Biodiversity maintains a healthy biosphere and provides direct and indirect value to humans. Biologists conduct research in various environments to determine the health of the ecosystem.
The loss of an entire species is not an imaginary situation. Entire species permanently disappear from the biosphere when the last member of the species dies in a process called extinction. As species become extinct, the variety of species in the biosphere decreases, which decreases the health of the biosphere. Biodiversity is the variety of life in an area that is determined by the number of species in that area.
Biodiversity increases the stability of an ecosystem and contributes to the health of the biosphere. There are 3 types of biodiversity to consider: genetic, species, & ecosystem.