Biodiversity, considered as a biological process, encompasses the dynamic mechanisms that generate, maintain, and modify variation in genes, species, and ecosystems through time. It emerges from evolutionary processes such as mutation, recombination, natural selection, genetic drift, and gene flow, as well as ecological interactions including competition, predation, mutualism, and succession. These processes interact across spatial and temporal scales to structure community composition, regulate ecosystem functioning, and influence resilience to environmental change. Biodiversity dynamics are further shaped by speciation and extinction processes, dispersal, landscape connectivity, and anthropogenic drivers that alter selective regimes and disturbance patterns.
On occasion, it is of vital importance to consider how little we know about the spinning rock we all live on. Take coral reefs, for example. Given how much they've been studied, you'd think we've learned just about everything ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 24, 2025
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A team of researchers led by Prof. Wang Wei from the Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IBCAS) has revealed how unique native plant life on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) has evolved over time, shedding ...
Evolution
Jun 24, 2025
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Land use change and the increased agrochemical use associated with agricultural intensification significantly alter farmland biodiversity and associated ecosystem services worldwide. Vineyards as ecologically, culturally, ...
Ecology
Jun 18, 2025
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30
The global decline of wild bee populations is alarming. Landscapes characterized by intensive agriculture offer hardly any suitable habitats. Isolated local efforts are often not enough to counteract this loss.
Ecology
Jun 18, 2025
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28
In a unique collaboration between the University of Groningen and the Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, researchers studied population trends across 3,058 populations of various species throughout the entire Wadden ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 18, 2025
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22
University of Queensland research has shown unpredictable environmental events help maintain plant, animal and microbial populations, challenging the belief that stability is the key to survival.
Ecology
Jun 17, 2025
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Mycorrhizal fungi help regulate the Earth's climate and ecosystems by forming underground networks that provide plants with essential nutrients, while drawing carbon deep into soils. Scientists and conservationists have been ...
Ecology
Jun 10, 2025
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109
Nature is fundamental to human life and well-being: it enables food production, regulates the climate, maintains the water and carbon cycles, and directly contributes to health. More than half of the global economy depends, ...
Environment
May 23, 2025
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A new article led by Griffith University argues that the term nature positive is being adopted more for political rhetoric and less for any real-life improvement in nature conservation, posing a new risk to biodiversity.
Environment
Apr 24, 2025
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Australia is a place of great natural beauty, home to many species found nowhere else on Earth. But it's also particularly vulnerable to introduced animals, diseases, and weeds. Habitat destruction, pollution, and climate ...
Environment
Apr 2, 2025
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