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"At places distant from where you are, but also uncomfortably close," writes David Takacs, "a holocaust is under way. People are slashing, hacking, bulldozing, burning, poisoning, and otherwise destroying huge swaths of life on Earth at a furious pace." And a cadre of ecologists and conservation biologists has responded, vigorously promoting a new definition of nature: biodiversity--advocating it in Congress and on the Tonight Show; whispering it into the ears of foreign leaders; redefining the boundaries of science and politics, ethics and religion, nature and our ideas of nature. These scientists have infused the environmental movement with new focus and direction, but by engaging in such activities, they jeopardize the societal trust that allows them to be public spokespersons for nature in the first place.

The Idea of Biodiversity analyzes what biodiversity represents to the biologists who operate in broader society on its behalf, drawing on in-depth interviews with the scientists most active today in the mission to preserve biodiversity, including Peter Raven, Thomas Lovejoy, Jane Lubchenco, and Paul Ehrlich. Takacs explores how and why these biologists shaped the concept of biodiversity and promoted it to society at large--examining their definitions of biodiversity; their opinions about spirituality and its role in scientific work; the notion of biodiversity as something of intrinsic value; and their views on biophilia, E. O. Wilson's idea that humans are genetically predisposed to love nature. Takacs also looks at the work of twentieth-century forerunners of today's conservation biologists--Aldo Leopold, Charles S. Elton, Rachel Carson, David Ehrenfeld--and points out their contributions to the current debates. He takes readers to Costa Rica, where a group of scientists is using biodiversity to remake nature and society. And in an extended section, he profiles the thoughts and work of E. O. Wilson.

"When I'm asked, 'should we save this species orthat species, or this place or that place?' the answer is always 'Yes!' with an exclamation point. Because it's obvious. And if you ask me to justify it, then I switch into a more cognitive consciousness and can start giving you reasons, economic reasons, aesthetic reasons. They're all dualistic, in a sense. But the feeling that underlies it is that 'yes!' And that 'yes!' comes out of the affirmation of being part of it all, being part of this whole evolutionary process. And agreeing with Arne Naess that each species, each entity, should be allowed to continue its evolution and to live out its destiny... just do its thing, as we say. Why not? And the 'why not?' is there's too many people."--Michael E. Soule, from an interview in The Idea of Biodiversity "An important contribution, a first distanced examination of a critical, modern topic by a scholarly, honest broker."--E. O. Wilson, Harvard University

Customer Reviews (1)

If you care about the earth
Since its publication, this book has become standard reading in environmental studies and environmental ethics clases, and with good reason.
No book before or since has so probed how leading conservation scientists blance their role as neutral experts and passionately committed environmentalists.
If you've ever cared whether the work you do is making the world a better place, read this book ... Read more

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Systematic Conservation Planning provides a clear, comprehensive guide to the process of deriving a conservation area network for regions, which will best represent the biodiversity of regions in the most cost-effective way. The measurement of biodiversity, design of field sampling strategies, alongside different data treatment methods are detailed helping to provide a conceptual framework for identifying conservation area networks, underpinned by the concept of complementarity. Setting conservation targets and then multi-criteria analyses, using complementarity but bringing in other criteria reflecting competing uses of land or water, to show how conservation area networks can achieve conservation targets in ways that also allow for the production of food, fiber and shelter are also discussed. Providing a clear procedure for identifying conservation priority areas underpinned by cutting edge science, this book will be of interest to graduate students, academics, planners and decision makers dealing with natural resource use and exploitation, alongside conservation NGOs. ... Read more

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Does biodiversity influence how ecosystems function? Might diversity loss affect the ability of ecosystems to deliver services of benefit to humankind? Ecosystems provide food, fuel, fiber, and drinkable water, regulate local and regional climate, and recycle needed nutrients, among other things. An ecosyste's ability to sustain functioning may depend on the number of species residing in the ecosystem--its biological diversity--but this has been a controversial hypothesis. There are many unanswered questions about how and why changes in biodiversity could alter ecosystem functioning. This volume, written by top researchers, synthesizes empirical studies on the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning and extends that knowledge using a novel and coordinated set of models and theoretical approaches.

