Biodiversity Crisis

Our planet’s biodiversity is in peril. The way we live our lives – changing land use, fragmenting habitats, over-exploiting resources and driving climate change – is causing species extinctions to skyrocket, far surpassing historical rates. 

But where are species becoming extinct? What effects do these losses have on other species and their environments? How will we be impacted by this biodiversity crisis and what can you do to help fix it? 

Join Dr Adriana De Palma from London’s Natural History Museum for this short course to explore the extent of the biodiversity crisis and what’s caused it. Together delve into its wider impacts and what it could mean for life on Earth and discover how scientists at the Museum are working not only to gather data on but to slow the degradation of the natural world. 
  • Instructor:
    Dr Adriana De Palma
  • Level: Beginner
  • Number of chapters: 15
  • Course length: 1 hour 36 minutes
  • Course workbook included

Learn

In this course, explore:
  • the incredible variety of life on Earth, from the tiniest microbes to gigantic whales, what biodiversity is and how it’s measured by scientists like Adriana
  • why biodiversity is crucial, not just for the natural world but for our health, economy and future
  • the biggest challenges facing biodiversity, from climate change to habitat loss, why these threats matter and how they could impact us all if left unchecked
  • how people, companies and governments around the world are fighting to protect biodiversity and practical ways you can make a difference 

Course plan

Meet your scientist

Dr Adriana De Palma

Dr De Palma is a permanent researcher at the Natural History Museum London and is Co-Lead of the Biodiversity Futures Lab. A trained entomologist, she moved to the Museum partway through her PhD research and now describes herself as a computational ecologist; she uses large, complex datasets and multiple data-science approaches to understand how human activity affects the variety of life on land. She then uses this information to predict the health of nature in the past, present and future, so we can see how we got to where we are now, and where we are going.

Although scientific advancement is a key part of her job, her true aim is to support others on the journey towards a happy and healthy planet, for the benefit of both people and nature. She does this by developing and sharing robust scientific evidence to help people, including policy makers and companies, to understand their impacts on the world around us and to make more sustainable choices.
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Expand your knowledge about the Biodiversity Crisis