Bio Diversity

Included Index

The current state of biological diversity / E.O. Wilson --
The loss of diversity : causes and consequences / Paul R. Ehrlich --
Tropical forests and their species : going, going-? / Norman Myers --
Ecological diversity in coastal zones and oceans / G. Carleton Ray --
Diversity crises in the geological past / David M. Raup --
Estimating reductions in the diversity of tropical forest species / Ariel E. Lugo --
Challenges to biological diversity in urban areas / Dennis D. Murphy --
Deep ecology meets the developing world / James D. Nations --
Screening plants for new medicines / Norman R. Farnsworth --
Serendipity in the exploration of biodiversity : what good are weedy tomatoes? / Hugh H. Iltis --
The outlook tor new agricultural and industrial products from the tropics / Mark J. Plotkin --
Our diminishing tropical forests / Peter H. Raven --
The tropical forest canopy : the heart of biotic diversity / Terry L. Erwin --
Tropical dry forests : the most endangered major tropical ecosystem / Daniel H. Janzen --
Deforestation and Indians in Brazilian Amazonia / Kenneth I. Taylor --
Primate diversity and the tropical forest : case studies from Brazil and Madagascar and the importance of the megadiversity countries / Russell A. Mittermeier --
Lessons from Mediterranean-climate regions / Harold A. Mooney --
Structural and functional diversity in temperate forests / Jerry F. Franklin --
Diversity in and among grasslands / Paul G. Risser --
Diversity and biological invasions of oceanic islands / Peter M. Vitousek --
Economics and the preservation of biodiversity / W. Michael Hanemann --
Commodity, amenity, and morality : the limits of quantification in valuing biodiversity / Bryan Norton --
The rise of the global exchange economy and the loss of biological diversity / Richard B. Norgaard --
Why put a value on biodiversity? / David Ehrenfeld --
What mainstream economists have to say about the value of biodiversity / Alan Randall --
Monitoring biological diversity for setting priorities in conservation / F. William Burley --
Information management for the conservation of biodiversity / Robert E. Jenkins Jr. --
Identifying and protecting the origins of our food plants / J. Trevor Williams --
Conserving and monitoring biotic diversity : some African examples / Brian J. Huntley --
Can technology aid species preservation? / William Conway --
Conservation of biological diversity in botanical gardens / Peter S. Ashton --
Using science and technology to reestablish species lost in nature / Tom J. Cade --
Intensive technology in the care of ex situ populations of vanishing species / Ulysses S. Seal --
Cryobiology, embryo transfer, and artificial insemination in ex situ animal conservation programs / Betsy L. Dresser --
Ecological restoration : reflections on a half-century of experience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum / William R. Jordan III --
Restoring diversity in salt marshes : can we do it? / Joy B. Zedler --
Restoration of degraded lands in the Amazon Basin / Christopher Uhl --
Increasing diversity by restoring damaged ecosystems / John Cairns Jr. --
Restoring diversity : the search for a social and economic context / John Todd --
Are there alternatives to destruction? / Michael H. Robinson --
Agroecology and in situ conservation of native crop diversity in the Third World / Miguel A. Altieri and Laura C. Merrick --
Alternatives to destruction : research in Panama / Gilberto Ocana [and others] --
Biological engineering for sustainable biomass production / Sinyan Shen --
Preserving biological diversity in the tropical forests of the Asian region / John Spears --
The Tropical Forestry Action Plan : recent progress and new initiatives / F. William Burley --
International development and the protection of biological diversity / Nyle C. Brady --
Diverse considerations / Thomas E. Lovejoy --
The conservation of biodiversity in Latin America : a perspective / Mario A. Ramos --
A major new opportunity to finance the preservation of biodiversity / Robert J.A. Goodland --
And today we're going to talk about biodiversity- that's right, biodiversity / Lester R. Brown --
The effect of global climatic change on natural communities / Robert L. Peters II --
Mind in the biosphere; mind of the biosphere / Michael E. Soulé --
A mammal gallery : five word pictures and three poems / Michael McClure --
Cold water spirit / Larry Littlebird --
A Christian view of biodiversity / John B. Cobb Jr. --
The earth as a living organism / James E. Lovelock --
Epilogue / David Challinor.

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.