Biodiversity, as a biological phenomenon, denotes the variability and complexity of life across genes, species, populations, communities, and ecosystems, including their functional traits and phylogenetic relationships. It emerges from evolutionary processes such as mutation, selection, gene flow, and drift, and is structured by ecological interactions, environmental gradients, and spatiotemporal dynamics. Biodiversity influences and reflects ecosystem functioning, stability, and resilience through mechanisms like complementarity, redundancy, and trophic interactions. It is quantitatively characterized using metrics of richness, evenness, turnover, and functional or phylogenetic diversity, and its patterns are central to understanding biogeography, ecosystem processes, and responses to environmental change.
Despite decades of ocean exploration, humans still lack basic answers to one of the most fundamental ecological questions: where is marine life found, and why?
Ecology
Jun 23, 2025
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27
Designating areas as protected spaces for wildlife is a common strategy for preserving biodiversity, but heavy human development around those areas may largely counteract the benefit of those protections.
Plants & Animals
Jun 19, 2025
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29
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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31
Could farmers get money for protecting birds or plants? That's the hope of the European Union, which is seeking to monetize biodiversity by creating a market for "nature credits".
Environment
May 5, 2025
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24
The European Union's Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 aims to halt biodiversity loss and restore ecosystems, but what does this mean for Europe's wood supply? In a new study, researchers examine how different modes of implementing ...
Environment
Apr 5, 2025
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35
Humans are having a highly detrimental impact on biodiversity worldwide. Not only is the number of species declining, but the composition of species communities is also changing. These are the findings of a study by Eawag ...
Environment
Mar 26, 2025
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