Twenty Landmark Papers in Biodiversity Conservation

Abstract

Biodiversity has became some time ago one of the key notions in various fields of human activity, from biological disciplines dealing directly with the kinds of living beings up to strategy of sustainable development of the humankind. Such a high rating of biodiversity theme has been resulting in publication of many books on these subjects in the past decades. The present book is one of them. Its content is as wide as the biodiversity itself, beginning from the theoretical models of biodiversity and finishing with the latter’s uses for human needs. It contains 17 chapters grouped into 5 sections, each dealing with certain aspect of biodiversity researches and uses. The first section,, “Models of Biodiversity”, contains several important theoretical chapters, some of which consider the ways in which biodiversity could be thought about, while others develop issues of more specific “biological” sound. Of particular interest are chapters (R. Rozzi; B.P. Anthony & oth.) concerning some aspects of interrelation between biological and socio-cultural components of the entire life on Earth at any scale of its consideration. Noteworthy is, as well, the chapter on pretty original “creativity theory of ecosystem” (Liu & oth.). Under consideration in this section are also: theoretical model of relation between ecological niches and diversity maintenance (P. Chesson), numerical model of the factors underlying avian species imperilment in sub-Saharan Africa and Europe (R.E. Crafton & B.P. Anthony), and the diversity turnover rate model for a beetle group undergone periodical catastrophic impacts of forest fire (E.T. Azeria & oth.). A small section “History of Biodiversity Researches” contains the only chapter of C. Bradshaw & N. Sodhi reviewing in short some key publications on this subject that appeared during the last hundred years. It allows to trace how the very understanding of importance of biodiversity has been emerging. The