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Definition: biodiversity from The Penguin Dictionary of Science

The variety among living organisms from all sources, including terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ➤ecosystems of which they are part. The term includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems. Ultimately, all biodiversity is determined by ➤genes. Biodiversity is an important concept in planning for conservation of natural resources and was a central theme of the United Nations Conference on the Environment held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

Biodiversity

From Encyclopedia of Environment and Society
BIODIVERSITY IS GENERALLY used to refer to all aspects of variability evident within the living world, including diversity within and between individuals, populations, species, communities, and ecosystems. Differences in pest resistance among rice varieties, the range of habitats within a forest ecosystem, or the global extinction of species of lake fish all illustrate different aspects of biological diversity. Biodiversity therefore embraces the whole of the incredible variety of life found on earth. Globally, about 1.75 million species have been described and formally named, and it is believed that millions more species are yet to be discovered and described. In general, biodiversity is highest in and around the equator and continuously decreases toward the poles. The highest terrestrial biodiversity is found in tropical lowland rainforests. They cover only 6–7 percent of the earth’s total land area, but contain probably more than 50 percent of all species. Seasonal variation in…
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Full text Article biodiversity

From Penguin Dictionary of Biology
The level of global or local biological diversity, often quantified crudely as numbers of species or of higher taxa; increasingly taken as indicative of genetic diversity level (see GENETIC VARIATION , GENOME ). Total species estimates for Earth vary from 3 x 10 6 to 30 x 10 6 , but these are almost…
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Full text Article biodiversity

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Term used to describe the number, variability, and variety of the Earth's living organisms. The term is applied to all animal, plant, and microbial species, to genetic differences within species, and to the ecosystems that support those species. High biodiversity means there are lots of different…
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Full text Article Biodiversity

From Encyclopedia of Insects
Insecticide fogging being released from a...
Biodiversity is a term created in the mid-1980s to represent the variety of life. It is a contraction of “biological diversity” and came into common usage following the signing in 1992 of the Convention on Biological Diversity at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, in Rio…
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Full text Article Biodiversity: Conserving Biodiversity in Agroecosystems

From Encyclopedia of Agriculture and Food Systems
Representation of the main taxonomic...
Abstract Soils host very abundant and diverse communities of microbes and invertebrates mostly unidentified so far, especially microbes and submicroscopic animals. Microorganisms and invertebrates have developed complementary functions to digest low quality food resources, move in this very compact…
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Full text Article Biodiversity and Extinction

From Global Social Issues: An Encyclopedia
The destruction of the world's coral reefs, home...
The main focus of conservation since the 1980s has been the protection of the world's biological diversity, often shortened to the more user-friendly term “biodiversity.” The most widely accepted definition of biodiversity is probably that provided in Article 2 of the 1992 United Nations Convention…
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Full text Article Biodiversity

From International Encyclopedia of Human Geography
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Glossary Biopiracy The unauthorized, unlicensed, and uncompensated appropriation of biological wealth from the territories of less powerful entities (e.g., states of the Global South, Indigenous minorities) by more powerful ones (e.g., corporations of the…
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Full text Article Biodiversity

From The A to Z of Corporate Social Responsibility
Biodiversity is the shortened term for biological diversity, which is defined by the 1992 Convention on 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…
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Full text Article biodiversity

From The Macquarie Dictionary
the variety of species of plants, animals and microorganisms, their genes, and the ecosystems they comprise, often considered in relation to a particular area threats to coastal biodiversity., biodiversities Australia, with a diverse range of biogeographical regions, home to more than a million…
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Full text Article BIODIVERSITY

From Gaither's Dictionary of Scientific Quotations
Tropical biologist …to save biodiversity, we must act before the virgin forest disappears, because no effort at ecosystem rehabilitation, however sophisticated, will ever recreate nature in its primeval state. Diversity and the Tropical Rain Forest Chapter 9 (p. 232 ) Scientific American Library. …
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Full text Article Biodiversity

From Keywords for Environmental Studies
“Biodiversity” was coined by E. O. Wilson in 1988 to describe all living organisms on the planet ( Wilson 1988 ); it is a condensation of “biological diversity.” It is more commonly used to describe all species other than humans; this creates an unfortunate dichotomy between the voting and nonvoting…
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