This important book for scientists and nonscientists alike calls attention to a most urgent global problem: the rapidly accelerating loss of plant and animal species to increasing human population pressure and the demands of economic development. Based on a major conference sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences and the Smithsonian Institution, Biodiversity creates a systematic framework for analyzing the problem and searching for possible solutions.
- Cover
- Front Matter
- The Current State of Biological Diversity
- Part 1: Challenges to the Preservation of Biodiversity
- Part 2: Human Dependence on Biological Diversity
- Part 3: Diversity at Risk: Tropical Forests
- Part 4: Diversity at Risk: The Global Perspective
- Part 5: The Value of Biodiversity
- Part 6: How is Biodiversity Monitored and Protected?
- Part 7: Science and Technology: How Can They Help?
- Part 8: Restoration Ecology: Can We Recover Lost Ground?
- Part 9: Alternatives to Destruction
- Part 10: Policies to Protect Diversity
- Part 11: Present Problems and Future Prospects
- Part 12: Ways of Seeing the Biosphere
- Part 13: Epilogue
- Index