biodiversity

Biodiversity, also called biological diversity, is the variety of life found in a place on Earth or, often, the total variety of life on Earth. A common measure of this variety, called species richness, is the count of species in an area. Biodiversity also encompasses the genetic variety within each species and the variety of ecosystems that species create.

Examining counts of species is the most common method used to compare the biodiversity of various places. A second way to weigh species biodiversity is to recognize the unique biodiversity of those habitats that contain few but unusual species, such as volcanoes, thermal vents, and hot springs. In practice, biodiversity is weighted differently for different species.

The pace of decline and extinctions in biodiversity has risen dramatically over the last century, as the effects of climate change increased and human activities such as agriculture, fishing, and hunting continued to encroach into more remote natural areas all over the world.

The United Nations named 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity. It was a yearlong celebration intended to raise public awareness about the importance of biodiversity and the need to reinforce conservation efforts.

A 2019 report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services noted that up to one million plant and animal species are facing extinction because of human activity.