Biodiversity is a term used to describe the complexity of biological systems although its
utility is often hotly debated1
. Perceptions of it also vary widely in the Australian
community2
. When we refer to biodiversity, we refer to the variety in the compositional and
structural aspects of living organisms (plants, animals and micro-organisms) at different
levels of biological organisation. We also refer to the natural biological processes or the
functional aspects of biodiversity that maintain ecosystem functioning in both immediate
ecological and longer-term evolutionary timeframes. Most importantly, when using the term
‘biodiversity’, it is implicitly understood that we are also referring to the interrelatedness of
biological components and its importance in maintaining the diversity of life. In the
rangelands, it covers terrestrial and inland waters and can be measured using a plethora of
ecological measures that may describe any aspect of the compositional, structural and
functional elements of biodiversity at a range of ecological scales (Table 1).