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Biota

Biota refers to the total assemblage of living organisms, encompassing plants (flora), animals (fauna), fungi, bacteria, and other microorganisms, within a specific geographic region, ecosystem, or geological period.^[1]^[2] This collective biotic community interacts dynamically with the non-living (abiotic) components of its environment, such as soil, water, and climate, to form the foundation of ecological systems.^[3] In ecology, biota plays a pivotal role in maintaining ecosystem functions and services essential for planetary health, including nutrient cycling, primary production, decomposition of organic matter, and regulation of population dynamics through predator-prey relationships and symbiosis.^[4] The diversity and composition of biota determine an ecosystem's resilience to disturbances like climate change, habitat fragmentation, or invasive species, with keystone species—such as large herbivores in grasslands—exerting disproportionate influence on community structure and stability.^[4] For instance, shifts in biota due to overgrazing or fire can trigger nonlinear responses, pushing ecosystems across thresholds into alternative stable states, such as desertification in arid regions.^[4] Conservation efforts prioritize protecting biota through strategies like protected areas, which safeguard baseline ecological processes, and community-based management, which covers a significant portion of global biota outside formal reserves to promote long-term persistence amid anthropogenic pressures.^[4] Biota varies across scales—from microbial communities in soils to vast terrestrial or aquatic assemblages—highlighting its centrality to biodiversity and the interconnected web of life on Earth.^[3]

Definition and Terminology

Core Definition

Biota encompasses the collective assemblage of all living organisms—plants, animals, fungi, and microorganisms—inhabiting a specific region or geological period, distinctly excluding non-living abiotic components such as soil, water, and climate factors.^[3]^[5] This term highlights the biological component of ecosystems, focusing on the interactions among these organisms without incorporating the physical environment.^[6] A defining feature of biota is its dynamic nature, as the composition of these organisms continually evolves through processes like natural selection, species migration, local extinctions, and adaptations to environmental pressures.^[7]^[8] Additionally, biota is spatially delimited, referring to bounded assemblages such as those in regional terrestrial habitats, aquatic systems, or specific terrestrial zones, which allows for targeted ecological analysis.^[9] These characteristics underscore biota's role as a fluid, context-dependent entity responsive to both biotic interactions and external influences. Representative examples illustrate biota's scope: in a temperate forest, it includes towering trees like oaks, diverse insects such as beetles, and soil bacteria that facilitate nutrient cycling.^[10] Similarly, oceanic biota comprises microscopic plankton as primary producers, schooling fish like sardines, and reef-building corals that support complex food webs.^[11]^[12] In contrast to the biosphere, which represents the global sum of all life and its interactions with the planet's physical systems, biota is inherently subset-specific, confined to particular locales or temporal frames rather than encompassing the entirety of Earth's living domain.^[13]^[14] Biota, encompassing the collective plant, animal, fungal, and microbial life within a defined region or period, is distinct from related ecological terms that either narrow or broaden the scope of biological assemblages.^[2] In contrast to biocoenosis, which refers to a community of interdependent living organisms interacting within a shared habitat and emphasizing ecological relationships among species, biota focuses solely on the organisms themselves without implying their interdependencies or habitat dynamics.^[15] Biota also relates to the concept of biome, a larger-scale ecological unit defined by prevailing climate, vegetation, and geography; here, biota represents the specific suite of living organisms inhabiting that biome, such as the coniferous trees, mammals, and fungi constituting the taiga biota within the boreal forest biome, which includes abiotic structural elements like soil and topography.^[16] Narrower terms like flora, fauna, and microbiota describe subsets of biota: flora pertains exclusively to plant life, fauna to animal life, and microbiota to the community of microorganisms such as bacteria, archaea, and fungi in a particular environment, whereas biota serves as the comprehensive term integrating all these groups.^[2]^[17] In paleontology, biota denotes fossilized assemblages preserving ancient biological communities, providing insights into past biodiversity and evolutionary transitions, as seen in the Ediacara biota's soft-bodied organisms from the late Precambrian or the Fezouata biota's diverse Early Ordovician marine life.^[18]^[19]

