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• 1. Introduction, Analyzing IPBES Functioning within the Biodiversity Regime Complex and Beyond
• Marie Hrabanski and Denis Pesche
• 2. IPBES and Governance of the International Biodiversity Regime Complex
• Daniel Compagnon and Philippe Le Prestre
• 3. The Birth of a Science-policy Interface for Biodiversity: The History of IPBES
• Alice Vadrot
• 4. IPBES Mandate and Governance
• Denis Pesche, Guillaume Futhazar and Sandrine Maljean
• 5. From Climate to Biodiversity: Procedural Transcriptions and Innovations within IPBES in Light of IPCC's Practices
• Guillaume Futhazar
• 6. The IPCC Experience and Lessons for the IPBES
• Daniel Compagnon and Wolfgang Cramer
• 7. Making the IPBES Conceptual Framework: A Rosetta Stone?
• Maud Borie and Denis Pesche
• 8. Building Process, Effectiveness and Limits of an IPBES Stakeholder Group
• Marie Hrabanski, Mohamed Oubenal and Denis Pesche
• 9. Capacity Building for Global Science-policy Interface Activities: Establishment of the IPBES Task Force on Capacity Building
• Selim Louafi
• 10. Indigenous Challenges under IPBES: Embracing Indigenous Knowledge and Beyond
• Claudio Chiarolla and Annalisa Savaresi
• 11. First Thematic Assessment on Pollination: Between the Legitimization of IPBES and Tensions Regarding the Selection of Knowledge and Experts
• Fanny Duperray, Marie Hrabanski and Mohamed Oubenal
• 12. Conclusion
• Philippe Le Prestre.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

Twenty years after the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) entered into force, the founding of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) in 2012 was the outcome of a long process of setting biodiversity issues at the top of the global environmental agenda. With contributions from more than a dozen well-renowned researchers in political science, law and sociology, this book analyzes IPBES functioning and challenges in terms of the knowledge selection process and actors involved. The book reveals that, through its conceptual framework, IPBES promotes a pluralistic view of nature that calls for a broadening of the disciplinary frontiers. It combines natural science and social science research and also includes indigenous and local knowledge. IPBES is considered to represent the institutionalization of a permanent knowledge assessment on biodiversity and is often referred to as an IPCC success story, constituting a new stage in global environmental governance. In analyzing the knowledge selection process for IPBES decision making, the book better situates IPBES within the biodiversity and global governance domain. It ultimately argues that the establishment of IPBES provides a new opportunity to coordinate the different international conventions (CBD, RAMSAR, CITES, etc.) and initiatives (international assessment of marine biology, scientific programs, funding, etc.).
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• 1. The Gradual Decline of Biodiversity: What Do We Mean?
• 2. The Promethean Dream: Taking Stock of Biodiversity.
• 3. What Can We Learn from the Great Extinctions of the Past?
• 4. Biodiversity Decline: "The Worst Is Not Certain".
• 5. Let's Talk about the Renewal Rate of Biological Diversity.
• 6. Controversies Surrounding the Extinction Rate.
• 7. The Hidden Face of Methods for Assessing Biodiversity Decline.
• 8. Biodiversity and the Functioning of Ecosystems: A Multitude of Preconceived Ideas.
• 9. Species Introductions: For Better or For Worse.
• 10. Global Warming: A Catastrophe for Biodiversity?
• 11. Is Planning Destroying Biodiversity?
• 12. The Decline of Insects.
• 13. The Decline of Birds.
• 14. Reasons to be Positive.
• 15. From Facts to Extrapolations.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

