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Biodiversity is the variability of life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability , species diversity , ecosystem diversity and phylogenetic diversity. [ 1 ]
This forms an important part of the evidence on which evolutionary theory rests, demonstrates that evolution does occur, and illustrates the processes that created Earth's biodiversity. It supports the modern evolutionary synthesis —the current scientific theory that explains how and why life changes over time.
Species richness, or biodiversity, increases from the poles to the tropics for a wide variety of terrestrial and marine organisms, often referred to as the latitudinal diversity gradient. [1] The latitudinal diversity gradient is one of the most widely recognized patterns in ecology. [1] It has been observed to varying degrees in Earth's past. [2]
Global biodiversity is the measure of biodiversity on planet Earth and is defined as the total variability of life forms. More than 99 percent of all species [1] that ever lived on Earth are estimated to be extinct. [2] [3] Estimates on the number of Earth's current species range from 2 million to 1 trillion, but most estimates are around 11 ...
The Earth has many diverse ecosystems and ecologicalsystem diversity. These are NASA composite images of the Earth: 2001 (left), 2002 (right), titled The Blue Marble. Ecosystem diversity deals with the variations in ecosystems within a geographical location and its overall impact on human existence and the environment.
The earliest evidence for life on Earth includes: 3.8 billion-year-old biogenic hematite in a banded iron formation of the Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt in Canada; [30] graphite in 3.7 billion-year-old metasedimentary rocks in western Greenland; [31] and microbial mat fossils in 3.48 billion-year-old sandstone in Western Australia.
Biodiversity plays an important role in ecosystem services which by definition maintain and improve human quality of life. [ 14 ] [ 17 ] [ 18 ] Conservation priorities and management techniques require different approaches and considerations to address the full ecological scope of biodiversity.
Without the presence of ecosystem respiration throughout earth's systems, it is safe to say the basic idea of "life" would be lost. Prior to these processes in earth's early years of formation, the air and oceans were anoxic. [7] An anoxic environment is one without the presence of oxygen, majorly consisting of anaerobic microbes.