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.
Botswana's fertile Okavango Delta is one of the last remaining high-biodiversity ecosystems in the world, home to cheetahs, African wild dogs, baobab trees, crocodiles, termites and owls that catch fish. Roughly the size ...
Ecology
Oct 13, 2025
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At a time when biodiversity is under severe pressure from human activities, understanding how evolution works is more important than ever. A new study about vole teeth, published in PNAS, reveals that evolution doesn't always ...
Evolution
Oct 10, 2025
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94
Researchers at University of Tsukuba have investigated the genetic diversity and future distribution of Shorea macrophylla (Dipterocarpaceae), an important tree species endemic to Borneo. They found that populations in northeastern ...
Ecology
Oct 9, 2025
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21
A study by Rutgers ecologist Myla Aronson and colleagues has found "overwhelming" evidence that increasing biodiversity in cities—establishing parks, installing native plants and encouraging sustainable landscaping—can significantly ...
Ecology
Oct 9, 2025
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23
Ecosystem restoration projects aim to restore biodiversity and associated compromised ecosystem services. Evidence is persuasive of the increased risks of zoonotic diseases with degradation and disturbances. However, the ...
Ecology
Oct 7, 2025
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34
Urban trees are essential to the health of cities and their residents: they cool neighborhoods, filter pollution from the air, support biodiversity, and improve human well-being. But these benefits depend in part on the tree ...
Ecology
Oct 6, 2025
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40
Recent studies led by an international consortium of researchers, including scientists from the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and the Museo de Historia Natural de la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, unveil promising ...
Ecology
Oct 1, 2025
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63
Native animals can make excellent neighbors. Blue-banded bees pollinate our vegetable gardens. Microbats eat up to 1,200 mosquitoes a night and powerful owls keep rodents at bay. But could we go one step further, and change ...
Ecology
Oct 1, 2025
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16
Human-caused biodiversity loss has accelerated over the past 50 years. An opinion article published in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by a team of international authors, including Anne Larigauderie, former Executive ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 30, 2025
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31
Scientists from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, as part of an international research team, have studied the land snail and slug fauna in northern Vietnam's Cuc Phuong National Park. The now-published findings document an ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 30, 2025
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