species diversity essay

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• Why Is Species Diversity Important

What is Species Diversity?

The term “Biodiversity” refers to the heterogeneity present in the world or a habitat, ranging from macromolecules within the cells to biomes. Biodiversity comprises:

• Species diversity: Variety of species and abundance of species
• Genetic diversity: Genetic variability present within the species
• Ecological diversity: Ecosystem variety present within a geographical area

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Table of Contents

• Frequently Asked Questions

“Species diversity is defined as the number of different species present in an ecosystem and relative abundance of each of those species.”

Diversity is greatest when all the species present are equally abundant in the area. There are two constituents of species diversity:

• Species richness: Number of different species present in an ecosystem. Tropical areas have greater species richness as the environment is conducive for a large number of species
• Species evenness: Relative abundance of individuals of each of those species. If the number of individuals within a species is fairly constant across communities, it is said to have a high evenness and if the number of individuals varies from species to species, it is said to have low evenness. High evenness leads to greater specific diversity

It is possible in an ecosystem to have high species richness, but low species evenness.

For example:

• In a forest, there may have a large number of different species (high species richness) but have only a few members of each species (low species evenness)
• In a forest, there may be only a few plant species (low species richness) but a large number of each species (high species evenness)

The species diversity varies in a different geographical location with tropics having highest and declines as we move towards poles. The most species-rich environments are tropical rainforests, coral reefs and ocean bottom zone.

Species richness increases with increasing explored area.

Also see: MCQs on Species Diversity

Importance of Species Diversity

In a healthy ecosystem, diverse and balanced number of species exist to maintain the balance of an ecosystem. In an ecosystem, all the species depend on each other directly or indirectly. So to make a more efficient, productive and sustainable ecosystem, it is important to maintain high species diversity.

• More diverse ecosystem tend to be more productive. E.g. the ecosystem with a great variety of producer species will produce large biomass to support a greater variety of consumer species
• Greater species richness and productivity makes an ecosystem more sustainable and stable
• More diverse the ecosystem, greater is the ability to withstand environmental stresses like drought or invasive infestations
• Species richness makes an ecosystem able to respond to any catastrophe
• In Species-rich communities, each species can use a different portion of resources available as per their requirement. E.g. plants with smaller roots can absorb water and minerals from shallow soil and plants with deeper roots can tap deeper soil
• Rich diversity is important for the survival of mankind
• Healthy biodiversity has innumerable benefits like nutrients storage and recycling, soil formation and protection from erosion, absorption of harmful gases, climate stability
• Humans get lots of product from nature like fruits, cereals, meat, wood, fibre, raisin, dyes, medicine, antibiotics, etc.
• Amazon forest is estimated to produce 20 percent of total oxygen in the earth’s atmosphere through photosynthesis
• Pollinators, symbiotic relationships, decomposers, each species perform a unique role, which is irreplaceable
• Diversity in large numbers help in large scale interaction among organisms such as in the food web
• In the nitrogen cycle, bacteria, plants have a crucial relationship, earthworms contribute to soil fertility
• Apart from these, there are other benefits such as recreation and tourism, education and research

Each species plays an important role in an ecosystem. The role that a species plays in its ecosystem is known as its “ecological niche”. Species can be broadly divided into generalist and specialist species.

• Generalist species: They have broad niches. These can live in many places and can eat a variety of foods. They can thrive in rapidly changing environmental conditions. E.g. cockroaches, rats, mice, flies, white-tailed deer, raccoons, humans, etc.
• Specialist species: They have a narrow niche, found in only one type of habitat and feed on a few types of food. They are more prone to disturbances in the environmental condition and cannot tolerate the change and environmental stress. In the tropical rain forests where environmental conditions are fairly constant, specialist species hold an advantage as they have fewer competitors for the resources. E.g. the giant panda of China is endangered because of low reproductive rate, disturbances in its habitat and specific diet mostly bamboo. Tiger salamanders breed in fishless ponds, shorebirds that feed on crustaceans tend to live on sandy beaches and adjoining coastal wetlands.
• Native species: Species that normally live and thrive in a particular ecosystem.
• Non-native species (invasive or alien species): Species that migrate deliberately or accidentally to an ecosystem. They can spread rapidly if they find a favourable niche. Invasive species compete with other species for food and habitat. If the indigenous species are unable to compete, they are forced to leave or die.
• Indicator species: These serve as biological smoke alarms. These species provide early warnings of damage to an ecosystem. E.g. presence of trout species is an indicator of the water quality as they need clean water with high levels of dissolved oxygen to thrive, birds are an excellent biological indicator of their habitat loss and fragmentation and use of chemical pesticides. Butterflies are also a good indicator species as their association with various plant species makes them vulnerable to their habitat loss and fragmentation. Coal miners used canaries as an indicator of the poisonous and explosive gases present in the mine.
• Keystone species: They play an important role in maintaining species diversity and integrity of an ecosystem. They have a high impact on the types and abundance of species in an ecosystem. These species play several critical roles in helping certain species (e.g. role in pollination like bees, butterflies) to sustain as well as check the overpopulation of other species to become overly dominant (e.g. top predators like a lion, shark, wolf, etc. ). E.g. if predatory starfish was removed from an ecosystem, it resulted in different species of mussels to outcompete other species and reducing species diversity
• Foundation species: They play an important role in creating and enhancing habitats. E.g. Elephants push over or uproot trees to open forest in grasslands and woodlands of Africa, promoting the growth of grass and other foliage required for small grazing species like an antelope

Examples of the ecosystem with high Species Diversity

• Tropical Rainforests: They contain half of the world’s species. There are about 5-10 million insect species present. 40% of the world’s 2,75,000 species of flowering plants are present in the tropical regions. 30% of total bird species are present in tropical forests. The species richness of tropical forests is mostly due to relatively constant environmental conditions.
• Coral Reefs: Colonies of tiny coral animals build the large coral reefs ecosystem. The clarity of the water in the coral reef systems allow the sunlight to penetrate deep, resulting in the high level of photosynthesis in the algae present inside the coral. Adaptation to various disturbances and niche specialisation gives rise to species richness.

The Great Barrier Reef of Australia is the world’s largest coral reef with an area of 349,000Km 2 . It contains about 400 species of coral, 1500 species of fish, 4000 species of molluscs and 6 species of turtles. It provides a breeding site for around 250 species of birds. It covers only 0.1% of the ocean but has about 8% of the world’s fish species. There are thousands of species which are yet to be discovered and described.

Threats to species diversity

The world is facing an accelerated rate of extinction of species largely due to human activities. The four major causes of loss of diversity are known as “The Evil Quartet”.

• Amazon rainforest (lungs of the planet), which is a house to millions of species are being cut and cleared for various purposes
• Tropical rainforest, which once covered 14 per cent of landmass, is no more than 6 percent now
• Over Exploitation: Over-exploitation of natural resources leads to the extinction of many species. E.g. Steller’s sea cow, the passenger pigeon, many marine fishes are overharvested
• Extinction of cichlid fish in Lake Victoria due to the introduction of the Nile perch
• Illegal introduction of the African catfish is a threat to indigenous catfishes in rivers
• When a host fish goes extinct, the parasite also goes extinct
• Mutualism like a plant-pollinator, where extinction of one species leads to the extinction of other species too

Also explore:

• MCQs on Genetic Diversity
• Genetic Diversity Examples

Conservation of Species Diversity

Each species has an important role to play in an ecosystem. It is important to conserve diversity because once extinct, we can not get it back. There are many ways to conserve biodiversity:

• Biodiversity rich regions are protected as biosphere reserves, national parks and sanctuaries i.e. called in-situ conservation . Protecting Sunderbans for many endangered species like the royal Bengal tiger, olive ridley sea turtles, mangrove species etc.
• Biodiversity hotspots have been identified, which have high species richness. Total of 34 hotspots are identified globally e.g. Western ghats and Sri Lanka, Indo-Burma and Himalaya are rich biodiversity regions of our country
• India has a tradition of protecting nature. In many cultures, trees and wildlife are given full protection e.g. sacred groves
• Ex-situ conversation, where threatened and endangered species are identified, taken out and given full protection and kept in special reserves like botanical gardens, wildlife safari, etc.
• Gametes of threatened species are preserved by cryopreservation techniques
• Seeds of commercially important plants are kept in the seed bank

Frequently Asked Questions on What is Species Diversity?

What is the definition of species diversity.

Species diversity is the number of species and abundance of each species dwelling in a specific region.

What Causes Species Diversity?

Species diversity is caused by evolution. A region becomes diverse with the evolution of different species in an area.

What is The Example of Species Diversity?

Species diversity is the measure of biological diversity observed in a particular ecological community indicating a number of species or species richness in an ecological community. Example – woodland forest comprising 4-5 different species of trees. Tens of hundreds of fish species, coral and crustaceans found in a specific reef etc.

What are the 2 Components of Species Diversity?

Species richness and Species evenness. Species richness – Number of different species present in an ecosystem. Species evenness: Relative abundance of individuals of each of those species. High evenness leads to greater specific diversity

What Would Reduce Species Diversity?

Species diversity mainly reduces due to human activities. There are mainly 4 causes of loss of diversity known as The Evil Quartet which are – Alien species invasions, Habitat Loss and Fragmentation, Overexploitation, and co-extinctions.

How do human activities affect species diversity?

Also Check:

NEET Flashcards: Organisms And Populations

NEET Flashcards: Ecosystem

NEET Flashcards: Biodiversity And Conservation

NEET Flashcards: Environmental Issues

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Good and quality material

Describe the Measurement techniques of species diversity

Measure of species diversity can be grouped into the following – Species richness indices, Species proportional abundance based indices, Species abundance models, the Shannon Index and the Simpson index. These are widely still used in ecology, despite of valid critiques leveled against them.

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133 Biodiversity Topics & Examples

🔝 top-10 biodiversity topics for presentation, 🏆 best biodiversity project topics, 💡 most interesting biodiversity assignment topics, 📌 simple & easy biodiversity related topics, 👍 good biodiversity title ideas, ❓ biodiversity research topics.

• Biodiversity loss.
• Global biodiversity conservation.
• The Amazon rainforest.
• Animal ecology research.
• Sub Saharan Africa.
• Marine biodiversity.
• Threats to ecosystems.
• Plant ecology.
• Importance of environmental conservation.
• Evolution of animal species.
• Biodiversity Hotspots: The Philippines The International Conservation has classified the Philippines as one of the biodiversity hotspots in the world. Additionally, the country is said to be one of the areas that are endangered in the world.
• Aspects, Importance and Issues of Biodiversity Genetic diversity is a term used to refer to the dissimilitude of organisms of the same species. Species diversity is used to refer to dissimilitude of organisms in a given region.
• Biodiversity Benefits for Ecology This variation of species in the ecosystem is a very important concept and factor that indeed is the basis for sustaining life on our planet. Moreover, the most important supporter of life, which is soil […]
• Biodiversity Conservation: Tropical Rainforest The forest is not a threat to many species and that, therefore, helps in showing that conserving this forest will be of great benefit to many species. The disadvantage of conserving the Mangrove Forest is […]
• Loss of Biodiversity and Extinctions It is estimated that the number of species that have become extinct is greater than the number of species that are currently found on earth.
• Habitat Destruction and Biodiversity Extinctions The instance of extinction is by and large regarded as the demise of the very last character of the genus. Habitat obliteration has played a major part in wiping out of species, and it is […]
• Biology Lab Report: Biodiversity Study of Lichens As a consequence of these results, the variety of foods found in forest flora that include lichens may be linked to varying optimum conditions for establishment and development.
• Climate Change’s Negative Impact on Biodiversity This essay’s primary objective is to trace and evaluate the impact of climate change on biological diversity through the lens of transformations in the marine and forest ecosystems and evaluation of the agricultural sector both […]
• How Biodiversity Is Threatened by Human Activity Most of the marine biodiversity is found in the tropics, especially coral reefs that support the growth of organisms. Overexploitation in the oceans is caused by overfishing and fishing practices that cause destruction of biodiversity.
• Natural Sciences: Biodiversity and Human Civilisation The author in conjunction with a team of other researchers used a modelling study to illustrate the fact approximately 2 percent of global energy is currently being deployed in the generation of wind and solar […]
• How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity The disturbance of the ecosystem has some effects on the dynamics of vectors and infectious diseases. Change of climate is a contributing factor in the emergence of new species and infectious diseases.
• Plant Interactions and Biodiversity: Ecological Insights The author is an ecologist whose main area of interest is in the field of biodiversity and composition of the ecosystem.
• Reassessing Extinction Projections: Debunking Exaggerated Claims This is because most animals and plants have been projected to be extinct by the end of this century yet the method that is used to forecast this can exaggerate by more than 160%.
• Biodiversity: Aspects Within the Sphere of Biology Finally, living objects consist of cells, which are the basic units of their function and structure. The viruses’ structure depends on which nucleic acid is included, which denotes that there are DNA and RNA viruses.
• Coral Reef and Biodiversity in Ecosystems Coral reefs are formed only in the tropical zone of the ocean; the temperature limits their life – are from +18 to +29oS, and at the slightest deviation from the boundaries of the coral die.
• Biodiversity and the Health of Ecosystems Various opinions are revealed concerning biodiversity, including the human impact, reversal of biodiversity loss, the impact of overpopulation, the future of biodiversity, and the rate of extinction.
• Wild Crops and Biodiversity Threats However, out of millions of existing types of wild crop cultures, the vast majority have been abandoned and eradicated, as the agricultural companies placed major emphasis on the breeding of domesticated cultures that are easy […]
• Biodiversity, Interdependency: Threatened and Endhangered Species In the above table, humans rely on bees to facilitate pollination among food crops and use their honey as food. Concurrently, lichens break down rocks to provide nutrient-rich soil in the relationship.
• Invasive Processes’ Impact on Ecosystem’s Biodiversity If the invasive ones prove to be more adaptive, this will bring about the oppression of the native species and radical changes in the ecosystem.
• Conserving Biodiversity: The Loggerhead Turtle The loggerhead sea turtle is the species of oceanic turtle which is spread all over the world and belongs to the Cheloniidae family.
• Biodiversity and Dynamics of Mountainous Area Near the House It should be emphasized that the term ecosystem used in this paper is considered a natural community characterized by a constant cycle of energy and resources, the presence of consumers, producers, and decomposers, as well […]
• National Biodiversity Strategy By this decision, the UN seeks to draw the attention of the world community and the leaders of all countries to the protection and rational use of natural resources.
• Rewilding Our Cities: Beauty, Biodiversity and the Biophilic Cities Movement What is the source of your news item? The Guardian.
• Biodiversity and Food Production This paper will analyze the importance of biodiversity in food production and the implications for human existence. Edible organisms are few as compared to the total number of organisms in the ecosystem.
• Restoring the Everglades Wetlands: Biodiversity The Act lays out the functions and roles of the Department of Environmental Protection and the South Florida Water Management District in restoration of the Everglades.
• Biodiversity: Importance and Benefits This is due to the fact that man is evolving from the tendency of valuing long term benefits to a tendency of valuing short terms benefits.
• A Benchmarking Biodiversity Survey of the Inter-Tidal Zone at Goat Island Bay, Leigh Marine Laboratory Within each quadrant, the common species were counted or, in the case of seaweed and moss, proliferation estimated as a percentage of the quadrant occupied.
• Biodiversity: Population Versus Ecosystem Diversity by David Tilman How is the variability of the plant species year to year in the community biomass? What is the rate of the plant productivity in the ecosystem?
• Biodiversity Hotspots and Environmental Ethics The magnitude of the problem of losing biodiversity hotspots is too great, to the extend of extinction of various species from the face of the earth.
• The Importance of Biodiversity in Ecosystem The most urgent problem right now is to maintain the level of biodiversity in this world but it has to begin with a more in-depth understanding of how different species of flora and fauna can […]
• Natural Selection and Biodiversity These are featured by the ways in which the inhabiting organisms adapt to them and it is the existence of these organisms on which the ecosystems depend and therefore it is evident that this diversity […]
• Scientific Taxonomy and Earth’s Biodiversity A duck is a domestic bird that is reared for food in most parts of the world. It is associated with food in the household and is smaller than a bee.
• Global Warming: Causes and Impact on Health, Environment and the Biodiversity Global warming is defined in simple terms as the increase in the average temperature of the Earth’s surface including the air and oceans in recent decades and if the causes of global warming are not […]
• Loss of Biodiversity in the Amazon Ecosystem The growth of the human population and the expansion of global economies have contributed to the significant loss of biodiversity despite the initial belief that the increase of resources can halt the adverse consequences of […]
• California’s Coastal Biodiversity Initiative The considered threat to California biodiversity is a relevant topic in the face of climate change. To prevent this outcome, it is necessary to involve the competent authorities and plan a possible mode of operation […]
• Biodiversity: American Museum of Natural History While staying at the museum, I took a chance to visit the Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Life and the Hall of Reptiles and Amphibians.
• Biodiversity and Animal Population in Micronesia This means that in the future, the people living in Micronesia will have to move to other parts of the world when their homes get submerged in the water.
• Urban Plants’ Role in Insects’ Biodiversity The plants provide food, shelter and promote the defensive mechanisms of the insects. The observation was also an instrumental method that was used to assess the behavior and the existence of insects in relation to […]
• Biodiversity Markets and Bolsa Floresta Program Environmentalists and scholars of the time led by Lord Monboddo put forward the significance of nature conservation which was followed by implementation of conservation policies in the British Indian forests.
• Brazilian Amazonia: Biodiversity and Deforestation Secondly, the mayor persuaded the people to stop deforestation to save the Amazon. Additionally, deforestation leads to displacement of indigenous people living in the Amazonia.
• Defining and Measuring Biodiversity Biodiversity is measured in terms of attributes that explore the quality of nature; richness and evenness of the living organisms within an ecological niche.
• Biodiversity, Its Importance and Benefits Apart from that, the paper is going to speculate on the most and least diverse species in the local area. The biodiversity can be measured in terms of the number of different species in the […]
• Biodiversity, Its Evolutionary and Genetic Reasons The occurrence of natural selection is hinged on the hypothesis that offspring inherit their characteristics from their parents in the form of genes and that members of any particular population must have some inconsiderable disparity […]
• Biodiversity Hotspots: Evaluation and Analysis The region also boasts with the endangered freshwater turtle species, which are under a threat of extinction due to over-harvesting and destroyed habitat.
• Marine Biodiversity Conservation and Impure Public Goods The fact that the issue concerning the global marine biodiversity and the effects that impure public goods may possibly have on these rates can lead to the development of a range of externalities that should […]
• Biodiversity and Business Risk In conclusion, biodiversity risk affects businesses since the loss of biodiversity leads to: coastal flooding, desertification and food insecurity, all of which have impacts on business organizations.
• Measurement of Biodiversity It is the “sum total of all biotic variation from the level of genes to ecosystems” according to Andy Purvus and Andy Hector in their article entitled “Getting the Measure of Diversity” which appeared in […]
• Introduced Species and Biodiversity Rhymer and Simberloff explain that the seriousness of the phenomenon may not be very evident from direct observation of the morphological traits of the species.
• Ecosystems: Biodiversity and Habitat Loss The review of the topic shows that the relationship between urban developmental patterns and the dynamics of ecosystem are concepts that are still not clearly understood in the scholarly world as well as in general.
• When Human Diet Costs Too Much: Biodiversity as the Ultimate Answer to the Global Problems Because of the unreasonable use of the natural resources, environmental pollution and inadequate protection, people have led a number of species to extinction; moreover, due to the increasing rates of consumerist approach towards the food […]
• The Impact of Burmese Pythons on Florida’s Native Biodiversity Scientists from the South Florida Natural Resource Center, the Smithsonian institute and the University of Florida have undertaken studies to assess the predation behavior of the Burmese pythons on birds in the area.
• Essentials of Biodiversity At the same time, the knowledge and a more informed understanding of the whole concept of biodiversity gives us the power to intervene in the event that we are faced by the loss of biodiversity, […]
• Threat to Biodiversity Is Just as Important as Climate Change This paper shall articulate the truth of this statement by demonstrating that threats to biodiversity pose significant threat to the sustainability of human life on earth and are therefore the protection of biodiversity is as […]
• Cold Water Coral Ecosystems and Their Biodiversity: A Review of Their Economic and Social Value
• Benchmarking DNA Metabarcoding for Biodiversity-Based Monitoring and Assessment
• Prospects for Integrating Disturbances, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning Using Microbial Systems
• Enterprising Nature: Economics, Markets, and Finance in Global Biodiversity Politics
• Institutional Economics and the Behaviour of Conservation Organizations: Implications for Biodiversity Conservation
• Fisheries, Fish Pollution and Biodiversity: Choice Experiments With Fishermen, Traders and Consumers
• Last Stand: Protected Areas and the Defense of Tropical Biodiversity
• Hardwiring Green: How Banks Account For Biodiversity Risks and Opportunities
• Governance Criteria for Effective Transboundary Biodiversity Conservation
• Marine Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas for Penguins in Antarctica: Targets for Conservation Action
• Ecological and Economic Assessment of Forests Biodiversity: Formation of Theoretical and Methodological Instruments
• Environment and Biodiversity Impacts of Organic and Conventional Agriculture
• Food From the Water: How the Fish Production Revolution Affects Aquatic Biodiversity and Food Security
• Biodiversity and World Food Security: Nourishing the Planet and Its People
• Climate Change and Energy Economics: Key Indicators and Approaches to Measuring Biodiversity
• Conflicts Between Biodiversity and Carbon Sequestration Programs: Economic and Legal Implications
• Models for Sample Selection Bias in Contingent Valuation: Application to Forest Biodiversity
• Optimal Land Conversion and Growth With Uncertain Biodiversity Costs
• Internalizing Global Externalities From Biodiversity: Protected Areas and Multilateral Mechanisms of Transfer
• Combining Internal and External Motivations in Multi-Actor Governance Arrangements for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
• Balancing State and Volunteer Investment in Biodiversity Monitoring for the Implementation of CBD Indicators
• Differences and Similarities Between Ecological and Economic Models for Biodiversity Conservation
• Globalization and the Connection of Remote Communities: Household Effects and Their Biodiversity Implications
• Shaded Coffee and Cocoa – Double Dividend for Biodiversity and Small-Scale Farmers
• Spatial Priorities for Marine Biodiversity Conservation in the Coral Triangle
• One World, One Experiment: Addressing the Biodiversity and Economics Conflict
• Alternative Targets and Economic Efficiency of Selecting Protected Areas for Biodiversity Conservation in Boreal Forest
• Analysing Multi Level Water and Biodiversity Governance in Their Context
• Agricultural Biotechnology: Productivity, Biodiversity, and Intellectual Property Rights
• Renewable Energy and Biodiversity: Implications for Transitioning to a Green Economy
• Agricultural Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services of Major Farming Systems
• Integrated Land Use Modelling of Agri-Environmental Measures to Maintain Biodiversity at Landscape Level
• Changing Business Perceptions Regarding Biodiversity: From Impact Mitigation Towards New Strategies and Practices
• Forest Biodiversity and Timber Extraction: An Analysis of the Interaction of Market and Non-market Mechanisms
• Poverty and Biodiversity: Measuring the Overlap of Human Poverty and the Biodiversity Hotspots
• Protecting Agro-Biodiversity by Promoting Rural Livelihoods
• Maintaining Biodiversity and Environmental Sustainability
• Landscape, Legal, and Biodiversity Threats That Windows Pose to Birds: A Review of an Important Conservation Issue
• Variable Mating Behaviors and the Maintenance of Tropical Biodiversity
• Species Preservation and Biodiversity Value: A Real Options Approach
• What Is Being Done to Preserve Biodiversity and Its Hotspots?
• How Are Argentina and Chile Facing Shared Biodiversity Loss?
• Are Diverse Ecosystems More Valuable?
• How Can Biodiversity Loss Be Prevented?
• Can Payments for Watershed Services Help Save Biodiversity?
• How Can Business Reduce Impacts on the World’s Biodiversity?
• Are National Biodiversity Strategies Appropriate for Building Responsibilities for Mainstreaming Biodiversity Across Policy Sectors?
• How Does Agriculture Effect Biodiversity?
• Are There Income Effects on Global Willingness to Pay For Biodiversity Conservation?
• How Does the Economic Risk Aversion Affect Biodiversity?
• What Are the Threats of Biodiversity?
• How Has the Increased Usage of Synthetic Pesticides Impacted Biodiversity?
• What Does Drive Biodiversity Conservation Effort in the Developing World?
• How Does the Plantation Affect Biodiversity?
• What Does Drive Long-Run Biodiversity Change?
• How Does the United Nations Deal With Biodiversity?
• What Factors Affect Biodiversity?
• How Are Timber Harvesting and Biodiversity Managed in Uneven-Aged Forests?
• When Should Biodiversity Tenders Contract on Outcomes?
• Who Cares About Biodiversity?
• Why Can Financial Incentives Destroy Economically Valuable Biodiversity in Ethiopia?
• What Factors Affect an Area’s Biodiversity?
• In What Ways Is Biodiversity Economically Valuable?
• Which Human Activities Threaten Biodiversity?
• How Can Biodiversity Be Protected?
• In What Ways Is Biodiversity Ecologically Value?
• In Which Countries Is Biodiversity Economically Valuable?
• Does Species Diversity Follow Any Patterns?
• How Is Biodiversity Measured?
• What Is a Biodiversity Hotspot?
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Biodiversity 101: Why it matters and how to protect it

