Biodiversity is defined by the Convention on Biological Diversity as “the variability among living organisms from all sources, including terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems”. Biodiversity, or biological diversity refers to all living organisms and comprises the totality of genes, species and ecosystems in a given region. This includes the number of species present, variations within and among species, the size of the populations and the location of these populations.
More simply, biodiversity is the variety of the world’s organisms, including their genetic makeup and the communities they form.