Biodiversity

Biodiversity conveys resilience, and resilience conveys sustainability

The range of life forms associated with Planet Earth is almost endless - billiions of species survive on the planet and interact in complex ways; they co-determine each others future. Discovering and cataloging all species is a task that will take many more years. Species often flourish and then die out. The current rate of species extinction is worrisomely high.

History of the Convention on Biological Diversity:

International Day of Biological Diversity 2012

First draft of the post-2020 global diversity framework

Online tree of life now connects 2.2 million living species

IPBES launches new assessment of biodiversity and ecosystem services

2018 UN Biodiversity Conference COP 14 closes in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

The big picture:

The laws of life

Mutant lifestyles

Strength in diversity

The gene that jumped

Diversity without limits

The devil is in the detail 

Diversity prevents resistance

How AI could save the planet

The Midori Prize for biodiversity

Biodiversity in a changing world

Is blood really thicker than water?   

Quality of diversity, not just quantity, is key

Tropical biodiversity faces intersecting threats

New hybrid species remix old genes creatively

Biobanking and advanced biodiversity research

The economics of biodiversity: the Dasgupta review

Constructive conservation: last chance for biodiversity?

The polyploidy revolution ... then, and now. Stebbins revisited

Biodiversity as part of a network - and its sensitivity to collapse

Biodiversity and global health - hubris, humility and the unknown

When less is more: death in moderation boosts population density in Nature

Study sheds new light on how species extinction affects complex ecosystems

Size matters in the battle to adapt to diverse environments and avoid extinction

Biodiversity conservation across scales - lessons from a science-policy dialogue

Nature's dangerous decline 'unprecedented'; species extinction rates 'accelerating'

Autocatalytic biodiversity hypothesis aims to supplant Darwin's 'war of the species'

Temperature-related biodiversity change across temperate marine and terrestrial systems

Study finds there is less knowledge about global species diversity than previously assumed

Adaptation, plasticity, and extinction in a changing environment: towards a predictive theory

16 years of change in the global terrestrial human footprint and implications for biodiversity conservation

Biodiversity and climate change: 

Ecosystems change long before species are lost

The biodiversity crises: worse than climate change

Biodiversity helps protect Nature against human impact

Arctic biodiversity under serious threat from climate change

Antarctic fjords are climate-sensitive hotspots of biodiversity

Genetic diversity a hidden tool in coping with climate change

Large-scale biodiversity is vital to maintain ecosystem health

Research reveals contrasting consequences of a warmer Earth

Want to know where threatened species live? Look to the clouds

How temperature guides where species live and where they'll go

Population stability 'hope' in species' response to climate change

Island biodiversity in danger of total submersion with climate change

New study uses high-speed search methods to better estimate climate threats to biodiversity

Future biodiversity loss due to conflict between mitigating climate change and preserving biodiversity

Governments use biodiversity and ecosystem services as strategy for climate change adaptation and DRR

Characterization of vegetation to predict refugia & climate change impacts across global biodiverse hotspot

Speciation:

Every species counts

Definition of speciation

New life found that lives of electricity

Species' evolutionary choice: disperse or adapt

Biologists watch speciation in a laboratory flask

Scientists announce top 10 new species for 2013

DNA technology set to speed up species discovery

Genetic struggles within cells may create new species

Why species stay or go in response to climate change

Can new species evolve from cancers? Maybe. Here's how

Early species developed much faster than previously thought

Scientists challenge current theories about natural habitats and species diversity

Biodiversity higher in the tropics, but species more likely to arise at higher latitudes

Alternative mechanism of species formation picks up support, thanks to South American ant

Naming of species:

Encyclopedia of Life

The tree of life - more like a bush

Researchers find that Earth may be home to 1 trillion species

Scientist proposes revolutionary naming system for all life on Earth

Researchers aim to assemble the tree of life for all 2 million named species

Timing of life:

TimeTree - the timescales of life

Watching new species evolve in real time

Fast driver spotted on evolutionary tracks

Fast evolution affects everyone, everywhere

A genomic predictor of lifespan in vertebrates

New species evolve faster as mountains form

Evolution:

Visualizing evolution

Evolution to the rescue

Testing the fossil record

Evolution of life on Earth

Evolution can select for evolvability

Evolution: it's all in how you splice it

'Be different or die' does not drive evolution

Evidence for fuctional redundancy in Nature

Is evolution more intelligent than we thought?

Life exploded on Earth after slow rise of oxygen

Interspecies hybrids play a vital role in evolution

Speedy evolution affects more than one species

Theorists debate how 'neutral' evolution really is

How beauty is making scientists rethink evolution

Beacon Center for the study of evolution in action

550 million year old fossils provide new clues about fossil formation

Evolutionary study shows bridge species drive tropical engine of biodiversity

Evolution depends on rare chance events, 'molecular time travel' experiments show

Mapping & Monitoring the World's biodiversity:

Map of Life

Mapping biodiversity

The Living Planet Report 

Map of biodiversity importance

Study puts biodiversity on the map

Topography shapes mountain biodiversity

South Africa: mapping biodiversity priorities

What lies beneath the surface of foest pools?