• May 21, 2020

The Earth is undergoing a mass extinction that could see up to a million species disappear in the coming decades – and humans are contributing heavily to this.

The numbers are staggering: the population sizes of vertebrate species, which include mammals, reptiles, birds and fish, dropped by around half between 1970 and 2010 . A quarter of mammals, 40 percent of amphibians, and 30 percent of sharks and rays are currently endangered .

During the 20th century, extinction rates were about 100 times higher than they would have been without humans significantly altering most of the planet’s surface .

What does this loss of biodiversity mean for the future of the planet and its inhabitants – and what can we do about it? The first step is understanding the basics, unraveled in easy-to-digest terms here in this explainer:

What is biodiversity?

How is biodiversity measured, what are the benefits of biodiversity, what are the main threats to biodiversity, how can we protect biodiversity.

Coined by biologists in the 1980s as a contraction of biological diversity , the term usually refers to the variety of life on Earth as a whole . The U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) breaks it down as follows :

“Biological diversity” means 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.

But the CBD makes it clear that measuring biodiversity is no simple feat:

This includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems.

Let’s start with biodiversity between species, or species diversity . Arguably the simplest measure is ‘species richness’ – a count of how many species live in a community.

But species richness does not consider the relative abundance of each species, or its importance to an ecosystem or landscape, or its value to people. As such, biologists have invented diversity indices, such as the Simpson index and the Shannon index , to take these factors into account.

When talking about biodiversity loss, we often focus on losses in species diversity, as it is crucial to maintain the balance of ecosystems, nutritional value of food, and enhance resilience of ecosystems and landscapes to the threats of climate change and other risks like weeds and pests.

Yet genetic diversity – the characteristics of a species’ genetic makeup – is equally important, as it ensures resilience to change and stressors on a more individual level.

Consider the following analogy: in investing, a diversified portfolio minimizes risk and usually provides the most reliable returns. Likewise, genetic diversity protects a species from being wiped out by an external shock like a natural disaster or disease outbreak.

At the largest scale is the concept of ecosystem diversity , which measures how many different ecosystems exist within a geographical area or wider landscape. The more ecosystems exist within a landscape, the more resilient that landscape is, and the more services it has to offer its inhabitants. 

These include wetlands , which contain over 40 percent of the value of the world’s ecosystems ; peatlands , which store a third of the planet’s soil carbon; and lesser-known tropical forests such as monsoon and karst forests , which are among our best natural defenses against climate change.

You might have also heard of ‘biodiversity hotspots.’ These are landscapes with exceptionally high concentrations of biodiversity. 43 percent of bird, mammal, reptile and amphibian species are only found in areas that make up just 2.4 percent of the Earth’s surface .

Healthy and functional ecosystems play a crucial role in sustaining human livelihoods through providing necessities and benefits such as food, water, energy sources and carbon sequestration, known as ‘ecosystem services.’

One study estimates that each year, the goods and services provided by the planet’s ecosystems contribute over USD 100 trillion to the global economy , more than double the world’s gross domestic product (GDP). But much debate remains over how to factor in non-monetary values, such as natural beauty, regulating functions, and providing homes for humans and animals.

Underpinning ecosystem services are genetic diversity and biodiversity. Genetic diversity supports agriculture by building resilience and protecting against environmental stresses such as pests, crop diseases and natural disasters . This provides a source of income and safeguards the food security of much of the world’s poor.

Biodiversity also plays a role in some ‘ nature-based solutions ’ to climate change and problems caused by changes in the environment. These solutions could provide up to a third of the carbon emissions reductions needed to meet the Paris Agreement goals .

Including biodiversity in nature-based solutions, though, must be a conscious choice. Tree planting , for instance, can come in the form of monocultures (planting just a single species in a landscape) or agroforestry, which mixes species of agricultural crops and trees in a single landscape to enhance the sustainability of both.

While each of these cases offers a different set of financial and environmental benefits, most experts will sing the praises of nature-based solutions that take into account biodiversity over those that don’t.

And, let us not forget: the planet’s various ecosystems and landscapes also hold considerable intrinsic value to humans, whether for their recreational opportunities, their cultural importance to Indigenous communities , or their contributions to physical and mental health . Without biodiversity, these values will be lost.

In a seminal report published last year, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) identified five direct drivers of biodiversity loss: changes in land and sea use, overexploitation, climate change, pollution, and invasive species.

These five drivers, it argues , are in turn driven by increasing demand for natural resources, as well as governance structures that prioritize economic growth over conservation and restoration.

Land and sea use

The most widespread form of land-use change has been the expansion of agriculture : according to the IPBES report, over a third of the Earth’s land surface is now used for cropping or livestock, mainly at the expense of forests , wetlands and grasslands.

The tropics , which are home to the highest levels of biodiversity on Earth, are now seeing their ecosystems replaced by cattle ranching in Latin America and plantations in Southeast Asia .

Other key land-use changes include logging, mining and urbanization. Coastal and marine ecosystems have also been significantly affected by activities such as offshore aquaculture, bottom trawling, coastal development and ocean mining .

Overexploitation

The IPBES suggests that fishing has had a larger impact on marine ecosystems than any other human activity: 33 percent of marine fish stocks are currently overfished, and 60 percent are being fished to their sustainable limits. Poaching and hunting , too, are driving many mammals to the brink of extinction.

Climate change

Humans have caused the planet to warm by around 1 degree Celsius since pre-industrial times – and biodiversity is already bearing the brunt of that warming. Climate change is reducing the distribution of many species (the geographical area in which they can survive), including almost half of all endangered mammals.

Changes in the ecological balance can also result in species that can beneficial turning into pests and plagues once their natural enemies are reduced or disappear: think locusts, mosquitos, algae.

Many plants and animals are also experiencing disruptions to their phenology , which refers to seasonal life cycle events such as flowering, migration and hibernation.

Mining, agriculture, industry and other pervasive changes in human’s land-use are contributing to air, water and soil pollution. The IPBES notes that coastal waters contain the highest levels of metals and organic pollutants, such as industrial discharge and fertilizers.

Similarly, marine plastic pollution has increased tenfold since 1980, primarily affecting marine turtles, seabirds and marine mammals, as well as humans indirectly through the food chain.

Invasive species

An invasive alien species is a species that has been introduced to a new location and starts to disrupt its new habitat. These species can threaten native biodiversity by out-competing them for resources, and they’re spreading ever more quickly as international travel and trade expands. A recent study found that one-sixth of the Earth’s land surface is highly vulnerable to invasion , including many biodiversity hotspots.

Humanity’s ecological footprint is about 70 percent larger than the planet can sustain – and in the world’s richest countries, that figure is as much as four or five times larger. Given these huge inequalities in both living standards and ecological impact, residents of industrialized nations can – and should – do their part to preserve biodiversity by helping contribute to more sustainable global systems.

At the individual level, that could include reducing air travel, buying organic , eating less red meat, avoiding fast fashion , and turning your backyard into a carbon sink .

At the international and policy level , we need commitments to restore the Earth’s ecosystems , following the examples set by the Everglades and farmers in the African Sahel .

Indigenous and local communities are deep and rich sources of traditional knowledge of how best to care for increasingly fragile landscapes. Technological innovation is a crucial tool too.

And with biodiversity worth more in monetary terms than the entire global economy , there’s a clear business case to be made for investing in restoring the planet .

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Why is biodiversity important?

Biodiversity is essential for the processes that support all life on Earth, including humans. Without a wide range of animals, plants and microorganisms, we cannot have the healthy ecosystems that we rely on to provide us with the air we breathe and the food we eat. And people also value nature of itself.

Some aspects of biodiversity are instinctively widely valued by people but the more we study biodiversity the more we see that all of it is important – even bugs and bacteria that we can’t see or may not like the look of. There are lots of ways that humans depend upon biodiversity and it is vital for us to conserve it. Pollinators such as birds, bees and other insects are estimated to be responsible for a third of the world’s crop production. Without pollinators we would not have apples, cherries, blueberries, almonds and many other foods we eat. Agriculture is also reliant upon invertebrates – they help to maintain the health of the soil crops grow in.  Soil is teeming with microbes that are vital for liberating nutrients that plants need to grow, which are then also passed to us when we eat them. Life from the oceans provides the main source of animal protein for many people.

Trees, bushes and wetlands and wild grasslands naturally slow down water and help soil to absorb rainfall. When they are removed it can increase flooding. Trees and other plants clean the air we breathe and help us tackle the global challenge of climate change by absorbing carbon dioxide. Coral reefs and mangrove forests act as natural defences protecting coastlines from waves and storms. 

Many of our medicines, along with other complex chemicals that we use in our daily lives such as latex and rubber, also originate from plants. Spending time in nature is increasingly understood to lead to improvements in people’s physical and mental health. Simply having green spaces and trees in cities has been shown to decrease hospital admissions, reduce stress and lower blood pressure.

Further reading

Plural valuation of nature matters for environmental sustainability and justice by Berta Martin-Lopez, Social-Ecological Systems Institute, Faculty of Sustainability, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany

Climate change and biodiversity

Human activities are changing the climate. Science can help us understand what we are doing to habitats and the climate, but also find solutions.

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Conservation

In defense of biodiversity: why protecting species from extinction matters.

By Carl Safina • February 12, 2018

A number of biologists have recently made the argument that extinction is part of evolution and that saving species need not be a conservation priority. But this revisionist thinking shows a lack of understanding of evolution and an ignorance of the natural world. 

A few years ago, I helped lead a ship-based expedition along south Alaska during which several scientists and noted artists documented and made art from the voluminous plastic trash that washes ashore even there. At Katmai National Park, we packed off several tons of trash from as distant as South Asia. But what made Katmai most memorable was: huge brown bears. Mothers and cubs were out on the flats digging clams. Others were snoozing on dunes. Others were patrolling.

During a rest, several of us were sitting on an enormous drift-log, watching one mother who’d been clamming with three cubs. As the tide flooded the flat, we watched in disbelief as she brought her cubs up to where we were sitting — and stepped up on the log we were on. There was no aggression, no tension; she was relaxed. We gave her some room as she paused on the log, and then she took her cubs past us into a sedge meadow. Because she was so calm, I felt no fear. I felt the gift.

In this protected refuge, bears could afford a generous view of humans. Whoever protected this land certainly had my gratitude.

In the early 20th century, a botanist named Robert F. Griggs discovered Katmai’s volcanic “Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes.” In love with the area, he spearheaded efforts to preserve the region’s wonders and wildlife. In 1918, President Woodrow Wilson established Katmai National Monument (now Katmai National Park and Preserve ), protecting 1,700 square miles, thus ensuring a home for bear cubs born a century later, and making possible my indelible experience that day. As a legacy for Griggs’ proclivity to share his love of living things, George Washington University later established the Robert F. Griggs Chair in Biology.

That chair is now occupied by a young professor whose recent writing probably has Griggs spinning in his grave. He is R. Alexander Pyron . A few months ago,  The Washington Post published a “ Perspective” piece by Pyron that is an extreme example of a growing minority opinion in the conservation community, one that might be summarized as, “Humans are profoundly altering the planet, so let’s just make peace with the degradation of the natural world.” 

No biologist is entitled to butcher the scientific fundamentals on which they hang their opinions.

