Biodiversity or biological diversity is a neologism and a portmanteau word, from ‘bio’ and ‘diversity’. It is the diversity of and in living nature. It has contributed in many ways to the development of human culture, and, in turn, human communities have played a major role in shaping the diversity of nature at the genetic, species, and ecological levels. During the last century, erosion of biodiversity has been increasingly observed. Estimates of ...
Ecology is generally spoken of as a new science, having only become prominent second half of the twentieth century. Nonetheless, ecological thinking at some level has been around for a long time, and the principles of ecology have developed gradually, closely intertwined with the development of other biological disciplines. Thus, one of the first ecologists may have been Aristotle or perhaps his student, Theophrastus, both of whom had interest in many species of ...