Biodiversity

Biodiversity is the variety of life, including variation within species, between species, and among ecosystems. It encompasses living organisms and the ecological complexes they form.

Genetic diversity: Variation in genetic makeup among individuals, populations, or species. Differences within and between populations are one of biodiversity’s three principal levels.
Speciation: The evolutionary process by which populations diverge into distinct species. The formation of species adds to biodiversity over evolutionary time.
Biodiversity hotspot: A region with exceptional endemism and substantial habitat loss, identified as a conservation priority. Hotspots direct attention to places combining distinctive species with severe habitat threat.
Habitat destruction: The loss or degradation of natural environments that support wildlife and ecological processes. Habitat destruction is a leading direct cause of declines in species and ecosystems.
Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework: A 2022 international agreement setting goals and targets for biodiversity conservation and sustainable use through 2030. Its targets turn broad biodiversity concerns into commitments whose implementation and outcomes remain contested.
Species diversity: The variety of species in a community, often described by species richness and relative abundance. Species counts and their relative abundance capture biodiversity at the species level.
Natural selection: The process by which heritable traits that improve reproductive success become more common in a population. It shapes genetic variation and adaptations that contribute to biological differences.
IUCN Red List: A global assessment system that classifies species by their risk of extinction. Its assessments track one major dimension of biodiversity loss: species extinction risk.
Biological extinction: The permanent disappearance of a species when its last individual dies. Extinction removes evolutionary lineages and reduces species-level diversity irreversibly.
Biodiversity offsetting: A policy approach that compensates for ecological damage in one place by protecting or restoring nature elsewhere. Whether offsets can genuinely compensate for local losses remains a central conservation dispute.

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