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biodiversity loss
References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics
Images & Videos
bleached coral seascape Diagram illustrating the main drivers of biodiversity loss, with arrows pointing from habitat loss, invasive species, overexploitation, pollution, and climate change toward a section labeled biodiversity loss, alongside influencers such as human population growth and increased consumption.
A bee perched on a purple flower with a yellow center.
This infographic compares the relative biomass in gigatons of carbon among major kingdoms of life, showing plants with the greatest biomass, followed by bacteria, fungi, archaea, protists, animals, and viruses. A detailed breakdown highlights that among animals, arthropods and fish have the highest biomass, with much smaller contributions from annelids, mollusks, livestock, humans, wild mammals, wild birds, nematodes, and cnidarians. Simple illustrations represent each group.
Is overpopulation a problem?
What are the Different Types of Extinction?
Monarch butterfly perched on a plant with purple flowers.
World map highlighting Earth's terrestrial biodiversity hot spots in red, showing regions with exceptionally high levels of species richness and endemism. These hot spots are distributed across parts of Central and South America, the Caribbean, Mediterranean basin, Africa, Madagascar, South and Southeast Asia, and islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, as well as select areas in North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. A river flows beside a barren area scattered with tree stumps, showing deforestation or drought effects; a dense forest stands in the background.

biodiversity loss: References & Edit History

Article Contributors

Primary Contributors

  • John P. Rafferty
    John P. Rafferty writes about Earth processes and the environment. He serves currently as the editor of Earth and life sciences, covering climatology, geology, zoology, and other topics that relate to the natural world.

Other Encyclopedia Britannica Contributors

Article History

Type Description Contributor Date
Modified link of Web site: Tha Lancet - Biodiversity loss—more than an environmental emergency. Sep 26, 2026
Add new Web site: Nature Communications - Biodiversity loss reduces global terrestrial carbon storage. Aug 01, 2026
Add new Web site: Biology LibreTexts - Measures of Biodiversity Loss. Nov 25, 2025
Add new Web site: The London School of Economics and Political Science - Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment - What are the extent and causes of biodiversity loss? Oct 02, 2025
Add new Web site: PNAS - Global biodiversity loss from tropical deforestation. Jul 27, 2025
Add new Web site: Nature Communications - Biodiversity loss reduces global terrestrial carbon storage. Jun 11, 2025
Add new Web site: Tha Lancet - Biodiversity loss—more than an environmental emergency. Apr 14, 2025
Add new Web site: International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences Review and Research - Biodiversity Loss: Threats and Conservation Strategies. Oct 21, 2024
Media added. Aug 15, 2024
Add new Web site: U.S. National Science Foundation - Loss of Biological Diversity: A Global crisis requiring international solutions. Jun 17, 2024
Add new Web site: The Guardian - The biodiversity crisis in numbers - a visual guide. May 07, 2024
Media added. Jun 16, 2023
Link added. Jun 01, 2023
Add new Web site: National Center for Biotechnology Information - Biodiversity loss, emerging pathogens and human health risks. Apr 27, 2023
Media added. Mar 21, 2023
Media added. Oct 17, 2022
Add new Web site: Academia - Causes of Biodiversity Loss: a Human Ecological Analysis. Sep 21, 2022
Article revised and updated. Jun 14, 2019
Added a diagram showing the drivers of biodiversity loss. Jun 14, 2019
New article added. Apr 16, 2019
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