A4.2.2—Current vs. past biodiversity
Current biodiversity is estimated from living species records, while past biodiversity is reconstructed from incomplete fossil evidence and dating methods.
- Syllabus
- First assessment 2025
- Objective
- A4.2.2
- Level
- HL
Concept essentials
- Many living species have not yet been described, so current biodiversity is estimated rather than fully known.
- Fossils provide evidence of past biodiversity but preserve organisms unevenly.
- Radiometric dating helps place fossil evidence into a geological time sequence.
- Comparisons of current and past biodiversity are limited by gaps in both living surveys and fossil records.
ConceptIB Biology HL