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Life on Land pp 1–10Cite as

Biodiversity Erosion: Causes and Consequences

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Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals ((ENUNSDG))

Synonyms

Biodiversity loss; Diversity loss; Extinctions

Definitions

Biodiversity is the variety of life on Earth at any level of organization, from molecules to ecosystems. Thus, it includes all organisms and their populations, the genetic variation among them, and their complex assemblages into communities and ecosystems (Convention of Biological Diversity 1992). Biodiversity is therefore a multifaceted concept. Traditionally, biodiversity studies consider three forms of diversity: taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic. Taxonomic diversity (TD) includes the variety of species (or other systematic ranks) occurring at any scale and the differences in species composition among sites/areas. It can be measured in many ways, including alpha diversity (number of taxa within a particular site/area), beta diversity (the difference in species composition between sites/areas), and gamma diversity (the accumulated diversity from several sites) (Magurran 2004). Functional diversity(FD)...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c) /Azorean Biodiversity Group and Univ. dos Açores, Depto de Ciências e Engenharia do Ambiente, Angra do Heroísmo, Açores, Portugal

    Paulo A. V. Borges & Rosalina Gabriel

  2. Department of Life, Health & Environmental Sciences, University of L’Aquila, L’Aquila, Italy

    Simone Fattorini

Authors
  1. Paulo A. V. Borges
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  2. Rosalina Gabriel
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  3. Simone Fattorini
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Paulo A. V. Borges .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. FTZ-ALS, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences FTZ-ALS, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. Ctr Neurosci & Cell Biology, 1 Floor, Univ Coimbra, Edf Fac Medicina, Coimbra, Portugal

    Anabela Marisa Azul

  3. Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Passo Fundo University Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Passo Fundo, Brazil

    Luciana Brandli

  4. Istinye University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Pinar Gökcin Özuyar

  5. International Centre for Thriving, University of Chester, Chester, UK

    Tony Wall

Section Editor information

  1. Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Anabela Marisa Azul

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Borges, P.A.V., Gabriel, R., Fattorini, S. (2019). Biodiversity Erosion: Causes and Consequences. In: Leal Filho, W., Azul, A., Brandli, L., Özuyar, P., Wall, T. (eds) Life on Land. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71065-5_78-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71065-5_78-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-71065-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-71065-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Earth and Environm. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences

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