this post was submitted on 22 Apr 2024
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Biodiversity

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A community about the variety of life on Earth at all levels; including plants, animals, bacteria, and fungi.

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Biodiversity is a term used to describe the enormous variety of life on Earth. It can be used more specifically to refer to all of the species in one region or ecosystem. Biodiversity refers to every living thing, including plants, bacteria, animals, and humans. Scientists have estimated that there are around 8.7 million species of plants and animals in existence. However, only around 1.2 million species have been identified and described so far, most of which are insects. This means that millions of other organisms remain a complete mystery.

Over generations, all of the species that are currently alive today have evolved unique traits that make them distinct from other species. These differences are what scientists use to tell one species from another. Organisms that have evolved to be so different from one another that they can no longer reproduce with each other are considered different species. All organisms that can reproduce with each other fall into one species. Read more...

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Is the Earth itself a giant living creature? (www.vox.com)
submitted 6 months ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/biodiversity@mander.xyz
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[–] Gsus4@mander.xyz 5 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Evolution is based on the species, but they all coevolve...to optimize...what? What sort of problem would a biosphere organism be trying to solve?

[–] techingtenor@lemm.ee 8 points 6 months ago

Probably just general entropy. Life is energy organized and put to purpose which is basically the opposite of entropy. So if, entropy is the antithesis to life, wouldn't all life's ultimate goal be to overcome entropy?

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 0 points 6 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

“The fundamental concept of a living world is ancient,” says Ferris Jabr, a science journalist and author of the upcoming book Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life.

Jabr found in the years since Gaia was first introduced, scientists have uncovered more connections between biology, ecology, and geology, which make the boundaries between these disciplines appear even more fuzzy.

In reporting his book, Jabr comes to the conclusion that not only is the Earth indeed a living creature, but thinking about it in such a way might help inspire action in dealing with the climate crisis.

Brian Resnick spoke to Jabr for an episode of Unexplainable, Vox’s podcast that explores scientific mysteries, unanswered questions, and all the things we learn by diving into the unknown.

Life dramatically increases the planet’s capacity to absorb, store, and transform energy, to exchange gases, and to perform complex chemical reactions.

NASA has made these amazing videos and animations and they’ve literally called them “Earth breathing,” because you can see how the levels of carbon dioxide and oxygen in the atmosphere fluctuate with the seasons.

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