A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal areas with salty or brackish water. These plants are found in equatorial climates, usually along coastlines and in tidal rivers. Mangroves have special features that help them take in extra oxygen and remove salt, allowing them to survive in conditions that would harm most other plants.
Wetland conservation helps protect and preserve areas like marshes, swamps, bogs, and fens. These areas are covered by water some or all of the time because of natural and human-related dangers. Examples of these dangers include loss of habitat, pollution, and non-native plants and animals.
A wetland is a special area that is partly covered by water, either all the time or only during certain seasons. The water makes the soil very wet, which means there is less oxygen in the soil. Wetlands are found between areas of water and dry land.
A wildlife corridor, also called a habitat corridor or green corridor, is a special area that links groups of animals that have been separated by human activities such as building roads, expanding farms, growing cities, clearing land, and other developments. These corridors help reduce the problems caused by habitat fragmentation, which happens when natural areas are divided and animals cannot move freely. This fragmentation is often caused by fast-growing cities and transportation systems.
Habitat fragmentation is when an animal’s or plant’s natural home is broken into separate parts, making it harder for populations to stay connected. This can harm ecosystems and lead to smaller, isolated groups of living things. Natural causes, like slow changes in the Earth’s surface over time, can create these breaks.
A biodiversity hotspot is an area where many different plants and animals live, but it is at risk because of human activities. Norman Myers first described the idea in two articles in The Environmentalist in 1988 and 1990. Later, after detailed studies by Myers and others, the concept was updated in a book titled Hotspots: Earth’s Biologically Richest and Most Endangered Terrestrial Ecoregions and a paper in the journal Nature, both published in 2000.
Biodiversity loss occurs when species vanish completely from Earth (called extinction) or when species numbers drop in a particular area. This loss means there is less variety of living things in a place. The decrease can be temporary or permanent.
Extinction happens when the last member of a species dies. A species may be functionally extinct before the last member dies if it can no longer reproduce or recover. Determining when a species becomes extinct is difficult because its potential range may be very large.
A threatened species is any type of living thing, such as animals, plants, or fungi, that is at risk of disappearing soon. Scientists sometimes use a method called critical depensation to study how populations grow. This method looks at how the total weight of all the living things in a group affects how quickly their numbers increase.
An endangered species is a type of animal or plant that may disappear soon, either around the world or in a certain place. These species often face dangers like losing their homes, being hunted illegally, being harmed by non-native species, or changes in the environment caused by humans. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List shows the conservation status of many species worldwide, and other groups check the status of species in specific areas.