Pyron’s essay – with lines such as, “The only reason we should conserve biodiversity is for ourselves, to create a stable future for human beings” and “[T]he impulse to conserve for conservation’s sake has taken on an unthinking, unsupported, unnecessary urgency” – left the impression that it was written in a conservative think tank, perhaps by one of the anti-regulatory zealots now filling posts throughout the Trump administration. Pyron’s sentiments weren’t merely oddly out of keeping with the legacy of the man whose name graces his job title. Much of what Pyron wrote is scientifically inaccurate. And where he stepped out of his field into ethics, what he wrote was conceptually confused.

Pyron has since posted, on his website and Facebook page, 1,100 words of frantic backpedaling that land somewhere between apology and retraction, including mea culpas that he “sensationalized” parts of his own argument and “cavalierly glossed over several complex issues.” But Pyron’s original essay and his muddled apology do not change the fact that the beliefs he expressed reflect a disturbing trend that has taken hold among segments of the conservation community. And his article comes at a time when conservation is being assailed from other quarters, with a half-century of federal protections of land being rolled back, the Endangered Species Act now more endangered than ever, and the relationship between extinction and evolution being subjected to confused, book-length mistreatment.

Pyron’s original opinion piece, so clear and unequivocal in its assertions, is a good place to unpack and disentangle accelerating misconceptions about the “desirability” of extinction that are starting to pop up like hallucinogenic mushrooms.

In recent years, some biologists and writers have been distancing themselves from conservation’s bedrock idea that in an increasingly human-dominated world we must find ways to protect and perpetuate natural beauty, wild places, and the living endowment of the planet. In their stead, we are offered visions of human-dominated landscapes in which the stresses of destruction and fragmentation spur evolution. 

White rhinoceros ( Ceratotherium simum ). Source: Herman Pijpers/ Flickr

Conservation International ditched its exuberant tropical forest graphic for  a new corporate logo  whose circle and line were designed to suggest a human head and outstretched arms. A few years ago, Peter Kareiva, then chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy,  said , “conservationists will have to jettison their idealized notions of nature, parks, and wilderness,” for  “a more optimistic, human-friendly vision.” Human annihilation of the passenger pigeon, he wrote, caused “no catastrophic or even measurable effects,” characterizing the total extinction of the hemisphere’s most abundant bird — whose population went from billions to zero inside a century (certainly a “measurable effect” in itself) — as an example of nature’s “resilience.”

British ecologist Chris Thomas’s recent book, Inheritors of the Earth: How Nature is Thriving in an Age of Extinction, argues that the destruction of nature creates opportunities for evolution of new lifeforms that counterbalance any losses we create, an idea that is certainly optimistic considering the burgeoning lists of endangered species. Are we really ready to consider that disappearing rhinos are somehow counterbalanced by a new subspecies of daisy in a railroad track? Maybe it would be simpler if Thomas and his comrades just said, “We don’t care about nature.’’

Enter Pyron, who — at least in his initial essay — basically said he doesn’t. He’s entitled to his apathy, but no biologist is entitled to butcher the scientific fundamentals on which they hang their opinions.

Pyron began with a resonant story about his nocturnal rediscovery of a South American frog that had been thought recently extinct. He and colleagues collected several that, he reassured us, “are now breeding safely in captivity.” As we breathed a sigh of relief, Pyron added, “But they will go extinct one day, and the world will be none the poorer for it.” 

The conviction that today’s slides toward mass extinction are not inevitable spurred the founding of the conservation movement.

I happen to be writing this in the Peruvian Amazon, having just returned from a night walk to a light-trap where I helped a biologist collect moths. No one yet knows how many species live here. Moths are important pollinators. Knowing them helps detangle a little bit of how this rainforest works. So it’s a good night to mention that the number of species in an area carries the technical term “species richness.” More is richer, and fewer is, indeed, poorer. Pyron’s view lies outside scientific consensus and societal values. 

Pyron wasn’t concerned about his frogs going extinct, because, “Eventually, they will be replaced by a dozen or a hundred new species that evolve later.” But the timescale would be millennia at best — meaningless in human terms — and perhaps never; hundreds of amphibians worldwide are suffering declines and extinctions, raising the possibility that major lineages and whole groups of species will vanish. Pyron seemed to have no concerns about that possibility, writing, “Mass extinctions periodically wipe out up to 95 percent of all species in one fell swoop; these come every 50 million to 100 million years.”

But that’s misleading. “Periodically” implies regularity. There’s no regularity to mass extinctions. Not in their timing, nor in their causes. The mass extinctions are not related. Three causes of mass extinctions — prolonged worldwide atmosphere-altering volcanic eruptions; a dinosaur-snuffing asteroid hit; and the spreading agriculture, settlement, and sheer human appetite driving extinctions today — are unrelated.

Rio Pescado stubfoot toad ( Atelopus balios ). Source: De Investigación y Conservación de Anfibios/ Flickr

The conviction that today’s slides toward mass extinction are not inevitable, and could be lessened or avoided, spurred the founding of the conservation movement and created the discipline of conservation biology.

But Pyron seems unmoved. “Extinction is the engine of evolution, the mechanism by which natural selection prunes the poorly adapted and allows the hardiest to flourish,” he declared. “Species constantly go extinct, and every species that is alive today will one day follow suit. There is no such thing as an ‘endangered species,’ except for all species.”

Let us unpack. Extinction is not evolution’s driver; survival is. The engine of evolution is survival amidst competition. It’s a little like what drives innovation in business. To see this, let’s simply compare the species diversity of the Northern Hemisphere, where periodic ice sheets largely wiped the slate clean, with those of the tropics, where the evolutionary time clock continued running throughout. A couple of acres in eastern temperate North America might have a dozen tree species or fewer. In the Amazon a similar area can have 300 tree species. All of North American has 1,400 species of trees; Brazil has 8,800. All of North America has just over 900 birds; Colombia has 1,900 species. All of North America has 722 butterfly species. Where I am right now, along the Tambopata River in Peru, biologists have tallied around 1,200 butterfly species.

Competition among living species drives proliferation into diversified specialties. Specialists increasingly exploit narrowing niches. We can think of this as a marketplace of life, where little competition necessitates little specialization, thus little proliferation. An area with many types of trees, for instance, directly causes the evolution of many types of highly specialized pollinating insects, hummingbirds, and pollinating bats, who visit only the “right” trees. Many flowering plants are pollinated by just one specialized species.

Pyron muddles several kinds of extinctions, then serves up further misunderstanding of how evolution works. So let’s clarify. Mass extinctions are global; they involve the whole planet. There have been five mass extinctions and we’ve created a sixth . Past mass extinctions happened when the entire planet became more hostile. Regional wipeouts, as occurred during the ice ages, are not considered mass extinctions, even though many species can go extinct. Even without these major upheavals there are always a few species blinking out due to environmental changes or new competitors. And there are pseudo-extinctions where old forms no longer exist, but only because their descendants have changed through time. 

New species do not suddenly “arise,” nor are they really new. They evolve from existing species, as population gene pools change.

Crucially for understanding the relationship between extinction and evolution is this: New species do not suddenly “arise,” nor are they really new. New species evolve from existing species, as population gene pools change. Many “extinct” species never really died out; they just changed into what lives now. Not all the dinosaurs went extinct; theropod dinosaurs survived. They no longer exist because they evolved into what we call birds. Australopithecines no longer exist, but they did not all go extinct. Their children morphed into the genus Homo, and the tool- and fire-making Homo erectus may well have survived to become us. If they indeed are our direct ancestor — as some species was — they are gone now, but no more “extinct” than our own childhood. All species come from ancestors, in lineages that have survived.

Pyron’s contention that the “hardiest” flourish is a common misconception. A sloth needs to be slow; a faster sloth is going to wind up as dinner in a harpy eagle nest. A white bear is not “hardier” than a brown one; the same white fur that provides camouflage in a snowy place will scare away prey in green meadow. Bears with genes for white fur flourished in the Arctic, while brown bears did well amidst tundra and forests. Polar bears evolved from brown bears of the tundra; they got so specialized that they separated, then specialized further. Becoming a species is a process, not an event. “New” species are simply specialized descendants of old species.

True extinctions beget nothing. Humans have recently sped the extinction rate by about a thousand times compared to the fossil record. The fact that the extinction of dinosaurs was followed, over tens of millions of years, by a proliferation of mammals, is irrelevant to present-day decisions about rhinos, elephant populations, or monarch butterflies. Pyron’s statement, “There is no such thing as an ‘endangered species,’ except for all species,” is like saying there are no endangered children except for all children. It’s like answering “Black lives matter” with “All lives matter.” It’s a way of intentionally missing the point. 

Chestnut-sided warbler ( Setophaga pensylvanica ). Source: Francesco Veronesi/ Wikimedia

Here’s the point: All life today represents non-extinctions; each species, every living individual, is part of a lineage that has not gone extinct in a billion years.

Pyron also expressed the opinion that “the only reason we should conserve biodiversity is for ourselves …” I don’t know of another biologist who shares this opinion. Pyron’s statement makes little practical sense, because reducing the diversity and abundance of the living world will rob human generations of choices, as values change. Save the passenger pigeon? Too late for that. Whales? A few people acted in time to keep most of them. Elephants? Our descendants will either revile or revere us for what we do while we have the planet’s reins in our hands for a few minutes. We are each newly arrived and temporary tourists on this planet, yet we find ourselves custodians of the world for all people yet unborn. A little humility, and forbearance, might comport.

Thus Pyron’s most jarring assertion: “Extinction does not carry moral significance, even when we have caused it.” That statement is a stranger to thousands of years of philosophy on moral agency and reveals an ignorance of human moral thinking. Moral agency issues from an ability to consider consequences. Humans are the species most capable of such consideration. Thus many philosophers consider humans the only creatures capable of acting as moral agents. An asteroid strike, despite its consequences, has no moral significance. Protecting bears by declaring Katmai National Monument, or un-protecting Bears Ears National Monument, are acts of moral agency. Ending genetic lineages millions of years old, either actively or by the willful neglect that Pyron advocates, certainly qualifies as morally significant.

Do we really wish a world with only what we “rely on for food and shelter?” Do animals have no value if we don’t eat them?

How can we even decide which species we “directly depend’’ upon? We don’t directly depend on peacocks or housecats, leopards or leopard frogs, humpback whales or hummingbirds or chestnut-sided warblers or millions of others. Do we really wish a world with only what we “rely on for food and shelter,” as Pyron seemed to advocate? Do animals have no value if we don’t eat them? I happen not to view my dogs as food, for instance. Things we “rely on” make life possible, sure, but the things we don’t need make life worthwhile.

When Pyron wrote, “Conservation is needed for ourselves and only ourselves… If this means fewer dazzling species, fewer unspoiled forests, less untamed wilderness, so be it,” he expressed a dereliction of the love, fascination, and perspective that motivates the practice of biology.

Here is a real biologist, Alfred Russell Wallace, co-discoverer of evolution by natural selection:

I thought of the long ages of the past during which the successive generations of these things of beauty had run their course … with no intelligent eye to gaze upon their loveliness, to all appearances such a wanton waste of beauty… . This consideration must surely tell us that all living things were not made for man… . Their happiness and enjoyments, their loves and hates, their struggles for existence, their vigorous life and early death, would seem to be immediately related to their own well-being and perpetuation alone. —The Malay Archipelago, 1869

At the opposite pole of Wallace’s human insight and wonder, Pyron asked us to become complicit in extinction. “The goals of species conservation have to be aligned with the acceptance that large numbers of animals will go extinct,” he asserted. “Thirty to 40 percent of species may be  threatened  with extinction in the near future, and their loss may be inevitable. But both the planet and humanity can probably survive or even thrive in a world with fewer species … The species that we rely on for food and shelter are a tiny proportion of total biodiversity, and most humans live in — and rely on — areas of only moderate biodiversity, not the Amazon or the Congo Basin.”

African elephant ( Loxodonta africana ). Source: Flowcomm/ Flickr

Right now, in the Amazon as I type, listening to nocturnal birds and bugs and frogs in this towering emerald cathedral of life, thinking such as Pyron’s strikes me as failing to grasp both the living world and the human spirit. 

The massive destruction that Pyron seems to so cavalierly accept isn’t necessary. When I was a kid, there were no ospreys, no bald eagles, no peregrine falcons left around New York City and Long Island where I lived. DDT and other hard pesticides were erasing them from the world. A small handful of passionate people sued to get those pesticides banned, others began breeding captive falcons for later release, and one biologist brought osprey eggs to nests of toxically infertile parents to keep faltering populations on life support. These projects succeeded. All three of these species have recovered spectacularly and now again nest near my Long Island home. Extinction wasn’t a cost of progress; it was an unnecessary cost of carelessness. Humans could work around the needs of these birds, and these creatures could exist around development. But it took some thinking, some hard work, and some tinkering.

It’s not that anyone thinks humans have not greatly changed the world, or will stop changing it. Rather, as the great wildlife ecologist Aldo Leopold wrote in his 1949 classic A Sand County Almanac , “To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.”

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Biodiversity

Most of our work on Our World in Data focuses on data and research on human well-being and prosperity.

But we are just one of many species on Earth, and our demand for resources – land , water, food, and shelter – shapes the environment for other wildlife too.

For millennia, humans have been reshaping ecosystems, directly through competition and hunting of other animals, and indirectly through deforestation and land use changes for agriculture .

You can find all our data, visualizations, and writing related to biodiversity on this page. It aims to provide context on how biodiversity has changed in the past; the state of wildlife today; and how we can use this knowledge to build a future path where humans and other species can thrive on our shared planet.

Related topics

• Fish and overfishing
• CO₂ and Greenhouse Gas Emissions
• Deforestation

Key insights on Biodiversity

On average, there has been a large decline across tens of thousands of wildlife populations since 1970.

One of the most widely-quoted, but misunderstood, metrics on biodiversity is the Living Planet Index.

The Living Planet Index tries to summarize the average change in population size of tens of thousands of studied animal populations. It distills this change into a single number.

It’s important to note that this data is not globally representative: some regions have much more data available than others. Biodiversity data is much more limited in the tropics, for example.

What it reports is the average decline in animal population sizes since 1970. This does not tell us the:

• Number of species lost;
• Number of populations or individuals that have been lost;
• Number or percentage of species or populations that are declining;
• Number of extinctions.

Since 1970, then, the size of animal populations for which data is available have declined by 69%, on average. The decline for some populations is much larger; for some, it’s much smaller. And, in fact, many populations have been increasing in size. We cover this in the next key insight.

What you should know about this data

• The Living Planet Project – which produces the Living Planet Index – is led by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and World Wildlife Fund (WWF). 1
• Every two years, a new Living Planet Index report is published. This presents the latest high-quality data we have on animal populations, but also increases in global coverage with every new release.
• The underlying data included in the Living Planet Index comes from a combination of published scientific articles, online databases, and government reports.
• The Living Planet Index aggregates observations on changes in population size, and similar metrics, across tens of thousands of animal populations. Its 2022 report included figures across 30,000 wildlife populations. This captures everything from frogs to elephant species, rhinos to owls, from every continent on Earth. But even 30,000 populations are only a small fraction of the world’s wildlife.
• This data is not globally representative: some regions have much more data available than others. Biodiversity data is much more limited in the tropics, for example.
• The Living Planet Index only includes figures on vertebrate species – mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians. It does not include insects, corals, fungi, or plants.
• Its final index is the average change in population size across all of the included animal populations. This figure is not representative of every population and is sensitive to outliers. 2

Not all animal populations are in decline; around half have increasing numbers

The Living Planet Index reports that there has been a large average decline across more than 30,000 animal populations.

But, reducing the state of global biodiversity into a single figure is a problem. It hides a huge diversity of changes in animal populations within the dataset.

The Living Planet Project also shows us what percentage of studied populations have increased, decreased, and remained stable since 1970.

Almost half of these animal populations have increased . This is shown in the chart.

Understanding the broad range of changes in populations is crucial if we’re to stop biodiversity loss – we need to know that not all animal populations are declining. We need to also know which populations are doing well and why they’re doing well.

• The Living Planet Project – which produces the Living Planet Index – is led by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and World Wildlife Fund (WWF). 3
• Its final index is the average change in population size across all of the included animal populations. This figure is not representative of every population and is sensitive to outliers. 4

Wild mammals have declined by 85% since the rise of humans

A diverse range of mammals once roamed the planet. This changed quickly and dramatically with the rising number of humans over the course of the last 100,000 years. 

Over this period, wild terrestrial mammal biomass has declined by an estimated 85%. This is shown in the chart.

This looks at the change in wild mammals on the basis of biomass . This means that each animal is measured in tonnes of carbon that it holds. This is a function of its body mass.

In an extended period between 50,000 to 10,000 years ago, hundreds of the world’s largest mammals were wiped out. This is called the Quaternary megafauna extinction event. 

Humans were the main driver of this, killing off species through overhunting and changes to their habitats. What’s staggering is how few humans were alive at this time: fewer than 5 million people across the world.

Since then, wild mammals have continued to decline. A lot of this has been driven by the expansion of human agriculture into wild habitats.

But, the future can be very different. We have the opportunity to restore wild mammals by reducing hunting and poaching, and cutting the amount of land that we use for farming.

• Figures 100,000 and 10,000 years ago come from the work of Anthony Barnosky. 5
• Figures for the year 1900 come from the work of Vaclav Smil. 6
• Figures for 2015 (labeled as ‘Today’) come from the study of biomass distribution on Earth by researchers Yinon Bar-On, Rob Phillips, and Ron Milo, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . 7
• Only terrestrial mammals are included in these estimates. Marine mammals, such as whales, are excluded.
• These estimates compare mammals on the basis of biomass . This means that each animal is measured in tonnes of carbon that it holds. This is a function of its body mass.
• To calculate the biomass of a taxonomic group, the researchers multiply the carbon stock for a single organism by the number of individuals in that group. In humans, for example, they would calculate the average carbon quantity of a person (about 15%) and multiply it by the human population.
• The total number of wild mammals is highly uncertain. This is particularly true for wild mammal populations in the distant past.
• In these calculations, researchers multiply the number of animals by the average mass of each species and assume that this mass is constant over time.

Wild mammals make up only a few percent of the world’s mammals

In the chart, we see the distribution of mammals on Earth. 8 These estimates compare mammals on the basis of biomass . This means that each animal is measured in tonnes of carbon that it holds. This is a function of its body mass. Each rectangle represents one million tonnes of carbon.

Wild mammals make up just 4% of global mammal biomass. This includes marine and land-based mammals.

The other 96% is humans and our livestock.

