodiversity Assessment : Summary for Policy - makers. Cambridge University Press. 1995. ISBN 978 - 0 - 521 - 56481 - 6. Annex 6, Glossary. Used as source by `` Biodiversity '', Glossary of terms related to the CBD, Belgian Clearing - House Mechanism. Retrieved 2006 - 04 - 26. Jump up ^ NHESP ( 5 February 2013 ). `` Massachusetts Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program ''. Jump up ^ Tor - Björn Larsson ( 2001 ). Biodiversity evaluation tools for European forests. Wiley - Blackwell. p. 178. ISBN 978 - 87 - 16 - 16434 - 6. Retrieved 28 June 2011. Jump up ^ Davis. Intro To Env Engg ( Sie ), 4E. McGraw - Hill Education ( India ) Pvt Ltd. pp. 4 --. ISBN 978 - 0 - 07 - 067117 - 1. Retrieved 28 June 2011. Jump up ^ Campbell, AK ( 2003 ). `` Save those molecules : molecular biodiversity and life ''. Journal of Applied Ecology. 40 ( 2 ) : 193 -- 203. doi : 10.1046 / j. 1365 - 2664.2003. 00803. x. Jump up ^ Lefcheck, Jon. `` What is functional diversity, and why do we care ? ''. sample ( ECOLOGY ). Retrieved 2015 - 12 - 22. ^ Jump up to : Wilcox, Bruce A. 1984. In situ conservation of genetic resources : determinants of minimum area requirements. In National Parks, Conservation and Development, Proceedings of the World Congress on National Parks,, J.A. McNeely and K.R. Miller, Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 18 -- 30. ^ Jump up to : D.L. Hawksworth ( 1996 ). Biodiversity : measurement and estimation. Springer. p. 6. ISBN 978 - 0 - 412 - 75220 - 9. Retrieved 28 June 2011. Jump up ^ Gaston, Kevin J. ; Spicer, John I. ( 13 February 2004 ). Biodiversity : An Introduction. Wiley. ISBN 978 - 1 - 4051 - 1857 - 6. ^ Jump up to : Sahney, S. ; Benton, M.J. ; Ferry, Paul ( 2010 ). `` Links between global taxonomic diversity, ecological diversity and the expansion of vertebrates on land ''. Biology Letters. The Royal Society. 6 ( 4 ) : 544 -- 7. PMC 2936204. PMID 20106856. doi : 10.1098 / rsbl. 2009.1024. Jump up ^ `` A Durable Yet Vulnerable Eden in Amazonia ''. Dot Earth blog, New York Times. 2010 - 01 - 20. Retrieved 2013 - 02 - 02. Jump up ^ Margot S. Bass ; Matt Finer ; Clinton N. Jenkins ; Holger Kreft ; Diego F. Cisneros - Heredia ; Shawn F. McCracken ; Nigel C.A. Pitman ; Peter H. English ; Kelly Swing ; Gorky Villa ; Anthony Di Fiore ; Christian C. Voigt ; Thomas H. Kunz ( 2010 ). `` Global Conservation Significance of Ecuador 's Yasuní National Park ''. Public Library of Science. 5 ( 1 ) : e8767. Bibcode : 2010PLoSO... 5.8767 B. PMC 2808245. PMID 20098736. doi : 10.1371 / journal. pone. 0008767. Retrieved 2011 - 06 - 07. Jump up ^ Benton M.J. ( 2001 ). `` Biodiversity on land and in the sea ''. Geological Journal. 36 ( 3 -- 4 ) : 211 -- 230. doi : 10.1002 / gj. 877. ^ Jump up to : Mora, C. ; et al. ( 2011 ). `` How Many Species Are There on Earth and in the Ocean ? ''. PLoS Biology. 9 ( 8 ) : e1001127. PMC 3160336. PMID 21886479. doi : 10.1371 / journal. pbio. 1001127. Jump up ^ Mora C & Robertson DR ( 2005 ). `` Causes of latitudinal gradients in species richness : a test with fishes of the Tropical Eastern Pacific '' ( PDF ). Ecology. 86 ( 7 ) : 1771 -- 1792. doi : 10.1890 / 04 - 0883. Jump up ^ Currie, D.J. ; Mittelbach, G.G. ; Cornell, H.V. ; Kaufman, D.M. ; Kerr, J.T. ; Oberdorff, T. ( 2004 ). `` A critical review of species - energy theory ''. Ecology Letters. 7 : 1121 -- 1134. doi : 10.1111 / j. 1461 - 0248.2004. 00671. x. Jump up ^ Allen A.P. ; Gillooly J.F. ; Savage V.M. ; Brown J.H. ( 2006 ). `` Kinetic effects of temperature on rates of genetic divergence and speciation ''. PNAS. 103 ( 24 ) : 9130 -- 9135. Bibcode : 2006PNAS... 103.9130 A. PMC 1474011. PMID 16754845. doi : 10.1073 / pnas. 0603587103. Jump up ^ Hillebrand H ( 2004 ). `` On the generality of the latitudinal diversity gradient ''. The American Naturalist. 163 ( 2 ) : 192 -- 211. PMID 14970922. doi : 10.1086 / 381004. Jump up ^ `` How diverse is aquatic biodiversity research ? ''. Aquatic Ecology. 39 : 367 -- 375. doi : 10.1007 / s10452 - 005 - 6041 - y. Jump up ^ Morand, Serge ; Krasnov, Boris R. ( 1 September 2010 ). The Biogeography of Host - Parasite Interactions. Oxford University Press. pp. 93 -- 94. ISBN 978 - 0 - 19 - 956135 - 3. Retrieved 28 June 2011. Jump up ^ Biodiversity A-Z. `` Biodiversity Hotspots ''. Jump up ^ Myers N ( 1988 ). `` Threatened biotas : ' hot spots ' in tropical forests ''. Environmentalist. 8 ( 3 ) : 187 -- 208. PMID 12322582. doi : 10.1007 / BF02240252. Jump up ^ Myers N ( 1990 ). `` The biodiversity challenge : expanded hot - spots analysis ''. Environmentalist. 10 ( 4 ) : 243 -- 256. PMID 12322583. doi : 10.1007 / BF02239720. Jump up ^ Tittensor D. ; et al. ( 2011 ). `` Global patterns and predictors of marine biodiversity across taxa '' ( PDF ). Nature. 466 ( 7310 ) : 1098 -- 1101. Bibcode : 2010Natur. 466.1098 T. PMID 20668450. doi : 10.1038 / nature09329. Jump up ^ McKee, Jeffrey K. ( December 2004 ). Sparing Nature : The Conflict Between Human Population Growth and Earth 's Biodiversity. Rutgers University Press. p. 108. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8135 - 3558 - 6. Retrieved 28 June 2011. Jump up ^ `` Colombia in the World ''. Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Research on Biological Resources. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 2013 - 12 - 30. Jump up ^ Normile, Dennis ( 10 September 2010 ). `` Saving Forests to Save Biodiversity ''. Science. 329 ( 5997 ) : 1278 -- 1280. Bibcode : 2010Sci... 329.1278 N. PMID 20829464. doi : 10.1126 / science. 329.5997. 1278. Retrieved 28 December 2010. Jump up ^ White, Gilbert ( 1887 ). `` letter xx ''. The Natural History of Selborne : With A Naturalist 's Calendar & Additional Observations. Scott. Jump up ^ Rosing, M. ; Bird, D. ; Sleep, N. ; Bjerrum, C. ( 2010 ). `` No climate paradox under the faint early Sun ''. Nature. 464 ( 7289 ) : 744 -- 747. Bibcode : 2010Natur. 464... 744R. PMID 20360739. doi : 10.1038 / nature08955. Jump up ^ Alroy, J ; Marshall, CR ; Bambach, RK ; Bezusko, K ; Foote, M ; Fursich, FT ; Hansen, TA ; Holland, SM ; et al. ( 2001 ). `` Effects of sampling standardization on estimates of Phanerozoic marine diversification ''. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 98 ( 11 ) : 6261 -- 6. Bibcode : 2001PNAS... 98.6261 A. PMC 33456. PMID 11353852. doi : 10.1073 / pnas. 111144698. ^ Jump up to : `` Mapping the web of life ''. Unep.org. Archived from the original on 2010 - 07 - 25. Retrieved 2009 - 06 - 21. Jump up ^ Okasha, S. ( 2010 ). `` Does diversity always grow ? ''. Nature. 466 ( 7304 ) : 318. Bibcode : 2010Natur. 466... 