These experimental and theoretical analyses demonstrate that functioning usually increases with biodiversity, but also reveals when and under what circumstances other relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning might occur. It also accounts for apparent changes in diversity-functioning relationships that emerge over time in disturbed ecosystems, thereby addressing a major controversy in the field. The volume concludes with a blueprint for moving beyond small-scale studies to regional ones--a move of enormous significance for policy and conservation but one that will entail tackling some of the most fundamental challenges in ecology.

In addition to the editors, the contributors are Juan Armesto, Claudia Neuhauser, Andy Hector, Clarence Lehman, Peter Kareiva, Sharon Lawler, Peter Chesson, Teri Balser, Mary K. Firestone, Robert Holt, Michel Loreau, Johannes Knops, David Wedin, Peter Reich, Shahid Naeem, Bernhard Schmid, Jasmin Joshi, and Felix Schläpfer. ... Read more

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Together with its companion Volume 190 Wetlands and Natural Resource Management, this volume gives a broad and well-integrated overview of recent major scientific results in wetland science and their applications in natural resource management issues.

After an introduction into the field, 12 chapters contributed by internationally known experts summarize the state of the art on a particular subject. They are divided into the following three sections: Functioning of Plants and Animals in Wetlands - Conservation and Management of Wetlands - Wetland Restoration and Creation.

The volume is of interest to wetland scientists, natural resource managers, as well as policy makers.

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Emphasizing the philosophy of uncertainty and the frailties of human psychology when people are confronted with risky situations, this book describes how to conduct a thorough environmental risk assessment. Technical methods are provided to help make assessments more objective and less prone to the biases of those involved in the assessment.Consideration is given to the way in which both subjective beliefs and technical analysis may be used to make better informed decisions. ... Read more

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Native only to the California Channel Islands, the island fox is the smallest canid in North America. Populations on four of the islands were threatened to extinction in the 1990s due to human-mediated predation and disease. This is the first account of the natural history and ecology of the island fox, illustrating both the vulnerability of island ecosystems and the efficacy of cooperative conservation measures. It explains in detail the intense conservation actions required to recover fox populations, such as captive breeding and reintroduction, and large-scale ecosystem manipulation. These actions were successful due in large part to extraordinary collaboration among the scientists, managers and public advocates involved in the recovery effort. The book also examines the role of some aspects of island fox biology, characteristic of the 'island syndrome', in facilitating their recovery, including high productivity and an apparent adaptation to periodic genetic bottlenecks. ... Read more

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In this book, coastal dune specialists from tropical and temperate latitudes cover a wide set of topics, including: geomorphology, community dynamics, ecophysiology, biotic interactions and environmental problems and conservation. The book offers recommendations for future research, identifying relevant topics where detailed knowledge is still lacking. It also identifies management tools that will promote and maintain the rich diversity of the dune environments in the context of continuing coastal development.

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A major thrust of scientific concern in recent years has beenthe problems of documenting and conserving biodiversity and theestablishment of systems of sustainable development. We do not evenknow approximately how many species in different groups of livingorganisms share the planet with us! The major aim of this volume isto review the practical application of species concepts andappropriate technologies for as wide a diversity as possible ofliving organisms. ... Read more

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This multi-author book deals with ‘resource ecology’, which is the ecology of trophic interactions between consumers and their resources. All the chapters were subjected to intense group discussions; comments and critiques were subsequently used for writing new versions, which were peer-reviewed. Each chapter is followed by a comment. This makes the book ideal for teaching and course work, because it highlights the fact that ecology is a living and active research field.

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Contends that effective biological conservation and social justice must go hand in hand. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Guide to Successful Biodiversity Conservation
This book came to my attention and interest after reading John Terbough's fine book "Requiem for Nature".I was interested in a book that offered solutions and insights into the problems of biodiversity protection that Terbough had described in his book.

