Question: Discuss the major factors contributing to current reductions in global biodiversity.
Answer: Biodiversity is the blanket term for the natural biological wealth that underscores human life and well-being. Global biodiversity therefore covers a huge range of factors that occur on a vast spatial and temporal scale, making any assessment of biodiversity loss a complicated matter. The term biodiversity represents a complex interplay of species, genes and ecosystems, all three of which are necessary for the continued survival of species and natural communities (Primack, 2000). Any loss of biodiversity is therefore most usually manifested in species extinction and thus knowledge of extinction patterns is essential for determining rates of biodiversity loss. In 1993 the US Nature Conservancy stated that ‘today, species are becoming extinct at a rate faster than at any time in the Earth’s history – one species per day’. Such unprecedented and irreversible loss of species has had ...(short extract)
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- Subject: Biological Sciences
- Course: Botany
- Level: Degree
- Year: 2nd/3rd
- Mark: Not available
- Words: 2923
- Date submitted: March 13, 2009
- Date written: Not available
- References: Yes
- Document type: Essay*
- Essay ID: 970