Historical Development

Etymology and Early Usage

The term "biota" derives from the Ancient Greek βιοτή (biotḗ), signifying "life" or "way of life," which stems from βίος (bíos, "life") and traces back to the Proto-Indo-European root *gʷei- meaning "to live." Adopted into New Latin as biota, it entered the English language around the late 19th century, with the earliest documented usage occurring in 1901 by Leonhard Stejneger in a Smithsonian publication on biogeography, denoting the collective flora and fauna of a specific region.^[20]^[21]^[22]^[23] Prior to this formal adoption, 19th-century natural history literature featured informal references to assemblages of regional organisms that presaged the modern concept of biota. Explorers and scientists described the interconnected life forms in particular environments without employing the precise term, often focusing on their distribution and environmental ties. For instance, Alexander von Humboldt's early 19th-century accounts of tropical ecosystems in South America and Mexico highlighted the diverse plant and animal life shaped by altitude, climate, and geography, interpreting such regional biota as products of northern and southern floral interactions.^[24] The initial scientific application of "biota" in English appeared in botanical and ecological contexts, notably in Henry Chandler Cowles's 1911 paper "The Causes of Vegetative Cycles," where he identified biota as a primary driver of plant succession alongside climate and physiography. This usage marked an early step in applying the term to analyze plant communities and their development in North American landscapes. By the early 20th century, ecologists increasingly employed "biota" in a more rigorous, inventory-oriented manner to catalog and classify species in defined areas, transitioning from broad descriptive narratives to systematic ecological studies. A key example is Victor Ernest Shelford's 1926 edited volume Naturalist's Guide to the Americas, which used "biota" to outline biotic zones across continents without explicit definition, building on prior work to emphasize regional life assemblages.^[25]^[26]

Modern Conceptualization

In the mid-20th century, the concept of biota evolved significantly within ecosystem ecology, particularly through the work of Eugene P. Odum, who integrated biota—the collective living organisms—as a core functional unit interacting with abiotic components to form dynamic ecosystems. In his seminal 1953 textbook Fundamentals of Ecology, Odum emphasized biota's role in energy flow, nutrient cycling, and overall system stability, shifting the view from isolated organisms to integrated biotic assemblages essential for ecological processes.^[27] This perspective laid the groundwork for treating biota not merely as biodiversity inventories but as active drivers of ecosystem function, influencing subsequent ecological modeling and conservation strategies. Global initiatives further advanced the conceptualization of biota in the late 20th century, notably through UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme launched in 1971, which utilized biota assessments to evaluate environmental health and promote sustainable human-environment interactions. The MAB framework employs biosphere reserves to monitor biotic components, including biodiversity and ecosystem services, as indicators of ecological integrity and resilience against degradation.^[28] Key publications like Robert H. Whittaker's 1975 Communities and Ecosystems reinforced this by incorporating biota distributions into biome classifications, mapping vegetation and faunal patterns against climatic gradients to delineate major global ecological units.^[29] In contemporary contexts, the notion of biota has expanded beyond Earth-centric ecology into astrobiology, where it informs searches for extraterrestrial life forms through biosignature detection and modeling of potential alien biotic assemblages.^[30] Similarly, since the 1990s, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports have tracked biota shifts—such as species range alterations and community recompositions—as critical responses to global warming, integrating these dynamics into predictive models for ecosystem vulnerability and adaptation.^[31] These developments underscore biota's role as a multifaceted concept bridging planetary biology, environmental monitoring, and interdisciplinary science.