318O. doi : 10.1038 / 466318a. Jump up ^ Stanford researchers discover that animal functional diversity started out poor, became richer over time ^ Jump up to : Markov, AV ; Korotaev, AV ( 2008 ). `` Hyperbolic growth of marine and continental biodiversity through the phanerozoic and community evolution ''. Journal of General Biology. 69 ( 3 ) : 175 -- 94. PMID 18677962. Jump up ^ Markov, A ; Korotayev, A ( 2007 ). `` Phanerozoic marine biodiversity follows a hyperbolic trend ''. Palaeoworld. 16 ( 4 ) : 311 -- 318. doi : 10.1016 / j. palwor. 2007.01. 002. Jump up ^ National Survey Reveals Biodiversity Crisis Archived 7 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine. American Museum of Natural History ^ Jump up to : Wilson, Edward O. ( 1 January 2002 ). The Future of Life. Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978 - 0 - 679 - 45078 - 8. ^ Jump up to : Cardinale, Bradley ; et al. ( 2012 ). `` Biodiversity loss and its impact on humanity ''. Nature. 486 ( 7401 ) : 59 -- 67. Bibcode : 2012Natur. 486... 59C. PMID 22678280. doi : 10.1038 / nature11148. Jump up ^ Wright, Richard T., and Bernard J. Nebel. Environmental Science : toward a Sustainable Future. Eighth ed., Upper Saddle River, N.J., Pearson Education, 2002. Jump up ^ Daniel, T.C. ; et al. ( 21 May 2012 ). `` Contributions of cultural services to the ecosystem services agenda ''. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 109 ( 23 ) : 8812 -- 8819. Bibcode : 2012PNAS... 109.8812 D. PMC 3384142. PMID 22615401. doi : 10.1073 / pnas. 1114773109. ^ Jump up to : Cardinale, Bradley. J. ; et al. ( March 2011 ). `` The functional role of producer diversity in ecosystems ''. American Journal of Botany. 98 ( 3 ) : 572 -- 592. PMID 21613148. doi : 10.3732 / ajb. 1000364. Jump up ^ Kiaer, Lars P. ; Skovgaard, M. ; Østergård, Hanne ( 1 December 2009 ). `` Grain yield increase in cereal variety mixtures : A meta - analysis of field trials ''. Field Crops Research. 114 ( 3 ) : 361 -- 373. doi : 10.1016 / j. fcr. 2009.09. 006. ^ Jump up to : Letourneau, Deborah K. ( 1 January 2011 ). `` Does plant diversity benefit agroecosystems ? A synthetic review ''. Ecological Applications. 21 ( 1 ) : 9 -- 21. doi : 10.1890 / 09 - 2026.1. Jump up ^ Piotto, Daniel ( 1 March 2008 ). `` A meta - analysis comparing tree growth in monocultures and mixed plantations ''. Forest Ecology and Management. 255 ( 3 -- 4 ) : 781 -- 786. doi : 10.1016 / j. foreco. 2007.09. 065. Jump up ^ Futuyma, Douglas J. ; Shaffer, H. Bradley ; Simberloff, Daniel, eds. ( 1 January 2009 ). Annual Reviews of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics : Vol 40 2009. Palo Alto, Calif. : Annual Reviews. pp. 573 -- 592. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8243 - 1440 - 8. Jump up ^ Philpott, Stacy M. ; Soong, Oliver ; Lowenstein, Jacob H. ; Pulido, Astrid Luz ; Lopez, Diego Tobar ( 1 October 2009 ). Flynn, Dan F.B. ; DeClerck, Fabrice. `` Functional richness and ecosystem services : bird predation on arthropods in tropical agroecosystems ''. Ecological Applications. 19 ( 7 ) : 1858 -- 1867. doi : 10.1890 / 08 - 1928.1. Jump up ^ Van Bael, Sunshine A ; et al. ( Apr 2008 ). `` Birds as predators in tropical agroforestry systems ''. Ecology. 89 ( 4 ) : 928 -- 934. doi : 10.1890 / 06 - 1976.1. Jump up ^ Vance - Chalcraft, Heather D. ; et al. ( 1 November 2007 ). `` The Influence of Intraguild Predation on Prey Suppression and Prey Release : A Meta - analysis ''. Ecology. 88 ( 11 ) : 2689 -- 2696. doi : 10.1890 / 06 - 1869.1. ^ Jump up to : Quijas, Sandra ; Schmid, Bernhard ; Balvanera, Patricia ( 1 November 2010 ). `` Plant diversity enhances provision of ecosystem services : A new synthesis ''. Basic and Applied Ecology. 11 ( 7 ) : 582 -- 593. doi : 10.1016 / j. baae. 2010.06. 009. Jump up ^ Levine, Jonathan M. ; Adler, Peter B. ; Yelenik, Stephanie G. ( 6 September 2004 ). `` A meta - analysis of biotic resistance to exotic plant invasions ''. Ecology Letters. 7 ( 10 ) : 975 -- 989. doi : 10.1111 / j. 1461 - 0248.2004. 00657. x. Jump up ^ Crowder, David W. ; et al. `` Organic agriculture promotes evenness and natural pest control ''. Nature. 466 ( 7302 ) : 109 -- 112. Bibcode : 2010Natur. 466... 109C. PMID 20596021. doi : 10.1038 / nature09183. Jump up ^ Andow, DA ( 1 January 1991 ). `` Vegetational Diversity and Arthropod Population Response ''. Annual Review of Entomology. 36 ( 1 ) : 561 -- 586. doi : 10.1146 / annurev. en. 36.010191. 003021. Jump up ^ Keesing, Felicia ; et al. ( Dec 2010 ). `` Impacts of biodiversity on the emergence and transmission of infectious diseases ''. Nature. 468 ( 7324 ) : 647 -- 652. Bibcode : 2010Natur. 468... 647K. PMID 21124449. doi : 10.1038 / nature09575. Jump up ^ Johnson, Pieter T.J. ; et al. ( 13 February 2013 ). `` Biodiversity decreases disease through predictable changes in host community competence ''. Nature. 494 ( 7436 ) : 230 -- 233. Bibcode : 2013Natur. 494... 230J. PMID 23407539. doi : 10.1038 / nature11883. Jump up ^ Garibaldi, L.A. ; et al. ( 28 February 2013 ). `` Wild Pollinators Enhance Fruit Set of Crops Regardless of Honey Bee Abundance ''. Science. 339 ( 6127 ) : 1608 -- 1611. Bibcode : 2013Sci... 339.1608 G. PMID 23449997. doi : 10.1126 / science. 1230200. Jump up ^ Costanza, Robert ; et al. ( 1997 ). `` The value of the world 's ecosystem services and natural capital ''. Nature. 387 ( 6630 ) : 253 -- 260. Bibcode : 1997Natur. 387... 253C. doi : 10.1038 / 387253a0. ^ Jump up to : Hassan, Rashid M. ; et al. ( 2006 ). Ecosystems and human well - being : current state and trends : findings of the Condition and Trends Working Group of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Island Press. p. 105. ISBN 978 - 1 - 55963 - 228 - 7. ^ Jump up to : Vandermeer, John H. ( 2011 ). The Ecology of Agroecosystems. Jones & Bartlett Learning. ISBN 978 - 0 - 7637 - 7153 - 9. ^ Jump up to : `` Rice Grassy Stunt Virus ''. Lumrix.net. Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 21 June 2009. Jump up ^ Wahl, GM ; Robert de Saint Vincent B ; Derose, ML ( 1984 ). `` Effect of chromosomal position on amplification of transfected genes in animal cells ''. Nature. 307 ( 5951 ) : 516 -- 20. Bibcode : 1984Natur. 307... 