Biodiversity

by Kevin J. Gaston

Since biodiversity began to be used in the late 1980s as a call-to-arms by conservation biologists, it has emerged as a topic of scientific investigation in its own right. By the 1990s, biodiversity has become a key concept in the biological and environmental sciences. A Biology of Numbers and Difference explores the underlying principles of this new research the measurement of biodiversity, its spatial and temporal patterns, and the ways in which its study can and should inform conservation biology. No one doubts the central importance of biodiversity in ecology, but its scientific basis has required appraisal and clarification. With this book, the study of biodiversity takes an important step forward.

408 pages, Paperback

First published August 13, 1996

Reviews

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite that this book is somewhat dated, the essays cover important topics in biodiversity. The last section particularly addresses the applications and implications of biodiversity with some helpful guidelines regarding policy. I recommend this book especially to ecology students who focus on biodiversity in their research and the last section for those interested in understanding how science may inform policy.