Word
biodiversity
Phoneticsbio·di·ver·si·ty
US/ˌbaɪoʊdaɪˈvɝsəti/
UK/bˌaɪəʊdaɪvˈɜːsɪti/
Definition
n. the variety of all the different kinds of plants and animals that live in a particular area. A place with high biodiversity is healthy because it has many different types of life.
n. the variety of plant and animal life in a particular habitat or ecosystem. Often used to measure the health and resilience of a biological environment.
Examples
“The rainforest is famous for its incredible biodiversity.”
“Conservationists are working to protect the local wetlands to ensure that the area's biodiversity is not lost to urban development.”
“The rapid decline in global biodiversity poses a significant threat to food security, as the loss of wild pollinators and genetic variety makes crops more vulnerable to disease.”
Examples
simple
“The rainforest is famous for its incredible biodiversity.”
contextual
“Conservationists are working to protect the local wetlands to ensure that the area's biodiversity is not lost to urban development.”
complex
“The rapid decline in global biodiversity poses a significant threat to food security, as the loss of wild pollinators and genetic variety makes crops more vulnerable to disease.”
Usage
Often appears in the phrase 'loss of biodiversity' or 'protecting biodiversity'.
Real-World Examples
“Humans are driving biodiversity loss among all species across the planet, according to a synthesis of more than 2,000 studies.” “O’Hara is now working on a far larger project that aims to use genetic analysis to map the history of biodiversity in the oceans over the past 100m years.” “Biodiversity is the variety of all living things on Earth, and how they fit together in the web of life, bringing oxygen, water, food and countless other benefits.” “The Trump administration’s cuts to biodiversity funding have imperiled species, habitats and the people who defend both.” Etymology
From Greek bio- ("life") + Latin diversitas ("variety, diversity"), coined in the 1980s as a contraction of biological diversity.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/biodiversity