Scotland's biodiversity

Find out how Scotland’s abundant species and complex mosaic of habitats shape its distinctive and internationally important biodiversity

In this section

Find out more about Scotland's Pollinator Strategy, projects, resources and how to get involved.

Find out more about the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy – an ambitious strategy to protect and restore Scotland’s biodiversity, including our aims, approach and priorities for action.

Public bodies in Scotland have a duty to further the conservation of biodiversity. Understand your biodiversity duty and find out how your organisation can take action for biodiversity.

Find out what pressures biodiversity currently faces and learn more about why biodiversity is important for us all.

Find out what biodiversity training courses, conferences and events are coming up and how to get involved.

Find out more about the definition and classification of Scotland’s diverse habitats, including the EU-wide habitat classification system used to improve the exchange of data across Europe.

Nature provides us with many benefits or ecosystem services - which we can better secure for future generations by following an ecosystem approach.

Find out what you can do to help enhance and protect biodiversity. Whether you’re a farmer, business owner, teacher or concerned citizen, you can do your bit.

What is biodiversity?

The variety of life

Biological diversity – or biodiversity – is simply the variety of life. It includes all living things all around us: the soaring eagle, the leaping salmon, the tiny ladybird, the burrowing earthworm. It is all life in our forests and mountains, our rivers and seas, our gardens and parks.

Biodiversity supports our lives and is vital for our survival; it is our living bank balance and provides us with many of the things that sustain our lives. It is therefore essential for our health and well-being that we protect our biodiversity and the services that it provides.

But the term ‘biodiversity’ also covers other aspects of life on Earth:

the genetic variation within species
all the planet’s habitats and ecosystems – from forests and mountains to rivers and seas
the different ways that living things interact with each other and their habitats.Find more information and definitions in this glossary of biodiversity terms

Our biodiversity in Scotland

In Scotland, we are is renowned for our:

sheer number of species – approximately 90,000 animal, plant and microbe species
complex mosaic of habitats that make up our rich and varied landscapes.Scotland is home to internationally important habitats many of which are protected areas, as well as many protected species. There are also a few species unique to Scotland, such as the Scottish crossbill and Scottish primrose

Geodiversity

Closely related to biodiversity, geodiversity refers to the variety of rocks, minerals, fossils, soils, landforms and natural processes that are fundamental to supporting life on Earth. Biodiversity and geodiversity together make up ecosystems

Find out why geodiversity is important and how it affects all our lives.

Discover the pressures on geodiversity and what we can do to protect our geodiversity

Find out more about biodiversity and geodiversity:

Our featured content from across the site

Using a set of indicators that chart changes in Scotlands biodiversity, we can see how well were progressing the aims of the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy.

12 Apr, 2017

Learn about the environmental and nature conservation projects in Scotland that have won LIFE Nature and Biodiversity funding – or the earlier LIFE+ funding.