Welcome to the AboutBiodiversity Web site for young people!

This is the place where you can learn about biodiversity, or — to use its longer, more formal name — biological diversity.

What does “biodiversity” mean? One simple definition is: all the living creatures on Earth, as well as all the relationships among those creatures. A subject this huge couldn’t possibly be that simple, of course. But as you make your way through this Web site, the richer and more complex meaning of biodiversity will emerge.

AboutBiodiversity, like plants and animals themselves, is an evolving process, with many categories and sub-categories. The site starts with a first section about a part of biodiversity that is studied very little and understood even less—the soil beneath our feet, with its billions of organisms. Some of them are microscopic and some (like earthworms) are big enough to easily study. All of them are vital to continued life on our planet.

Along the way, AboutBiodiversity will look into many of the nooks and crannies of life here on Earth. From soil to swordfish, rhinoceros to raven, bacteria to beetle, petunia to potato, we will explore some of the infinite varieties of life and their relationships to one another and to humans.

Click here to enter the section on soil.

Or click here to go to the section on the biodiversity of the foods we eat.

Other sections that are on the way include:

Why and how some species become endangered and extinct.

The year that science devoted to biodiversity.

Why frogs around the world seem to be dying out.

The special role that islands play in biological diversity.

What ecosystems are and why they're so important.

Do you want to be a scientist? About careers in biodiversity.

What kids are doing to study and protect biodiversity.

Experiments you can perform.

Forests and their roles in producing diversity.

Why it's important to give names to Nature's creatures (and to carry a notebook at all times).

What are hotspots and why are they so important?

The biodiversity of the watery world — the oceans, freshwater lakes and streams, and the all-important places where fresh and salt water meet.

Why natural history museums are important. (There's a whole world beyond the gift shop.)

Climate change and how it will affect biodiversity.

Start your journey here with soil, the strange and little-known world beneath your feet. Or go to the section on foods.