The dominance of humans is clear. Alone, we account for around one-third of mammal biomass. Almost ten times greater than wild mammals. 

Our livestock then accounts for almost two-thirds. Cattle weigh almost ten times as much as all wild mammals combined. The biomass of all of the world’s wild mammals is about the same as our sheep.

Poultry is not included here. But for birds, the distribution is similar: poultry biomass is more than twice that of wild birds.

• This data comes from the study of biomass distribution on Earth by researchers Yinon Bar-On, Rob Phillips, and Ron Milo, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . 9
• To calculate the biomass of a taxonomic group, the researchers multiplied the carbon stock for a single organism by the number of individuals in that group. In humans, for example, they calculate the average carbon quantity of a person and multiply by the human population. If you want to quickly estimate your carbon biomass: calculate 15% of your weight.
• These figures are approximate and come with significant uncertainty because the total number of wild mammals is highly uncertain.

Thanks to conservation efforts, some wild mammals are making a comeback

We have already seen that many animal populations have increased in the last decades. 

Mammals in Europe are a prime example. Many of the region’s iconic mammal species – such as the Eurasian beaver, European bison, and brown bear – have been making a return.

In the chart, we see the average change in the population size of several mammal species in Europe. The studied time span differs from animal to animal, as the chart shows.

For example between 1960 and 2016, populations of brown bears increased by an average of 44%. Between 1977 and 2016, populations of Eurasian otters increased by an average of 300%.

Conservation efforts have played an important role in the return of these mammals, but it is not the only reason for this positive development. One important change is that the rise in agricultural productivity made it possible that agricultural land has declined across Europe, giving more habitat back to wildlife. Countries brought in hunting quotas or even complete bans on hunting. And some species – such as the European bison – were brought back through well-managed re-introduction programs.

• This data comes from the Wildlife Comeback Report 2022 . This is published by a coalition of conservation organizations, including the Zoological Society of London; Birdlife International; and Rewilding Europe. 10
• The dataset aggregates multiple studies of animal populations for each species. For example, 98 populations are included in the final figures for Eurasian beavers.
• Researchers calculate the average relative change in population size across all of the studied populations of a given species. The final figure does not tell us the total change in populations across Europe.
• Not every species in Europe is increasing in numbers. The underlying report focuses on a selection of mammal species that have made a comeback in recent decades. Many of those that are not shown might still be in decline, or only have stable population numbers.

Research & Writing

Wild mammal biomass has declined by 85% since the rise of humans. But we can turn things around by reducing the amount of land we use for agriculture.

Hannah Ritchie

Hunting and habitat loss drove many large mammals in Europe close to extinction. New data shows us that many of the continent’s mammal populations are flourishing again.

More Key articles on Biodiversity

The largest mammals have always been at the greatest risk of extinction – this is still the case today, living planet index: what does an average decline of 69% really mean, living planet index.

Extinctions

Other articles on Biodiversity

Interactive charts on Biodiversity

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• Published: 06 August 2021

The importance of species interactions in eco-evolutionary community dynamics under climate change

• Anna Åkesson 1 ,
• Alva Curtsdotter   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6870-7924 2 ,
• Anna Eklöf   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2721-0051 1 ,
• Bo Ebenman 1 ,
• Jon Norberg   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1861-5030 3 &
• György Barabás   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7355-3664 1 , 4  

Nature Communications volume  12 , Article number:  4759 ( 2021 ) Cite this article

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• Climate-change ecology
• Community ecology
• Evolutionary ecology
• Theoretical ecology

Eco-evolutionary dynamics are essential in shaping the biological response of communities to ongoing climate change. Here we develop a spatially explicit eco-evolutionary framework which features more detailed species interactions, integrating evolution and dispersal. We include species interactions within and between trophic levels, and additionally, we incorporate the feature that species’ interspecific competition might change due to increasing temperatures and affect the impact of climate change on ecological communities. Our modeling framework captures previously reported ecological responses to climate change, and also reveals two key results. First, interactions between trophic levels as well as temperature-dependent competition within a trophic level mitigate the negative impact of climate change on biodiversity, emphasizing the importance of understanding biotic interactions in shaping climate change impact. Second, our trait-based perspective reveals a strong positive relationship between the within-community variation in preferred temperatures and the capacity to respond to climate change. Temperature-dependent competition consistently results both in higher trait variation and more responsive communities to altered climatic conditions. Our study demonstrates the importance of species interactions in an eco-evolutionary setting, further expanding our knowledge of the interplay between ecological and evolutionary processes.

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Introduction.

Changing climatic conditions influence species’ ecology, such as demography, biotic interactions, and movement, as well as species’ evolutionary rates. Despite the acknowledgment of the highly important interplay between ecological and evolutionary processes for determining species distributions and survival under altered climatic conditions 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , few studies account for their combined effects 5 . The interplay between these processes has been partly addressed in previous work, showing unexpected results: inclusion of evolution potentially results in increased extinction rates when combined with dispersal 6 , and high dispersal rates do not reduce extinctions since colonization often comes at expense of other species 7 . Moreover, species interactions can both alleviate and aggravate the impact of climate change on species 8 , and interact with other eco-evolutionary processes. For example, species interactions can affect a species’ evolutionary response to altered environmental conditions 9 , 10 ; and dispersal may release a species from negative interactions through migration 11 or increase them through invasion 12 .

These very promising eco-evolutionary studies, striving to include a variety of relevant biological mechanisms, commonly depict species interactions in a simplified manner. For example, Norberg et al. 7 , Lasky 13 , and Thompson and Fronhofer 6 take all of the aforementioned aspects into consideration, and their models are important stepping-stones along the way to map out the relevance of species interactions under dispersal, evolution, and climate change. However, they only consider competitive interactions, and even those under more 7 or less 6 , 13 restrictive assumptions: Norberg et al. 7 , for instance, set all intra- and interspecific interaction strengths to be equal, and Lasky 13 uses diffuse competition, whereby species share one common intra- and another common interspecific competition coefficient.

To further develop the field of eco-evolutionary studies of species’ response to climatic change, here we present a spatially explicit eco-evolutionary framework centered around a more detailed view of species interactions, interplaying with species’ abilities to adapt to and disperse across local environments. We focus on two extensions. First, we include interactions both within and between trophic levels. Second, we consider the feature that species’ interspecific competition might change due to increasing temperatures, and affect the impact of climate change on ecological communities.

Such temperature-dependent competition between species has usually not been considered in an eco-evolutionary setting 14 , 15 , 16 . Temperature-dependent competition is centered around the idea that each patch in the larger spatial landscape consists of multiple microhabitats, each with a somewhat higher or lower local temperature than the patch average. If the temperature optima of two competing species are similar, they will compete for the same microhabitats and thus experience strong competition. Similarly, competition will decrease if two species within a patch have different temperature optima. A temperature optimum mismatching the local mean temperature will result in a decreased local growth rate, but might still be favorable if it results in decreased interspecific competition.

Dispersal between and competitive interactions within local environments over time transfer to regional and global changes of ecological communities, and it is repeatedly shown that the effects of climate change differ between geographical regions 17 . As we here consider the globe’s full latitudinal range from the polar regions to the equator, we can use our framework to evaluate how effects of local interactions and climate change vary depending on the region considered. We explore the effect of refined species interactions on (1) local trends (within each patch), including local species diversity; (2) regional trends (division of patches into polar, temperate, and tropical areas), including species’ ranges and turnover; and (3) global trends, including global losses and the general community-wide capacity to respond to climatic change.

We show that influence from a second trophic level and, in particular, temperature-dependent competition affect both species distributions and global trends, giving higher levels of coexistence, lower levels of species turnover, and fewer global extinctions. Also, the interplay between ecological (e.g., dispersal and species interactions) and evolutionary (e.g., adaptation to new conditions) processes along a spatial gradient do significantly affect species’ responses to altered climatic conditions in unexpected ways. For example, when species are able to both disperse and evolve fast, temperature-dependent competition results in more global losses than when the capacity to disperse and evolve is low. Furthermore, we demonstrate that community-wide dispersion of species’ temperature optima is a strong predictor of a community’s capacity to respond to climate change, which has implications for future management guidelines.

Modeling framework

We consider S species distributed in L distinct habitat patches. The patches form a linear latitudinal chain going around the globe, with dispersal between adjacent patches (Fig.  1 ). The state variables are species’ local densities and local temperature optima (the temperature at which species achieve maximum intrinsic population growth). This temperature optimum is a trait whose evolution is governed by quantitative genetics 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 : each species, in every patch, has a normally distributed temperature optimum with a given mean and variance. The variance is the sum of a genetic and an environmental contribution. The genetic component is given via the infinitesimal model 23 , 24 , whereby a very large number of loci each contribute a small additive effect to the trait. This has two consequences. First, a single round of random mating restores the normal shape of the trait distribution, even if it is distorted by selection or migration. Second, the phenotypic variance is unchanged by these processes, with only the mean being affected 25 (we apply a reduction in genetic variance at very low population densities to prevent such species from evolving rapidly; see the Supplementary Information [SI], Section  3.4 ). Consequently, despite selection and the mixing of phenotypes from neighboring patches, each species retains a normally-shaped phenotypic distribution with the same phenotypic variance across all patches—but the mean temperature optimum may evolve locally and can therefore differ across patches (Fig.  1 ).

There are several patches hosting local communities, arranged linearly along a latitudinal gradient. Patch color represents the local average temperature, with warmer colors corresponding to higher temperatures. The graph depicts the community of a single patch, with four species present. They are represented by the colored areas showing the distributions of their temperature optima, with the area under each curve equal to the population density of the corresponding species. The green species is highlighted for purposes of illustration. Each species has migrants to adjacent patches (independent of local adaptedness), as well as immigrants from them (arrows from and to the green species; the distributions with dashed lines show the trait distributions of the green species' immigrant individuals). The purple line is the intrinsic growth rate of a phenotype in the patch, as a function of its local temperature optimum (this optimum differs across patches, which is why the immigrants are slightly maladapted to the temperature of the focal patch.) Both local population densities and local adaptedness are changed by the constant interplay of temperature-dependent intrinsic growth, competition with other species in the same patch, immigration to or emigration from neighboring patches, and (in certain realizations of the model) pressure from consumer species.

Species in our setup may either be resources or consumers. Their local dynamics are governed by the following processes. First, within each patch, we allow for migration to and from adjacent patches (changing both local population densities and also local adaptedness, due to the mixing of immigrant individuals with local ones). Second, each species’ intrinsic rate of increase is temperature-dependent, influenced by how well their temperature optima match local temperatures (Fig.  2 a). For consumers, metabolic loss and mortality always result in negative intrinsic growth, which must be compensated by sufficient consumption to maintain their populations. Third, there is a local competition between resource species, which can be thought of as exploitative competition for a set of shared substitutable lower-level resources 26 . Consumers, when present, compete only indirectly via their shared resource species. Fourth, each consumer has feeding links to five of the resource species (pending their presence in patches where the consumer is also present), which are randomly determined but always include the one resource which matches the consumer’s initial mean temperature optimum. Feeding rates follow a Holling type II functional response. Consumers experience growth from consumption, and resource species experience loss due to being consumed.

a Different growth rates at various temperatures. Colors show species with different mean temperature optima, with warmer colors corresponding to more warm-adapted species. The curves show the maximum growth rate achieved when a phenotype matches the local temperature, and how the growth rate decreases with an increased mismatch between a phenotype and local temperature, for each species. The dashed line shows zero growth: below this point, the given phenotype of a species mismatches the local temperature to the extent that it is too maladapted to be able to grow. Note the tradeoff between the width and height of the growth curves, with more warm-tolerant species having larger maximum growth at the cost of being viable for only a narrower range of temperatures 62 , 63 . b Temperature changes over time. After an initial establishment phase of 4000 years during which the pre-climate change community dynamics stabilize, temperatures start increasing at t  = 0 for 300 years (vertical dotted line, indicating the end of climate change). Colors show temperature change at different locations along the spatial gradient, with warmer colors indicating lower latitudes. The magnitude and latitudinal dependence of the temperature change is based on region-specific predictions by 2100 CE, in combination with estimates giving an approximate increase by 2300 CE, for the IPCC intermediate emission scenario 27 .

Following the previous methodology, we derive our equations in the weak selection limit 22 (see also the Discussion). We have multiple selection forces acting on the different components of our model. Species respond to local climate (frequency-independent directional selection, unless a species is at the local environmental optimum), to consumers and resources (frequency-dependent selection), and competitors (also frequency-dependent selection, possibly complicated by the temperature-dependence of the competition coefficients mediating frequency dependence). These different modes of selection do not depend on the parameterization of evolution and dispersal, which instead are used to adjust the relative importance of these processes.

Communities are initiated with 50 species per trophic level, subdividing the latitudinal gradient into 50 distinct patches going from pole to equator (results are qualitatively unchanged by increasing either the number of species or the number of patches; SI, Section  5.9 – 5.10 ). We assume that climate is symmetric around the equator; thus, only the pole-to-equator region needs to be modeled explicitly (SI, Section  3.5 ). The temperature increase is based on predictions from the IPCC intermediate emission scenario 27 and corresponds to predictions for the north pole to the equator. The modeled temperature increase is represented by annual averages and the increase is thus smooth. Species are initially equally spaced, and adapted to the centers of their ranges. We then integrate the model for 6500 years, with three main phases: (1) an establishment period from t  = −4000 to t  = 0 years, during which local temperatures are constant; (2) climate change, between t  = 0 and t  = 300 years, during which local temperatures increase in a latitude-specific way (Fig.  2 b); and (3) the post-climate change period from t  = 300 to t  = 2500 years, where temperatures remain constant again at their elevated values.

To explore the influence and importance of dispersal, evolution, and interspecific interactions, we considered the fully factorial combination of high and low average dispersal rates, high and low average available genetic variance (determining the speed and extent of species’ evolutionary responses), and four different ecological models. These were: (1) the baseline model with a single trophic level and constant, patch- and temperature-independent competition between species; (2) two trophic levels and constant competition; (3) single trophic level with temperature-dependent competition (where resource species compete more if they have similar temperature optima); and (4) two trophic levels as well as temperature-dependent competition. Trophic interactions can strongly influence diversity in a community, either by apparent competition 28 or by acting as extra regulating agents boosting prey coexistence 29 . Temperature-dependent competition means that the strength of interaction between two phenotypes decreases with an increasing difference in their temperature optima. Importantly, while differences in temperature adaptation may influence competition, they do not influence trophic interactions.

The combination of high and low genetic variance and dispersal rates, and four model setups, gives a total of 2 × 2 × 4 = 16 scenarios. For each of them, some parameters (competition coefficients, tradeoff parameters, genetic variances, dispersal rates, consumer attack rates, and handling times; SI, Section  6 ) were randomly drawn from pre-specified distributions. We, therefore, obtained 100 replicates for each of these 16 scenarios. While replicates differed in the precise identity of the species which survived or went extinct, they varied little in the overall patterns they produced.

We use the results from these numerical experiments to explore patterns of (1) local species diversity (alpha diversity), (2) regional trends, including species range breadths and turnover (beta diversity), (3) global (gamma) diversity, and global changes in community composition induced by climate change. In addition, we also calculated the interspecific community-wide trait lag (the difference between the community’s density-weighted mean temperature optima and the current temperature) as a function of the community-wide weighted trait dispersion (centralized variance in species’ density-weighted mean temperature optima; see Methods). The response capacity is the ability of the biotic community to close this trait lag over time 30 (SI, Section  4 ). Integrating trait lag through time 31 gives an overall measure of different communities’ ability to cope with changing climate over this time period; furthermore, this measure is comparable across communities. The integrated trait lag summarizes, in a single functional metric, the performance and adaptability of a community over space and time. The reason it is related to performance is that species that on average live more often under temperatures closer to their optima (creating lower trait lags) will perform better than species whose temperature optima are far off from local conditions in space and/or time. Thus, a lower trait lag (higher response capacity) may also be related to other ecosystem functions, such as better carbon uptake which in turn has the potential to feedback to global temperatures 32 .

Overview of results

We use our framework to explore the effect of species interactions on local, regional, and global biodiversity patterns, under various degrees of dispersal and available genetic variance. For simplicity, we focus on the dynamics of the resource species, which are present in all scenarios. Results for consumers, when present, are in the SI (Section  5.8 ). First, we display a snapshot of species’ movement across the landscape with time; before, during, and after climate change. Then we proceed with analyzing local patterns, followed by regional trends, and finally, global trends.

Snapshots from the time series of species’ range distributions reveal useful information about species’ movement and coexistence (Fig.  3 ). Regardless of model setup and parameterization, there is a northward shift in species’ ranges: tropical species expand into temperate regions and temperate species into polar regions. This is accompanied by a visible decline in the number of species globally, with the northernmost species affected most. The models do differ in the predicted degree of range overlap: trophic interactions and temperature-dependent competition both lead to broadly overlapping ranges, enhancing local coexistence (the overlap in spatial distribution is particularly pronounced with high available genetic variance). Without these interactions, species ranges overlap to a substantially lower degree, diminishing local diversity. Below we investigate whether these patterns, observed for a single realization of the dynamics for each scenario, play out more generally as well.

Species distributions are shown by colored curves, with the height of each curve representing local density in a single replicate (abscissa; note the different scales in the panels), with the color indicating the species' initial (i.e., at t  = 0) temperature adaptation. The model was run with only 10 species, for better visibility. The color of each species indicates its temperature adaptation at the start of the climate change period, with warmer colors belonging to species with a higher temperature optimum associated with higher latitudes. Rows correspond to a specific combination of genetic variance and dispersal ability of species, columns show species densities at different times ( t  = 0 start of climate change, t  = 300 end of climate change, t  = 2500 end of simulations). Each panel corresponds to a different model setup; a the baseline model, b an added trophic level of consumers, c temperature-dependent competition coefficients, and d the combined influence of consumers and temperature-dependent competition.

Local trends

Trophic interactions and temperature-dependent competition indeed result in elevated local species richness levels (Fig.  4 ). The fostering of local coexistence by trophic interactions and temperature-dependent competition is in line with general ecological expectations. Predation pressure can enhance diversity by providing additional mechanisms of density regulation and thus prey coexistence through predator partitioning 28 , 29 . In turn, temperature-dependent competition means species can reduce interspecific competition by evolving locally suboptimal mean temperature optima 22 , compared with the baseline model’s fixed competition coefficients. Hence with temperature-dependent competition, the advantages of being sufficiently different from other locally present species can outweigh the disadvantages of being somewhat maladapted to the local temperatures. If competition is not temperature-dependent, interspecific competition is at a fixed level independent of the temperature optima of each species. An important question is how local diversity is affected when the two processes act simultaneously. In fact, any synergy between their effects is very weak, and is even slightly negative when both the available genetic variance and dispersal abilities are high (Fig.  4 , top row).

