biodiversity
noun
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Biodiversity may become the rallying call for the next decade, wrote David Wake in the journal Science in 1989. Indeed, biodiversity is a word you're likely to encounter in writing about ecology and the environment today. But when Wake used it, "biodiversity" was still a relatively new addition to the English language, having first appeared in writing in the mid-1980s. Of course, the roots of biodiversity are much older. It evolved from a commingling of the descendants of the Greek noun bios, which means "mode of life," and the Latin verb divertere, which means "to turn aside" or "to go different ways."
Examples of biodiversity in a Sentence
Fairchild Studio, WWD, 12 June 2024
Raising livestock for human consumption, for example, uses an enormous amount of agricultural land and contributes to deforestation, biodiversity loss and water pollution, experts say.
—Sandee Lamotte, CNN, 10 June 2024
The iconic cranes also helped encourage people to care for the area and its biodiversity — including many tiny lifeforms, like more than 1,000 species of insects.
—Kristen Pope, Travel + Leisure, 8 June 2024
This system drastically reduces rainwater runoff flow into the ocean, which would be detrimental to its coral life and biodiversity.
—Jessica Chapel, Condé Nast Traveler, 8 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for biodiversity 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'biodiversity.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Biodiversity.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/biodiversity. Accessed 2 Jul. 2024.
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biodiversity
noun
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