Biodiversity

context: Biodiversity, a contraction of "biological diversity," generally refers to the variety and variability of life on Earth. One of the most widely used definitions defines it in terms of the variability within species, between species, and between ecosystems. It is a measure of the variety of organisms present in different ecosystems. This can refer to genetic variation, ecosystem variation, or species variation (number of species) within an area, biome, or planet. 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. It is richest in the tropics. 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.
qas: answers: text: Biodiversity
question: What term refers to  the variety and variability of life on Earth?

answers: text: genetic variation, ecosystem variation, or species variation
question: What types of variations does Biodiversity refer to?

answers: text: Terrestrial biodiversity
question: What type of biodiversity happens near the equator?

answers: text: It is richest in the tropics.
question: Where on Earth is biodiversity the most abundnant?

answers: text: along coasts in the Western Pacific
question: Where is sea surface temperature the highest?

context: This multilevel construct is consistent with Dasmann 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.
qas: answers: text: Bruce A. Wilcox
question: Who is the author of the biodiversity research paper?

answers: text: International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN)
question: Who commissioned the biodiversity research paper?

answers: text: 1982 World National Parks Conference
question: At what event was the biodiversity research paper presented?

answers: text: 1992
question: What year did the United Nations Earth Summit define "biological diversity"?

context: 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.
qas: answers: text: the Phanerozoic
question: What model correlates much better than the hyperbolic model?

answers: text: hyperbolic model
question: What model is widely used in macrosociology?

answers: text: exponential and logistic models
question: What models imply that changes in diversity are guided by a first-order positive feedback?

answers: text: Hyperbolic model
question: What model implies a second-order positive feedback?

answers: text: The hyperbolic character of biodiversity growth
question: What can be accounted for by a feedback between diversity and community structure complexity?

context: 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.
qas: answers: text: Interspecific crop diversity
question: What has some responsibility for offering variety in what we eat?

answers: text: Interspecific crop diversity
question: What is the variety of alleles within a single species?

answers: text: If a crop fails in a monoculture
question: When do we rely on agricultural diversity to replant the land with something new?

answers: text: a pest
question: What can destroy a wheat crop?

answers: text: agricultural society
question: What type of a society primarily grows monocultures?

context: 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.
qas: answers: text: 52%
question: What percentage of biodiversity has the planet lost since 1970

answers: text: 2014
question: What year was they study done by the World Wildlife Fund?

answers: text: 39%
question: What percentage accounts for the terrestrial wildlife gone?

answers: text: 39%
question: What percentage accounts for the marine wildlife gone?

answers: text: 76%
question: What percentage accounts for the freshwater wildlife gone?

context: 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).
qas: answers: text: 2007
question: In which year was the study published that found biodiversity and genetic diversity are codependent?

answers: text: National Science Foundation
question: Who conducted the 2007 study?

answers: text: If any one type is removed from the system
question: What can cause a break down of a biodiversity system?

answers: text: in fresh water
question: Where are the most threatened ecosystems found?

context: 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.
qas: answers: text: an introduced species
question: What may unintentionally injure a species that depends on the species it replaces?

answers: text: In Belgium
question: Where does the Prunus spinosa leaf much sooner?

answers: text: leaves endemic and other local species unable to compete with the exotic species and unable to survive
question: What animal can its feeding habits disturbed by the Prunus spinosa?

answers: text: endemic and other local species
question: What species struggle to with the introduction of new species?

answers: text: The exotic organisms may be predators, parasites
question: What types of new species can be introduced?

context: 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:
qas: answers: text: The forests
question: What plays a vital role in harbouring floral and faunal species?

answers: text: 5150
question: How many endemic floral species do forests harbor?

answers: text: 1837
question: How many endemic faunal species do forests harbor?

answers: text: endemic species
question: What types of animals and plans are confined to a specific geographical area?

answers: text: hunting and grazing
question: What types of activities are granted rights in reserved forests?

context: 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.[citation needed]
qas: answers: text: the Convention on Biological Diversity
question: What global agreement gives sovereign national rights over biological resources?

answers: text: the Convention on Biological Diversity
question: What agreement commits countries to conserve biodiversity?

answers: text: the Convention on Biological Diversity
question: What agreement commits countries to develop resources for sustainability?

answers: text: bioprospecting
question: What is the process of collecting natural products?

context: Rapid environmental changes typically cause mass extinctions. More than 99 percent of all species, amounting to over five billion species, that ever lived on Earth 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. The total amount of related DNA base pairs on Earth is estimated at 5.0 x 1037, 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).
qas: answers: text: Rapid environmental changes
question: What can typically cause mass extinctions?

answers: text: More than 99 percent
question: What percentage of species is estimated to be extinct?

answers: text: over five billion species
question: How many species have ever lived on earth?

answers: text: Earth's current species range from 10 million to 14 million,
question: How many species currently live on earth?

answers: text: 50 billion tonnes
question: What is the estimated weight of the total amount of related DNA base pairs on Earth?

