Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
The loss of biological diversity occurs at genetic, species, and ecosystem levels. When a species cannot adapt to environmental changes or pressures, its population eventually declines to zero.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
- Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or a taxon, usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last surviving individual of that species, after which no breeding individuals remain to pass on genetic information.
- A Clade (often misspelled as clad) is a taxonomic group of organisms consisting of a single common ancestor and all its lineal descendants.
- Species diversity refers to the effective number of different species that are represented in a given ecological community.
Step 3: Final Answer:
The death of the last individual of a species is defined as extinction.