ABSTRACT
Biological diversity, or biodiversity for short, is a broad concept that encompasses the totality of life on Earth. Biodiversity includes all of the variation found in plants, animals, and the ecosystems they form. Because biodiversity is a complex concept involving multiple spatial and temporal scales, most discussions of biodiversity are simplified and focus one or a few aspects of diversity, such as the number and abundance of species present in an area, differences in species between areas, or the genetic structure of a particular species across space. The total number of species on Earth is declining. In fact, it is declining very rapidly because the rate of speciation is far less than the current rate of species extinctions. Areas that can provide the food, commodities, and energy desired by humans are being altered to where they are no longer able to support the unique plants and animals that once lived there.