Enough time has passed from some of the early efforts in protection of nature reserves in the tropics that an assessment of success can be made and an analysis of problems.This book was exactly what I was looking for as it makes the holistic assessment and analysis of parks and reserves. What has often been omitted in efforts to preserve biodiversityis a strategy to work with the local population that has lived in or near the parks and have made their living with the parks resources.All to often in the past these people have been forcibly removed and have justifiably become adversaries of parks and conservation.Foreign conservation organizations and national governments have made mistakes in destroying locally successful conservation strategies due to a lack of a sociological perspective and review.

The four editors of the book have looked at this as a sociological problem and have collected the essays and studies together for this book.
They mention that "The most likely alternative to socially just conservation is increasing levels of resistance and conflict at all geographic scales, a situation that can derail attempts at nature protection."

Six key concepts in socially just conservation and political processes to enhance nature protection are explored in this work including: 1. Human Dignity-Establishing a Strong Moral Foundation for Social Process.2.Legitimacy-Constructing Authority.3.Governance-Establishing Modes of Decision Making and Power Sharing.4.Accountability-Guaranteeing Responsibility and Performance.5.Adaptation andLearning-Institutionalizing Reflection and Self-Correction.6.Non-local Forces-Analysis of the influence of National,International firms and their relationships to State and National elites in decision making.

With my education in biology and health care and its perspective parts of the book seemed a bit arcane, especially the third chapter by Peter Wilshusen on "Exploring the Political Contours of Conservation".The Section including "Critical Social Theory and the Dual Nature of Structure" was a very abstract academic perspective on the role of power players in park organization, establishment, and regulation that I personally found difficult to comprehend.The majority of the book is set with more concrete examples of the social problems of illegal residents, poverty, ecotourism, local and regional control issues that have been studied in Asia, Africa, South America and the Caribbean.This is the heart of the compilation and each site study is rich with unique solutions that are found and accomplished only during work in the field with the people that have the most to gain or lose and are the key in conserving tropical nature reserves.

Anyone well versed in Sociology or Political Science would not have difficulty with this book in its academic format and all that are interested in the success of biodiversity protection should read this and benefit from its important lessons and insights.


... Read more

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The coverage of this volume ranges from Cycads and Pines of Gymnosperms to monocot genera of significance in phylogeny, agri-horticulture and commerce. The previous volume (1C), dealt with dicot counterparts. Noteworthy features of the volume include molecular phylogeny of Cycads, correlation of genomics and micro habitat in Pinus, genome studies in oil and datepalm, correlation of molecular data with habit in orchids, congruence of karyotype and molecular data in Festuca and analysis of putative ancestors in Avena. The volume will be of interest to all students of genomics interested in phylogeny, agri-horticulture and commercial plants. ... Read more

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Protecting Biodiversity addresses one of the most fundamental aspects of this important issue: the lack of adequate national laws regulating access to, and compensation for, the use of local genetic resources. This book is the first to compare such laws and policies across a range of countries in both the industrialized and developing worlds, including Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Peru and the United States. It also presents legal viewpoints, conclusions and solid recommendations for future action. ... Read more

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In the Indian context. ... Read more

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Fluctuations in the environmental conditions impacting life are ubiquitous. This book brings together contributions to provide readers with a comprehensive look at the challenges for ecological systems and ecological research alike. It offers a comprehensive range of topics, from environmental variability itself to its ecosystem-level impact.

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Ecosystems are complex and enigmatic entities that are ultimately our life support systems. This book explores developments that unfold when math and physics meet ecology. Leading ecologists examine ecosystems from theoretical, experimental, and empirical viewpoints. The book begins by simplifying and synthesizing nature’s complex relationships. It then moves on to explore the mapping between food web structure and function and ends with the role of theory in integrating different research areas.

