GC: n
CT: Preservation of Biodiversity. Biodiversity is defined as “the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic systems and the ecological complexes of which they are a part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems.” Biodiversity is considered essential for the resilience of ecosystems. Many ecosystem processes regulate conditions for life. Holling argues that this role provides the rationale for giving priority to rehabilitation, protection of ecosystems and land use management. Resilience enables ecosystems to return to a steady state after being subjected to an unusual event denoted as being a “surprise”. The ecosystems may not necessarily return to the same state as before. In other words, ecosystems are subject to discontinuous change. However, there remains the risk that intervention in ecosystems by humans can result in a reduction of their resilient nature rendering them incapable of dealing adequately with unusual events.
S: https://www.iisd.org/agri/gpbiodiversity.htm (last access: 20 February 2015)
N: 1. The variety of life on Earth, its biological diversity is commonly referred to as biodiversity.
The number of species of plants, animals, and microorganisms, the enormous diversity of genes in these species, the different ecosystems on the planet, such as deserts, rainforests and coral reefs are all part of a biologically diverse Earth.
Appropriate conservation and sustainable development strategies attempt to recognize this as being integral to any approach to preserving biodiversity. Almost all cultures have their roots in our biological diversity in some way or form.
Declining biodiversity is therefore a concern for many reasons.
2. biological diversity conservation: term used by Parks Canada.
S: 1. http://www.globalissues.org/article/170/why-is-biodiversity-important-who-cares (last access: 20 February 2015). 2. TERMIUMPLUS.
SYN: biodiversity conservation, maintenance of biodiversity, biological diversity conservation.
S: TERMIUMPLUS
CR: biosphere, ecology, environment, stratosphere.