Values are given in 100-year steps. At each point in time, the figure shows the mean number of species per patch over the landscape (points) and their standard deviation (shaded region, extending one standard deviation both up- and downwards from the mean). Panel rows show different parameterizations (all four combinations of high and low genetic variance and dispersal ability); columns represent various model setups (the baseline model; an added trophic level of consumers; temperature-dependent competition coefficients; and the combined influence of consumers and temperature-dependent competition). Dotted vertical lines indicate the time at which climate change ends.

Regional trends

We see a strong tendency for poleward movement of species when looking at the altered distributions of species over the spatial landscape (Fig.  3 ). Indeed, looking at the effects of climate change on the fraction of patches occupied by species over the landscape reveals that initially cold-adapted species lose suitable habitat during climate change, and even afterwards (Fig.  5 ). For the northernmost species, this always eventuate to the point where all habitat is lost, resulting in their extinction. This pattern holds universally in every model setup and parameterization. Only initially warm-adapted species can expand their ranges, and even they only do so under highly restrictive conditions, requiring both good dispersal ability and available genetic variance as well as consumer pressure (Fig.  5 , top row, second and third panel).

The mean (points) and plus/minus one standard deviation range (colored bands) are shown over replicates. Numbers along the abscissa represent species, with initially more warm-adapted species corresponding to higher values. The range breadth of each species is shown at three time stamps: at the start of climate change ( t  = 0, blue), the end of climate change ( t  = 300, green), and at the end of our simulations ( t  = 2500, yellow). Panel layout as in Fig.  4 .

One can also look at larger regional changes in species richness, dividing the landscape into three equal parts: the top third (polar region), the middle third (temperate region), and the bottom third (tropical region). Region-wise exploration of changes in species richness (Fig.  6 ) shows that the species richness of the polar region is highly volatile. It often experiences the greatest losses; however, with high dispersal ability and temperature-dependent competition, the regional richness can remain substantial and even increase compared to its starting level (Fig.  6 , first and third rows, last two columns). Of course, change in regional species richness is a result of species dispersing to new patches and regions as well as of local extinctions. Since the initially most cold-adapted species lose their habitat and go extinct, altered regional species richness is connected to having altered community compositions along the spatial gradient. All regions experience turnover in species composition (SI, Section  5.1 ), but in general, the polar region experiences the largest turnover, where the final communities are at least 50% and sometimes more than 80% dissimilar to the community state right before the onset of climate change—a result in agreement with previous studies as well 7 , 33 .

Black points correspond to species richness over the whole landscape; the blue points to richness in the top third of all patches (the polar region), green points to the middle third (temperate region), and yellow points to the last third (tropical region). Panel layout as in Fig.  4 ; dotted horizontal lines highlight the point of no net change in global species richness.

Global trends

Hence, the identity of the species undergoing global extinction is not random, but strongly biased towards initially cold-adapted species. On a global scale, these extinctions cause decreased richness, and the model predicts large global biodiversity losses for all scenarios (Fig.  6 ). These continue during the post-climate change period with stable temperatures, indicating a substantial extinction debt which has been previously demonstrated 34 . Temperature-dependent competition reduces the number of global losses compared to the baseline and trophic models.

A further elucidating global pattern is revealed by analyzing the relationship between the time-integrated temperature trait lag and community-wide trait dispersion (Fig.  7 ). There is an overall negative correlation between the two, but more importantly, within each scenario (unique combination of model and parameterization) a negative relationship is evident. Furthermore, the slopes are very similar: the main difference between scenarios is in their mean trait lag and trait dispersion values (note that the panels do not share axis value ranges). The negative trend reveals the positive effect of more varied temperature tolerance strategies among the species on the community’s ability to respond to climate change. This is analogous to Fisher’s fundamental theorem 35 , stating that the speed of the evolution of fitness r is proportional to its variance: d r /d t  ~ var( r ). More concretely, this relationship is also predicted by trait-driver theory, a mathematical framework that focuses explicitly on linking spatiotemporal variation in environmental drivers to the resulting trait distributions 30 . Communities generated by different models reveal differences in the magnitude of this relationship: trait dispersion is much higher in models with temperature-dependent competition (essentially, niche differentiation with respect to temperature), resulting in lower trait lag. The temperature-dependent competition also separates communities based on their spatial dispersal ability, with faster dispersal corresponding to greater trait dispersion and thus lower trait lag. Interestingly, trophic interactions tend to erode the relationship between trait lag and trait dispersion slightly ( R 2 values are lower in communities with trophic interactions, both with and without temperature-dependent competition). We have additionally explored the relationship between species richness and trait dispersion, finding a positive relationship between the two (SI, Section  4.1 ).

Larger values along the ordinate indicate that species' temperature optima are lagging behind local temperatures, meaning a low ability of communities to track local climate conditions. Both quantities are averaged over the landscape and time from the beginning to the end of the climate change period, yielding a single number for every community (points). The greater the average local diversity of mean temperature optima in a community, the closer it is able to match the prevailing temperature conditions. Species' dispersal ability and available genetic variance (colors) are clustered along this relationship.

General modeling considerations

This work introduced a modeling framework combining dispersal, evolutionary dynamics, and ecological interactions in a way that is tractable, easy to implement, fast to execute on a computer, and can handle ecological interactions of realistic complexity without simultaneously breaking other aspects of the approach. Individual-based models 6 , for instance, do in principle allow one to include arbitrary levels of complexity, but tend to be computationally expensive. Other models yield detailed projections of individual species and their genetic structure but ignore species interactions altogether 36 . An intermediate approach is based on quantitative genetics, which takes species interactions into account and yields a description of species’ genetic structure that is sufficiently simplified to be tractable. Earlier models in this spirit 7 , 13 , 37 were built on coupled partial differential equations. While the theory behind such models is highly elegant, coupled nonlinear partial differential equations are notoriously difficult to implement in a way that is numerically stable, yields accurate results, and does not require unacceptably long run-times—notably, naive discretization schemes often do not work well. Unfortunately, despite persistent warnings about these problems 38 , such naive solution schemes still prevail in the literature.

We circumvented this problem by building, from first principles, a different framework for spatial eco-evolutionary dynamics. Within a single patch, it is based on a quantitative genetic recursion model 19 , 22 . Spatial locations are discretized from the outset, therefore the approach is built on ordinary differential equations alone. As a consequence, it executes fast even with substantial model complexity: on an ordinary desktop computer, a single run for 6500 years with both trophic interactions and temperature-dependent competition, with 50 species on both trophic levels and 50 habitat patches (for 100 × 50 × 2 = 10,000 state variables; the factor of 2 is because both the density and trait mean of each species may change) finished in around 3 min. While this is fast, emerging methods such as Universal Differential Equations, which combine traditional integration with machine learning, hold the promise of a many-fold increase in the speed of computation in the near future 39 . Incorporation of further complexity into our model is straightforward: complex food webs and spatial structure, or further trait variables under selection (e.g., having both temperature optimum and body size evolve, the latter dictating the type of prey a species can consume 40 ), can all be implemented. An important future extension would be to use an improved climate model with annual temperature fluctuations, instead of our smooth increase based on annual means. Annual extreme weather events are expected to become more common 41 . Under such circumstances, Allee effects might mean more frequent extinctions than predicted from our current model, because species hit by such events might not be able to recover. On the other hand, annual temperature cycles could induce storage effects or relative nonlinearities 42 , 43 , which in combination with our already incorporated spatial variation could promote coexistence through joint spatial and temporal variation 44 .

We derive our equations using the idealizations of additive quantitative genetics and the weak selection limit 22 . Both have their drawbacks. The first assumes that all genetic variation is additive—genes and alleles at different loci do not interact. This ignores the fact that genes are part of a complex regulatory network in which interactions such as dominance, epistasis, and pleiotropy are bound to emerge. While purely additive quantitative genetics can be a good starting point for understanding the effects of selection 45 , 46 , it remains an approximation. In turn, the weak selection limit assumes that selection is not so strong as to prevent one from writing otherwise discrete-time dynamics in the continuous-time limit (SI, Section  1 ). In fact, from a practical point of view, this limit can actually allow for quite a strong selection. For this, however, one must assume very large population sizes so genetic and ecological drift do not overpower selection. The rule of thumb is that effective population size times the selection differential must exceed one 47 . This is obviously true if populations are so large that they can be modeled as continuous variables, but in reality, they are finite, and the weak selection assumption could potentially yield effects which we neglect. For example, a new immigrant at a habitat patch will naturally have a low population size and might not be able to establish even if it has higher fitness. Similarly, a slightly deleterious type will never spread in our approximation, while it might in reality, as known from the nearly neutral theory 48 . Although Akashi et al. 48 show that weak selection can often explain similar patterns of genome variation as the nearly neutral theory, a rigorous incorporation of the consequences of population finiteness in our model is still in the future.

There is one other important thing our model currently cannot do. Since trait distributions are assumed to be normal with constant variance, a species cannot split into two daughter lineages in response to disruptive selection, as this would require the trait distribution to become gradually more and more bimodal. As such, our model ignores speciation, which may turn out to be an important process in regions that become species-impoverished following climate change. In sexual populations, speciation can occur when the trait is a magic trait, which jointly drives competitive interactions but also assortative mating between similar phenotypes 49 , 50 . Here we strictly assume that temperature tolerance is not involved in mate choice. This, however, is an oversimplification because magic traits may in fact be very common in nature 51 . And magic traits may not even be necessary, since pseudo-magic traits (with two tightly linked loci, one under divergent selection and the other acting as a mating cue) can also promote speciation 52 . There are also non-ecological (e.g., mutation-order) speciation mechanisms that could play a role 53 . New species emerging by speciation could possibly mitigate the decrease of species we currently observe. But our model, in its current form, cannot incorporate these mechanisms.

The role of species interactions

Using our framework, we demonstrate that biotic factors such as trophic interactions and temperature-dependent competition are important in shaping species’ eco-evolutionary response to climate change—in fact, they can be as influential as the ability of species to adapt to new local climates or to disperse to new habitats. With trophic interactions and temperature-dependent competition, species have broader ranges and coexist to a higher degree, in comparison to the baseline model without the aforementioned dynamics. In addition, temperature-dependent competition significantly reduces global species loss. With constant competition as in our baseline scenario, competitive exclusions occur to a higher extent, a result in line with van Eldijk et al. 10 , showing that evolutionary rescue of one species leads to a competitive exclusion and extinction of another species. The importance of biotic interactions for shaping species’ response to climate change is well-known 8 , 10 , 15 , 16 . Our work complements these studies by further demonstrating the significance of biotic interactions in an eco-evolutionary setting as well. The mechanisms behind this are predator-mediated coexistence 28 , 29 (in the case of trophic interactions), and reduced interspecific competition with increasing trait distance 22 . Note that this last mechanism is not guaranteed to promote diversity, since the level of difference in mean temperature optima required for significant reductions in competition might mean that species have local growth rates that are too suboptimal for persistence. Thus, the ability of this mechanism to boost diversity depends on whether species are able to tolerate suboptimal climates sufficiently to avoid local competition.

There are interaction types we do not consider in this version of our framework. Similar to our modeling of competition, one could have temperature-dependent mutualism; i.e., the strength of the mutualistic benefit between two phenotypes is a function of the distance of their temperature optima. This process could potentially bind mutualistic species to a common fate 54 and thus accelerate the effects of climate change. Indeed, Northfield, Ives 55 showed that with non-conflicting evolution of mutualistic interactions, the effects of climate change are enhanced, and the dynamics are destabilized. Our model is extensible to incorporate other types of interactions and structures (e.g., modular or nested ones, either of trophic or mutualistic interactions). These are important future problems to address in the context of eco-evolutionary responses to climate change.

The role of dispersal and genetic variance

Besides the importance of biotic interactions affecting species’ persistence and distribution under climate change, we also show that their dispersal ability and available genetic variance (i.e., capacity to respond to selective pressures swiftly) influence their responses. When local conditions change and temperatures increase, species become increasingly maladapted at their initial locations and pre-adapted to temperatures at higher latitudes, driving a northward movement. Dispersal is therefore suggested as a mechanism that provides spatial insurance to species 56 , 57 , mitigating the negative impacts of climate change. However, a northward movement of initially warm-adapted species comes at the expense of the species located in the coldest regions which cannot disperse further 33 , a consequence of dispersal that has been shown in the previous studies 7 . One might think that combining good dispersal ability with large genetic variance should temper this problem by allowing the northernmost species to adapt locally, and thus alleviate the negative impacts of increased temperatures better than each of these processes on their own. This expectation is also consistent with recent projections based on empirical data 58 . However, the projected extinctions, considering both dispersal and species’ ability to adapt, have been obtained without explicitly considering species interactions 58 . We show that large genetic variance combined with good dispersal ability result in a global biodiversity loss similar to when both dispersal ability and evolutionary rate are low. The reason, again, has to do with species interactions: the ability of individual species to disperse and adapt to new local conditions is of no use if they are prevented by other species from reaching the new locations. Similarly, cold-adapted species may be able to sustain in their current location with large genetic variance, but get outcompeted by the arrival of better adapted migrating species. The negative interaction between high dispersal and fast adaptation under climate change has also been demonstrated by Thompson and Fronhofer 6 . However, in our case, we show that temperature-dependent competition reduces some of the negative impacts by allowing more local coexistence, albeit at the cost of reduced local growth rates.

Trait lag and trait dispersion

We show that models in which communities are able to maintain high biodiversity after altered climatic conditions will in general also have high trait diversity and low trait lag. This particularly occurs when species have temperature-dependent competition, allowing species to exploit different microhabitats within the same patch. High trait diversity results in high response capacity of the community to climate change and thus a lower overall trait lag. Species richness and trait dispersion can potentially be statistically correlated, as often found in biodiversity and ecosystem functioning studies 59 —although in our simulations this positive relationship holds only for the aggregated data as a whole, not necessarily within each individual model parameterization (SI, Section  4.1 ).

The trait in our study—the temperature optimum of each species—can also be regarded as a functional trait explaining how species share a resource. In our case, this is expressed as species’ exploration of habitats with suitable temperatures. High functional trait diversity has then been shown to be important for sustaining multiple ecosystem functions simultaneously, since coexisting species can exploit different resources and microhabitats 60 , 61 . It is encouraging for the general predictability of biotic climate impact models that the resulting trait dispersion in temperature-related traits strongly correlates with the ability of the community to cope with climate change. This can justify putting the focus on processes that can sustain local community-wide trait dispersion, providing an argument for general biodiversity-enhancing measures such as preserving habitat heterogeneity, maintaining populations of keystone species, and for constructing dispersal corridors.

The focus on trait dispersion has an important and complementary implication for traditional conservation strategies of more biodiversity is better. It simplifies the identification of strategies that underpin the maintenance of trait variation of a particular trait and thus a particular environmental driver that is of concern. For example, ensuring connectivity to habitats with higher mean temperature or temperature variation can promote an influx of species or genotypes that can cope with an increasing trend in temperature by maintaining the local trait variation of temperature optima. Local management strategies can target microhabitats that have south-facing sheltered microclimates to promote islands of environmental conditions that reflect possible future scenarios.

Conclusions

Biological communities are affected by many factors, ecological as well as evolutionary, which influence their response to climate change. Our framework demonstrates the importance of including relevant biological processes for predicting large-scale consequences of climate change on global and local biodiversity. Realistic mechanisms such as species interactions over multiple trophic levels and temperature-dependent competition, as well as particular combinations of dispersal and available genetic variance, can alleviate some of the negative impacts of climate change, showing potential ways for ecological communities to adjust to altered climatic conditions. Despite this, the negative impact of climate change on ecological communities is severe, with numerous global extinctions and effects that are manifested long after the climate has again stabilized.

We consider a chain of L evenly spaced patches along a latitudinal gradient, where patches 1 and L correspond to the north pole and equator, respectively. The temperature T k ( t ) in patch k at time t is given by

\({T}_{\min }\) and \({T}_{\max }\) are the initial polar and equatorial temperatures; \({C}_{\max }\) and \({C}_{\min }\) are the corresponding temperature increases after t E  = 300 years, based on the IPCC intermediate emission scenario 27 . The period from t  = −4000 to t  = 0 is an establishment time preceding climate change. Q ( τ ) describes the sigmoidal temperature increase in time: Q ( τ ) equals 0 for τ  < 0, 1 for τ  > 1, and 10 τ 3  − 15 τ 4  + 6 τ 5 otherwise. Figure  2 b depicts the resulting temperature change profile.

Combining quantitative genetics with dispersal across the L patches, we track the population density and mean temperature optimum of S species. Let \({N}_{i}^{k}\) be the density and \({\mu }_{i}^{k}\) the mean temperature optimum of species i in patch k (subscripts denote species; superscripts patches). The governing equations then read

(SI, Section  1 ), where t is time, \({r}_{i}^{k}(z)\) the per capita growth rate of species i ’s phenotype z in patch k , \({p}_{i}^{k}(z)\) species i ’s temperature optimum distribution in patch k (which is normal with patch-dependent mean \({\mu }_{i}^{k}\) and patch-independent variance \({\sigma }_{i}^{2}\) ), \({h}_{i}^{2}\) the heritability of species i ’s temperature optimum, and \({m}_{i}^{kl}\) the migration rate of species i from patch l to k . The per capita growth rates \({r}_{i}^{k}(z)\) read

is the intrinsic growth of species i ’s phenotype z in patch k . The constants ϱ i , b w , and a w modulate a tradeoff between maximum growth and tolerance range 62 , 63 (Fig.  2 a), κ i is a mortality rate, and T k is the current local temperature in patch k . In turn, \({a}_{ij}^{k}(z,z^{\prime} )\) is the competition coefficient between species i ’s phenotype z and species j ’s phenotype \(z^{\prime}\) in patch k . We either assume constant, patch- and phenotype-independent coefficients a i j , or ones which decline with increasing trait differentiation according to

(temperature-dependent competition), where η is the competition width. The parameter ϵ i in Eq. ( 4 ) is species i ’s resource conversion efficiency, and \({F}_{ij}^{k}\) is the feeding rate of species i on j in patch k :

where q i is species i ’s attack rate, W i j is the adjacency matrix of the feeding network ( W i j  = 1 if i eats j and 0 otherwise), ω i j is the proportion of effort of i on j , and H i is species i ’s handling time. When adding a second trophic level, the number of species on the new level is equal to that at the lower level, and each consumer is linked with five resource species in a bipartite feeding network (SI, Section  3.3 ).