The erosion of biodiversity is currently highly publicized. Militant movements accuse humans of destroying nature and being responsible for a sixth mass extinction. However, this anxiety-provoking message is sometimes based on misconceptions, false or partisan ideas, and media relays that favor and amplify alarmist information. If the situation of certain populations is worrying, it is not a general phenomenon because others are expanding. Rather than holding a globalizing discourse, it is necessary to recontextualize and relativize the debate to better define the necessary actions. Biodiversity Erosion analyzes numerous scientific publications, as well as alarming discussions, emphasizing the multiple biases present in the way information is presented. This book questions the relevance of the notion of species and the desire to compile an inventory of all living things. It argues for a less Manichean approach to our relationship with nature.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Part I IN SEARCH FOR A FUNCTIONAL EXPLANATION
• 1 Introduction: contemporary biology struggles to explain the great diversity of genotypes and species
• 2 Methodological excursion: an apology for theoretical synthesis, simplicity, deductive method and conceptual modelling
• 3 Species do not just 'struggle
• 4 Species diversity as trophic specialisation
• 5 Producer diversity as reflection of variation in the abiotic environment
• 6 Do consumers maintain diversity of their food sources
• 7 Species diversity ensures higher total biomass and helps to stabilise it
• 8 Conspecifics do not just 'struggle' either
• 9 Genotype diversity as even more delicate specialisation
• 10 Environmental fluctuations and the daily role of selection
• 11 Summing-up: Biodiversity and plasticity of life (General Adaptation Theory)
• 12 So, is nature a battlefield or a cooperative arena?
• Part II IN SEARCH FOR A SYNTHETIC EXPLANATION
• 13 Why an evolutionary biologist should start with ecological succession
• 14 Primary succession and self-organisation of biodiversity
• 15 Colonisation of the Hawaiian Islands, or how evolution complements succession
• 16 Self-assembly of ecosystems in the Paleozoic: Overview of the latest sources
• 17 Self-assembly of ecosystems in the Paleozoic: Interpretation and summary
• 18 The origin of life, and self-assembly of modern nutrient cycles
• 19 Appearance of modern ecological pyramids. Summing-up
• 20 Supercompetitors. Homo sapiens as a consumer of biodiversity
• 21 Has Darwin's theory really become obsole
• AFTERWORD
• INDEX.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

Species are not functionally independent. From a long-term perspective, only ecosystem with a fully integrated nutrient cycle is alive. The lack of trophic autonomy should be considered one of the key factors that ensure and maintain biodiversity. The variability of abiotic conditions, both in space and in time, also creates a huge diversity of niches and subniches for genotypes and species. In addition, life maintains its essential variables (biomass and productivity) as stable as possible due to the diversity of structures (genes, macromolecules, metabolic pathways, genotypes, species, etc.): the structures that reach optima are multiplied and thus activated, while the functioning of those which lost their optima is suppressed. The facts and concepts presented in this monograph thus support the conclusions that (a) genotype and species diversity is supported by trophic specialisation (b) biodiversity helps to stabilise the functions (essential variables) of individuals, populations, and ecological communities (c) in evolution, the emergence of biodiversity is determined by heritable variation and the advantage of specialised (more effective) structures over non-specialised ones (d) biodiversity is characterised by its ability to increase itself and to organise itself into relatively consistent structures, which we call production pyramids and nutrient cycles. This book therefore provides an answer to the question "why the diversity of life is of such and such a nature".
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

How biodiversity classification, with its ranking of species, has social and political implications as well as implications for the field of information studies. The idea that species live in nature as pure and clear-cut named individuals is a fiction, as scientists well know. According to Robert D. Montoya, classifications are powerful mechanisms and we must better attend to the machinations of power inherent in them, as well as to how the effects of this power proliferate beyond the boundaries of their original intent. We must acknowledge the many ways our classifications are implicated in environmental, ecological, and social justice work -- and information specialists must play a role in updating our notions of what it means to classify. In Power of Position, Montoya shows how classifications are systems that relate one entity with other entities, requiring those who construct a system to value an entity's relative importance -- by way of its position -- within a system of other entities. These practices, says Montoya, are important ways of constituting and exerting power. Classification also has very real-world consequences. An animal classified as protected and endangered, for example, is protected by law. Montoya also discusses the Catalogue of Life, a new kind of composite classification that reconciles many local ("traditional") taxonomies, forming a unified taxonomic backbone structure for organizing biological data. Finally, he shows how the theories of information studies are applicable to realms far beyond those of biological classification.