516W. PMID 6694743. doi : 10.1038 / 307516a0. Jump up ^ `` Southern Corn Leaf Blight ''. Retrieved 2007 - 11 - 13. Jump up ^ World Health Organization and Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity ( 2015 ) Connecting Global Priorities : Biodiversity and Human Health, a State of Knowledge Review. See also Website of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity on biodiversity and health. Other relevant resources include Reports of the 1st and 2nd International Conferences on Health and Biodiversity. See also : Website of the UN COHAB Initiative ^ Jump up to : Chivian, Eric, ed. ( 15 May 2008 ). Sustaining Life : How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity. OUP USA. ISBN 978 - 0 - 19 - 517509 - 7. Jump up ^ Corvalán, Carlos ; Hales, Simon ; Anthony J. McMichael ( 2005 ). Ecosystems and Human Well - being : Health Synthesis. World Health Organization. pp. 28 --. ISBN 978 - 92 - 4 - 156309 - 3. Jump up ^ ( 2009 ) `` Climate Change and Biological Diversity '' Convention on Biological Diversity Retrieved November 5, 2009 Jump up ^ Ramanujan, Krishna ( 2 December 2010 ). `` Study : Loss of species is bad for your health ''. Cornell Chronicle. Retrieved 20 July 2011. Jump up ^ The World Bank ( 30 June 2010 ). Water and Development : An Evaluation of World Bank Support, 1997 - 2007. World Bank Publications. pp. 79 --. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8213 - 8394 - 0. Jump up ^ Population Bulletin. Vol. 63., No. 3., p. 8. Jump up ^ Gaston, Kevin J. ; Warren, Philip H. ; Devine - Wright, Patrick ; Irvine, Katherine N. ; Fuller, Richard A. ( 2007 ). `` Psychological benefits of greenspace increase with biodiversity ''. Biology Letters. 3 ( 4 ) : 390 -- 394. PMC 2390667. PMID 17504734. doi : 10.1098 / rsbl. 2007.0149. Jump up ^ `` COHAB Initiative : Biodiversity and Human Health - the issues ''. Cohabnet.org. Retrieved 2009 - 06 - 21. Jump up ^ `` World Wildlife Fund ( WWF ) : `` Arguments for Protection '' website ``. Wwf.panda.org. Retrieved 2011 - 09 - 24. Jump up ^ Mendelsohn, Robert ; Balick, Michael J. ( 1 April 1995 ). `` The value of undiscovered pharmaceuticals in tropical forests ''. Economic Botany. 49 ( 2 ) : 223 -- 228. doi : 10.1007 / BF02862929. Jump up ^ ( 2006 ) `` Molecular Pharming '' GMO Compass Retrieved November 5, 2009, GMOcompass.org Archived 8 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ Mendelsohn, Robert ; Balick, Michael J. ( 1 July 1997 ). `` Notes on economic plants ''. Economic Botany. 51 ( 3 ) : 328 -- 328. doi : 10.1007 / BF02862103. Jump up ^ Harvey, Alan L. ( 2008 - 10 - 01 ). `` Natural products in drug discovery ''. Drug Discovery Today. 13 ( 19 -- 20 ) : 894 -- 901. PMID 18691670. doi : 10.1016 / j. drudis. 2008.07. 004. Jump up ^ Hawkins E.S., Reich ; Reich, MR ( 1992 ). `` Japanese - originated pharmaceutical products in the United States from 1960 to 1989 : an assessment of innovation ''. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 51 ( 1 ) : 1 -- 11. PMID 1732073. doi : 10.1038 / clpt. 1992.1. Jump up ^ Roopesh, J. ; et al. ( 10 February 2008 ). `` Marine organisms : Potential Source for Drug Discovery '' ( PDF ). Current Science. 94 ( 3 ) : 292. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 11 October 2011. Jump up ^ Dhillion, SS ; Svarstad, H ; Amundsen, C ; Bugge, HC ( 2002 ). `` Bioprospecting : Effects on environment and development ''. Ambio. 31 ( 6 ) : 491 -- 3. JSTOR 4315292. PMID 12436849. doi : 10.1639 / 0044 - 7447 ( 2002 ) 031 ( 0491 : beoead ) 2.0.co ; 2. Jump up ^ Cole, A. ( 2005 - 07 - 16 ). `` Looking for new compounds in sea is endangering ecosystem ''. BMJ. 330 ( 7504 ) : 1350. PMC 558324. PMID 15947392. doi : 10.1136 / bmj. 330.7504. 1350 - d. Jump up ^ `` COHAB Initiative - on Natural Products and Medicinal Resources ''. Cohabnet.org. Retrieved 2009 - 06 - 21. Jump up ^ IUCN, WRI, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Earthwatch Inst. 2007 Business and Ecosystems : Ecosystem Challenges and Business Implications Jump up ^ Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005 Ecosystems and Human Well - being : Opportunities and Challenges for Business and Industry Jump up ^ `` Business and Biodiversity webpage of the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity ''. Cbd.int. Retrieved 2009 - 06 - 21. Jump up ^ WRI Corporate Ecosystem Services Review. See also : Examples of Ecosystem - Service Based Risks, Opportunities and Strategies Archived 1 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ Corporate Biodiversity Accounting. See also : Making the Natural Capital Declaration Accountable. Jump up ^ Tribot, A. ; Mouquet, N. ; Villeger, S. ; Raymond, M. ; Hoff, F. ; Boissery, P. ; Holon, F. ; Deter, J. ( 2016 ). `` Taxonomic and functional diversity increase the aesthetic value of coralligenous reefs '' ( PDF ). Scientific Reports. 6 : 34229. doi : 10.1038 / srep34229. Jump up ^ Broad, William ( November 19, 1996 ). `` Paradise Lost : Biosphere Retooled as Atmospheric Nightmare ''. The New York Times. Retrieved 10 April 2013. Jump up ^ LOSEY, JOHN E. ; VAUGHAN, MACE ( 1 January 2006 ). `` The Economic Value of Ecological Services Provided by Insects ''. BioScience. 56 ( 4 ) : 311. doi : 10.1641 / 0006 - 3568 ( 2006 ) 56 ( 311 : TEVOES ) 2.0.CO ; 2. Jump up ^ Mora, Camilo ; Tittensor, Derek P. ; Adl, Sina ; Simpson, Alastair G.B. ; Worm, Boris ; Mace, Georgina M. ( 23 August 2011 ). `` How Many Species Are There on Earth and in the Ocean ? ''. PLoS Biology. 9 ( 8 ) : e1001127. PMC 3160336. PMID 21886479. doi : 10.1371 / journal. pbio. 1001127. Jump up ^ Wilson, J. Bastow ; Peet, Robert K. ; Dengler, Jürgen ; Pärtel, Meelis ( 1 August 2012 ). `` Plant species richness : the world records ''. Journal of Vegetation Science. 23 ( 4 ) : 796 -- 802. doi : 10.1111 / j. 1654 - 1103.2012. 01400. x. Jump up ^ Appeltans, W. ; Ahyong, S.T. ; Anderson, G ; Angel, M.V. ; Artois, T. ; and 118 others ( 2012 ). `` The Magnitude of Global Marine Species Diversity ''. Current Biology. 22 ( 23 ) : 2189 -- 2202. doi : 10.1016 / j. cub. 2012.09. 036. Jump up ^ `` Encyclopedia Smithsonian : Numbers of Insects ''. Si.edu. Retrieved 2009 - 06 - 21. Jump up ^ Le Monde newspaper article ( in French ) Jump up ^ Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Census of Marine Life ( CoML ) News.BBC.co.uk Jump up ^ Hawksworth, D.L. ( 24 July 2012 ). `` Global species numbers of fungi : are tropical studies and molecular approaches contributing to a more robust estimate ? ''. Biodiversity and Conservation. 21 ( 9 ) : 2425 -- 2433. doi : 10.1007 / s10531 - 012 - 0335 - x. Jump up ^ Hawksworth, D ( 2001 ). `` The magnitude of fungal diversity : The 1.5 million species estimate revisited ''. Mycological Research. 