Madagascar no longer an evolutionary hotspot 

New maps highlight habitat corridors in the tropics

Tahiti: a very hot biodiversity hot spot in the Pacific 

Atos and WWF aim to automate biodiversity surveillance

Relationship between a species' niche and its distribution

Cities support more native biodiversity than previously thought

Remote monitoring of biodiversity in an adaptive framework with R

The role of space agencies in remotely sensed essential biodiversity variables

Coextinctions dominate the future vertebrate losses from climate and land use change

Wallace's century-old map of natural world updatedPaleo study shows how elevation may affect evolution

Aquatic & Marine biodiversity:

A Salt-Free Primordial Soup

Key genetic event underlying fin-to-limb evolution

Flying fish  and aquarium pets yield secrets of evolution 

Species speed up adaptation to beat effects of warming oceans

It's the world's newest whale species - and it's already endangered

Pesticides significantly reduce biodiversity in aquatic environments

Structure and function of the Arctic & Antarctic marine microbiota as revealed by metagenomics

Bacterial diversity:

Every grain of sand is a metropolis for bacteria

Spread of pathogens between species is predictable

How superorganisms evolve in response to toxic environments

Deep sea microbes dormant for 100 million years are hungry and ready to multiply

Plant & insect diversity:

The evolution of insects

Rethinking plant and insect diversity

Biodiversity is a natural crop pest repellent

Fungi are at the root of tropical forest diversity

Extreme weather decides distribution of insects

Termites evolved complex bioreactors 30 million years ago

Centipede's genome reveals how life evolved on our planet

Protecting 17% of Earth's land could save 2/3 of plant species

Hydroelectric dams drastically reduce tropical forest biodiversity

'Natural enemies' theory doesn't fully explain rainforest biodiversity

Molecular approaches for harvesting natural diversity for crop improvement

Parasites affect food web structure primarily through increased diversity and complexity

Diversity in animals:

Where animals come from

Is this a new species of human?

Dinosaur families chose to exit Europe

Evolutionary origins of animal biodiversity

An arms race among venemous animals?

Dinosaur casts light on late burst of evolution

Research reveals secrets of animal weapons

World's simplest animal reveals hidden diversity

Reconstructing the New World monkey family tree

Rise of dinosaurs linked to increasing oxygen levels 

Novel hypothesis on why animals diversified on Earth

Evolutionary leap from fins to legs was surprisingly simple

'Cascade of events' caused sudden explosion of animal life

 Lack of oxygen delayed the appearance of animals on Earth

Extinction of large animals could make climate change worse

Burgess Shale fossil site gives up oldest evidence of brood care

Complex skeletons evolved earlier than realized, fossils suggest

Mammal diversity exploded immediately after dinosaur extinction

Researchers greatly improve evolutionary tree of life for mammals

Oxygen and stem cells rmay have reshaped early complex animals

Animal functional diversity started out poor, became richer over time

Brain size affects female but not male survival under predation threat

Researchers discover first sensor of Earth's magnetic field in an animal 

Massive geographic change may have triggered explosion of animal life

Study tackles evolution mystery of animal, plant warning cues for survival

The origin and early evolution of metatherian mammals: the Cretaceous record

Researchers explore evolution of world’s mammals over the past 100 million years

Climate change responsible for rapid expansion of horse species over last 20 million years

Diversity of parasites:

Parasites and the evolution of primate culture 

Diversity in birds:

New insights into the origin of birds

New genome sequences reveal the bird tree of life

Maybe birds can have it all: dazzling colors and pretty songs

Pacific birds ancient extinction estimated at nearly 1000 species

Exhaustive family tree for birds shows recent, rapid diversification

125 million-year-old wing sheds new light on the evolution of flight

Subterranean diversity:

The unbelievable underworld and its impact on all of us

Biodiversity below ground is just as important as above ground

New bacteria groups, stunning diversity, discovered underground

Diverse soil communities can help offset impacts of global warming

Earliest-known arboreal and subterannean ancestral mammals from middle Jurassic of China

Extremophiles:

Life in the subsurface

Swansong biospheres

A hot species for cool structures

Many worlds, subterranean edition

New life found that lives of electricity

Tardigrades: Nature's greatest survivors

New species discovvered beneath the ocean

'Zombie' microbes redefine life's energy limits

Exposing the secrets of  desert extremophiles

Unique microbes found in extreme environment

Life might thrive a dozen miles beneath Earth's surface

Hot springs microbe yields record-breaking, heat-tolerant enzyme

A leech capable of surviving exposure to extremely low temperatures

Scientists identify vast underground ecosystem containing billions of micro-organisms

The first recorded hard substrate sessile benthic community far beneath an Antarctic ice shelf 

Life in the extreme: uranium toxicity response different in nearly genetically identical microorganisms

Life on high: 

Life on Earth's ceiling

Tardigrades in space   The toughest animal on Earth ... and in space!

Regional:

Americas:

Peru's Manu National Park sets a new biodiversity record

North American mammal evolution tracks with climate change

Ancient connection between the Americas enhanced extreme biodiversity

Ecuador: Indigenous peoples defend Earth's biodiversity - but they're in danger

Biodiversity & biogeography of hydroids across marine ecosystems of southern South America & Antarctica

Europe:

Streamlining European biodiversity indicators 2020

Meta-analysis of multidecadel biodiversity trends in Europe

Africa:

Impact of climate change on biodiversity and habitats in East Africa

Liiving African group discovered to be the most populous humans over the last 150,000 years

Asia:

Huge fossil discovery made in China's Hubei province

Land bridge linking ancient India and Eurasia were 'freeays' for biodiversity exchange

ANZ:

Atlas of Living Australia     

Biodiversity - the science and solutions for Australia