• 1 The pandemic of wounded biodiversity
• Biodiversity - what was that again?
• A long, leisurely trip to La Jolla
• Directions
• 2 Teeming boisterous life
• The big picture
• The volleyball on Mission Beach
• 'A rose by any other name'...what's a species?
• Morphological species
• Identifying species without ever seeing them
• Biological species
• Evolutionary species
• Naming species
• How many living species...and what are they?
• 1) To the nearest approximation (almost) every organism is an arthropod...?
• 2) Greenery: The Plantae
• 3) Fungi: Mushrooms, moulds and yeasts - The Fungi
• 4) Mollusca: Shell life
• 5) Chordata: Animals with backbones...mostly
• 6) Protozoa or Protista?
• 7) Nematoda: The roundworm that's the fly in the ointment?
• 8) Bacteria and Archaea: Microbial life
• Remaining animal groupings
• Viruses: All the world's a phage... or nearly
• New species
• Planting and growing the 'tree of life'
• The great chain of being
• Linnaeus's hierarchical classification
• Influence of evolutionary ideas
• Chatton's two-domain idea
• Whittaker's five-kingdom approach
• Woese and the three-domain model
• A new twist to the three-domain model
• ...and when is a tree a bush?
• Designs on life
• The phylum and the Bauplan
• Most phyla are not very species rich
• An unequal distribution of life
• 3 Where on Earth is biodiversity?
• From Berkeley, south to the Sea of Cortez
• More is more
• Back to Bird Rock
• The species-area relationship
• Those who go down to the sea in ships
• Hotspots: A tale of two definitions
• Big-scale biodiversity: Biogeographical and political regions
• On land
• Sea
• Biodiversity by country
• Latitude for life?
• The land
• The sea
• Genetic diversity and latitude
• Why is there a latitudinal gradient?
• Altitude
• Lessons from the tops of Scottish mountains
• Biodiversity takes the hump with altitude
• Mountains as islands?
• Aerial plankton and organisms in flight
• Depth
• The short-lived azoic theory
• Out of our depth
• A journey to the centre of the Earth
• Staying close to home
• Congruence: The holy grail of diversity?
• 4 A world that was old when we came into it: Diversity, deep time and extinction
• One every twenty minutes?
• A life in the year of...
• Precambrian - before life?
• A schoolgirl changes our understanding of life before life - but no one believes her
• The garden of Ediacara
• A world of chemical energy, not driven by sunlight?
• How familiar is the Ediacaran fauna?
• Explosive Cambrian
• Cambrian forms
• Archaeocyatha: The only extinct phylum?
• Why diversify now?
• Cambrian explosion or short fuse?
• Cambrian biodiversity: Good designs... or just lucky?
• How a small quarry in British Columbia changed our understanding of biodiversity
• 'It's a Wonderful Life'
• To conclude
• Post-Cambrian: Tinkering with successful designs?
• Palaeozoic - 'first life'
• Middle and modern life
• The present - not set in stone
• Beginnings of evolution: The origin of species
• End of evolution: Extinction
• The 'big five'
• Causes of extinction
• Extinctions as routine events in the history of life
• Early humans and biodiversity
• Extinctions post-1600s
• Proving extinction?
• The Red Data Book
• Other takes on extinction
• To conclude
• 5 Swept away and changed
• Threatening behaviour
• Living beyond our means
• Top five direct (or proximate) causes of biodiversity loss
• 1) Habitat loss and degradation
• 2) Direct exploitation
• Home economics
• Food, glorious food
• Industrial materials
• Medicine sans frontiers
• Ecotourism
• Controlling the natural world
• 3) Climate change
• 4) Introduced species
• The domino effect: Extinction cascades
• Some light relief: Complete elimination of biodiversity by extraterrestrial means
• The ultimate cause of biodiversity loss: You and me
• Once upon a time there were two people...now look how many
• Not just population size but where people live
• Not just population size but what people do
• It's the poor that do the suffering
• To conclude
• 6 Are the most beautiful things the most useless?
• '...and for everything else there's Mastercard'
• Costing a small planet
• Use now, pay when?
• What bees do for free is expensive
• Costing the Earth - literally
• How Biosphere 1 works - as one
• Earth, the Goldilocks planet - just right
• Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis
• Critiques of Gaia
• How bits of Biosphere 1 work
• Build your own biosphere: Not-so-silent running
• The home marine aquarium
• Mysteries and hazards
• Valuable for what, and to whom?
• Keeping options open
• Bequest and bequeathal
• Full-on philosophers and laid-back religion?
• Value bestowed, not intrinsic
• Intrinsic value
• Valued as an object of worship or through kinship
• A creator gives biodiversity value
• To conclude
• 7 Our greatest hazard and our only hope?
• Saving private land
• Antecedents
• Oh, Rio
• Large brushstrokes
• Louder than words
• Arks in parks
• Out of place - but alive
• Buzzword for the twenty-first century
• Responses to Rio
• Millennium Assessment
• Aichi (2010) and 'Pathway for Humanity' (2015)
• Strategic plan for biodiversity and Aichi biodiversity targets
• 'Pathway for Humanity': UN Sustainable Development Goals (2015)
• Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (2019)
• Aichi
• Target 11: Increasing protected areas
• Goal 16: Nagoya protocol in force
• Sustainability goals
• No room for the individual?
• Epilogue
• 8 No one is too small to make a difference
• Going further: Suggestions for wider reading
• Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