We numerically integrated 100 replicates for each of 16 scenarios, made up of the fully factorial combinations of:

The average dispersal rate between adjacent patches, which was either high (100 m/yr) or low (0.01 m/yr).

The mean genetic variance per species, also either high (10 −1 ∘ C 2 ) or low (10 −3 ∘ C 2 ).

The model setup, which was one of the following:

One trophic level and constant competition coefficients, \({a}_{ij}^{k}(z,z^{\prime} )={a}_{ij}\) .

Two trophic levels and constant competition coefficients.

One trophic level and competition coefficients given by Eq. ( 6 ).

Two trophic levels and competition coefficients given by Eq. ( 6 ).

For each replicate, all other parameters are assigned based on Section  6 in the SI. Numerical integration of the system starts at t 0  = − 4000 years, with initial conditions

(SI, Section  3.7 ), and terminates at t  = 2500 years.

The community-average trait dispersion \({{{{{{{{\mathcal{V}}}}}}}}}^{k}\) of the local community in patch k is the density-weighted variance of species’ mean temperature optima:

where \({n}_{i}^{k}={N}_{i}^{k}/\mathop{\sum }\nolimits_{j = 1}^{S}{N}_{j}^{k}\) is the relative density of species i in patch k , and \({\bar{\mu }}^{k}=\mathop{\sum }\nolimits_{i = 1}^{S}{n}_{i}^{k}{\mu }_{i}^{k}\) is the community-weighted average of species’ temperature optima in patch k . In turn, the community-average trait lag \({{{{{{{{\mathcal{A}}}}}}}}}^{k}\) in patch k is defined as the difference between the local temperature T k and the local community-weighted mean trait \({\bar{\mu }}^{k}\) :

In Fig.  7 , these quantities are averaged over all patches of the landscape and over time, from the beginning to the end of climate change. These averages are taken separately for each of the 1600 model realizations (16 scenarios, with 100 replicates each).

Data availability

The computer-generated data of this study has been deposited and can be downloaded from https://zenodo.org/record/5060300 64 .

Code availability

Computer code for implementing our model and replicating our results can be found at https://zenodo.org/record/5060300 64 .

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Acknowledgements

We thank Priyanga Amarasekare and Peter Münger for discussions. This research was funded by the Swedish Research Council (grant FORMAS 2015-01262 to A.E., and grant VR 2017-05245 to G.B.).

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A.Å., B.E., and A.C. conceived of the initial study. G.B. wrote the supplement and developed the temperature-tolerance concept. J.N. contributed the trait-lag concept. A.Å. and G.B. performed data simulations and analysis. A.Å, G.B., and A.E. wrote the paper. All authors made significant edits to the final version of the manuscript.

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Åkesson, A., Curtsdotter, A., Eklöf, A. et al. The importance of species interactions in eco-evolutionary community dynamics under climate change. Nat Commun 12 , 4759 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24977-x

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• Biodiversity Essay

Essay on Biodiversity

Biodiversity is a term made up of two words - Bio meaning Life, and Diversity meaning Variety. The term biodiversity refers to the variety of life on Earth. Plants, animals, microbes, and fungi are all examples of living species on the planet.

Types of Biodiversity  

Genetic Biodiversity- Genetic diversity is the variation in genes and genotypes within a species, e.g., every human looks different from the other. 

Species Biodiversity- Species Diversity is the variety of species within a habitat or a region. It is the biodiversity observed within a community.

Ecosystem Biodiversity- Ecological biodiversity refers to the variations in the plant and animal species living together and connected by food chains and food webs.

Importance of Biodiversity 

Biodiversity is an integral part of cultural identity. Human cultures co-evolve with their environment and conservation is a priority for cultural identity. Biodiversity is used for Medicinal purposes.

Many plants and animals are used for medicinal purposes, like vitamins and painkillers. It contributes to climate stability. It helps in controlling the effects of climate change and managing greenhouse gases. 

Biodiversity provides more food resources. It supplies many vital ecosystems, such as creating and maintaining soil quality, controlling pests, and providing habitat for wildlife. Biodiversity has a relationship with Industry. Biological sources provide many Industrial materials including rubber, cotton, leather, food, paper, etc.

There are many economic benefits of Biodiversity. Biodiversity also helps in controlling pollution. Biodiversity helps in forming a healthy ecosystem. Biodiversity also acts as a source of recreation. Along with other factors, biodiversity helps in improving soil quality.

Long Essay on Biodiversity 

There are many economic benefits of Biodiversity. Biodiversity is a source of economic wealth for many regions of the world. Biodiversity facilitates Tourism and the Recreational industry. Natural Reserves and National Parks benefit a lot from it. Forest, wildlife, biosphere reserve, sanctuaries are prime spots for ecotourism, photography, painting, filmmaking, and literary works.

Biodiversity plays a vital role in the maintenance of the gaseous composition of the atmosphere, breakdown of waste material, and removal of pollutants.

Conservation of Biodiversity  

Biodiversity is very important for human existence as all life forms are interlinked with each other and one single disturbance can have multiple effects on another. If we fail to protect our biodiversity, we can endanger our plants, animals, and environment, as well as human life. Therefore, it is necessary to protect our biodiversity at all costs. Conservation of Biodiversity can be done by educating the people to adopt more environment-friendly methods and activities and develop a more harmonious and empathetic nature towards the environment. The involvement and cooperation of communities are very important. The process of continuous protection of Biodiversity is the need of the hour.

The Government of India, along with 155 other nations, has signed the convention of Biodiversity at the Earth Summit to protect it. According to the summit, efforts should be made in preserving endangered species. 

The preservation and proper management methods for wildlife should be made. Food crops, animals, and plants should be preserved. Usage of various food crops should be kept at a minimum. Every country must realize the importance of protecting the ecosystem and safeguarding the habitat. 

The Government of India has launched the Wild Life Protection Act 1972 to protect, preserve, and propagate a variety of species. The Government has also launched a scheme to protect national parks and sanctuaries. There are 12 countries - Mexico, Columbia, Peru, Brasil, Ecuador, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, India, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Australia, in which Mega Diversity Centres are located. These countries are tropical and they possess a large number of the world’s species.

Various hotspots have been made to protect the vegetation. There are various methods for conserving biodiversity. 

If biodiversity conservation is not done efficiently, each species would eventually become extinct due to a lack of appetite and hunger. This scenario has been a big issue for the last few decades, and many unique species have already become extinct. As a result of a lack of biodiversity protection, several species are still on the verge of extinction.

FAQs on Biodiversity Essay

1. What are the three types of Biodiversity?

Biodiversity is referred to as the variability that exists between the living organisms from different sources of nature, such as terrestrial, marine, and other aquatic ecosystems. Biodiversity has three levels, which are genetic, species, and ecosystem diversity. This is also considered as the type of ecosystem.

2. What is Biodiversity and why is it important?

Biodiversity is responsible for boosting the productivity of the ecosystems in which every species, no matter how small, has an important role to play. For example, a greater variety of crops can be obtained from a plant species which is in large numbers. If species diversity is in a greater amount, then it ensures natural sustainability for all life forms.

3. What is the connection between Biodiversity and the Food Chain?

If a single species goes extinct from the food chain, it will have an impact on the species that survive on it, putting them on the verge of extinction.

4. How are human beings affecting biodiversity?

Pollution- Pollution not only affects human beings, but also affects our flora and fauna, and we should control the pollution to conserve our biodiversity.

Population- Population control is a must to maintain a balance in our ecological system. Humans contribute to pollution by bursting crackers and by not following all the traffic rules.

5. How does Deforestation affect biodiversity?

Deforestation- Trees are very important for survival. They help in balancing out the ecosystem. Deforestation leads to the destruction of habitat. Deforestation should be stopped to protect our animals and plants. Deforestation not only removes vegetation that is important for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but it also emits greenhouse gases.

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Biodiversity Essay

Broadly speaking, biodiversity, also known as biological diversity, refers to various types of plants and animals on Earth. The process of continuous biodiversity conservation is essential right now. A greater level of biodiversity is necessary to maintain the harmony of the natural environment. Here are a few sample essays on biodiversity.

100 Words Essay On Biodiversity

200 words essay on biodiversity, 500 words essay on biodiversity.

The term "biodiversity" is used to describe the variety of plants, animals, and other species found in an environment. All of them have a significant impact on preserving the planet's healthy ecosystem. In order to sustain the health of the ecosystem and human life, it is critical to maintain a high degree of biodiversity.

However, maintaining biodiversity is getting more challenging due to the increasing air, water, and land pollution on our planet. A number of plant and animal species have gone extinct as a result of the quick environmental changes brought on by the aforementioned causes of biodiversity loss.

By encouraging individuals to adopt more environmentally friendly behaviours and practises and to build a more peaceful and sympathetic relationship with the environment, it is possible to preserve biodiversity.

‘Bio’, which stands for life, and ‘diversity’, which means variety, make up the phrase "biodiversity." The diversity of life on Earth is referred to as biodiversity. Living species include all types of plants, animals, microorganisms, and fungus.

Benefits Of Biodiversity

Community engagement to protect biodiversity is crucial. Biodiversity has several economic advantages.

Many parts of the world benefit economically from biodiversity. The tourism and recreation industries are facilitated by biodiversity. National Parks and Natural Reserves gain a lot from it.

The best locations for ecotourism, photography, art, cinematography, and literary works are in forests, animal reserves, and sanctuaries.

Biodiversity is essential for maintaining the gaseous composition of the atmosphere, breaking down waste, and removing contaminants.

Biodiversity helps in improving soil quality.

Types Of Biodiversity

Genetic Biodiversity | Genetic diversity refers to the variance in genes and genotypes within a species, such as how each individual human differs from the others in appearance.

Species Biodiversity | The variety of species found in a habitat or an area is known as species diversity. It is the diversity of life that is seen in a community. Ecosystem Biodiversity | The diversity of plant and animal species that coexist and are linked by food webs and food chains is referred to as ecological biodiversity.

The biological diversity of many plants and animals is essential to everything. However, biodiversity is declining daily for a number of causes. Our planet could no longer be a place to live if it doesn't stop. Thus, several strategies help in boosting the earth's biodiversity. The three main threats to biodiversity today are habitat loss, hunting, and poaching. At an alarming rate, humans are destroying forests, grasslands, reefs and other natural areas.

Hundreds of species that live in these habitats are therefore vanishing every year. Due to population decline caused by illegal hunting and poaching, several species are put under even more stress.

Importance Of Biodiversity

Maintaining biodiversity is crucial for the health of the ecological system. Many species of plants and animals are dependent on each other. As a result, if one becomes extinct, the others will begin to become vulnerable. Additionally, as both plants and animals are necessary for human existence, it is crucial for us as well. For instance, in order to exist, humans require food, which we obtain from plants. We cannot produce any crops if the soil does not provide a conducive climate. As a result, we won't be able to live sustainably on this planet.

Biodiversity in both flora and fauna is essential today. Therefore, to prevent the decrease in species in danger, we need to implement a number of interventions. Furthermore, vehicle pollution should decrease. So that both humans and animals can get fresh air to breathe. Moreover, it will also decrease global warming which is the major cause of the extinction of the species.

How To Preserve Biodiversity

The basic goal of biodiversity conservation is to protect life on earth, all species, the ecosystem, and a healthy environment for all time so that it will continue to be healthy for future generations. The maintenance of the food chain, the provision of a healthy habitat for many animals, including people, and the promotion of our sustainable development all depend heavily on biodiversity conservation.

Here are some ways you can preserve biodiversity:

Set Up Gardens | The simplest approach to increase biodiversity is to build gardens inside of homes. In the yard or even on the balcony, you may grow a variety of plants. Additionally, this would contribute to bringing in more fresh air within the house.

Plant Local Flowers, Fruits And Vegetables | Plant a variety in your backyard or a hanging garden using the native plants, fruits, and vegetables of your region. Nurseries are excellent places to learn about caring for and preserving plants.

3 R’s | Reduce your consumption, reuse what you can, recycle before throwing away.

Since humans consume the majority of biodiversity resources, it is primarily their duty to maintain and safeguard biodiversity in order to save the environment. The diversity of species, the health of the ecosystem, the state of the environment, and the continued viability of life on earth are crucial. By maintaining and safeguarding species, ecosystems, and natural resources, biodiversity conservation can be achieved for the sustainability of a healthy planet. Some rare species can be saved with the help of law enforcement.

All living species are interconnected and can be negatively impacted by one disturbance and therefore maintaining biodiversity is crucial for human survival. Inadequate biodiversity protection puts human life, as well as the lives of plants, animals, and the environment, at danger. As a result, we must make every effort to preserve our biodiversity.

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Short Notes on Theories of Species Diversity

• First Online: 27 October 2021

Cite this chapter

• Atsushi Yamauchi 15 ,
• Kei Tokita 16 ,
• Toshiyuki Namba 17 &
• Tae-Soo Chon 18 , 19  

Part of the book series: Creative Economy ((CRE))

485 Accesses

1 Citations

In the 1970s, a theoretical ecologist deduced that a biological community tends to be unstable with increasing numbers of species and interactions. Because many species coexist and have complex interactions in natural communities, ecologists have investigated the characteristics and underlying mechanisms of species diversity. In this chapter, we review theoretical studies that investigate mechanisms of coexistence in complex biological networks. A variety of hypotheses have been proposed to explain the mechanism of species diversity, each of which is focused on specific processes of species interactions and/or community dynamics. We categorize these theoretical models, describing types of focal mechanisms as either “fitness dependence” or “fitness independence.” Despite the diverse hypotheses, no key factor of species diversity has been clarified, mainly due to difficulties in testing the hypotheses. We conclude that more interdisciplinary and integrative studies are needed to understand species diversity in depth.

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Yamauchi, A., Tokita, K., Namba, T., Chon, TS. (2021). Short Notes on Theories of Species Diversity. In: Nishimura, K., Murase, M., Yoshimura, K. (eds) Creative Complex Systems. Creative Economy. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4457-3_3

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Essay on Biodiversity

List of short and long essays on biodiversity, biodiversity essay for kids and school students, essay on biodiversity – essay 1 (150 words), essay on biodiversity: types, importance and conclusion – essay 2 (250 words), essay on biodiversity: with threats and importance – essay 3 (300 words), essay on biodiversity: introduction, importance, decline and steps – essay 4 (400 words), essay on biodiversity – essay 5 (500 words), biodiversity essay for competitive exam and upsc civil services exam, essay on biodiversity: with conclusion – essay 6 (600 words), essay on biodiversity: facts, importance and preservation – essay 7 (750 words), essay on biodiversity in india – essay 8 (1000 words).

Introduction:

Biodiversity also known as biological diversity is the variables that exist among several species living in the ecosystem. These living organisms include marine, terrestrial and aquatic life. Biodiversity aims to understand the positions these organisms occupy in the broader ecosystem.

Importance of Biodiversity:

When there is biodiversity in our ecosystem it translates to a greener environment. This is because plant life thrives in a balanced ecosystem. This invariably affects humans as we consume plants for our survival. Also, a healthy ecosystem can help to reduce the risk of diseases and the way we respond to them.

Increasing Biodiversity:

Some changes could be encouraged to improve biodiversity in our environment.

Some of them are:

1. Stopping penetration of invasive alien species.

2. Using sustainable agricultural methods.

3. Having protected areas for spices to thrive.

4. Having an organic maintenance culture for fertilizers.

Conclusion:

To make the world a safe place for all organisms, we must maintain good health in all the ecosystems. This is the benefit of paying attention to biodiversity.

Diversity is the hallmark of nature. Things exist in different forms which creates diversity. Biodiversity is a significant and desirable variation in plant and animal existence on the surface of the earth. The variation exists due to genetics, species and the ecosystem or the habitat. Biodiversity is an important aspect in the world because it enables the survival and sustainability of living things on earth.

Types of Biodiversity:

The variation in living things has resulted in different types of biodiversity depending on the certain variables. Genetic diversity is due to the genetic components shared by living organisms. The species that have similar genes diverge and they develop differently thus creating biodiversity. Species diversity occurs when a habitat comprises different kinds of living things. Ecological diversity is through the interaction of living things that share common sources of energy in an ecosystem which contributes to biodiversity.

The existence of living things in an ecosystem and the functioning of the ecosystem contribute to the relevance of biodiversity in nature. Through biodiversity, living organisms are able to acquire food and other important resources to sustain their lives. The climate and environmental changes are regulated because of biodiversity. The culture is enriched through biodiversity as it involves existence of several groups of species and people in one environment.

All the three types of biodiversity are important to the existence of living organisms. The ecosystem is the hallmark of diversity because it helps to sustain the lives of diverse living things.

Biodiversity is the variability or the diversity of the different species of life forms. The planet earth is habitat for a wide variety of flora and fauna like plants, animals and other life forms.

What is Biodiversity?

Biodiversity or Biological diversity refers to the variety and variability of living beings on planet earth and it is the degree of variation of life. It represents the wealth of biological assets available on earth and encompasses microorganism, plants, animals and ecosystems such as coral reefs, forests, rainforests, deserts etc.

Threats to Biodiversity:

The growing population, industrialization, technology, etc., all are impacting biodiversity. The increased human activities have been reducing the natural area for plants, animals and other living things. A number of plants and animals have gone extinct because of increased deforestation and other factors. Growing pollution, causing global warming and climate change, is a big threat to biodiversity. The decline in biodiversity would in turn lead to imbalance in the ecosystem and would become a threat to the human race as well as other living organisms.

Different plants and animals are dependent on others to live and keep the natural surroundings in a balanced state. For example, human beings are dependent on various plants and animals for their food, shelter, safety, clothes etc. Similarly, every living species is dependent on some other species. It is, therefore, important to preserve biodiversity in our planet in order to maintain the ecological balance.

Protecting Biodiversity:

As we know, the biodiversity loss is a serious threat for human race, we all should work for maintaining biodiversity, and find out solutions to reduce the biodiversity decline. Since, air pollution and deforestation are major threats to biodiversity, these are the first things that need to be controlled. Government should frame stricter laws and organizations should sensitize people to be concerned about it and contribute their bit.