Composition and Diversity

Major Biological Groups

The major biological groups comprising the macroscopic components of biota are flora, fauna, and fungi, each contributing distinct structural and functional elements to living assemblages in various environments. Flora encompasses photosynthetic organisms that form the foundational layer of primary production, converting solar energy into biomass that supports higher trophic levels. Fauna includes motile heterotrophic animals that drive energy transfer through consumption and movement across ecosystems. Fungi, though often historically grouped with plants, represent a separate kingdom characterized by heterotrophy and filamentous growth, playing critical roles in decomposition and symbiosis. These groups interact to maintain biota's dynamic balance, with flora providing the base, fauna facilitating nutrient cycling via predation and grazing, and fungi recycling organic matter. Flora consists of vascular plants, non-vascular plants such as mosses, and algae, all of which are primary producers essential for biota's energy foundation. Vascular plants, including ferns, gymnosperms, and angiosperms, feature specialized tissues for water and nutrient transport, enabling them to dominate terrestrial biota and achieve heights up to 100 meters in forests. Non-vascular plants like mosses (bryophytes) lack these tissues but colonize harsh substrates, stabilizing soil and contributing to early succession in biota. Algae, ranging from unicellular forms to macroalgae like kelp, drive primary production in aquatic and moist environments, fixing carbon through photosynthesis at rates that can exceed 10 grams of carbon per square meter per day in productive systems. Collectively, these groups underpin biota by generating organic matter that fuels subsequent consumers. Fauna is divided into invertebrates and vertebrates, occupying diverse trophic levels from herbivores to apex predators, which regulate population dynamics within biota. Invertebrates, such as insects (e.g., beetles and butterflies) and mollusks (e.g., snails and squid), often serve as primary consumers or intermediate predators; for instance, insects comprise over 80% of animal species and facilitate herbivory on flora. Vertebrates include mammals (e.g., deer as herbivores), birds (e.g., eagles as predators), and fish (e.g., salmon migrating between trophic roles), spanning herbivores that graze on vegetation to carnivores that control herbivore populations. These trophic positions—herbivores converting plant biomass into animal tissue, and predators maintaining balance by preying on herbivores—ensure efficient energy flow, with examples like wolves regulating deer numbers to prevent overgrazing. Fungi function primarily as decomposers and symbionts, distinct from plants due to their lack of chlorophyll and inability to photosynthesize, relying instead on external organic sources for nutrition. As decomposers, they break down dead plant and animal matter, releasing nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus back into biota; for example, saprotrophic fungi such as those in the genus Aspergillus degrade lignin in wood, recycling a significant portion of forest carbon. In symbiotic roles, mycorrhizae form mutualistic associations with plant roots, enhancing water and nutrient uptake in exchange for carbohydrates; arbuscular mycorrhizae, for instance, connect with over 80% of vascular plants, boosting growth in nutrient-poor soils. This separation from flora highlights fungi's heterotrophic kingdom status, evolving independently as absorptive feeders rather than autotrophs. Interdependencies among these groups are evident in processes like pollination and herbivory, which link flora, fauna, and fungi without which biota's reproduction and stability would falter. Pollination exemplifies fauna-flora mutualism, where insects like bees transfer pollen between flowers, enabling seed production in 80% of angiosperms; for example, bumblebees pollinate crops like tomatoes by vibrating anthers to release pollen. Herbivory illustrates consumptive interactions, with fauna such as caterpillars feeding on leaves, which can stimulate plant defenses but also limit overgrowth; deer browsing on shrubs, for instance, shapes vegetation structure in forests. Fungi often mediate these, as mycorrhizae support pollinated plants under herbivory stress by improving resilience.

Microbial Contributions

Microorganisms, including bacteria, archaea, protists, and viruses, form the foundational layer of biota, often comprising a substantial portion of global biomass despite their microscopic scale. According to estimates, bacteria alone account for approximately 13% of Earth's total living biomass, equivalent to about 70 gigatons of carbon, while archaea, protists, and viruses add further to this microbial share, reaching around 15% overall.^[32] These entities dominate in environments where multicellular life is scarce, underscoring their critical role in sustaining biota's diversity and functionality. Bacteria and archaea exhibit remarkable dominance across diverse habitats, including soils, aquatic systems, and extreme environments such as deep-sea hydrothermal vents and acidic hot springs. In soils, they drive essential processes like organic matter decomposition, releasing nutrients back into the ecosystem for uptake by other organisms. Archaea, often thriving in anaerobic or high-salinity conditions, contribute to methane production and cycling in wetlands and oceans. Both groups are pivotal in nitrogen fixation, where diazotrophic species convert atmospheric N₂ into bioavailable ammonia, supporting primary production in nitrogen-limited ecosystems like oceans and tundras.^[33]^[34]^[35] Protists, as unicellular eukaryotes, serve as key intermediaries in microbial food webs, acting as predators on bacteria and prey for larger organisms, thereby channeling energy and nutrients through biota. Viruses, though non-cellular, influence these dynamics by infecting microbes, facilitating horizontal gene transfer that enhances genetic diversity and adaptability across populations. In marine settings, viruses regulate prokaryotic abundance, preventing overgrowth and promoting nutrient recycling.^[36]^[37] Notable examples illustrate these contributions: in animal hosts, gut microbiota—dominated by bacteria—aid digestion, synthesize vitamins, and modulate immune responses, influencing host health and behavior. In oceanic realms, prokaryotes like SAR11 clade bacteria process vast amounts of dissolved organic carbon, driving the global carbon cycle by facilitating its sequestration or release, which impacts atmospheric CO₂ levels.^[38]^[39]