Our future is closely tied to that of the variety of life on Earth, and yet there is no greater threat to it than us. From population explosions and habitat destruction to climate change and mass extinctions, John Spicer explores the causes and consequences of our biodiversity crisis. In this revised and updated edition, he examines how grave the situation has become over the past decade and outlines what we must do now to protect and preserve not just nature's wonders but the essential services that biodiversity provides for us, seemingly for nothing.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• 1. Phytoremediation Potential of Typha: An Approach to Biodiversity Conservation
• H. Nangyal et al.
• 2. The Genetic Resources as an Inexhaustible Source of Biodiversity in Tajikistan
• N. Firuza, H. Nangyal, A. Nawaz, and M. S. Khan
• 3. Phytodiversity and the Conservation Status of the Nara Desert, Pakistan
• R. Qureshi
• 4. Acute and Biological Effects of Some Synthetic Organic Compounds on Spiny Bollworma
• R. M. Fikry et al.
• 5. The Simplest Way to Determine the Most Appropriate Diversity Indices in a Study Area
• J. Parchizadeh
• 6. Diversity of Pollen Grain Fertility and Crossing of Potato in Tajikistan
• K. Partoev et al.
• 7. Impact of Arsenic on Structural and Functional Composition of Dominant Bacterial Populations Associated with Various Natural Ecosystems
• Soma Ghosh, Meenakshi Mukherjee, and Pinaki Sar
• 8. Seabuckthorn: Its Sustainable Utilization for Biodiversity Conservation
• N. Malik et al.
• 9. Environmental Pollution: Increasing Risk of Neurodegenerative Diseases
• H. Ikram and H. Nangyal
• 10. Community-Based Conservation of the Sambhar Salt Lake, Jaipur, India
• S. Kulshreshtha, G.V. Reddy, and H. Nangyal
• 11. Biodiversity and Conservation of the Orphans of Rio in Northern Africa-Egypt: A Case Study
• A. M. Abdel-Azeem and F. M. Salem
• 12. Diversity of Functional Potential of Selected Medicinal Plants
• Hasnain Nangyal et al.
• 13. Fungal Biodiversity of Foods and Feeds
• Fatima Abdul Majeed and Ali Akbar
• 14. Biodiversity and Distribution of Algae in Egypt
• Heba S. Abbas
• 15. Role of Diverse Medicinal Algae in Therapeutic World
• Heba S. Abbas.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

Environmental Pollution, Biodiversity, and Sustainable Development: Issues and Remediation provides an extensive summary of biodiversity. It is the result of the assistance of environmentalists, researchers, policy experts, and academicians from across the globe sharing their research and knowledge on biodiversity and ways to mitigate the threat from climate change, over-utilization of natural resources, pollution, and more. The volume considers that biodiversity encompasses a wide range of biological processes, ranging from genetic diversity, species, populations, communities and ecosystems to landscapes and regions. This book, written by a panel of international experts in biodiversity, conservation biology, and evolution from different countries, including Iran, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Tajikistan, Russia, and others, highlights the human impact on biodiversity hotspots on a global scale. The volume provides an abundance of valuable research for faculty, students, and researchers in environmental sciences, government agencies, and many others.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• 1. Introduction: Overview and Summary of the Life Generates Biodiversity Theory.
• 2. Life is Spectacularly Diverse.
• 3. Life Regulates Greenhouse Gas Levels and Global Temperature, while Conserving Carbon.
• 4. Life Created the Atmosphere's Oxygen.
• 5. Life Built the Soil into an Ideal Ecosystem for Life.
• 6. Plants Profoundly Altered the Landscape, Favoring Biology.
• 7. Mutualism between Species Structures Ecosystems and Caused the Evolution of High Biodiversity.
• 8. Commensalism Maintains High Biodiversity.
• 9. Predation and Parasitism Greatly Increase the Number of Species.
• 10. Seemingly Paradoxically, Even Competition Tends to Increase or at least Maintain Biodiversity.
• 11. The Microbiome and the Hologenome Theory of Evolution.
• 12. Viruses Create High Biodiversity.
• 13. Ecosystems Interact, and Help Each Other, like Mutualistic Species.
• 14. Life Drove the Great Increase in Biodiversity Seen in the History of Life.
• 15. Altruism and Co-operation are Darwinian, Common, and Adaptive, and Maintain Biodiversity.
• 16. Horizontal Gene Transfer Causes Macroevolutionary Leaps.
• 17. The Origin of Life on Earth was Highly Probable, and Systems Tend to Increase in Complexity.
• 18. The Earth and Solar System Act as a System to Favor Life.
• 19. Possible Unifying Mechanisms for Life Generates Biodiversity Theory.
• 20. Environmental and Other Implications of the Life Generates Biodiversity Theory.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

