What term means the variety of life within an area?

• A. Biodiversity
• B. Population
• C. Ecosystem
• D. Habitat

Answer: (A)

The variety of life within an area is captured by biodiversity. Biodiversity includes not just the number of different species (species richness) but also how evenly individuals are distributed among those species (evenness), as well as genetic diversity within species and the variety of ecosystems present. This broader sense explains why a richly varied habitat—like a tropical forest with many plants, insects, birds, and microbes—has high biodiversity, whereas a monoculture field or a barren area has lower biodiversity. The other terms refer to different ideas: a population is the number of individuals of a single species; an ecosystem is the interaction of living organisms with their physical environment; a habitat is the specific place where an organism lives. So biodiversity is the term that best describes the variety of life in a given area.