Ecological Contexts

Biota in Ecosystems

Biota forms the foundational living component of ecosystems, organizing into trophic structures that facilitate the unidirectional flow of energy. Primary producers, primarily plants and algae, capture solar energy through photosynthesis to form the base of these structures, converting it into biomass.^[40] Herbivorous primary consumers, such as insects and grazing mammals, feed on this biomass, while carnivorous secondary and tertiary consumers prey on herbivores and other carnivores, respectively.^[41] Decomposers, including fungi and bacteria, break down dead organic matter, recycling nutrients back into the system while transferring energy inefficiently across trophic levels, with only about 10% efficiency per level due to losses in respiration and heat.^[42] This energy flow sustains ecosystem productivity but limits food chain lengths to typically four or five levels.^[43] Within ecosystems, biota engages in diverse interactions that shape community dynamics and stability. Symbiotic mutualisms, such as those between plants and nitrogen-fixing bacteria, benefit both partners by enhancing nutrient availability and growth.^[44] Competition occurs when species vie for limited resources like light or space, potentially leading to niche partitioning that promotes coexistence.^[45] Predation regulates populations, with predators controlling herbivore numbers to prevent overgrazing of producers.^[46] Keystone species, like certain predatory sea stars, disproportionately influence biota stability by preventing any single competitor from dominating, thereby maintaining overall community diversity.^[47] Biodiversity within biota directly links to ecosystem resilience, as higher diversity buffers against perturbations through functional redundancy and complementary roles. Ecosystems with greater species richness exhibit enhanced stability, as diverse interactions distribute risks and facilitate recovery.^[48] Measures like the Shannon index, which accounts for both species richness and evenness, often correlate positively with resilience indicators, such as resistance to species loss following disturbances.^[49] A prominent case study is the biota of coral reefs, where mutualisms underpin structural integrity and productivity. Reef-building corals host symbiotic dinoflagellates (zooxanthellae) that provide photosynthetic energy in exchange for nutrients and protection, supporting a vast array of associated species including fish and invertebrates.^[50] These interactions extend to herbivorous fish that control algal overgrowth, preserving coral dominance. Natural disruptions, such as outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish predation, can cascade through the biota, reducing mutualistic partnerships and altering trophic balances, yet diverse reefs often recover via resilient microbial and algal recolonization.

Scales of Biota

Biota is delineated across spatial scales that range from localized microhabitats to expansive regional and global extents, each hosting distinct assemblages shaped by environmental gradients and interactions. At the smallest local scales, such as the edge of a pond, biota comprises specialized communities of aquatic insects, amphibians, and plants adapted to transitional zones with varying moisture, light, and substrate conditions, fostering high niche diversity within confined areas.^[51] In contrast, regional scales integrate broader landscapes, exemplified by the Amazon basin, where biota forms complex, interconnected networks of flora and fauna spanning millions of square kilometers, influenced by riverine dynamics and climatic variability.^[52] These scale-dependent variations highlight how biota composition shifts from fine-grained adaptations in microhabitats to coarse-grained patterns of endemism and migration at regional levels.^[53] At the global scale, the biosphere encompasses the totality of Earth's biota, integrating all living organisms across terrestrial, aquatic, and atmospheric interfaces into a unified planetary system.^[54] This scale reveals overarching patterns, such as biomass distribution and biogeochemical cycles driven by collective biota activity. Extending beyond contemporary life, paleobiota represents prehistoric assemblages preserved in geological strata, providing insights into ancient community structures and environmental conditions through fossil evidence.^[55] Temporal dimensions further modulate biota dynamics, with changes occurring over short-term successional processes and long-term evolutionary periods. Successional changes, such as post-fire biota recovery, involve rapid colonization by pioneer species like grasses and fungi in the initial years, progressing to shrub and tree dominance over decades as soil nutrients and propagule banks facilitate community rebuilding.^[56] On evolutionary timescales spanning millions of years, biota undergoes speciation, extinction, and adaptation events that redefine global diversity, as seen in major radiations following mass extinctions.^[57] Illustrative examples underscore scale-specific uniqueness in biota. The isolation of Galápagos island biota, resulting from oceanic barriers, has promoted adaptive radiations in taxa like finches and tortoises, yielding high endemism rates exceeding 80% in taxa such as land birds and reptiles over evolutionary time.^[58] Similarly, deep-sea hydrothermal vent biota demonstrates extreme localization, with chemosynthetic communities of tube worms, mussels, and microbes thriving in isolated, high-temperature niches unsupported by sunlight, highlighting resilience in otherwise barren abyssal environments.^[59]

