What is Biodiversity? Biodiversity is the variation of life at all levels of biological organization. It is the variety and variability among living organisms and the ecological areas in which they occur. Biodiversity can occur in three different ways: Genetic Diversity, which is the combination of different genes found within a population of a single species.  The second type of diversity is species diversity. Species diversity is the variety and abundance of different types of organisms which inhabit an area, or rather, how many different species are there.  The final type of diversity, and the hardest to pin down, is ecosystem diversity. Ecosystem diversity encompasses the variety of habitats that occur within a region, or the mosaic of patches found within a landscape. Ecosystem diversity is the difference in types of habitats in one area, such as a wetland, grassland and old growth forest all within the same valley. Biodiversity becomes richer as you move closer to the tropics and equator in latitude, as well as other localized hotspots such as the California Floristic Province. As you move closer to the Polar Regions, you find fewer species. Flora and fauna diversity depends on climate, altitude, soils and the presence of other species. The conservation of biodiversity includes perpetuation of native species in numbers and also range of distribution that provide a high likelihood of continued existence. Biblically we see that some of the greatest natural wonders of the Old Testament time are now lost because of human consumption. “The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted. In them the birds build their nests; the stork has its home in the fir trees” (Psalms 104:16-17, NRSV). King Solomon used the finest cedar timbers to build the Temple in Jerusalem. Lebanon was a mountainous land covered with one of the finest forests the world had ever seen, mighty trees that would compare with the finest sequoias in California. Now Lebanon is deforested and stripped of soil. Goats nibble a little grass where once the finest trees man has ever known grew tall. Where are the birds to nest if we remove all the cedars? Psalm 104 continues by stating that God's creatures are valuable not because of their usefulness to humans, though some are useful, indeed essential, to us. Rather, they are valuable to each other, the cedars are valuable as places for birds to nest and the mountains are valuable as places of refuge and rest for the wild goats. Most importantly, rocks and trees, birds, and animals are valuable simply because God made them. NCC Biodiversity Home