105 ( 12 ) : 1422 -- 1432. doi : 10.1017 / S0953756201004725. Jump up ^ `` Acari at University of Michigan Museum of Zoology Web Page ''. Insects.ummz.lsa.umich.edu. 2003 - 11 - 10. Retrieved 2009 - 06 - 21. Jump up ^ `` Fact Sheet - Expedition Overview '' ( PDF ). J. Craig Venter Institute. Retrieved 29 August 2010. Jump up ^ Mirsky, Steve ( March 21, 2007 ). `` Naturally Speaking : Finding Nature 's Treasure Trove with the Global Ocean Sampling Expedition ''. Scientific American. Retrieved 4 May 2011. Jump up ^ `` Article collections published by the Public Library of Science ''. PLoS Collections. Retrieved 2011 - 09 - 24. Jump up ^ McKie, Robin ( 2005 - 09 - 25 ). `` Discovery of new species and extermination at high rate ''. The Guardian. London. Jump up ^ Bautista, L.M. ; Pantoja, J.C. ( 2005 ). `` What species should we study next ? '' ( PDF ). Bull. British Ecol. Soc. 36 ( 4 ) : 27 -- 28. Jump up ^ Gabriel, Sigmar ( 2007 - 03 - 09 ). `` 30 % of all species lost by 2050 ''. BBC News. ^ Jump up to : `` Reid Reversing loss of Biodiversity ''. Ag.arizona.edu. Retrieved 2009 - 06 - 21. Jump up ^ Pimm, S.L. ; Russell, G.J. ; Gittleman, J.L. ; Brooks, T.M. ( 1995 ). `` The Future of Biodiversity '' ( PDF ). Science. 269 ( 5222 ) : 347 -- 350. Bibcode : 1995Sci... 269... 347P. PMID 17841251. doi : 10.1126 / science. 269.5222. 347. Jump up ^ `` Researches find threat from biodiversity loss equals climate change threat ''. Winnipeg Free Press. 2012 - 06 - 07. ^ Jump up to : Living Planet Report 2014 ( PDF ), World Wildlife Fund, archived from the original ( PDF ) on 6 October 2014, retrieved October 4, 2014 Jump up ^ `` Endangered Species List Expands to 16,000 ''. Retrieved 2007 - 11 - 13. Jump up ^ Moulton, Michael P. ; Sanderson, James ( 1 September 1998 ). Wildlife Issues in a Changing World. CRC - Press. ISBN 978 - 1 - 56670 - 351 - 2. Jump up ^ Chen, Jim ( 2003 ). `` Across the Apocalypse on Horseback : Imperfect Legal Responses to Biodiversity Loss ''. The Jurisdynamics of Environmental Protection : Change and the Pragmatic Voice in Environmental Law. Environmental Law Institute. p. 197. ISBN 978 - 1 - 58576 - 071 - 8. Jump up ^ `` Hippo dilemma ''. Windows on the Wild. New Africa Books. 2005. ISBN 978 - 1 - 86928 - 380 - 3. Jump up ^ `` IUCN 's Classification of Direct Threats ''. Conservationmeasures.org. Retrieved 2011 - 09 - 24. Jump up ^ Ehrlich, Paul R. ; Ehrlich, Anne H. ( 1983 ). Extinction : The Causes and Consequences of the Disappearance of Species. Ballantine Books. ISBN 978 - 0 - 345 - 33094 - 9. Jump up ^ C. Michael Hogan. 2010. Deforestation Encyclopedia of Earth. ed. C. Cleveland. NCSE. Washington DC Jump up ^ Drakare, Stina ; Lennon, Jack J. ; Hillebrand, Helmut ( 2006 ). `` The imprint of the geographical, evolutionary and ecological context on species - area relationships ''. Ecology Letters. 9 ( 2 ) : 215 -- 227. PMID 16958886. doi : 10.1111 / j. 1461 - 0248.2005. 00848. x. Jump up ^ `` Study : Loss Of Genetic Diversity Threatens Species Diversity ''. Enn.com. 2007 - 09 - 26. Retrieved 2009 - 06 - 21. Jump up ^ Science Connection 22 ( July 2008 ) Jump up ^ Koh L.P. ; Dunn R.R. ; Sodhi N.S. ; Colwell R.K. ; Proctor H.C. ; Smith V.S. ( 2004 ). `` Species Coextinctions and the Biodiversity Crisis '' ( PDF ). Science. 305 ( 5690 ) : 1632 -- 4. Bibcode : 2004Sci... 305.1632 K. PMID 15361627. doi : 10.1126 / science. 1101101. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 2009 - 03 - 26. Jump up ^ Torchin, Mark E. ; Lafferty, Kevin D. ; Dobson, Andrew P. ; McKenzie, Valerie J. ; Kuris, Armand M. ( 6 February 2003 ). `` Introduced species and their missing parasites ''. Nature. 421 ( 6923 ) : 628 -- 630. Bibcode : 2003Natur. 421... 628T. doi : 10.1038 / nature01346. Jump up ^ Levine, Jonathan M. ; D'Antonio, Carla M. ( 1 October 1999 ). `` Elton Revisited : A Review of Evidence Linking Diversity and Invasibility ''. Oikos. 87 ( 1 ) : 15. doi : 10.2307 / 3546992. Jump up ^ Levine, J.M. ( 5 May 2000 ). `` Species Diversity and Biological Invasions : Relating Local Process to Community Pattern ''. Science. 288 ( 5467 ) : 852 -- 854. Bibcode : 2000Sci... 288... 852L. PMID 10797006. doi : 10.1126 / science. 288.5467. 852. Jump up ^ GUREVITCH, J ; PADILLA, D ( 1 September 2004 ). `` Are invasive species a major cause of extinctions ? ''. Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 19 ( 9 ) : 470 -- 474. doi : 10.1016 / j. tree. 2004.07. 005. Jump up ^ Sax, Dov F. ; Gaines, Steven D. ; Brown, James H. ( 1 December 2002 ). `` Species Invasions Exceed Extinctions on Islands Worldwide : A Comparative Study of Plants and Birds ''. The American Naturalist. 160 ( 6 ) : 766 -- 783. PMID 18707464. doi : 10.1086 / 343877. Jump up ^ Jude, David auth., ed. by M. Munawar ( 1995 ). The lake Huron ecosystem : ecology, fisheries and management. Amsterdam : S.P.B. Academic Publishing. ISBN 90 - 5103 - 117 - 3. CS1 maint : Extra text : authors list ( link ) Jump up ^ `` Are invasive plants a threat to native biodiversity ? It depends on the spatial scale ''. ScienceDaily. 11 April 2011. Jump up ^ Mooney, H.A. ; Cleland, EE ( 2001 ). `` The evolutionary impact of invasive species ''. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 98 ( 10 ) : 5446 -- 5451. Bibcode : 2001PNAS... 98.5446 M. PMC 33232. PMID 11344292. doi : 10.1073 / pnas. 091093398. Jump up ^ `` Glossary : definitions from the following publication : Aubry, C., R. Shoal and V. Erickson. 2005. Grass cultivars : their origins, development, and use on national forests and grasslands in the Pacific Northwest. USDA Forest Service. 44 pages, plus appendices. ; Native Seed Network ( NSN ), Institute for Applied Ecology, 563 SW Jefferson Ave, Corvallis, OR 97333, USA ''. Nativeseednetwork.org. Archived from the original on 2006 - 02 - 22. Retrieved 2009 - 06 - 21. Jump up ^ Rhymer, Judith M. ; Simberloff, Daniel ( 1996 ). `` Extinction by Hybridization and Introgression ''. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics. 27 : 83 -- 109. JSTOR 2097230. doi : 10.1146 / annurev. ecolsys. 27.1. 83. Jump up ^ Potts, Bradley M. ; Barbour, Robert C. ; Hingston, Andrew B. ( 2001 ). Genetic Pollution from Farm Forestry Using Eucalypt Species and Hydrids : A Report for the RIRDC / L & WA / FWPRDC Joint Venture Agroforestry Program. RIRDC. ISBN 978 - 0 - 642 - 58336 - 9. ISSN 1440 - 6845. RIRDC.gov.au RIRDC Publication No 01 / 114 ; RIRDC Project No CPF - 3A Archived 5 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine. ; Australian Government, Rural Industrial Research and Development Corporation Jump up ^ Grafton, R.Q. ; Kompas, T. ; Hilborn, R.W. ( 2007 ). `` Economics of Overexploitation Revisited ''. Science. 318 ( 5856 ) : 1601 -- 1601. Bibcode : 2007Sci... 318.1601 G. PMID 18063793. doi : 10.1126 / science. 1146017. Jump up ^ Burney, D.A. ; Flannery, T.F. ( July 2005 ). `` Fifty millennia of catastrophic extinctions after human contact '' ( PDF ). Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 20 ( 7 ) : 395 -- 401. PMID 16701402. doi : 10.1016 / j. tree. 2005.04. 022. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 10 June 2010. ^ Jump up to : `` Genetic Pollution : The Great Genetic Scandal '' ; Archived 18 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ Pollan, Michael ( 2001 - 12 - 09 ). `` The year in ideas : A TO Z. ; Genetic Pollution ; By Michael Pollan, The New York Times, December 9, 2001 ''. New York Times. Retrieved 2009 - 06 - 21. Jump up ^ Ellstrand, Norman C. ( 2003 ). Dangerous Liaisons ? When Cultivated Plants Mate with Their Wild Relatives. The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0 - 8018 - 7405 - X. Reviewed in Strauss, Steven H ; DiFazio, Stephen P ( 2004 - 01 - 01 ). `` Hybrids abounding ''. Nature Biotechnology. Nature.com. 22 ( 1 ) : 29 -- 30. doi : 10.1038 / nbt0104 - 29. Jump up ^ Zaid, A. ( 1999 ). `` Genetic pollution : Uncontrolled spread of genetic information ''. Glossary of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN 978 - 92 - 5 - 104369 - 1. Retrieved 2009 - 06 - 21. Jump up ^ `` Genetic pollution : Uncontrolled escape of genetic information ( frequently referring to products of genetic engineering ) into the genomes of organisms in the environment where those genes never existed before. '' Searchable Biotechnology Dictionary Archived 10 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine., University of Minnesota, Boku.ac.at Jump up ^ `` The many facets of pollution ''. Bologna University. Retrieved May 18, 2012. Jump up ^ `` Climate change and biodiversity '' ( PDF ). Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 2005. Jump up ^ Kannan, R. ; James, D.A. ( 2009 ). `` Effects of climate change on global biodiversity : a review of key literature '' ( PDF ). Tropical Ecology. 50 ( 1 ) : 31 -- 39. ISSN 0564 - 3295. Retrieved 2014 - 05 - 21. Jump up ^ `` Climate change, reefs and the Coral Triangle ''. wwf.panda.org. Retrieved 2015 - 11 - 09. Jump up ^ Aldred, Jessica. `` Caribbean coral reefs ' will be lost within 20 years ' without protection ''. the Guardian. Retrieved 2015 - 11 - 09. Jump up ^ Ainsworth, Elizabeth A. ; Long, Stephen P. ( 18 November 2004 ). `` What have we learned from 15 years of free - air CO2 enrichment ( FACE ) ? A meta - analytic review of the responses of photosynthesis, canopy properties and plant production to rising CO2 ''. New Phytologist. 165 ( 2 ) : 351 -- 372. PMID 15720649. doi : 10.1111 / j. 1469 - 8137.2004. 01224. x. Jump up ^ Doney, Scott C. ; Fabry, Victoria J. ; Feely, Richard A. ; Kleypas, Joan A. ( 1 January 2009 ). `` Ocean Acidification : The Other CO Problem ''. Annual Review of Marine Science. 1 ( 1 ) : 169 -- 192. Bibcode : 2009ARMS... 1... 169D. doi : 10.1146 / annurev. marine. 010908.163834. Jump up ^ Loarie, Scott R. ; Duffy, Philip B. ; Hamilton, Healy ; Asner, Gregory P. ; Field, Christopher B. ; Ackerly, David D. ( 24 December 2009 ). `` The velocity of climate change ''. Nature. 462 ( 7276 ) : 1052 -- 1055. Bibcode : 2009Natur. 462.1052 L. PMID 20033047. doi : 10.1038 / nature08649. Jump up ^ Walther, Gian - Reto ; Roques, Alain ; Hulme, Philip E. ; Sykes, Martin T. ; Pyšek, Petr ( 1 December 2009 ). Kühn, Ingolf ; Zobel, Martin ; Bacher, Sven ; Botta - Dukát, Zoltán ; Bugmann, Harald. `` Alien species in a warmer world : risks and opportunities ''. Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 24 ( 12 ) : 686 -- 693. doi : 10.1016 / j. tree. 2009.06. 008. Jump up ^ Lovejoy, Thomas E. ; Hannah, Lee Jay ( 2005 ). Climate Change and Biodiversity. New Haven : Yale University Press. pp. 41 -- 55. ISBN 978 - 0 - 300 - 10425 - 7. Jump up ^ Hegland, Stein Joar ; Nielsen, Anders ; Lázaro, Amparo ; Bjerknes, Anne - Line ; Totland, Ørjan ( 1 February 2009 ). `` How does climate warming affect plant - pollinator interactions ? ''. Ecology Letters. 12 ( 2 ) : 184 -- 195. doi : 10.1111 / j. 1461 - 0248.2008. 01269. x. Jump up ^ Min, Seung - Ki ; Xuebin Zhang ; Francis W. Zwiers ; Gabriele C. Hegerl ( Feb 17, 2011 ). `` Human contribution to more - intense precipitation extremes ''. Nature. 470 ( 7334 ) : 378 -- 381. Bibcode : 2011Natur. 470... 378M. PMID 21331039. doi : 10.1038 / nature09763. Jump up ^ Brown, Paul ( 2004 - 01 - 08 ). `` An unnatural disaster ''. The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2009 - 06 - 21. Jump up ^ Visconti, Piero ; et. al ( February 2015 ). `` Projecting global biodiversity indicators under future development scenarios ''. Conservation Letters. Wiley. doi : 10.1111 / conl. 12159. Jump up ^ `` World Population Growth, 1950 -- 2050 Archived 14 September 2010 at the Wayback Machine. ''. Population Reference Bureau. Jump up ^ Carrington, Damien ( September 18, 2014 ). `` World population to hit 11bn in 2100 -- with 70 % chance of continuous rise ''. The Guardian. Retrieved December 19, 2016. Jump up ^ Gerland, P. ; Raftery, A.E. ; Ev Ikova, H. ; Li, N. ; Gu, D. ; Spoorenberg, T. ; Alkema, L. ; Fosdick, B.K. ; Chunn, J. ; Lalic, N. ; Bay, G. ; Buettner, T. ; Heilig, G.K. ; Wilmoth, J. ( September 18, 2014 ). `` World population stabilization unlikely this century ''. Science. AAAS. 346 ( 6206 ) : 234 -- 7. ISSN 1095 - 9203. PMC 4230924. PMID 25301627. doi : 10.1126 / science. 1257469. Jump up ^ World population to keep growing this century, hit 11 billion by 2100. UWToday. September 18, 2014. Jump up ^ Harris, Paul ( October 22, 2011 ). `` Population of world ' could grow to 15bn by 2100 ' ''. The Guardian. Retrieved November 20, 2016. Jump up ^ `` Citizens arrest ''. The Guardian. July 11, 2007. Jump up ^ `` Population Bomb Author 's Fix For Next Extinction : Educate Women ''. Scientific American. August 12, 2008. Jump up ^ Dumont, E. ( 2012 ). `` Estimated impact of global population growth on future wilderness extent. '' ( PDF ). Earth System Dynamics Discussions. 3 : 433 -- 452. Bibcode : 2012ESDD... 3... 433D. doi : 10.5194 / esdd - 3 - 433 - 2012. Jump up ^ Pimm, S.L. ; Jenkins, C.N. ; Abell, R. ; Brooks, T.M. ; Gittleman, J.L. ; Joppa, L.N. ; Raven, P.H. ; Roberts, C.M. ; Sexton, J.O. ( 30 May 2014 ). `` The biodiversity of species and their rates of extinction, distribution, and protection '' ( PDF ). Science. 344 ( 6187 ) : 1246752. PMID 24876501. doi : 10.1126 / science. 