biodiversity

https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.14479
Occurrence of a number of species within a given ecosystem or biome, or the presence of a number of community types in a given area.
Notes:
  1. In special cases, biodiversity may include a degree of genetic variation within a single species.
  2. Biodiversity is often a measure of the health of biological systems.
  3. Biodiversity can be measured on many biological levels, but the term most commonly refers to the number of different species in a defined area (species richness) and is quantified by calculating a diversity index which takes into account the relative abundance of individuals of each species.
See also: diversity index
Source:
PAC, 2009, 81, 829. (Glossary of terms used in ecotoxicology (IUPAC Recommendations 2009)) on page 847 [Terms] [Paper]
Citation: 'biodiversity' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.14479 RIS BibTex EndNote
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