The survival of the Earth’s biological resources is under threat from rapidly expanding human populations that are degrading the environment at an accelerating rate. Despite the increased awareness of the importance of biological diversity, the scientific foundations on which to plan conservation and development polities are still being developed. The biodiversity conservation represents an unparalleled attempt to provide on independent scientific analysis of the current issues. It assesses the present state of knowledge, identifies gaps in understanding and draws attention to those issues where scientists have reached a consensus as well as those where uncertainity has led to conflicting viewpoints and a need for further of the planet. Biodiversity conservation addresses the remarkable growth in concern at all levels for living things and the environment, and increased appreciation of the links between the state of ecosystems and the state of humankind. Building on a wealth of research and anlaysis by the conservation community worldwide, this book provides a comprehensive and accessible view of key global issues in biodiversity. It outlines some of the broad ecological relationships between humans and the rest of the material world and summarieses information on the health of the planet. Opening with an outline of some fundamental aspects of material cycles and energy flow in the biosphere, the book goes on to discuss the expansion of this diversity through geologival time and the pattern of its distribution over the surface of the Earth, and trends in the condition of the main ecosystem types and the species integral to them. An indispensable resource on information about Earth’s biological variety and why its conservation is crucially important for human survival and well being. This volume should be in the hands of biologists, policymakers, educators, and the general public concerned with out global environment.
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