Human Interactions

Conservation Efforts

Protected areas, including national parks and reserves, play a crucial role in preserving the integrity and diversity of biota by safeguarding habitats for endemic species. Yellowstone National Park, for instance, encompasses nearly 900,000 hectares and protects one of the few intact large ecosystems in the northern temperate zone, serving as a refuge for rare and endangered mammalian biota such as grizzly bears, wolves, bison, and wapiti, all of which were present prior to European contact.^[60] This park's designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve since 1976 underscores its function in supporting biological evolution and natural processes with minimal human interference, including the restoration of wolves in 1995 to enhance ecological balance.^[60] Similar initiatives, like those in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem managed by organizations such as The Nature Conservancy, extend protection across 22 million acres to maintain resilient biota amid surrounding land uses.^[61] International agreements provide a global framework for biota conservation, with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), established in 1992, serving as a cornerstone treaty ratified by over 190 countries to promote sustainable use and protection of biological diversity.^[62] The CBD's Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted in 2022, sets 23 targets for 2030 aimed at halting and reversing biodiversity loss, including conserving 30% of terrestrial, inland water, and marine areas effectively and restoring 30% of degraded ecosystems to support biota recovery. As of October 2025, parties agreed on a blueprint for the first global stocktake of progress toward these targets at a meeting in Panama.^[62]^[63] These goals emphasize reducing threats to biota through participatory planning and halting human-induced extinctions of threatened species, mobilizing at least $200 billion annually for implementation.^[62] Restoration techniques are essential for rebuilding biota, particularly through reforestation efforts that target flora-dominated ecosystems. Assisted natural regeneration, which involves removing barriers like grazing animals via fencing and promoting pioneer species, accelerates forest recovery and supports diverse plant communities, as demonstrated in projects by Fundación Biodiversa in Colombia that restored ecosystems in a decade rather than half a century.^[64] Active tree planting with native species mixes further enhances flora biota, while agroforestry integrates trees into agricultural landscapes to sustain both biodiversity and livelihoods, as seen in Ecuador's Third Millennium Alliance initiatives.^[64] For fauna, captive breeding programs maintain populations of endangered species in controlled environments to prevent extinction and preserve genetic diversity, with goals of increasing numbers while minimizing inbreeding through balanced breeding strategies.^[65] Successful examples include the black-footed ferret and California condor programs, which prepare individuals for potential reintroduction by monitoring behavioral adaptations to captivity.^[65] Monitoring tools enable effective tracking of biota inventories and conservation progress, with DNA barcoding providing rapid species identification through standardized genetic markers. In aquatic and terrestrial contexts, DNA barcoding reference libraries like those in BOLD and GenBank support biomonitoring under frameworks such as the EU Water Framework Directive, identifying gaps in coverage for groups like invertebrates (66% barcoded) and enabling high-throughput inventories of macroinvertebrates, fish, and plants.^[66] Complementary satellite remote sensing assesses biota at landscape scales by estimating species richness, β-diversity, and vegetation health via spectral data, aiding in the detection of disturbances and progress toward conservation targets like those in the CBD.^[67] Techniques such as analyzing Landsat imagery for land cover changes and integrating it with ecosystem models enhance standardized monitoring over large areas.^[67]

