Appreciating biodiversity science: Why biodiversity should be a big science

Appreciating biodiversity science: Why biodiversity should be a big science

Professor F. Guillaume Blanchet from Université de Sherbrooke posits the importance of treating biodiversity science as a big science to reach the goals set during the COP15 on biodiversity. Biodiversity encompasses every variety of life on Earth, from the bacteria that cause strep throat to blue whales and humans. Biodiversity has been studied everywhere, from seemingly alien ecosystems around hydrothermal vents at the bottom of the oceans to the mosses and lichen of Mount Everest. Biodiversity should not only be seen as the number of species that live in a particular area at a specific time but also understood as how living organisms differ in their genetics and functions and how ecosystems differ from each other.