Humankind has contributed, and continues to contribute, to a major ecological catastrophe that is reducing biodiversity. Human activities have led to a decline in animal and plant populations, with the extinction or rarefaction of certain species and the simplification of ecosystems being clear evidence of this.
The origin of the word “biodiversity”, a contraction of “biological diversity”, refers to the variety and diversity of the living world. In its broadest sense, the word is virtually synonymous with life on earth. Every region has its own unique species.
These are known as endemic species, i.e. those restricted to a particular area. Islands generally have a smaller number of species than territories of equivalent size on the continents, but they often contain a higher percentage of animals found nowhere else.
Biological diversity can be used to refer to the range of lifestyles (functions) of one or more organisms; specific diversity or floristic diversity when discussing the diversification of plant species; genetic diversity when discussing intraspecific variability; functional diversity to define the key functions performed by a group of species, etc.
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