Endangered Means There Is Still Time
Biodiverstiy

Ecosystems

Biodiversity 

Extinction

Endangered Species Act

What You Can Do

Resources

Kid's Corner

No two of us are exactly alike.

The scale at which biodiversity can be measured varies. That region may consist of a plot of land no more than a few square meters or yards, a whole continent, or the entire planet.

Biodiversity does more than measure the variety of life around us. It also provides a variety of animals, plants, bacteria, and other organisms to support us. Imagine what it would be like if we only had one food to eat everyday!

Do you want green beans for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?

We are also learning that the mix of species in the world has many hidden benefits. For example, billions of people rely on plant-and animal-derived medicines for health care.

Without these life sustaining medicines and foods, many of us would not be here today. Have you ever taken aspirin or penicillin when you were sick? Medicines and foods are benefits from the earth’s great biodiversity. Each time we lose a species, the future benefits it could have provided are lost forever.

The most fundamental question of how many species of plants, animals, and microorganisms there are remains unknown. About 1.5 to 1.75 million species have been studied well enough worldwide to receive a scientific name. Estimates of the total number of species vary, but a general estimate tends to range around 14 million.

The United States is home to more than ten percent of all the species of plants and animals known to science. Thousands of native species occur nowhere else on earth.