Anthropogenic Impacts

Human activities have significantly altered the composition, distribution, and health of biota worldwide, primarily through habitat destruction, pollution, climate change, invasive species introductions, and overexploitation. These impacts often interact, amplifying declines in biodiversity and ecosystem functionality, with tropical and aquatic systems particularly vulnerable due to their high species richness and sensitivity to environmental shifts.^[68] Habitat destruction stands as one of the most direct anthropogenic threats to biota, driven largely by deforestation and urbanization. In tropical regions, deforestation has contributed to a decline of at least 20% in the average abundance of native species populations since 1900, as vast areas of forest—essential for diverse flora and fauna—have been cleared for agriculture and logging. For instance, tropical Africa alone has lost approximately 22% of its forested area over this period, correlating with reduced biota diversity and habitat availability. Urbanization compounds this by fragmenting remaining habitats into isolated patches, which disrupts gene flow among populations and increases extinction risks for local species; studies indicate that urban expansion drives habitat loss for 26% to 39% of assessed terrestrial species globally.^[69]^[70]^[71] Pollution and climate change further degrade biota by altering environmental conditions essential for survival. Acid rain, resulting from industrial emissions, acidifies aquatic systems, impairing reproduction and survival in fish and invertebrate communities while shifting species compositions toward acid-tolerant taxa. Concurrently, climate change induces poleward and elevational migrations in many species, disrupting native assemblages by introducing novel competitors or predators and altering food webs; for example, warming oceans and lands have already prompted range shifts in a significant proportion (less than half in some reviews) of monitored species, leading to mismatches in ecological interactions.^[72]^[73]^[74]^[75]^[76] Human-facilitated invasive species invasions exacerbate these pressures by outcompeting or preying upon indigenous biota. A prominent example is the zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha), introduced to North American waters via ballast water in the 1980s, which filters plankton at high rates—depleting food resources for native filter-feeders—and attaches to shells of unionid mussels, causing widespread mortality and altering aquatic community structures across the Great Lakes and beyond.^[77]^[78] Overexploitation through unsustainable hunting and fishing depletes key species, cascading through biota to create imbalances. In oceanic ecosystems, overfishing has escalated dramatically, with the proportion of overexploited fish stocks rising from about 10% in the 1970s to roughly one-third (35.5% as of 2023 data) today, reducing biomass of top predators and altering trophic dynamics that affect plankton, invertebrates, and seabirds. Historical cases, such as the collapse of coastal fisheries in the North Atlantic due to intensive whaling and cod harvesting since the 19th century, illustrate how such practices can drive ecological extinctions and hinder biota recovery.^[79]^[80]^[81]

