The issue of biodiversity and animal extinction is continuing to increase along with the world’s growing population. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Biodiversity is defined as the variety of all forms of life, from genes to species, to the broad scale of ecosystems. There are 34 hot spots of biodiversity around the world with the most well known to us being the California Floristic Province, the Caribbean Islands and the Cerrado region of Brazil.

With loss of biodiversity comes animal extinction. According to Dr. Barbara Corker, some of the most endangered animals are the Black Rhino, the Giant Panda, the Tiger and the Beluga Sturgeon. The majority of these animals have been on the endangered list since roughly 1970.

The main causes of biodiversity loss and animal extinction are pollution, over-population, global climate change and alien species. Senior Mackenzie Carlson said, “Biodiversity is a growing issue that our world is facing. We should all work together to come up with a solution.”

Biodiversity is extremely important to our world. It means that animals have habitats, future evolution of animals can occur and ecosystem can increase productivity.

According to Anup Shah, “At least 40 percent of the world’s economy and 80 percent of the needs of the poor are derived from biological resources. In addition, the richer the diversity of life, the greater the opportunity for medical discoveries, economic development, and adaptive responses to such new challenges as climate change.”

Abbey Challgren is the Variety Editor for The Spartan Speaks