What is Biodiversity?

Biodiversity is an abbreviation of the term “biological diversity”. It encompasses the variety of life on Earth, including genetic, species, and ecosystem variation. New species are being discovered every year, including plants, animals, fungi, protists, and bacteria. Newer studies estimate that billions of species may exist on earth, yet we have named less than two million. The United States is home to >200,000 species, amounting to about 5-10% of the world’s species.

Benefits of Biological Diversity

Maintaining biodiversity has many important benefits. Humans benefit from the ecosystem services provided by biodiversity, including pest reduction, seed dispersal, pollination, nutrient cycling, and medicines. Biodiversity is also essential for species adaptability and stabilizing the natural balance of the ecosystem.

Threats to Biodiversity

Unfortunately, there are many threats to biodiversity. Over 500 species have gone extinct in North America in the recent past. The biggest threats are:

• Habitat loss and degradation negatively impacts 80% of native species. Loss can be caused by land conversion for agriculture, livestock, infrastructure, and residential development. Degradation can be caused by poor water quality, pollutants, outdoor recreation, fire disruption, logging and mining/extraction.
• Non-native species negatively impacts 50% of native species by altering community composition and ecological balance. Non-native species often have no local predators, allowing them to out-compete native species for food, shelter, and space.
• Over-exploitation negatively impacts 20% of species.
• Change in climate has potential to alter the availability of habitat as sea levels rise, and species struggle to adapt to changing temperatures.

Florida’s Unique Biodiversity

Over 4,000 species are native to Florida. Of those, 369 species and 13 ecological communities are considered endemic, meaning they are only found within Florida. There are 3 “hotspots” for native species in Florida: the Apalachicola Basin, the Everglades, and the Lake Wales Ridge. These areas have high diversity and endemism due to four factors influencing Florida: diverse soils, the peninsula effect, high humidity/rainfall, and unique biogeography.

What You Can Do

You can expand your understanding of the type of management needed in natural areas to conserve biodiversity. The top statewide threats to biodiversity in Florida are manageable with the right knowledge, skills, and resources. Threats include habitat fragmentation, degradation of water resources, incompatible fire management, invasive plants and animals, and management of the physical environment.

Learn More Through the Natural Areas Training Academy

We prepare Florida’s natural areas managers to protect biodiversity in our Managing for Diversity Across Florida’s Unique Landscapes course. This course aims to equip participants with an understanding of restoration approaches, wetland assessment, and invasive species management essential for conserving biodiversity across Florida’s natural areas. For more information on this course and others, visit our website: https://programs.ifas.ufl.edu/nata/.

Other Sources of Information on Biodiversity

The Florida Natural Areas Inventory (FNAI): Offers a field guide to rare plants and animals that showcases natural communities, and interactive maps.

Early Detection and Distribution Mapping System (EDDMapS): An interactive tool for invasive species mapping.

Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s (FDEP): Resources on Hazardous Waste and Pollution.

The Atlas of Florida Plants: Browse the diversity of plants across the state of Florida, complete with picture references!

Florida Forest Service: Resources for wild and prescribed fires, forest conservation, and education opportunities.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC): A tool for obtaining information on regulations/licenses, hunting/fishing/boating, in addition to wildlife, habitats, research/education/conservation initiatives.

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