1246752. Retrieved 15 December 2016. The overarching driver of species extinction is human population growth and increasing per capita consumption. Jump up ^ Sutter, John D. ( December 12, 2016 ). `` How to stop the sixth mass extinction ''. CNN. Retrieved January 1, 2017. Jump up ^ Graham, Chris ( July 11, 2017 ). `` Earth undergoing sixth ' mass extinction ' as humans spur ' biological annihilation ' of wildlife ''. The Telegraph. Retrieved July 25, 2017. Jump up ^ Carrington, Damian ( 30 September 2014 ). `` Earth has lost half of its wildlife in the past 40 years, says WWF ''. The Guardian. Retrieved 20 January 2017. Jump up ^ Dirzo, Rodolfo ; Hillary S. Young ; Mauro Galetti ; Gerardo Ceballos ; Nick J.B. Isaac ; Ben Collen ( 2014 ). `` Defaunation in the Anthropocene '' ( PDF ). Science. 345 ( 6195 ) : 401 -- 406. doi : 10.1126 / science. 1251817. In the past 500 years, humans have triggered a wave of extinction, threat, and local population declines that may be comparable in both rate and magnitude with the five previous mass extinctions of Earth 's history. ^ Jump up to : Wake D.B. ; Vredenburg V.T. ( 2008 ). `` Are we in the midst of the sixth mass extinction ? A view from the world of amphibians '' ( PDF ). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 105 : 11466 -- 11473. Bibcode : 2008PNAS... 10511466W. PMC 2556420. PMID 18695221. doi : 10.1073 / pnas. 0801921105. Jump up ^ Koh, LP ; Dunn, RR ; Sodhi, NS ; Colwell, RK ; Proctor, HC ; Smith, VS ( 2004 ). `` Species coextinctions and the biodiversity crisis '' ( PDF ). Science. 305 ( 5690 ) : 1632 -- 4. Bibcode : 2004Sci... 305.1632 K. PMID 15361627. doi : 10.1126 / science. 1101101. Jump up ^ McCallum M.L. ( 2007 ). `` Amphibian Decline or Extinction ? Current Declines Dwarf Background Extinction Rate '' ( PDF ). Journal of Herpetology. 41 ( 3 ) : 483 -- 491. ISSN 0022 - 1511. doi : 10.1670 / 0022 - 1511 ( 2007 ) 41 ( 483 : ADOECD ) 2.0.CO ; 2. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 2008 - 12 - 17. Jump up ^ Jackson, J.B.C. ( 2008 ). `` Colloquium Paper : Ecological extinction and evolution in the brave new ocean ''. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 105 : 11458 -- 11465. Bibcode : 2008PNAS... 10511458J. PMC 2556419. PMID 18695220. doi : 10.1073 / pnas. 0802812105. Jump up ^ Dunn R.R. ( 2005 ). `` Modern Insect Extinctions, the Neglected Majority '' ( PDF ). Conservation Biology. 19 ( 4 ) : 1030 -- 1036. doi : 10.1111 / j. 1523 - 1739.2005. 00078. x. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 8 July 2009. Jump up ^ Ceballos, Gerardo ; Ehrlich, Paul R. ; Barnosky, Anthony D. ; García, Andrés ; Pringle, Robert M. ; Palmer, Todd M. ( 2015 ). `` Accelerated modern human -- induced species losses : Entering the sixth mass extinction ''. Science Advances. 1 ( 5 ) : e1400253. doi : 10.1126 / sciadv. 1400253. Jump up ^ Costanza, R. ; d'Arge, R. ; de Groot, R. ; Farberk, S. ; Grasso, M. ; Hannon, B. ; Limburg, Karin ; Naeem, Shahid ; et al. ( 1997 ). `` The value of the world 's ecosystem services and natural capital '' ( PDF ). Nature. 387 ( 6630 ) : 253 -- 260. Bibcode : 1997Natur. 387... 253C. doi : 10.1038 / 387253a0. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 26 December 2009. Jump up ^ Millennium Ecosystem Assessment ( 2005 ). World Resources Institute, Washington, DC. Ecosystems and Human Well - being : Biodiversity Synthesis ^ Jump up to : Soulé, Michael E. ( 1986 ). `` What is conservation biology ? ''. BioScience. 35 ( 11 ) : 727 -- 734. JSTOR 1310054. doi : 10.2307 / 1310054. Jump up ^ Davis, Peter ( 1996 ). Museums and the natural environment : the role of natural history museums in biological conservation. Leicester University Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 7185 - 1548 - 5. ^ Jump up to : Dyke, Fred Van ( 29 February 2008 ). Conservation Biology : Foundations, Concepts, Applications. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978 - 1 - 4020 - 6890 - 4. Jump up ^ Hunter, Malcolm L. ( 1996 ). Fundamentals of Conservation Biology. Blackwell Science. ISBN 978 - 0 - 86542 - 371 - 8. Jump up ^ Bowen, B.W. ( 1999 ). `` Preserving genes, species, or ecosystems ? Healing the fractured foundations of conservation policy ''. Molecular Ecology. 8 : S5 -- S10. doi : 10.1046 / j. 1365 - 294x. 1999.00798. x. Jump up ^ Soulé, Michael E. ( 1 January 1986 ). Conservation Biology : The Science of Scarcity and Diversity. Sinauer Associates. ISBN 978 - 0 - 87893 - 794 - 3. Jump up ^ Margules C.R. ; Pressey R.L. ( 2000 ). `` Systematic conservation planning '' ( PDF ). Nature. 405 ( 6783 ) : 243 -- 253. PMID 10821285. doi : 10.1038 / 35012251. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 5 February 2009. Jump up ^ Example : Gascon, C., Collins, J.P., Moore, R.D., Church, D.R., McKay, J.E. and Mendelson, J.R. III ( eds ) ( 2007 ). Amphibian Conservation Action Plan. IUCN / SSC Amphibian Specialist Group. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. 64pp. Amphibians.org Archived 4 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine., see also Millenniumassessment.org, Europa.eu Archived 12 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ Luck, Gary W. ; Daily, Gretchen C. ; Ehrlich, Paul R. ( 2003 ). `` Population diversity and ecosystem services '' ( PDF ). Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 18 ( 7 ) : 331 -- 336. doi : 10.1016 / S0169 - 5347 ( 03 ) 00100 - 9. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 19 February 2006. Jump up ^ Millenniumassessment.org Archived 13 August 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ `` Beantwoording vragen over fokken en doden van gezonde dieren in dierentuinen '' ( PDF ) ( in Dutch ). Ministry of Economic Affairs ( Netherlands ). 25 March 2014. Retrieved 9 June 2014. Jump up ^ `` Barcode of Life ''. Barcoding.si.edu. 2010 - 05 - 26. Retrieved 2011 - 09 - 24. Jump up ^ Eradication of exotic animals ( camels ) in Australia Jump up ^ `` Belgium creating 45 `` seed gardens '' ; gene banks with intent to reintroduction ``. Hbvl.be. 2011 - 09 - 08. Retrieved 2011 - 09 - 24. Jump up ^ Conservationists Use Triage to Determine which Species to Save and Not ; Like battlefield medics, conservationists are being forced to explicitly apply triage to determine which creatures to save and which to let go July 23, 2012 Scientific American. Jump up ^ Jones - Walters, L. ; Mulder, I. ( 2009 ). `` Valuing nature : The economics of biodiversity '' ( PDF ). Journal for Nature Conservation. 17 ( 4 ) : 245 -- 247. doi : 10.1016 / j. jnc. 2009.06. 001. Jump up ^ `` Gene Patenting ''. Ornl.gov. Retrieved 2009 - 06 - 21. Jump up ^ `` Fred Bosselman, A Dozen Biodiversity Puzzles, 12 N.Y.U. Environmental Law Journal 364 ( 2004 ) '' ( PDF ). Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 2011 - 09 - 24. Jump up ^ Wilson Edward O ( 2000 ). `` On the Future of Conservation Biology ''. Conservation Biology. 14 ( 1 ) : 1 -- 3. doi : 10.1046 / j. 1523 - 1739.2000. 