Describes a hypothesis that ecosystems maximize biodiversity Suggests modified version of the dominant paradigm in population biology and evolution Discusses specific examples of events and phenomena that positively affect the diversity of life Presents a new view likely to elicit deeper discussions of biodiversity.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• 1. Biodiversity in Bolivia 2. Biodiversity of Brazil 3. Biodiversity of Canada: An Overview 4. Still Searching the Rich Coast: Biodiversity of Costa Rica, Numbers, Processes, Patterns, and Challenges 5. Biodiversity in Cuba 6. Plant Biodiversity of Ecuador: A Neotropical Megadiverse Country 7. Biodiversity in Honduras: The Environment, Flora, Bats, Medium- and Large-Sized Mammals, Birds, Freshwater Fishes, and the Amphibians and Reptiles 8. Biodiversity of Mexico: State of Knowledge and Conservation 9. Biodiversity in Paraguay 10. Biodiversity in North America (North of Mexico) 11. Biodiversity in Venezuela 12. Biodiversity of Australia: An Overview
• .
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

This fourth volume in the new multi-volume set Global Biodiversity is a rich resource on the biodiversity of a selection of countries in the Americas and in Australia. Chapters explore both wild and cultivated plants, wild and domesticated animals, and the variety of microbes of the countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Australia, Paraguay, the United States, and Venezuela. The different chapters explore the geographical status, ecosystem diversity, species diversity, genetic diversity, and conservation efforts in each selected country. They focus on genetic diversity of crop plants/cultivated plants and domesticated animals and their wild relatives and also discuss the endangered and protected plants and animals of the respective counties. Other volumes in this series include coverage of selected countries in Asia, Europe, and Africa. The volumes provide an informative compilation on the variety and variability of life in the regions discussed and will help to fill the gap in knowledge while also encouraging the conservation of biodiversity and sustainable utilization. .
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

The number of species found at a given point on the planet varies by orders of magnitude, yet large-scale gradients in biodiversity appear to follow some very general patterns. Little mechanistic theory has been formulated to explain the emergence of observed gradients of biodiversity both on land and in the oceans. Based on a comprehensive empirical synthesis of global patterns of species diversity and their drivers, A Theory of Global Biodiversity develops and applies a new theory that can predict such patterns from few underlying processes. The authors show that global patterns of biodiversity fall into four consistent categories, according to where species live: on land or in coastal, pelagic, and deep ocean habitats. The fact that most species groups, from bacteria to whales, appear to follow similar biogeographic patterns of richness within these habitats points toward some underlying structuring principles. Based on empirical analyses of environmental correlates across these habitats, the authors combine aspects of neutral, metabolic, and niche theory into one unifying framework. Applying it to model terrestrial and marine realms, the authors demonstrate that a relatively simple theory that incorporates temperature and community size as driving variables is able to explain divergent patterns of species richness at a global scale. Integrating ecological and evolutionary perspectives, A Theory of Global Biodiversity yields surprising insights into the fundamental mechanisms that shape the distribution of life on our planet.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

The Earth is home to a diversity of species and they are of fundamental importance for the continued existence of life on this planet. This work deals with biodiversity and its perpetuation, at a time when diverse species are being destroyed.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

