Great Site on Biodiversity

http://www.greenfacts.org/en/biodiversity/index.htm

Context - Biodiversity contributes to many aspects of human well-being, for instance by providing raw materials and contributing to health.

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment shows that human actions often lead to irreversible losses in terms of diversity of life on Earth and these losses have been more rapid in the past 50 years than ever before in human history.

What factors are responsible for this rapid loss? What would need to be done to significantly slow this trend?

1. Biodiversity: What is it, where is it, and why is it important?

See also our summaries: 1.1 Biodiversity reflects the number, variety and variability of living organisms. It includes diversity within species, between species, and among ecosystems. The concept also covers how this diversity changes from one location to another and over time. Indicators such as the number of species in a given area can help in monitoring certain aspects of biodiversity. More...

1.3 Ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems.Biodiversity plays an important role in the way ecosystems function and in the many services they provide. Services include nutrients and water cycling, soil formation and retention, resistance against invasive species, pollination of plants, regulation of climate, as well as pest and pollution control by ecosystems. For ecosystem services it matters which species are abundant as well as how many species are present. More...1.2 Biodiversity is everywhere, both on land and in water. It includes all organisms, from microscopic bacteria to more complex plants and animals. Current inventories of species, though useful, remain incomplete and insufficient for providing an accurate picture of the extent and distribution of all components of biodiversity. Based on present knowledge of how biodiversity changes over time, rough estimates can be made of the rates at which species become extinct. More...