ABSTRACT
Biodiversity can be de¤ned as the variation of life forms (genetic, species) within a given ecosystem, region, or the entire Earth. Terrestrial biodiversity, rare and threatened species, tends to be highest near the equator and generally decreases toward the poles because of decreases in temperature and precipitation (Orme et al. 2005; Figure 18.1). However, the distribution of biodiversity is complex and based on a number of environmental and anthropogenic factors over di¦erent spatial scales (Whittaker et al. 2001; Field et al. 2009; Jenkins et al. 2013).
