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Biodiversity refers to the variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem. It is necessary for life to thrive on Earth.

Aldo Leopold, one of the great thinkers of conservation, observed more than half a century ago the importance of protecting species. "To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering," he wrote. Losing species is like throwing away one by one the engine parts of an airplane while flying.

Biodiversity is a major initiative of Conservation International.

Biodiversity conservation provides substantial benefits to meet immediate human needs, such as those for clean, consistent water flows; protection from floods and storms; and a stable climate. 

Curated by mokiethecat

That's Wild: These Sharpshooters Make Pee, Not War
August 09, 2023

Glassy-winged sharpshooters, common crop pests, consume 300 times their body weight in xylem sap daily, making them frequent urinators. Biophysicist Saad Bhamla discovered these insects efficiently expel urine using an "anal stylus" (dubbed a "butt flicker") to catapult droplets at high speed, a phenomenon he calls "superpropulsion."

Learn more about this physics-powered urination: research.gatech.edu/super-fast-insect-urination-powered-physics-superpropulsion

This research was featured in Endangered Earth Online, No. 1,205 (Aug. 10, 2023): biologicaldiversity.org/publications/earthonline/endangered-earth-online-no1205.html