biodiversity
The variety of plants, animals, and other living things in an area.
ExampleThe passage links forest loss with a decline in biodiversity.
ExampleWetland protection can help preserve biodiversity in coastal regions.
Usage Scenarios
Variety of living things
Recognize biodiversity when the passage discusses the range of species in a forest, wetland, ocean, farm, or other natural area.
ExampleThe passage links forest loss with a decline in biodiversity.
Threats and protection
After biodiversity appears, look for what reduces or protects species variety, such as habitat loss, farming, pollution, or conservation.
ExampleWetland protection can help preserve biodiversity in coastal regions.
Usage Guide
Recognize biodiversity when a passage discusses the variety of living things in an area. It often appears near species, habitat, ecosystem, forest, wetland, or conservation.
High-value reading chunks include loss of biodiversity, protect biodiversity, biodiversity decline, and preserve biodiversity; these phrases show whether the paragraph is about threat or protection.
Do not read biodiversity as nature in general. IELTS passages usually focus on species variety and the causes or effects of that variety changing.
Word Forms & Word Building
Biodiversity is a compound noun built from bio-, meaning life, and diversity, meaning variety. The whole word means variety of life, not simply many animals.
Diverse is the adjective behind diversity. Biodiverse is also an adjective, as in a biodiverse forest, but biodiversity is the more common IELTS reading noun.
In IELTS environment passages, biodiversity often appears with loss, decline, protect, preserve, habitat, species, and ecosystem.
Meaning Boundaries
Biodiversity vs ecosystem
Biodiversity is the variety of living things. Ecosystem is the whole network of organisms, climate, soil, water, and relationships around them.
Biodiversity vs diversity
Diversity can describe variety in many areas. Biodiversity specifically means biological variety: plants, animals, microorganisms, and species.
Best IELTS context
Expect biodiversity in environment passages about species loss, habitat damage, conservation, farming, forests, oceans, and climate pressure.
Memory Tricks
Think variety of life, not simply nature. IELTS passages often connect biodiversity to habitat, species numbers, farming, forests, or climate.
Anchor the word in loss of biodiversity, protect biodiversity, and biodiversity decline.
When reading, ask which living things are becoming more or less varied, and what human or environmental cause is given.
Common Traps
Do not use biodiversity for cultural diversity or variety among people; it is about living species.
Avoid many biodiversities in ordinary IELTS writing. Use biodiversity as an uncountable topic word.
When writing about loss of biodiversity, name the cause or affected habitat so the sentence is not empty.