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Human induced biodiversity loss is greater now than at any time in human history, with extinctions occurring at rates hundreds of times higher than background extinction levels. The field of biodiversity economics analyses the socio-economic causes of and solutions to biodiversity loss by combining the disciplines of economics, ecology and biology. This field has shown a remarkable degree of transformation over the past four decades and now incorporates the analysis of the entire diversity of biological resources within the living world. Biodiversity Economics presents a series of papers that show how bio-economic analysis can be applied to the examination and evaluation of the problem of various forms of biodiversity loss. Containing insightful bio-economic research by some of prominent practitioners in the field, this volume will be an essential research tool to those working on biodiversity issues in the academic, policy and private sectors. ... Read more

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First used in 1980, "biodiversity" often describes the abundance, variety, and genetic constitution of native animals and plants, and has been linked with politics and environmental technology. Although the 1986 National forum on biodiversity brought issues of biodiversity to the fore, the inescapable need to know more about the diversity of life on Earth continues to remain unmet.
In recent years, biodiversity has influenced important scientific considerations, international agreements, conventions, conservation initiatives, political debates, and socio-economic implications. Knowledge derived from the study of biodiversity will affect the quality of life enjoyed in the future by influencing decision-making processes and aiding new discoveries.
The science of biodiversity has become the science of our future. Our awareness of the loss of biodiversity has brought a long overdue appreciation of the magnitude of our loss and a determination to develop the tools to protect our future. The Encyclopedia of Biodiversity brings together, for the first time, a study of the dimensions of diversity. It examination of the services biodiversity provides, and measures to protect it. Major themes of the work include the evolution of biodiversity, systems for classifying and defining biodiversity, ecological patterns and theories of biodiversity, and an assessment of contemporary patterns and trends in biodiversity.


Key Features

NEW e-updates to this 5-Volume Set on ScienceDirect!

Updates include 21 entirely new articles, 22 updated articles, with 335 articles in total! (more)This reference is also sold as an e-book via ScienceDirect.


* Distinguished Editorial Board headed by Simon A. Levin, with many other prominent scientists serving as editors
* More than 300 separate articles, covering 20 different subject areas, from Evolution to Habitats to Economic Issues--all original contributions commissioned for this work
* Articles by leading authors from major institutions of science around the world
* Approximately 1,000 figures and tables complement the text
* More than 3,000 glossary entries explain key terms ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent reference source, but...
This encyclopedia is a dream-come-true for students and scientists alike. It is loaded with useful, up-to-date information on a wide range of subjects dealing primarily with biodiversity, but also general biology. Chapters dealing with relevant and topical terms and phrases in biodiversity are authored by internationally renowned experts in those fields. The writing is clear and all entries are suberbly illustrated and fully referenced. It is a pity that this 5-volumed work is priced so high that it will probably not make the bookshelves of many academic and research libraries (who are continually forced to cut back their budgets), let alone those of students or scientists, for whom this should otherwise be an essential reference source. The only other fault I find with it is the color plates to all 5 volumes are placed at the beginning of volume 1, which unfortunately requires a reader of a chapter in, say, volume 5, to also open volume 1 to see the plate(s) being referred to. Normally this would be a minor inconvenience, but the large weight and large format of each of these volumes make such a maneuver one that would require a large coffee table or laboratory bench to be performed correctly. ... Read more

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This text surveys the field of evolutionary ecology using experimental, descriptive and comparartive data. It draws on a diversity of examples from both the animal and plant kingdoms and from terrestial and aquatic environments. Mathematical approaches to the study of evolution and ecology are discussed, but little mathematical knowledge is assumed. The following topics are covered: the scope and evoutionary ecology; selection, fitness and adaptation; the genetic basis of evolutionary change; predicting the outcome of adaptation; habitat and life history; life cycles; reproductive effort; the ecology of sex; the ecological context of speciation; coevolution; and the conservation of genetic diversity. ... Read more

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Provides the results of the 1986 National Forum on Biodiversity on the habitats and environments necessary to foster biodiversity held in Washington, DC, October 27-30, 1997, under the auspices of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) the Smithsonian Institute, and the Library of Congress. DLC: Biological diversity. ... Read more