Biodiversity, also referred to as the biological diversity refers to the diversified form of plants and animals that exists in our planet . It also denotes each and every aspect of the ecosystem such as micro-organisms, coral reefs, rainforests, deserts, forests etc.,

A good balance in biodiversity supports human race and humans on the other hand must ensure to save biodiversity. This essay is going to talk about the importance of biodiversity and the role of human beings in safeguarding the ecosystem.

There are more than 300,000 species of flora that has been identified and there should be many more unidentified varieties. Similarly there must be infinite variety of other species in our Earth and these together form a perfect natural protection for the human race. Biodiversity supports human race in different ways.

Few of them are listed below:

1. Some of the species capture and stores energy and releases it back in the atmosphere for human consumption.

2. Some biological species help in decomposing organic materials and thus acts as a natural recycling agent.

3. Plants and trees help in reducing pollution and maintain the purity of atmospheric air.

4. It is from the biological resources that humans receive food and shelter.

5. The astonishing beauty of biodiversity is the base for tourism industry to flourish.

Decline in Biodiversity:

The Earth’s biodiversity is undergoing a severe decline and this is a great threat to the human race. There are several factors that lead to the decline in biological species, the most significant one being the behavior of human beings.

1. Human beings destroy forests to build houses and offices. Through deforestation humans are actually destroying the natural habitat of many plants and animals.

2. All new scientific inventions are causing harm to the environment. We cannot even find some species of birds today because of the increase in noise pollution.

3. Global warming is another reason for the decline in biodiversity. Some species require specific climate to survive and when the climatic conditions change continuously these species either migrate or become extinct. Decline in the number of coral reefs are a perfect example.

Steps to Be Taken:

The Government and different voluntary organizations must act upon immediately to create awareness among people on environmental issues and its consequences. It is also the responsibility of every common man to save mother Earth by maintaining a rich biodiversity .

If proper care is not taken, the biodiversity of Earth may become extinct one day and if it happens then, humans have to find another planet to live. It’s better to act now before it gets too late.

Biodiversity can be said to mean the extreme importance of a very wide variety of animals and plants that are resident on the planet earth or in a particular habitat. It is very necessary to maintain the level of biodiversity on the earth so that the environmental harmony can be balanced. Biological diversity is another name for biodiversity and is widely the variability or diversity of all the different species of animals and plants on this planet. Having a very high biodiversity is extremely essential to help maintain the surroundings in a state of harmony. Biodiversity can be loosely defined as a variety of fauna and flora that are available in a specific habitat or the planet earth. Biodiversity is largely originated from the terms – species diversity and species richness.

Biodiversity is mainly a united view of the biological varieties. A lot of other words and terms have been at one time or another used to explain diversity. Some of these terms include taxonomic diversity (this comes from a species diversity point of view), ecological diversity (this comes from an ecosystem diversity point of view), morphological diversity (this comes from a genetic diversity point of view) and functional diversity (this comes from the point of view of the functions of the species). Biodiversity gives quite a uniform view of the above discussed biological varieties.

Biological diversity is quite important because its helps maintain the ecological balance in a system. Different animals and plants depend on one another to fulfill all of their needs. For example, we human beings depend on various animals and plants for our clothes, shelter and food. Other species also do the same and depend on a variety of other species to sustain them and provide them with the basics. Biodiversity and its beautiful richness ensure that the earth is fit enough for the survival of each and every one of the organism living on the earth. However, the ever increasing pollution is negatively affecting biodiversity. Quite a lot of animals and plants have gone into extinction as a result of this pollution and a lot more are going to become extinct if proper care is not taken and the pollution of the environment continues to exponentially and this would cause a sharp decline in the biodiversity.

We human beings have to understand how important the maintenance of the immensely rich biodiversity is. Smokes from vehicles causes a high rate of air pollution and this causes harm to a lot of species. The level of pollution in the atmosphere has to be put under control. Water bodies like seas, oceans and rivers are polluted by the release of industrial wastes into the. These wastes are very harmful to the marine organism and life in the water bodies. There is therefore a need to try as much as possible to dispose industrial wastes through other means and methods that do not harm the environment. The industrial wastes can be primarily treated before being disposed into the water properly and safely.

When you are a biology student biodiversity is one of the most important words you can learn. Not only that but it also becomes your lives calling to maintain it. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves before we can understand why it is important, we need to understand what it is.

This term refers to the many different life forms that inhabit the earth at this moment, this includes bacteria, plants, animals and humans and it also refers to their shared environment. Life has manifested itself in many different forms we do not know why exactly but we are certain that they all exist and depend on each other for survival.

Why is biodiversity important?

The answer to this question is more important than just simply stating what biodiversity is. My personal experience as a student has thought me that I learn best when I have an example so I will give you an example of the importance of biodiversity.

The famous Yellowstone Park is a natural reserve and national park but before it was declared as such it was just another forest that man wanted to hunt in. The geographical region had many wolfs inhabiting its plains, for generations they were hunted until they became extinct in the region. After a while, the coyotes began to reproduce as they hade more space and they started hunting the small mammals, which lead to a decrease in the population of eagles in the area but the most significant change came because of the deer. After fifty years of no wolfs in the park the number of roe deer rose and since they had no natural predators, they no longer feared open grasslands. That’s when they started grazing extensively which depleted the grass on the shore of the Yellow stone river and this, in turn, made the soil loos. The river began to take away a lot of soil and to deposit it in other places flooding certain areas while at the same time causing droughts to happen in other places.

Biologists came to the park with a wish to restore its wolf population and after a decade of planning and working they restored one pack to the park. The pack soon made the deer go back to the forest so they could be harder to hunt, the coyote’s population dropped because they couldn’t compete with the wolf, that led to the increase of small rodents which let to the return of carnivores’ grate birds. But above all the grazing on the river edge stopped and after a few years, the Yellowstone river returned to its natural flow.

This story is completely true and I love to use it as an example of the importance of maintaining biodiversity. There are many regions in the world that have similar problems and if we do not do our best to conserve biodiversity, we could be looking at similar or even worst natural catastrophes.

People tend to mass produce and they do this with most things. They will destroy a forest of many thousands of life forms to make a plantation with one single plant, the same is true of animal farming. With our need to be productive all the time we lose sight of the small things that make the system function as whole. Even though an insignificant thing as a bug or a wolf pack might seem the least important for our daily lives once we take them out of the picture, we see that the balance and wealth biodiversity gives to the planet is not something that can be easily compensated.

The genetic, species and ecosystem variability of flora and fauna on earth are known as Biodiversity. For painting what exactly is Biodiversity, we need a large canvas beyond imagination. Such is the volume of the subject. But, the actual meaning and terms are still not clear.

Keeping it very simple and to the point, the term ‘Biodiversity’ comprises of two words. The first word is Bio, and the other one is Diversity. Bio means the forms of life and Diversity means mixture or variety. So, when both the words combine they form a definition like this ‘Biodiversity means various and mixed forms of life on earth.’ The variety of life forms on earth includes plants and animals and their natural habitat.

Facts about Biodiversity:

Digging into the term ‘Biodiversity’ more generously makes us realize that we have over 10,000 species of birds on earth. The amazing number blows everyone’s mind. Insects have a different counting, and their species are in millions. Plants are also a part of this biological system, and hence there are more than 20,000 species of plants.

Even after so many species of plants, animals and insects have specified there are still over millions of species which are not known by anyone. These species cannot be counted under any head as they don’t pursue an identity. The actual picture says that earth is home to almost 50 million species or even more than that. These facts do not conclude the point because one or the other day there may be many new species evolving.

Biodiversity is essential for survival. The importance of Biodiversity not only related to plants, animals and natural habitat. But it also provides us so many natural products such as fibre and timber and the fresh water to carry out our daily lives. Therefore we need to understand the importance of Biodiversity.

1.   The natural and organic resources:

In the happiness of living our lives, we often forget that Biodiversity is a part of nature. We should protect it no matter whatever be the limitations. Mother Nature has provided us with enough resources which are the Biological Resources. These include wood, medicines, food, etc., which are direct blessings of Biological System or by-product of the Biological Systems. Herbs and plants play a vital role in producing medicines. They may get their final touch from the pharmaceutical companies, but the original source is plants which are again a part of Biodiversity.

2. Biodiversity provides fibres:

It is important to know that wool, jute, palms, etc., use to produce various types of fibres after processing which are again part of the Biological Systems. So, if biodiversity does not persist how people will have access to these fibres? Flax plants use for the production of linen, which is extensively using for making clothes. Similarly, Corchorus plants and Agave plants are using for the production of Jute and sisal respectively. These fibres are no doubt essential for the cloth industry. Therefore it becomes our duty to maintain the Biodiversity.

3. Powerful benefits of Biodiversity:

People may not be aware of the importance, but there are many spiritual benefits of biodiversity. Our folk dances, mythology, and history have a deep link with the Biodiversity in one or the other way. Everyone enjoys or experience the Biodiversity in a different format. Biological diversity also contributes to attracting tourists, especially flora and fauna, which is a rare phenomenon in cities. Therefore it is our ethical duty to preserve Biodiversity.

Preserve Biodiversity:

There are different ways in which we can preserve our Biological environment. Biodiversity should be protected by following these ways.

i. People should stop the process of hunting and poaching the animals. They are a part of Biodiversity.

ii. Protection of endangered species and their surroundings.

iii. We need to curb pollution for protecting Biodiversity.

iv. The explosive growth of population is a threat to Biodiversity. So, to maintain the biological balance, we need to have the population growth under control. Otherwise, people will be exploiting natural resources unethically for survival.

All steps must be taken to protect biodiversity. Things may seem difficult in the initial stages but practicing them will lead to genuine results. Creating awareness on environmental issues and the negative impact of the loss of biodiversity will let people understand the inevitable need for biodiversity conservation.

It is our responsibility to protect the endangered species of plant and animals. If one wants to reach their destination, then it is imperative to take the first step. Without taking a step forward, things will never change on their own. To make a better tomorrow, we need to take steps for preserving our very own Biodiversity.

Biodiversity is a term used to refer the different forms of life on the Earth. It also includes the variety of species in the ecosystem. There is an uneven distribution of the biodiversity on the Earth due to the extreme variation of temperatures in different regions. For instance, it is more in regions near the equator due to warm climatic conditions. However, near the pole, the extreme cold and unfavourable weather conditions do not support a majority of life forms. Additionally, changes in climatic conditions on the Earth over a period of time have also led to the extinction of a number of species.

Biodiversity is often defined at different levels depending upon the category of species. For example, taxonomic diversity is used to measure the species diversity level of different forms of life on the Earth. Ecological diversity is a broader term used for the ecosystem diversity. Similarly, functional diversity is a type used to measure diversity based on their feeding mechanisms along with other functions of species within a population.

Distribution:

There is an uneven distribution of biodiversity on the Earth. In fact, it increases from pole to equator. The climatic conditions of a region decide the presence of different species in an area. Not all species can survive in all weather conditions. Moreover, lower altitudes have a high concentration of species as compared to higher altitudes.

The importance of biodiversity does not only lie in the survival of various species of the earth. There is social, cultural as well as the economic importance of it as well. Biodiversity is of extreme importance to maintain the balance of nature. It is vital to maintaining the food chain as well. One species may be the food for another species and various species are linked to each other through this food chain. Apart from this, there is scientific importance of the biodiversity as well. The research and breeding programmes involve the variety of species. If these species cease to exist then such programmes shall not be possible.

Also, most of the drugs and medicine which are vital for the cure of many diseases are also made from many plants and animals. For instance, penicillin is a fungus through which the penicillin antibiotic is extracted.

Another important importance of biodiversity is that it provides food to all including human beings. All the food we consume is either derived from plants or animals such as fishes and other marine animals. They are also the source of new crops, pesticides and source material for agricultural practices.

Biodiversity is also important for industrial use. We get many products such as fur, honey, leather and pearls from animals. Moreover, we get timber for plants which are the basis of the paper we use in our everyday life. Tea, coffee and other drinks along with dry fruits and our regular fruits and vegetables, all are obtained from the various plants.

There is cultural and religious importance of many species as well. Many plants and animals are worshipped in different cultures and religions such as Ocitnum sanctum (Tulsi) which is a plant worshipped by Hindus.

Biodiversity in India:

India ranks among the top 12 nations which have a rich heritage of biodiversity. There are about 350 different species of mammals along with 12000 different species of birds which are found in India. Additionally, there are around 50000 species of insects which have their habitat in our country. There are a wide variety of domestic animals such as cows and buffaloes along with marine life which is found in India. Moreover, India is a land of 10 different biographical regions which include islands, Trans Himalayas, Desert, Western Ghats, Gangetic Plain, Semi-arid zone, Northeastern zone, Deccan Plateau, Coastal islands and the Western Ghats.

The Gradual Decrease:

Not all species which existed in the ancient times exist today as well. For example, dinosaurs used to exist on our planet in older times. But they were not able to adapt to the changing environmental conditions which led to their extinction from the Earth. Similarly, there are many other species which are on the verge of extinction due to the urbanisation and modernisation of the world. With the increase in population, there has been a constant need to reduce the forest areas and make way for new cities. This has led to the reduction in forests which are the natural habitat for many wild animals and plants. Due to this many wild plants have become extinct and there has been an increase in the man-animal conflict as well. Hence there has been a need to conserve the biodiversity so as to maintain the balance of nature.

Initiatives for the Conservation of Biodiversity:

There have been initiatives by the governments all over the world to conserve the existing biodiversity on the earth. For example, there are dedicated national parks which earmark the area for wild animals and plants and reduce human intervention in their lives. There are various wildlife conservation programmes in place to protect the vulnerable and endangered species. For example, Project Tiger is one such measure in place to increase the population of tigers in our country.

There are also many laws in place which make the hunting of endangered and vulnerable animals a punishable offence. At the international level, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) have also initiated many programmes in order to preserve various species.

It is not possible for the human to live all alone on the Earth. Various other life forms are equally important and play their roles in the mutual survival of the various species on the Earth. Each one of species has its own set of contribution for the environment. Already many species have become extinct as they were not able to survive in the changing weather conditions. Hence it is our duty to ensure that our activities do not affect the other flora and fauna on the planet. Although there are a number of steps taken by the government so as to preserve the various life forms, we should also contribute individually towards this cause. If we do not act today, we may yet again witness the extinction of the vulnerable biodiversity which may further disturb the balance of nature.

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(Spec. Divers.)  ISSN 1342-1670 (Print); ISSN 2189-7301 (Online)

A Peer-reviewed, Open-access Journal for Taxonomy, Systematics, Speciation, Biogeography, and Life History Research of Animals

Indexed: DOAJ , Scopus , Zoological Record ; Archived: Portico

Aims and Scope

Species Diversity is an open-access journal that publishes new and significant findings on zoological diversity, with its primary focus on the terrestrial, freshwater, and marine fauna of Japan, East Asia, and the surrounding regions and seas. The journal also strives to contribute to an understanding of the faunal diversity of all parts of the world.

The editors actively encourage the submission of papers dealing with all aspects of animal taxonomy, systematics, speciation, biogeography, and life history. Various styles of paper are sought, ranging from voluminous revisions and review articles to single species descriptions, other short research reports, and essays concerning zoological nomenclature.

Species Diversity is published by the Japanese Society of Systematic Zoology (JSSZ) . It was founded in 1996 as the English-language successor to the Proceedings of the Japanese Society of Systematic Zoology ( Dōbutsu Bunrui Gakkai Shi : ISSN 0287-0223) [Apr. 1965–Dec.1996], which is now published by JSSZ under the title TAXA as a Japanese-language journal.

The Japanese Society of Systematic Zoology

Online First: All issues of Species Diversity are available at J-STAGE

 (free access; https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/browse/specdiv/ ).

Articles in Volumes 17–22 are also available at PierOnline ( https://www.pieronline.jp/content/serial/1342-1670 ).

Journal History and Publication Format

In order to facilitate prompt publication, with Vol. 5 in 2000 “Species Diversity” switched from publishing physical issues twice a year to four times each year. With Vol. 17 in 2012 the publishing schedule for physical issues (increased in size from A5 to A4 format) reverted to twice a year, with strict adherence then and subsequently to the target dates of May 25 and November 25. A more significant change that year was the introduction of an online-first model for electronic publication. 

The ability over the past 10 years to publish articles speedily online while also strictly adhering to a twice-a-year schedule for physical issues is the result of the efforts of a strong editorial board comprising experts, as well as quick attention to the many editorial tasks involved.

In order to reduce the financial burden on JSSZ and in recognition of the growing importance of electronic publication, it was decided in 2022 to publish a single combined physical issue of “Species Diversity” on November 25 each year while still strictly observing the publication dates of May 25 and November 25 (see printed issues) for the virtual issues.

Ethics and Disclosures

The journal is committed to maintaining the highest level of integrity in the content it publishes.

The journal supports the code of ethics of the "Declaration of Helsinki". Research must be conducted within this framework ( https://www.wma.net/what-we-do/medical-ethics/declaration-of-helsinki/ ). Submitted manuscripts will be checked for plagiarism and duplicate publication using the Crossref Similarity Check text-matching software ( https://www.crossref.org/services/similarity-check/ ). We endorse and follow the WAME (World Association of Medical Editors) principles and guidelines on how to deal with misconduct : R ecommendations on Publication Ethics Policies for Medical Journals ( https://wame.org/recommendations-on-publication-ethics-policies-for-medical-journals ). 

In addition, based on the Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS) provisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), authors are also required to properly comply with international legislation concerning the use of genetic resources and with the laws and regulations of the countries where specimens were collected. It is also recommendedthat, in the manuscript, the authors include proper evidence of ABS compliance (e.g. code numbers of official documents, names of local institutional contacts, etc.). If necessary, the ABS advisory editor will provide authors with suggestions and recommendations on correct compliance with their ethical responsibilities.

Read the contents in NOTICE TO CONTRIBUTORS [click here]

Peer Review Process, Editing and Publication

Manuscripts are accepted for consideration on the understanding that the content has not concurrently been submitted or accepted for publication elsewhere. All manuscripts will be reviewed by at least two referees (single blind) selected by the Editor and Associate Editors, except for Correction or Erratum manuscripts, which will be checked by the Editor. Manuscripts revised after review will be returned to the authors again after a final round of copy-editing, check for adherence to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, Fourth Edition (International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature 1999), etc. The criterion for publication is the scientific merit of the work. Final responsibility for acceptance of manuscripts lies with the Editor. The Editor and Publisher reserve the right to modify manuscripts to eliminate ambiguity and repetition, and to improve communication between author and reader.