In the life sciences, there is wide-ranging debate about biodiversity. While nearly everyone is in favor of biodiversity and its conservation, methods for its assessment vary enormously. So what exactly is biodiversity? Most theoretical work on the subject assumes it has something to do with species richness - the number of species in a particular region - but in reality, it is much more than that. Arguing that we can not make rational decisions about what it is to be protected without knowing what biodiversity is, James Maclaurin and Kim Sterelny offer in "What Is Biodiversity?" a theoretical and conceptual exploration of the biological world and how diversity is valued.Here, Maclaurin and Sterelny investigate not only the origins of the concept of biodiversity, but also how that concept has been shaped by ecology and more recently by conservation biology. They explain the different types of biodiversity important in evolutionary theory, developmental biology, ecology, morphology, and taxonomy and conclude that biological heritage is rich in not just one biodiversity but many. Maclaurin and Sterelny also explore the case for the conservation of these biodiversities using option value theory, a tool borrowed from economics.An erudite, provocative, timely, and creative attempt to answer a fundamental question, "What Is Biodiversity?" will become a foundational text in the life sciences and studies thereof.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Impacts of agricultural change on farmland biodiversity in the UK
• The extent and future of global insect biodiversity
• Biological invasions in Europe: drivers, pressures, states, impacts and responses
• The deep-sea: if we do not understand the biodiversity, can we assess the threat?
• Threatened habitats: marginal vegetation in upland areas
• Trends in biodiversity in Europe and the impact of land-use change
• Tropical moist forests
• The implementation of international biodiversity initiatives: constraints and successes
• Biodiversity assessment and change - the challenge of appropriate methods
• Drivers and pressures on biodiversity in analytical frameworks--.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

There is much public concern about threats to global biodiversity. Industrial pollution, changes in agricultural practices and climate change, are all having a direct impact on biodiversity. In this book the Editors provide a broad view of the many pressures imposed by human-induced changes and the many threats to global biodiversity and of the policy responses required to combat them. This excellent text includes the work of some 44 authors and offers a solid description of the current understanding of threats to biodiversity with a range of illustrative examples - a valuable point of reference for ecologists, environmental scientists, and students as well as, policymakers and all other environmental professionals.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Preface
• Conservation of Biological Diversity in Agricultural, Forestry and Marine Systems
• Biodiversity and Climate Change: A Modelling Perspective
• Drug Discovery, Biodiversity Conservation and Economic Development: A Micro-Loan Program at CUC Phuong Commune (Vietnam)
• Hispaniolan Spider Biodiversity and the Importance of Combining Neontological and Palaentological Data in Analyses of Historical Biogeography
• On the Structure of Biodiversity: Some Metaphysical Essays
• Spontaneous Pattern Formation and Diversity in Spatially Evolutionary Ecology
• Chemotherapeutics Brazilian Plant Species as Sources of Antitubercular and Anitmalarial Chemotherapeutics
• Species Turnover Along Gradients of Net Primary Productivity
• The Origin and Functions of Biodiversity in Infectious and Non-Infectious Diseases
• Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

Biological diversity, or "biodiversity, " refers to the variety of all life on earth, and the complex relationships among living things, and between living things and their environment. Biodiversity includes genetic variety, species diversity, and variability in communities, ecosystems and landscapes. Biodiversity sustains the environments in which we live and on which our lives and those of every other living creature on Earth depend. Thanks to biodiversity, we are able to obtain such necessary goods as food, clothing, medicine, and fuel. Equally important are the ecosystem services that biodiversity provides, such as clean air and drinkable water. Conservation scientists have identified a number of universal threats to biodiversity: habitat loss and degradation, invasive species, pollution, overpopulation, overexploitation and consumption, and global climate change. This book examines critical issues in this field from researchers around the globe.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

The idea of "biodiversity" has become increasingly important for those who wish to preserve and protect the varieties of life on Earth. While most works on biodiversity look at only three components - the diversity of genes, of species, and of ecosystems - "Understanding Biodiversity" examines the diversity of life in all its manifestations. The living world is diverse in many ways - animals and plants vary greatly in their size and shape, in their behaviour, in how they reproduce, and in how they sense the surrounding world. This book shows how each form of biodiversity has an intrinsic value - for humans, and for the living world as a whole - that should be better understood and appreciated by everyone, not just those in the scientific community. Through such comprehension and appreciation, we should come to value and protect biodiversity more than is currently the case. Humanity can only gain from such an expanded view of biodiversity. In addition to discussing the importance of understanding biodiversity, the author provides examples and explanations of the types of diversity: diversity "within" species; diversity "above" the species level; genetic diversity; diversity of ecosystems and ecological interactions; four billion years of temporal diversity; morphological diversity; metabolic diversity; sensory diversity; reproductive and sexual diversity; life cycle diversity; and behavioural and cultural diversity.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)