Info & Learning -
Biodiversity - What is Biodiversity?
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©Steve Smith
biodiversity
is a relatively new term which joins together the two wordsbiology
, the study of living things anddiversity
, meaning difference and variety. The use of the term biodiversity seems to date back to 1986 when the National Forum on BioDiversity was held in Washington, D.C. Since that time the term and the concept have achieved widespread use among biologists, environmentalists, political leaders, and concerned members of the public world-wide.In 1996 E. O. Wilson published an interpretation of the word biodiversity which is now regarded as the definitive explanation of the term:
"Biodiversity is defined as all hereditarily based variation at all levels of organisation, from the genes within a single local population, to the species composing all or part of a local community, and finally to the communities themselves that compose the living parts of the multifarious ecosystems of the world."