A published article becomes the permanent property of the Japanese Society of Systematic Zoology. Prior to its publication, the author(s) should transfer the exclusive copyright of the article, which includes the rights set forth in Articles 27 and 28 of the Japanese Copyright Act, to the Society with the exception of the copyright of any supplementary material of the article. From Volume 28 Issue No. 2 in 2023, all articles are published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC BY, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium of format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source. The contents of the articles are licensed under the CC BY 4.0, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material from other sources is included in the article, it is the authors’ responsibility to obtain an appropriate permission from the copyright holder.

Submissions from outside Japan

The Article Processing Charge (APC) is 5,000 Japanese yen (JPY), and by paying the APC you will receive membership in the JSSZ until December of the current year. During this time, you can submit as many articles as you like without paying any page charges. Articles with at least one JSSZ member as co-author will be submitted. Of course, all papers in this journal are open access.

Submissions from within Japan

At least one JSSZ member must be among the authors of any submitted manuscript. From 2023 the annual membership dues are 8,000 JPY, which includes subscriptions to both “Species Diversity” the Japanese serial "Taxa".

Page charges

There are no page charges for papers printed in black and white, but the charges to have the figures appear in color in the printed versions are 5,000 JPY + tax per printed color page. There are no page charges if the print is in black and white and the only PDF version is in color .

Manuscripts should follow the "Notice to Contributors" to ensure that they are prepared in the style and format of the journal. Manuscripts should be sent as an email attachment to the manuscript submission address of Tomomi Saito, Editor-in-Chief <species_diversity(a)jssz.sakura.ne.jp> (replace " (a)" with "@").

Editors may give authors special instructions, especially if many image files are submitted.

In your cover letter, providing the names of three or more potential reviewers and their postal and email addresses will  facilitate the review process.

In addition, be sure to include the following four statements in your cover letter. This is important. The details are also to be clearly stated in the Ethics and Disclosures section of the manuscript.

1) All authors have agreed to submit the manuscript, and the Corresponding Author has received permission from the co-authors. [Please also state each author’s contribution to the article or research.]

2) This article has not previously been published and is not concurrently being considered for publication elsewhere

3) The article does not infringe on the copyright or other proprietary rights of any person or entity and does not contain abusive, defamatory, obscene, fraudulent, or otherwise unlawful statements of any kind.

4) The authors declare that they have no known conflicts of interest that may have influenced the work reported in this article. [If in fact any conflicts of interest exist, they must be specified here in place of this statement.]

If the above conditions are not met, the editorial process will not be initiated.

To Contributors

Details of NOTICE TO CONTRIBUTORS [click here]

"Declarations format" has been added since 2023.

Declarations format ( docx ; in English ) ( 1 1 March 202 3 updated : A new “Declarations” format has been created and is uploaded here for reference.)

Notice to Contributors (PDF; in Japanese) ( 28 December 202 3 updated)

Application for Membership (PDF)

Manuscript submission address

species_diversity(a)jssz.sakura.ne.jp  [replace “(a)” with “@”]

The left button will launch your email software so you can send your manuscript directly to Species Diversity .

EDITOR- IN -C HIEF

Tomomi Saito , Professor : Crustacea: Usa Marine Biological Institute, Kochi University, 194 Inoshiri, Usa-cho, Tosa, Kochi 781-1164, Japan

E-mail: [email protected]     ORCID: 0000-0001-9776-5453

https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/ABL-5736-2022

EDITORIAL BOARD

Details of EDITORIAL BOARD [click here]

Masaharu Motokawa: The Kyoto University Museum, Kyoto

Hiroyuki Motomura: The Kagoshima University Museum, Kagoshima

Teruaki Nishikawa: Nagoya University, Nagoya

Kyu-Tek Park: The Korean Academy of Science and Technology, Gyeonggi-do

Greg Rouse: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, San Diego

Andreas Schmidt-Rhaesa: Zoological Museum Hamburg, Hamburg

Satoshi Shimano: Hosei University, Tokyo

Ronald Sluys: Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden

Martin V. Sørensen: Natural History Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen

Sabine Stöhr: Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm

Robert M. Woollacott: Harvard University, Cambridge

Editorial Staffs (2024–2026)

Managing editor.

Shinta Fujimoto , Ph.D.: Tardigrada: Graduate School of Sciences and Technology for Innovation, Yamaguchi University, 1677-1 Yoshida, Yamaguchi 753-8512, Japan

E -mail: [email protected]   ORCID: 0000-0002-1739-3010

https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/52138066

ASSOCIATE (SUBJECT) EDITORS

Ken Maeda, Ph.D. : Fishes: Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, 1919-1 Tancha, Onna-son, Okinawa, 904-0495 Japan

E -mail: [email protected]    ORCID: 0000-0003-3631-811X   

https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/1423008

Toshio Kawai , Ph.D. : Fishes: Faculty of Fisheries Sciences, Hokkaido University, 3-1-1 Minato-cho, Hakodate, Hokkaido 041-8611, Japan

E -mail: [email protected]     ORCID: 0000-0003-0150-9207

Shimpei F. Hiruta , Ph.D .: Crustacea: The Mt. Fuji Institute for Nature and Biology, Showa University, 4562 Kamiyoshida, Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi 403-0005, Japan

E -mail: [email protected]     ORCID: 0000-0001-7890-1720

https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/37684009

Yoshihisa Fujita , Professor : Echinodermata and Crustacea: Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts, 1-4 Shuri-Tounokura, Naha, Okinawa 903–8602, Japan

E -mail: [email protected]     ORCID: 0000-0003-1906-746X

https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/41223446

Naoto Sawada , Ph.D. : Mollusca: School of Science, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan

E -mail: [email protected]     ORCID: 0000-0002-7480-4672

https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/41669976

Natsumi Hookabe , Ph.D .: Nemertea and Annelida : Research Institute for Global Change, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, 2-15 Natsushimacho, Yokosuka, Kanagawa 237-0061, Japan

E -mail: [email protected]   ORCID: 0000-0002-3498-8614

https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/48215024

Aoi Tsuyuki , Ph.D.: Platyhelminthes : Faculty of Science, University of the Ryukyus, 1 Sembaru, Nishihara, Okinawa 903-0213, Japan

E -mail: [email protected]   ORCID: 0000-0002-6001-0679

https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/29568613

Ken-ichi Okumura , Ph.D.: Arachnida and Other Terrestrial Arthropods : Department of Zoology, National Museum of Nature and Science, 4-1-1 Amakubo, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0005, Japan

E -mail: [email protected]

https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/43235444

EDITORIAL CONSULTANT

Takafumi Nakano, Ph .D.: Copyeditor, Nomenclature-consultant, ZooBank editor, and J-Stage contents administrator: Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kitashirakawa-oiwakecho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan

E-mail: [email protected]    ORCID: 0000-0001-6107-2188

https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/H-6164-2019

ABS ADVISORY EDITOR

Francesco Ballarin, Ph .D.: ABS advisor y editor : ABS Support Team at Makino Herbarium , Tokyo Metropolitan University , 1-1 Minami-Osawa, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo, 192-0397, Japan.Japan

e-mail: [email protected]

PAYMENT of Article Processing Charges (APC) / ADMISSION

Payments can be made via PayPal . Please send an email to the secretary and we will send you a PayPal link for payment. You can also choose to send your payment by bank transfer to "Japanese Society of Systematic Zoology". ( Paypal is recommend, which has no bank charges.)

Ko Tomikawa, Professor: Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hiroshima University, Kagamiyama 1-1-1, Higashihiroshima, Hiroshima 739-8524 Japan

PAYMENT address for A PC / ADMISSION

secretary(a)jssz.sakura.ne.jp [replace “(a)” with “@”] The left button will launch your email software so you can send an email request for a PayPal link or a bank account with which to pay the APC of Species Diversity.

Notice about Copyright

From Volume 28 Issue No. 2 , in which the first article was published on 25th July 2023 , all articles of Species Diversity are published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC BY, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium of format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source.  The contents of the articles are licensed under the CC BY 4.0, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the articles' CC BY 4.0 and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you or your organization will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

All articles published in Volume 1 in 1996 to Volume 28 Issue No. 1, of which the last work was published on 25th May 2023, are archived for free access in J-Stage ( https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/browse/specdiv/-char/en ). T he Japanese Society of Systematic Zoology reserves all rights of the works in Volume 1 to Volume 28 Issue No. 1 under copyright law.

In order to photocopy any work from Volume 1 to Volume 28 Issue No. 1 of Species Diversity, therefore, you or your organization must obtain permission from the following organization which has been delegated for copyright clearance by the copyright owner of this journal.

Except in the USA

Japan Academic Association for Copyright Clearance, Inc. (JAACC)

6-41 Akasaka 9-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0052, Japan

Phone: +81-3-3475-5618; Fax: +81-3-3475-5619

E-mail: [email protected]

Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC)

222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers MA 01923, USA

Phone: +1-978-750-8400; Fax: +1-978-646-8600

Self-Archiving Policy

After publication, authors may distribute all versions of their articles [submitted version, accepted version (= Author Accepted Manuscript), and published version (= Version of Record)] via institutional repositories or personal websites without application for permission to the Society.

For submitted and accepted versions, authors must explicitly state the version type, and also indicate a link to the Version of Record of the article.

Request for permission to reproduce materials published in Species Diversity

Please fill the Application (MS Word) and send it to the editor-in-chief of Species Diversity.

Professor Tomomi Saito <species_diversity(a)jssz.sakura.ne.jp>

* “@” in e-mail address is replaced with “(a)” to avoid SPAMs.

Transfer of Copyright in connection with electronic archiving 

Transfer of Copyright in Connection with Electronic Archiving of Circular, Report of the Japanese Society of Systematic Zoology, Proceeding of the Japanese Society of Systematic Zoology, Proceedings of the Japanese Society of Systematic Zoology, Species Diversity, and TAXA

29 January 2010

The Japanese Society of Systematic Zoology (hereafter, our Society), beginning with the first issue in 1951, has published a journal (hereafter, our Journal) under various titles, viz., Circular, Report of the Japanese Society of Systematic Zoology, Proceeding of the Japanese Society of Systematic Zoology, Proceedings of the Japanese Society of Systematic Zoology, Species Diversity, and TAXA. Our Society expresses its gratitude for the support and cooperation of its members, who have enabled our Journal to flourish for 60 long years.

The National Institute of Informatics (NII) has chosen our Journal to be preserved in its Electronic Archives. This will include the full contents of every issue of every volume of our Journal. This means that every page of our Journal will be digitized and published on the website of the NII. In order to do this, it is necessary that our Society own the copyright to all the papers in our Journal, since everything will be published on the public server of the NII.

Therefore, in accordance with Copyright Law, it is necessary that all authors consent to transfer their copyright ownership to our Society.

In the September 30, 2008 revision of the Notice to Contributors (Species Diversity 13[2-3]) it was established that the copyright to all papers published in our Journal accrues to our Society. However, copyright ownership was never made clear for papers published before this date.

Consequently, we are requesting all authors who published in our Journal before September 30, 2008 to transfer their copyright ownership to our Society.

Authors who do not agree to this copyright transfer, or who have questions about the transfer, are requested to contact the Main Office of our Society in writing or by e-mail before December 31, 2010. Our Society assumes that all interested parties will see and read this message. However, in the event that the message is not seen until after the cutoff date, our Society is prepared to negotiate any problems on an individual basis. If by the cutoff date no particular protest or request for negotiation is received, our Society will assume that the interested parties have granted our request for transfer of copyright ownership, and will proceed with the publication of the entire contents of our Journal in the NII, as set out above.

Purchase back numbers of JSSZ's journals

Back numbers of jssz's journals.

Back numbers of journals, "The Proceedings of the Japanese Society of Systematic Zoology", "Circular", "Taxa", and "Species Diversity" are available.

Please send orders to:

Professor Ko Tomikawa,

Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hiroshima University, Kagamiyama 1-1-1, Higashihiroshima, Hiroshima 739-8524 Japan

secretary(a)jssz.sakura.ne.jp

Prices [including postage by SAL]

Species Diversity (ISSN 1342-1670) Vol. 1, No. 1 (1996) –

Vol. 1–4, 17–: 2,500 JPY

Vol. 5–16: 2,000 JPY

Taxa (only in Japanese) (ISSN 1342-2367) No. 1 (1996) –

49 pages or less issues: 800 JPY

50–99 pages issues: 1,000 JPY

100 pages or more issues: 1,600 JPY

Proceedings of the Japanese Society of Systematic Zoology (ISSN 0287-0223) No. 1 (1965) - No. 54 (1995)

*Vol. 19 and 23 are out of stock.

Circular (only in Japanese): No. 1 (1951) - No. 54 (1981)

*Vol. 1-4, 7, 9-10, and 13 are out of stock.

Payment [Personal cheque or credit card is unavailable]

Bank cheque payable to "Japanese Society of Systematic Zoology"

GIRO to "Nihon Dobutsu Bunrui Gakkai", account number 00160-5-1353

International postal money order to "Nihon Dobutsu Bunrui Gakkai"

Essay on Conservation of Biodiversity for Students and Children

500+ words essay on conservation of biodiversity.

Conservation of biodiversity is vital for maintaining the Earth’s environment and sustaining life on the planet. There are a number of ways in which the richness of biodiversity helps in maintaining the ecological system. Conservation of biodiversity is important for the survival of living beings on Earth. Hence, a lot of emphases is being given on the conservation of biodiversity these days.

The Extinction in Biodiversity

Due to human activities, numerous varieties of animals go extinct each year. Western Black Rhinoceros, Dodo, Tasmanian tiger, Golden Toad, Woolly Mammoth, Caribbean Monk Seal, Ivory-billed Woodpecker, and Japanese Sea Lion are some of the species of animals that have gone extinct.

Lemur, Mountain Gorilla, Vaquita, Sea Turtles, Amur Leopard, and Tiger are some of the species that are on the verge of extinction. Apart from these many species of plants and trees including Lepidodendron, Araucaria Mirabilis, Wood Cycad and Kokia Cookie have gone extinct and many species are endangered.

Need to Conserve Biodiversity

Earth is a beautiful planet which has given us many things which occur naturally. Natural resources, rivers, valleys , oceans, different species of animals and beautiful varieties of plants and trees are among some of these.

In today’s world, we are busy developing our surroundings and spoiling our beautiful environment. Today, we have exploited most of the things that were available abundantly in nature. Thus, there arises a need to conserve these natural things. Among other things, there is a serious need for the conservation of biodiversity.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Importance of Conservation of Biodiversity

Conservation of biodiversity is important for many reasons. Here are some of the main reasons to conserve biodiversity:

• Process of Food Chain: Different species of animals and plants serve as the source of food for other animals and living organisms. Thus, conserving biodiversity help to keep the food chain among the living organisms.
• Nutritional Needs: The decline in the variety of plants and animals would mean the decline in the variety of food we eat. So, this is likely to result in nutritional deficiencies.
• Cleaner Air: Plants and trees have a greater ability to purify the air and keep the atmosphere clean. As there is a decrease in the number and types of trees and plants, it impacts the quality of air in a negative way.
• Better Cultivation of Crops:   Fertility of soil is maintained by many insects, organisms and microorganisms work on different levels. So we have to maintain the level of microorganism which is better for the cultivation of crops.
• For Medical Reason s: For making different medicines many species of trees and plants are used so as to cure various diseases.

Methods to Conserve Biodiversity

Methods that can help in the conservation of biodiversity are

• Control Population: The greater the population the higher the needs which would result in further exploitation of flora and fauna and decline in biodiversity. For the conservation of biodiversity, we have to control the human population and allow other species of plants and animals to replenish on our planet.
• Control Pollution: The changing climate, deteriorating air quality and the growing amount of pollution on land and water bodies are leading to different types of diseases in many. It is essential to reduce the activities leading to pollution so as to conserve biodiversity.
• Reduce Deforestation: Due to deforestation, there is the loss of habitat. Due to this reason, wild animals are unable to survive in the new environment and die.
• Avoid Wastage: We need to understand that natural resources are not only essential for us but are also vital for the survival of other species. We must thus utilize only as much as we require them so that these remain available in abundance in nature for future use.
• Spread Awareness: Apart from this, one of the best methods to conserve biodiversity is by spreading awareness. The government can do so at a bigger level. While we can spread awareness by word of mouth and through social media.

Conservation of biodiversity is of utmost importance. We must all make efforts to conserve biodiversity rather than contributing towards its declination. Thus, the richness of biodiversity is essential for the survival of living beings on Earth.

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Embracing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility

Over the past couple of years, we’ve talked a lot about embracing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  We have made p rogress, but still have work to do.

Our success in meeting the Service’s mission rests on a foundation of shared values and underlying beliefs that we can be our true selves at work, that dignity and respect are paramount, and that our individual and collective accomplishments are valued. The breadth and diversity of our backgrounds, identities, and experiences are our greatest organizational strength. When we can thrive as our authentic and best selves without barriers to success in our workplaces, we will achieve the Service’s mission with excellence, innovation, and relevancy far into the future.

Nature, and all that we in the Service do, must be for everyone.

We need to do better addressing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility not just within our own workforce, but also in how we serve the American public.   W e need to make sure that our collective public lands and programs offer access to nature for everyone – regardless of their race or background.

Too often, we have fallen short of our mission. Certain people have been made to feel unwelcome on their public lands or feel excluded from our programs because of their race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or any of the traits that make them unique.

I believe wholeheartedly that for the Service to succeed in delivering our conservation mission, we need to reflect the diversity and the values of all people that we serve.

We also need to do better welcoming the millions of Americans that have historically been left out of wildlife conservation. We have tremendous conservation challenges, but our future will be bright if we can welcome, recruit, and empower professionals from diverse backgrounds to join us.

We will not overlook or excuse inequalities of the past and those that persist in our present. We owe it to anyone who has felt unseen and disrespected or been treated unfairly. But, we will move forward, together.

In this issue of Fish & Wildlife News , you’ll read about some of the work we’re doing internally and externally to support the principles of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA).

We are embracing DEIA because it makes us better at what we do and, above all, because it’s the right thing to do.

It isn’t easy, painless, or fast – nor should it be to transform our work culture. It will be worth it because we owe it to all Americans.

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