ABSTRACT
Biodiversity is the term used to describe the rich variety of life found on Earth. It was the subject of the UNCED conference in Rio in 1992, which resulted in the signing of the International Convention on Biodiversity and the adoption of Agenda 21, which lays down the guidelines under which the Convention will operate. However, biodiversity is used to express this variety over a great range of levels of organisation. It can be applied to different types of ecosystems, or to express the number of species found locally or globally, or even to the amount of genetic variation within individual species. This can lead to confused thinking, unless the term’s precise meaning is explicitly stated in each context. Our discussion concentrates on ecosystem diversity, and species richness and dominance within local and regional areas.
