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Biodiversity is an overarching concept that encompasses the variation of life at all levels of biological organization 1. It describes all living beings, their traits and attributes, their ecological and evolutionary relationships, and all the mechanisms and processes that give rise to and maintain this vast variety of forms and functions. In this sense, biodiversity science involves both ecological and evolutionary concepts. Assuming that life on Earth had a single origin, the organismal part of biodiversity can be represented by the whole tree of life, where all species, populations and individuals that ever existed are evolutionarily interlinked, from viruses and their phages to complex animals and plants. But biodiversity is also the variety of structures, forms, colours and vigour of organic life whose increase fascinated Humboldt as he got closer to the tropics 2. This variety further encompasses the physiological and ecosystem …