Exeter, United Kingdom

Conservation and Biodiversity

Master's
Language: EnglishStudies in English
Subject area: biology
Qualification: MSc
Kind of studies: full-time studies, part-time studies
Master of Science (MSc)
University website: www.exeter.ac.uk
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
Although biodiversity loss continues globally, many countries are significantly slowing the rate of loss by shoring up protected natural areas and the services they provide, and in expanding national park systems with tighter management and more secure funding.
Helen Clark in: Helen Clark: UNDP's Pragmatic Visionary, Forbes, 29 March 2012
Biodiversity
This is the assembly of life that took a billion years to evolve. It has eaten the storms-folded them into its genes-and created the world that created us. It holds the world steady.
Edward O. Wilson in: “The Diversity of Life”, p. 15
Biodiversity
We see evidence that lakes and forests and wetlands can have different equilibria - so you have a savanna system that may be stable and thriving, but it can also tip over and become an arid steppe if pushed too far by warming, land degradation, and biodiversity loss.
w:Johan RockströmJohan Rockstrom in: Johan Rockström: Protecting The Earth’s Systems From Catastrophic Failure, ensia.com, 11 October 2013
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