Biodiversity

Biological diversity, or biodiversity, is the variety of life that exists in a particular area. The most common measurement of biodiversity is the number of species. The biodiversity index, which is one way of measuring how diverse an area might be, has the following formula:

# of species in an area / the # individuals in an area = Biodiversity Index

The index ranges from 0 to 1, with 1 being high diversity.

Not all biomes have the same amount of biodiversity. Rainforests and other types of forests support a high level of biodiversity. Desert and tundra biomes have low levels of biodiversity.