context: 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.
qas: answers: text: the Cambrian explosion
question: Which era included a rapid growth period?

answers: text: the last 540 million years
question: The Phanerozoic era covers what time period?

answers: text: the Cambrian explosion
question: In which era, did the first phylum of multicellular organisms appear?

answers: text: vertebrate diversity
question: What type of diversity showed an overall exponential trend?

answers: text: the Permian-Triassic extinction event
question: In which event did the rainforests collapsed in the carboniferous?

context: 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.
qas: answers: text: Jared Diamond
question: Who describes the "Evil Quartet"?

answers: text: Evil Quartet
question: What describes habitat destruction, overkill, introduced species, and secondary extinctions?

answers: text: HIPPO
question: What describes Habitat destruction, Invasive species, Pollution, human over-Population, and Over-harvesting?

answers: text: IUCN's Classification of Direct Threats
question: What is the most authoritative classification in use today?

answers: text: the World Wildlife Fund
question: What funding organization uses the IUCN's Classification of Direct Threats?

context: 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.
qas: answers: text: genetic pollution
question: What can threaten endemic species with extinction?

answers: text: uncontrolled hybridization, introgression and genetic swamping
question: What are another names for genetic pollution?

answers: text: either a numerical and/or fitness advantage of an introduced species
question: What causes genetic pollution?

answers: text: Hybridization and introgression
question: What are are side-effects of introduction and invasion?

answers: text: The abundant species can interbreed with the rare species
question: What behavior causes swamping of a gene pool?

context: The age of the Earth is about 4.54 billion years old. 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 metasedimentary 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."
qas: answers: text: about 4.54 billion years old
question: What is the estimate age of the Earth?

answers: text: the Eoarchean Era
question: What era contains the earliest undisputed evidence of life on Earth?

answers: text: Hadean Eon
question: What is the name of the era that predated life on Earth?

answers: text: Western Australia
question: Where were the billion year old microbial mat fossils found?

answers: text: Western Greenland
question: Where were the 3.7 billion-year-old metasedimentary rocks discovered?

context: 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.
qas: answers: text: The fossil record
question: What suggests that the last few million years featured the greatest biodiversity in history?

answers: text: how strongly the fossil record is biased by the greater availability and preservation of recent geologic sections.
question: Why are some scientists uncertain about the fossil record?

answers: text: from 2 million to 100 million
question: What is the estimate variation of the present global macroscopic species diversity?

answers: text: Diversity
question: What appears increase continually in the absence of natural selection?

context: 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).
qas: answers: text: ‘planned’ diversity or ‘associated’ diversity
question: What are two types of Agricultural diversity?

answers: text: Planned diversity
question: What type of diversity includes the crops which a farmer has encouraged, planted or raised?

answers: text: associated diversity
question: What type of diversity arrives uninvited?

answers: text: associated diversity
question: What type of diversity includes herbivores and pathogens?

context: 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.
qas: answers: text: Biodiversity's relevance to human health
question: What is becoming an international political issue?

answers: text: climate change
question: What issue is closely linked with changes in biodiversity?

answers: text: changes in populations and distribution of disease vectors, scarcity of fresh water, impacts on agricultural biodiversity and food resources
question: What changes in biodiversity have an effect on the climate?

answers: text: those that buffer against infectious disease transmission
question: What types of species disappear when a new disease is introduced?

context: 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.
qas: answers: text: five major mass extinctions
question: How many mass extinctions have happened since Life began on Earth?

answers: text: the Cambrian explosion
question: When was the period where the majority of multicellular phyla first appeared?

answers: text: rainforest collapse led to a great loss of plant and animal life.
question: What happened in the Carboniferous?

answers: text: 251 million years ago
question: When was the Permian–Triassic extinction event?

answers: text: 30 million years
question: How long did vertebrate recovery take?

context: 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.
qas: answers: text: 1900s
question: What century started the increase of species invasions?

answers: text: humans
question: Who intentionally and unintentionally moves species around?

answers: text: zebra mussels and the emerald ash borer
question: What invaders are causing changes in the Great Lakes region?

answers: text: lion fish
question: What invaders are causing changes along the North American Atlantic coast?

context: 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.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed] Since the island separated from mainland Africa 66 million years ago, many species and ecosystems have evolved independently.[citation needed] Indonesia's 17,000 islands cover 735,355 square miles (1,904,560 km2) 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.[citation needed]
qas: answers: text: 20,000 plant species
question: How many plant species does Brazil's Atlantic Forest contain?

answers: text: 1,350 vertebrates
question: How many vertebrates does Brazil's Atlantic Forest contain?

answers: text: Colombia
question: Which country has the highest rate of species by area unit worldwide?

answers: text: Colombia
question: Which country has about 10% of the species on Earth?

answers: text: Madagascar
question: What island separated from mainland Africa 66 million years ago?

context: 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."
qas: answers: text: global carrying capacity
question: What limits the amount of life that can live at once on Earth?

answers: text: life in the sea
question: What type of animal shows a logistic pattern of growth?