00000 - e1. x. Jump up ^ Nee S ( 2004 ). `` More than meets the eye ''. Nature. 429 ( 6994 ) : 804 -- 805. Bibcode : 2004Natur. 429... 804N. PMID 15215837. doi : 10.1038 / 429804a. Jump up ^ Stork, Nigel E. ( 2007 ). `` Biodiversity : World of insects ''. Nature. 448 ( 7154 ) : 657 -- 658. Bibcode : 2007Natur. 448... 657S. PMID 17687315. doi : 10.1038 / 448657a. Jump up ^ Thomas J.A. ; Telfer M.G. ; Roy D.B. ; Preston C.D. ; Greenwood J.J.D. ; Asher J. ; Fox R. ; Clarke R.T. ; Lawton J.H. ( 2004 ). `` Comparative Losses of British Butterflies, Birds, and Plants and the Global Extinction Crisis ''. Science. 303 ( 5665 ) : 1879 -- 1881. Bibcode : 2004Sci... 303.1879 T. PMID 15031508. doi : 10.1126 / science. 1095046. Jump up ^ Dunn, Robert R. ( 2005 ). `` Modern Insect Extinctions, the Neglected Majority ''. Conservation Biology. 19 ( 4 ) : 1030 -- 1036. doi : 10.1111 / j. 1523 - 1739.2005. 00078. x. Jump up ^ Ogunkanmi, Liasu Adebayo. `` Genetic diversity of cowpea and its wild relatives ''. Unilag SPGS ( Thesis & Dissertation 1970 - 2012 ) : 144 -- 145. Further reading Levin, Simon A. ( 2013 ). Encyclopedia of Biodiversity. ACADEMIC PressINC. ISBN 978 - 0 - 12 - 384719 - 5. Lévêque, Christian ; Mounolou, Jean - Claude ( 16 January 2004 ). Biodiversity. Wiley. ISBN 978 - 0 - 470 - 84957 - 6. Margulis, Lynn ; Schwartz, Karlene V. ; Dolan, Michael ( 1999 ). Diversity of Life : The Illustrated Guide to the Five Kingdoms. Sudbury : Jones & Bartlett Publishers. ISBN 978 - 0 - 7637 - 0862 - 7. Markov, A.V. ; Korotayev, A.V. ( 2007 ). `` Phanerozoic marine biodiversity follows a hyperbolic trend ''. Palaeoworld. 16 ( 4 ) : 311 -- 318. doi : 10.1016 / j. palwor. 2007.01. 002. Moustakas, A. ; Karakassis, I. ( 2008 ). `` A geographic analysis of the published aquatic biodiversity research in relation to the ecological footprint of the country where the work was done ''. Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment. 23 ( 6 ) : 737 -- 748. doi : 10.1007 / s00477 - 008 - 0254 - 2. Novacek, Michael J. ( 2001 ). The Biodiversity Crisis : Losing what Counts. New Press. ISBN 978 - 1 - 56584 - 570 - 1. D + C - Interview with Achim Steiner, UNEP : `` Our generation 's responsibility Mora, C. ; Tittensor, D.P. ; Adl, S. ; Simpson, A.G.B. ; Worm, B. ( 2011 ). Mace, Georgina M, ed. `` How Many Species Are There on Earth and in the Ocean ? ''. PLoS Biology. 9 ( 8 ) : e1001127. PMC 3160336. PMID 21886479. doi : 10.1371 / journal. pbio. 1001127. Pereira, H.M. ; Navarro, L.M. ; Martins, I.S.S. ( 2012 ). `` Global Biodiversity Change : The Bad, the Good, and the Unknown ''. Annual Review of Environment and Resources. 37 : 25 -- 50. doi : 10.1146 / annurev - environ - 042911 - 093511. External links Look up biodiversity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Biodiversity. NatureServe : This site serves as a portal for accessing several types of publicly available biodiversity data Biodiversity Factsheet by the University of Michigan 's Center for Sustainable Systems Color - coded images of vertebrate biodiversity hotspots Pakistan Avicultural Foundation Documents Biodiversity Synthesis Report ( PDF ) by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment ( MA, 2005 ) Conservation International hotspot map Zhuravlev, Yu. N., ed. ( 2000 ) Стратегия сохранения биоразнообразия Сихотэ - Алиня = A Biodiversity Conservation Strategy for the Sikhote - Alin ' Vladivostok : Russian Academy of Sciences, Far Eastern Branch Tools GLOBIO, an ongoing programme to map the past, current and future impacts of human activities on biodiversity World Map of Biodiversity an interactive map from the United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre Biodiversity Information Serving Our Nation ( BISON ), provides a United States gateway for serving, searching, mapping and downloading integrated species occurrence records from multiple data sources Resources Biodiversity Heritage Library -- Open access digital library of taxonomic literature Mapping of biodiversity Encyclopedia of Life -- Documenting all species of life on earth Wikiquote has quotations related to : Biodiversity Biodiversity worldwide Africa Democratic Republic of the Congo Ethiopia Madagascar Morocco Nigeria Rodrigues Rwanda Seychelles South Africa Cape Town South Sudan Tanzania Asia Azerbaijan Bahrain Bhutan Borneo Cambodia China Georgia India Assam Indonesia Japan Pakistan Philippines Russia South Korea Sri Lanka Vietnam Yemen Europe Azerbaijan Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Finland Georgia Germany Iceland Latvia Montenegro Norway Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Russia Slovenia Ukraine United Kingdom Wales North America Belize Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Jamaica Martinique Mexico Nicaragua Trinidad and Tobago Turks and Caicos Islands Oceania Australia New Caledonia New Zealand Papua New Guinea South America Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador French Guiana Guyana Peru Suriname Venezuela Antarctica Antarctica Biodiversity hotspot Global 200 Key Biodiversity Areas Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Biology Subdisciplines Anatomy Astrobiology Biochemistry Biogeography Biological classification Biomechanics Biophysics Bioinformatics Biostatistics Botany Cell biology Cellular microbiology Chemical biology Chronobiology Cognitive biology Computational biology Conservation biology Developmental biology Ecology Epidemiology Epigenetics Evolutionary biology Evolutionary developmental biology Feminist biology Genetics Genomics Histology Human biology Immunology Lipidology Marine biology Mathematical biology Microbiology Molecular biology Mycology Nanobiotechnology Neuroscience Nutrition Origin of life Paleontology Parasitology Pathology Pharmacology Physiology Quantum biology Reproductive biology Structural biology Systematics Systems biology Toxicology Virology Virophysics Zoology Hierarchy of life Biosphere > Ecosystem > Community ( Biocoenosis ) > Population > Organism > Organ system > Organ > Tissue > Cell > Organelle > Biomolecular complex > Molecule ( Macromolecule, Biomolecule ) > Atom Foundations Cell theory Ecology Energy Transformation Evolution Genetics Homeostasis Synthetic biology Taxonomy Principles Evolution Adaptation Earliest known life forms Function Genetic drift Gene flow Macroevolution Microevolution Mutation Natural selection Speciation Ecology Biodiversity Biological interaction Community Ecosystem Habitat Niche Population dynamics Resources Molecular biology Cell signaling Development Epigenetics Gene regulation Meiosis Mitosis Post-transcriptional modification Biochemistry Carbohydrates