megadiverse

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English

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WOTD – 23 May 2021

Etymology

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From mega- (prefix meaning ‘very large, great’) +‎ diverse, possibly modelled after biodiverse.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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megadiverse (not comparable)

  1. (chiefly ecology) Exhibiting great diversity, especially great biodiversity.
    • 1994, David Pearce, Dominic Moran, “Saving Biodiversity: An Overview of the Causal Factors”, in The Economic Value of Biodiversity, London: Earthscan Publications, published 1997, →ISBN, page 19:
      High rates of conversion [of natural habitats to agriculture] have clear implications for biodiversity loss. Of special concern are rates of conversion in the so-called megadiverse states: areas identified as being of high species endemism.
    • 2003, “Nature and Biodiversity Management”, in OECD Environmental Performance Reviews: Mexico, Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, →ISBN, box 5.2 (A Megadiverse Country), page 105:
      Mexico is one of the 12 megadiverse countries. While 1.3% of the land in the world, it hosts about 12% of the known terrestrial biota with very high endemicity.
    • 2004, Natalie P. Stoianoff, Tom Fox, “Managing Access to Australia’s Biological Resources – Issues in Developing a National Approach”, in Natalie P. Stoianoff, editor, Accessing Biological Resources: Complying with the Convention on Biological Diversity (International Environmental Law and Policy Series), The Hague, London: Kluwer Law International, →ISBN, page 93:
      […] Australia is the only developed nation, with the exception of Mexico, among the dozen or so regions which have been recognized as ‘megadiverse’, that is, having extensive total biodiversity.
    • 2007, Luisa Maffi, “Biocultural Diversity and Sustainability”, in Jules Pretty et al., editors, The SAGE Handbook of Environment and Society, London, Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications, →ISBN, page 268, column 2:
      Pioneering global cross-mappings of the distributions of biodiversity and linguistic diversity (taken as a proxy for cultural diversity as a whole) provided independent support for this conclusion, revealing significant geographic overlaps between the two diversities, especially in the tropics, and a strong coincidence between biologically and linguistically megadiverse countries […].
    • 2010, Fernando Cornejo, John Janovec, “Introduction”, in Seeds of Amazonian Plants (Princeton Field Guides), Princeton, N.J., Woodstock, Oxfordshire: Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page xv, column 1:
      In megadiverse regions such as the Andes-Amazon, managing these matters and developing wise programs for conserving natural resources is a huge undertaking, requiring the efforts of an array of individuals with widely diverse expertise.
    • 2016, Roseli Pellens, Philippe Grandcolas, “Phylogenetics and Conservation Biology: Drawing a Path into the Diversity of Life”, in Roseli Pellens, Philippe Grandcolas, editors, Biodiversity Conservation and Phylogenetic Systematics: Preserving Our Evolutionary Heritage in an Extinction Crisis (Topics in Biodiversity and Conservation; 14), Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature, →DOI, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 9:
      This method is applied to the case of New Caledonia, a megadiverse island with all locations equally rich in microendemic species and where phylogenetic diversity is especially helpful to determine conservation priorities among sites.
    • 2020, Brian W. van Wilgen, John Measey, David M[ark] Richardson, John R. Wilson, Tsungai A. Zengeya, “Biological Invasions in South Africa: An Overview”, in Brian W. van Wilgen et al., editors, Biological Invasions in South Africa (Invading Nature – Springer Series in Invasion Ecology; 14), Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature, →DOI, →ISBN, section 1.1.1 (A Rich and Varied Biodiversity), page 4:
      South Africa, covering only 0.8% of the earth's terrestrial area, is one of the planet's 18 "megadiverse countries", defined by Conservation International as nations that harbour the majority of Earth's species and high numbers of endemic species.
    • 2022 December 19, Patrick Greenfield, Phoebe Weston, “Cop15: historic deal struck to halt biodiversity loss by 2030”, in The Guardian‎[1]:
      Countries from the global south, including Brazil, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo – mega-diverse countries home to the world’s three largest rainforests – wanted governments to agree to the creation of a new biodiversity fund as part of the Montreal pact to pay for new conservation targets.
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Translations

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Further reading

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Italian

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Adjective

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megadiverse f

  1. feminine plural of megadiverso
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