have been studied beyond noting their existence. The vast majority of Earth's species are microbial. Contemporary biodiversity physics is "firmly fixated on the visible [macroscopic] world". For example, microbial life is metabolically and environmentally more diverse than multicellular life (see e.g., extremophile). "On the tree of life, based on analyses of small-subunit ribosomal RNA, visible life consists of barely noticeable twigs. The inverse relationship of size and population recurs higher on the evolutionary ladder—to a first approximation, all multicellular species on Earth are insects". Insect extinction rates are high—supporting the Holocene extinction hypothesis. Diversity study (botany) The number of morphological attributes that can be scored for diversity study is generally limited and prone to environmental influences; thereby reducing the fine resolution required to ascertain the phylogenetic relationships. DNA based markers- microsatellites otherwise known as simple sequence repeats (SSR) were therefore used for the diversity studies of certain species and their wild relatives. In the case of cowpea, a study conducted to assess the level of genetic diversity in cowpea germplasm and related wide species, where the relatedness among various taxa was compared, primers useful for classification of taxa identified, and the origin and phylogeny of cultivated cowpea classified show that SSR markers are useful in validating with species classification and revealing the center of diversity. See also Australian Grains Genebank Bioversity International Defaunation Deforestation and climate change Ecological collapse Ecological indicator Ecosystem collapse Genetic diversity Index of biodiversity articles International Day for Biological Diversity Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework Megadiverse countries Soil biodiversity Species diversity World Scientists' Warning to Humanity Zero-Force Evolutionary Law French Office for Biodiversity 30 by 30 Sources References Further reading D+C-Interview with Achim Steiner, UNEP: "Our generation's responsibility" External links Assessment Report on Diverse Values and Valuation of Nature by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), 2022. NatureServe: This site serves as a portal for accessing several types of publicly available biodiversity data Biodiversity Factsheet by the University of Michigan's Center for Sustainable Systems Color-coded images of vertebrate biodiversity hotspots Biodiversity Synthesis Report (PDF) by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA, 2005) Conservation International hotspot map The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review 2021 GLOBIO, an ongoing program to map the past, current and future impacts of human activities on biodiversity World Map of Biodiversity an interactive map from the United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre Biodiversity Heritage Library – Open access