Lipids Metabolism Nucleic acids Photosynthesis Proteins Glossaries Botanical terms Ecological terms Plant morphology terms Category Commons Portal WikiProject Threatened species Template : Threatened species by region IUCN Red List Categories Extinct Extinct ( EX ) Extinct in the Wild ( EW ) Threatened Critically Endangered ( CR ) Endangered ( EN ) Vulnerable ( VU ) Lower risk Near Threatened ( NT ) Least Concern ( LC ) Lower Risk ( LR ) Conservation Dependent ( LR / cd ) Not fully assessed Data Deficient ( DD ) Not Evaluated ( NE ) Species Lists Extinct Extinct in the Wild Critically Endangered Endangered Vulnerable Near Threatened Least Concern Data Deficient WP categories Extinct Extinct in the Wild Critically Endangered Endangered Vulnerable Near Threatened Least Concern Data Deficient By taxa Endangered arthropods / spiders Threatened Banksia / rays / sharks / sturgeons The World 's 25 Most Endangered Primates The world 's 100 most threatened species Conservation Biodiversity action plan Biodiversity threats Conservation biology CITES ARKive Bird conservation Conservation status Conservation - reliant species Ecoregion conservation status Habitat destruction Latent extinction risk Rare species Vulnerability and susceptibility Pre-2001 categories and subcategories shown in italics. Zoos, aquariums and aviaries Types of zoos Animal sanctuary Animal theme park Aquarium Aviary Bear pit Butterfly house Dolphinarium Herpetarium Insectarium Nature center Marine mammal park Menagerie Night safari Oceanarium Penguinarium Pheasantry Petting zoo Reptile centre Safari park Serpentarium Virtual zoo Vivarium Zoo Conservation Biodiversity Endangered species Ex situ conservation In situ conservation reintroduction Conservation biology Lists Aquariums Conservation topics Dolphinariums Zoos Zoo associations Other topics Animals in captivity Animal training Behavioral enrichment Captive breeding Frozen zoo Immersion exhibit Nocturnal house Wildlife conservation Zookeeper Zoological society Zoology Portal Category Natural resources Air Pollution / quality Ambient standards ( USA ) Index Indoor developing nations Law Clean Air Act ( USA ) Ozone depletion Emissions Airshed Trading Deforestation ( REDD ) Energy Law Resources Fossil fuels ( peak oil ) Geothermal Nuclear Solar sunlight shade Tidal Wave Wind Land Arable peak farmland Degradation Law property Management habitat conservation Minerals mining law sand peak rights Soil conservation fertility health resilience Use planning reserve Life Biodiversity Bioprospecting Biosphere Bushfood Bushmeat Fisheries law management Food Forests genetic resources law management Game law Gene bank Herbalist plants Marine conservation Non-timber forest products Rangeland Seed bank Wildlife conservation management Wood Water Types / location Aquifer storage and recovery Drinking Fresh Groundwater pollution recharge remediation Hydrosphere Ice bergs glacial polar Irrigation Rain harvesting Stormwater Surface water Wastewater reclaimed Aspects Desalination Floods Law Leaching Sanitation Conflict Conservation Peak water Pollution Privatization Quality Right Resources management policy Related Commons enclosure global land tragedy of Economics ecological Ecosystem services Exploitation overexploitation Earth Overshoot Day Management adaptive Natural capital accounting Nature reserve Systems ecology Urban ecology Wilderness Resource Common - pool Conflict ( perpetuation ) Curse Depletion Extraction Nationalism Renewable / Non-renewable Portals Agriculture and agronomy Energy Environment Fishing Forestry Mining Water Wetlands Category agencies law management ministries organizations Colleges Natural resources Deforestation and desertification Deforestation Assarting Deforestation Deforestation and climate change Deforestation by region Deforestation during the Roman period Illegal logging Mountaintop removal Slash - and - burn Slash - and - char Desertification Aridification Desertification Moisture recycling Soil retrogression and degradation Water scarcity Mitigation Afforestation Arid Lands Information Network Biochar Conservation grazing Desert greening Ecoforestry Ecological engineering Farmer - managed regeneration Flexible Mechanisms Great Green Wall ( Africa ) Managed intensive rotational grazing Oasification Reforestation Three - North Shelter Forest ( China ) Related articles Allan Savory Biodiversity Economic impact analysis Environmental philosophy Extinction Intact forest landscape International Year of Forests Land surface effects on climate Land use, land - use change and forestry Natural landscape Neolithic Richard St. Barbe Baker Satoyama Terraforming Terra preta Wilderness World Forestry Congress GND : 4601495 - 0 NDL : 00936129 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Biodiversity&oldid=803920967 '' Categories : Biodiversity Conservation biology Population genetics Species Ecology Hidden categories : Webarchive template wayback links CS1 maint : Extra text : authors list All articles with dead external links Articles with dead external links from May 2011 CS1 Dutch - language sources ( nl ) Use dmy dates from February 2016 All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from April 2013 Articles with unsourced statements from September 2009 Articles with unsourced statements from April 2011 Articles with unsourced statements from December 2010 Articles with unsourced statements from August 2010 Articles with unsourced statements from September 2010 Articles needing additional references from April 2016 All articles needing additional references Articles with unsourced statements from October 2008 Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Tools Wikiquote Afrikaans Aragonés অসমীয়া Asturianu Avañe'ẽ Azərbaycanca বাংলা भोजपुरी Български Bosanski Català Čeština Cymraeg Dansk Deutsch Eesti Ελληνικά Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français Gaeilge Galego 한국어 Հայերեն हिन्दी Hrvatski Ido Bahasa Indonesia Íslenska Italiano עברית ಕನ್ನಡ ქართული Қазақша Kreyòl ayisyen Kurdî Latina Latviešu Lietuvių Limburgs Luganda Magyar Македонски മലയാളം Malti मराठी Bahasa Melayu Nederlands नेपाली 日本 語 Norsk Norsk nynorsk Occitan ਪੰਜਾਬੀ Polski Português Română Русский Scots Shqip සිංහල Simple English Slovenčina Slovenščina Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska தமிழ் Татарча / tatarça తెలుగు ไทย Türkçe Українська اردو Tiếng Việt Winaray 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 5 October 2017, at 14 : 45. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: the large number and diversity of organisms on earth is known as
Answer: Biodiversity