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[44]
[PDF] Chapter 54 - Community Ecology
Interspecific interactions that link the species of a community include competition, predation, ... symbiosis in which two species benefit from their interaction.
[45]
Community Ecology – Introductory Biology: Evolutionary and ...
Predation and Herbivory. Perhaps the classical example of species interaction is predation: the consumption of prey by its predator. Nature shows on ...
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[PDF] Community Ecology: Interactions Heyer 1 - De Anza College
Predation and Diversity. • Keystone Predator. = a species that reduces the population density of the strongest competitors. • Predation can help maintain.
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[PDF] How Organisms Interact In Communities Directed Reading
A higher species richness typically results in more complex interactions and greater ecosystem stability. Diverse communities can better withstand ...
[48]
Relationship between Species Diversity and Community Stability in ...
Oct 15, 2023 · It can be seen that the community stability index was positively correlated with coverage, height, biomass, species richness, Shannon–Wiener ...
[49]
[PDF] Multispecies Microbial Mutualisms on Coral Reefs: The Host as a ...
Reef corals have diverse microbial associations, including dinoflagellates (zooxanthellae) and bacteria. These mutualisms are crucial for coral growth and the ...
[50]
Attracting Wildlife to Your Pond - Cornell Cooperative Extension
Dec 23, 2019 · Pond creatures rely on microhabitats - small areas in and around the pond that are especially shallow or deep or concealed. If you create these ...
[51]
Impacts of multiple stressors on freshwater biota across spatial ...
Jun 15, 2020 · This study combines data across scales from 33 mesocosm experiments with those from 14 river basins and 22 cross-basin studies in Europe.
[52]
The spatial and temporal domains of modern ecology - Nature
Apr 2, 2018 · To understand ecological phenomena, it is necessary to observe their behaviour across multiple spatial and temporal scales.
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Ecosphere, biosphere, or Gaia? What to call the global ecosystem
Dec 25, 2001 · First, the biosphere is the totality of life on Earth – all living organisms. Second, the biosphere is the geographical space occupied by ...
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Fossil Communities in Paleoecology: Their Recognition and ...
Mar 2, 2017 · Fossil assemblages consist of individuals that were members of one or more ancient communities. Four types of fossil assemblagesMissing: prehistoric | Show results with:prehistoric
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DETERMINANTS OF POSTFIRE RECOVERY AND SUCCESSION ...
Oct 1, 2005 · Residual species present in the immediate postfire environment dominated early succession. By the fifth year postfire, roughly half of the ...Missing: biota | Show results with:biota
[56]
Evolution on ecological time‐scales - CARROLL - 2007
May 22, 2007 · Ecologically significant evolutionary change, occurring over tens of generations or fewer, is now widely documented in nature.
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Colonization and diversification of Galápagos terrestrial fauna
Owing to their isolation and arid climate, the Galápagos Islands have been successfully colonized by only a subset of the diverse flora and fauna of the closest ...
[58]
High functional vulnerability across the world's deep-sea ... - PNAS
Oct 28, 2024 · At the nearly pristine hydrothermal vents of the deep sea, highly endemic animals depend upon bacteria nourished by hydrothermal fluids that ...
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Yellowstone National Park - UNESCO World Heritage Centre
Yellowstone National Park is a protected area showcasing significant geological phenomena and processes. It is also a unique manifestation of geothermal forces.
[60]
Greater Yellowstone - The Nature Conservancy
Yet only a small fraction of the Greater Yellowstone is protected by the national parks at its core. Almost 90% of this 22-million-acre landscape, which ...
[61]
2030 Targets (with Guidance Notes)
1. Reducing threats to biodiversity. TARGET 1: Plan and Manage all Areas To Reduce Biodiversity Loss · 2. Meeting people's needs through sustainable use and ...Implementation and support... · Target 1 · Target 3 · Target 2Missing: 1992 | Show results with:1992
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The art of reforestation: insights for successful ecosystem restoration
May 13, 2025 · Techniques include planting shade-providing species or fencing areas to exclude grazers, which speeds up natural regeneration. Successful ...Missing: flora biota
[63]
Captive Breeding - Purdue University - College of Agriculture
Captive breeding maintains populations for education, research, and conservation, especially for species near extinction, and aims to retain genetic diversity.
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DNA barcode reference libraries for the monitoring of aquatic biota ...
Aug 15, 2019 · We analysed gaps in the two most important reference databases, Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) and NCBI GenBank, with a focus on the taxa most frequently ...
[65]
Improving biodiversity monitoring using satellite remote sensing to ...
Aug 6, 2018 · Increased access to satellite imagery and new developments in data analyses can support progress towards biodiversity conservation targets by ...INTRODUCTION · MONITORING BIODIVERSITY · DEVELOPING AN IMPROVED...
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Biodiversity - Our World in Data
On average, there has been a large decline across tens of thousands of wildlife populations since 1970 · Not all animal populations are in decline; around half ...
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UN Report: Nature's Dangerous Decline 'Unprecedented'; Species ...
May 6, 2019 · The average abundance of native species in most major land-based habitats has fallen by at least 20%, mostly since 1900. More than 40% of ...
[68]
Deforestation in Africa | Chatham House – International Affairs Think ...
May 18, 2023 · Tropical Africa has lost about 22 per cent of its forested area since 1900, which is comparable to the losses in the Amazon.
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Biodiversity impacts and conservation implications of urban land ...
Mar 14, 2022 · We find that urban land expansion is a contributing driver of habitat loss (≥5% of total loss) for around one-third (26 to 39%) of the species assessed.
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Effects of Acid Rain | US EPA
Mar 19, 2025 · The ecological effects of acid rain are most clearly seen in aquatic environments, such as streams, lakes, and marshes where it can be harmful to fish and ...Effects of Acid Rain on... · Effects of Acid Rain on Materials
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Acid precipitation and its influence upon aquatic ecosystems
Addition of hydrogen ions as sulfuric, nitric, and hydrochloric acid can alter and impoverish the species composition of biotic communities, and lead to severe ...
[72]
Climate Change Impacts on Ecosystems | US EPA
Aug 8, 2025 · Shifting animal ranges can disrupt Indigenous peoples' ability to hunt and fish as the animals move beyond their tribal lands.
[73]
Climate change and its impact on biodiversity and human welfare
As the temperature gets warmer in their native habitat, species tend to move to higher altitudes and towards the poles in search of suitable temperature and ...
[74]
What are zebra mussels and why should we care about them?
Zebra mussels negatively impact ecosystems in many ways. They filter out algae that native species need for food and they attach to--and incapacitate--native ...Missing: biota | Show results with:biota
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Zebra Mussel | National Invasive Species Information Center
Zebra mussels are regarded as one of the most destructive invasive species in North America. ... impacts of invasive quagga and zebra mussels since 2009.Missing: biota | Show results with:biota
[76]
Fish and Overfishing - Our World in Data
The share of overfished stocks has increased over the last half-century. In the 1970s, around 10% were overexploited. Although exploitation rates varied year-to ...
[77]
[PDF] Historical Overfishing and the Recent Collapse of Coastal Ecosystems
Severe overfishing drives species to ecological extinction because over- fished populations no longer interact signifi- cantly with other species in the ...