Marburg, Germany

Biodiversity and Conservation

Biodiversität und Naturschutz

Master's
Language: GermanStudies in German
Subject area: biology
Qualification: Master
Kind of studies: full-time studies
University website: www.uni-marburg.de
Biodiversity
Biodiversity, a portmanteau of biological (life) and diversity, generally refers to the variety and variability of life on Earth. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), biodiversity typically measures variation at the genetic, the species, and the ecosystem level. Terrestrial biodiversity tends to be greater near the equator, which seems to be the result of the warm climate and high primary productivity. Biodiversity is not distributed evenly on Earth, and is richest in the tropics. These tropical forest ecosystems cover less than 10 percent of earth's surface, and contain about 90 percent of the world's species. Marine biodiversity tends to be highest along coasts in the Western Pacific, where sea surface temperature is highest, and in the mid-latitudinal band in all oceans. There are latitudinal gradients in species diversity. Biodiversity generally tends to cluster in hotspots, and has been increasing through time, but will be likely to slow in the future.
Conservation
Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources (in an efficient or ethical manner), or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws.
Biodiversity
There are more effective ways of tackling environmental problems including global warming, proliferation of plastics, urban sprawl, and the loss of biodiversity than by treaties, top-down regulations, and other approaches offered by big governments and their dependents. These “more effective ways” focus on harnessing a multitude of local and small-scale initiatives to the task – the “little platoons” of civil society.
Preston Manning in: Aaron Wherry Preston Manning on the state of the conservative movementThe former Reform leader addresses the Manning conference, Oxford University Press, 2012
Biodiversity
In the context of conservation science the term ‘biodiversity’, a contraction of ‘biological diversity’, is relatively young. ‘Biological diversity’ in its current sense began to be used in the early 1980s, with interest in the concept elevated by publications such as ‘Limits to Growth'.
DH Meadows, et al., (1972) in ”The Limits to Growth” quoted in: Biodiversity,terms.biodiversitya-z.org
Biodiversity
The variety of life at every hierarchical level and spatial scale of biological organisations are: genes within populations, populations within species, species within communities, communities within landscapes, landscapes within biomes, and biomes within the biosphere.
Edward O. Wilson (1988) in "Biodiversity. By National Academy Press" quoted in: Biodiversity,terms.biodiversitya-z.org
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