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Hardcover Biodiversity II: Understanding and Protecting Our Biological Resources Book

ISBN: 0309052270

ISBN13: 9780309052276

Biodiversity II: Understanding and Protecting Our Biological Resources

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Format: Hardcover

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Book Overview

"The book before you...carries the urgent warning that we are rapidly altering and destroying the environments that have fostered the diversity of life forms for more than a billion years."

With those words, Edward O. Wilson opened the landmark volume Biodiversity (National Academy Press, 1988). Despite this and other such alarms, species continue to vanish at a rapid rate, taking with them their genetic legacy and potential benefits. Many disappear before they can even be identified.

Biodiversity II is a renewed call for urgency. This volume updates readers on how much we already know and how much remains to be identified scientifically. It explores new strategies for quantifying, understanding, and protecting biodiversity, including:

New approaches to the integration of electronic data, including a proposal for a U.S. National Biodiversity Information Center. Application of techniques developed in the human genome project to species identification and classification. The Gap Analysis Program of the National Biological Survey, which uses layered satellite, climatic, and biological data to assess distribution and better manage biodiversity. The significant contribution of museum collections to identifying and categorizing species, which is essential for understanding ecological function and for targeting organisms and regions at risk.

The book describes our growing understanding of how megacenters of diversity (e.g., rainforest insects, coral reefs) are formed, maintained, and lost; what can be learned from mounting bird extinctions; and how conservation efforts for neotropical primates have fared. It also explores ecosystem restoration, sustainable development, and agricultural impact.

Biodiversity II reinforces the idea that the conservation of our biological resources is within reach as long as we pool resources; better coordinate the efforts of existing institutions--museums, universities, and government agencies--already dedicated to this goal; and enhance support for research, collections, and training. This volume will be important to environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, educators, students, and concerned individuals.

Customer Reviews

4 ratings

Essential for any course in Conservation Biology

I used this book several times as a reference for many of my research papers during an MSc program. The book is a compendium of different papers/topics related to biodiversity that spans some of the greatest works by luminaries such as Erwin, Raven, and Gaston. Some of the papers are a bit old but relevant nonetheless. The sections on species survival commissions and taxon advisory groups were well illustrated using primates like the Golden Lion Tamarin, and for the most part would make a great complement to Primack's text on conservation biology.

A Must-Have for Environmental Economists

This is a book that every environmental economist should have in collection. It covers a wide range of issues from the many aspects of biodiversity to its assessment and conservation. Its content is systematic and somewhat technical, and yet accessible for non-biologists. I use this book as an aid for research, and I've found that the case studies to be quite helpful.

A Must-Have for Environmental Economists

This is book that every environmental economist should have in collection. It covers a wide range of issues from the many aspects of biodiversity to its assessment and conservation. Its content is systematic and somewhat technical, and yet accessible for non-biologists. I use this book as an aid for research, and I've found that the case studies to be quite helpful.

An invaluable addition to the "biodiversity" bookshelf

"Biodiverity II" is a fascinating and important collection of essays on nearly every facet of biodiversity. What makes this book so rich is that each essay is written by the leading expert in his or her field. And you don't need to be a scientist to enjoy Biodiversity II--I'm not, and I found it very accessible.
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