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Multiple Choice

Which term describes the variety of life including species variety and genetic diversity?

Biodiversity is the variety of life at multiple levels, capturing both the diversity of species and the genetic variation within those species. It’s the umbrella concept that describes how many different species exist and how much genetic diversity they contain, as well as how ecosystems differ from one another. A population is just a group of individuals of the same species in a particular area, which is narrower. A species is a distinct group that can interbreed, still narrower than the broad idea of life’s variety. An adaptive trait is a specific characteristic that helps an organism survive or reproduce, not the overall diversity of life. So biodiversity best describes the variety of life including both species diversity and genetic diversity.

Biodiversity is the variety of life at multiple levels, capturing both the diversity of species and the genetic variation within those species. It’s the umbrella concept that describes how many different species exist and how much genetic diversity they contain, as well as how ecosystems differ from one another. A population is just a group of individuals of the same species in a particular area, which is narrower. A species is a distinct group that can interbreed, still narrower than the broad idea of life’s variety. An adaptive trait is a specific characteristic that helps an organism survive or reproduce, not the overall diversity of life. So biodiversity best describes the variety of life including both species diversity and genetic diversity.