answers: text: life on land
question: What type of animal shows an exponential rise in diversity?

answers: text: 64 per cent
question: What percentage of potentially habitable modes have Tetrapods not yet invaded?

context: 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. 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.
qas: answers: text: world population increased from 2.5 billion to 7 billion
question: What was the increase in population from 1950 to 2011?

answers: text: From 1950
question: What year started the increase of population to 7 billion?

answers: text: more than 9 billion
question: What is the forecast plateau that the population will reach during the 21st century?

answers: text: Sir David King
question: Who is the former chief scientific adviser to the UK government?

context: 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.
qas: answers: text: monoculture farms
question: What farms use biologically destructive pesticides

answers: text: The control of associated biodiversity
question: What is one of the great agricultural challenges that farmers face?

answers: text: polyculture farmers
question: What farmers use integrated pest management strategies?

answers: text: polyculture farmers
question: What farmers are generally less dependent on capital, biotechnology and energy?

context: 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 prohibited. Exploitation of habitat or wildlife is banned.
qas: answers: text: National park and nature reserve
question: What types of parks receive special protection against damage or degradation?

answers: text: governments or private organizations
question: Who selects National parks?

answers: text: with the objective of biodiversity and landscape conservation
question: What is the goal of protecting National Parks from damage?

answers: text: national or state governments
question: Who usually owns and manages National parks?

answers: text: Forestry operations, grazing of animals and hunting of animals
question: What activities are prohibited in national parks?

context: 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.[citation needed] 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.
qas: answers: text: Sigmar Gabriel
question: Who is the German Federal Environment Minister?

answers: text: 2050
question: What year did Gabriel estimate 30% of of all species will be extinct by?

answers: text: about one eighth
question: How many plant species are close to extinction?

answers: text: 25%
question: 2012 studies estimated what percentage of mammals could be extinct in 20 years?

context: 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).[citation needed]
qas: answers: text: Habitat size
question: What is systematically related to the numbers of species?

answers: text: Physically larger species and those living at lower latitudes or in forests or oceans
question: What animals are more sensitive to reduction in habitat area?

answers: text: monoculture following deforestation
question: How is a standardized ecosystem formed?

answers: text: lack of property rights or lax law/regulatory enforcement
question: What leads to biodiversity loss is some countries?

context: 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.
qas: answers: text: the zebra mussel
question: What animal unintentionally invaded the US waterways?

answers: text: mongooses
question: What animal intentionally invaded Hawaii?

answers: text: nocturnal rats
question: What animals were not vulnerable to the mongoose?

answers: text: Indonesia and Malaysia,
question: What countries experienced unintended consequences from species invasion?

context: 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. 
qas: answers: text: Contemporary biodiversity physics
question: What type of science is firmly fixated on the visible world?

answers: text: microbial life
question: What type of life is more metabolically diverse than multicellular life?

answers: text: microbial life
question: What type of life is more enviromentally diverse than multicellular life?

answers: text: Insect extinction rates
question: What rate supports the Holocene extinction hypothesis?

context: The number and variety of plants, animals and other organisms that exist is known as biodiversity. It is an essential component of nature and it ensures the survival of human species by providing food, fuel, shelter, medicines and other resources to mankind. The richness of biodiversity depends on the climatic conditions and area of the region. All species of plants taken together are known as flora and about 70,000 species of plants are known till date. All species of animals taken together are known as fauna which includes birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, insects, crustaceans, molluscs, etc.
qas: answers: text: biodiversity
question: What term describes the number and variety of plants, animals and other organisms in existence?

answers: text: biodiversity
question: What ensures the survival of human species by providing food, shelter, other resources to mankind?

answers: text: the climatic conditions and area of the region
question: What influences richness of biodiversity?

answers: text: flora
question: What term describes all the species of plants in existence?

context: 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".
qas: answers: text: Raymond F. Dasmann
question: Which scientist first used the term biological diversity?

answers: text: A Different Kind of Country
question: What book first contained the term biological diversity?

answers: text: the 1980s
question: What decade did the term biological diversity become common usage in science and economics?

answers: text: Thomas Lovejoy
question: Who introduced the term biological diversity to the scientific community?

answers: text: "natural diversity"
question: What term was common before biological diversity?

context: 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.
qas: answers: text: Biodiversity
question: What provides critical support for drug discovery and the availability of medicinal resources?

answers: text: at least 50%
question: What percentage of US drugs are derived from plants, animals, and micro-organisms?

answers: text: bionics
question: What field has biodiversity made critical advances in?

answers: text: about 80%
question: What percentage of worldwide drugs are derived from nature?

context: 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.
qas: answers: text: the Green Revolution
question: What popularized the use of conventional hybridization to increase yield?

answers: text: local climate and diseases
question: What did the high yield strains become resistant to?

answers: text: Local governments and industry
question: Who has been pushing for hybridization?

answers: text: Formerly huge gene pools of various wild and indigenous breeds have collapsed causing widespread genetic erosion
question: What caused the loss of biodiversity?