Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    What Is Biodiversity?
    What Is Biodiversity?
    What Is Biodiversity?
    Ebook183 pages5 hours

    What Is Biodiversity?

    By James Maclaurin and Kim Sterelny

    5/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    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—with the number of species in a particular region—but in reality, it is much more than that. Arguing that we cannot 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 explore 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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press
    Release dateNov 15, 2008
    ISBN9780226500829
    What Is Biodiversity?

    Related to What Is Biodiversity?

    Related ebooks

    Science & Mathematics For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Lessons For The Future

      Mar 11, 2021

      Lessons For The Future
      7 min read

    • Article

      4 Things To Know About Fungi ‘Climate Warriors’

      Jul 27, 2018

      Certain fungi play an important role in how well forests can absorb carbon dioxide. Two researchers, Colin Averill and Jennifer M. Bhatnagar of Boston University, explain below how these fungi fit into forest microbiome and fight climate change, as

      3 min read

    • Article

      ‘Encyclopedia’ Sheds Light On How Death Boosts Ecosystems

      Sep 12, 2018

      Researchers have developed a new way to understand how decomposing plants and animals contribute to ecosystems. Eric Benbow, a forensic entomologist and microbial ecologist at Michigan State University who led the new research, first defined the necr

      2 min read

    • Article

      So 1 Million Species Are At Risk Of Extinction. Now What?

      May 14, 2019

      Last week’s report of 1 million species at risk is the latest in a stream of bleak environmental reports. What can the public do with these reports?

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Beauty Of Science

      Jan 29, 2023

      The Beauty Of Science
      9 min read

    • Article

      Survival of the Friendliest: It’s time to give the violent metaphors of evolution a break.

      Mar 23, 2017

      Violence has been the sire of all the world’s values,” wrote poet Robinson Jeffers in 1940. “What but the wolf’s tooth whittled so fine the fleet limbs of the antelope? What but fear winged the birds, and hunger jeweled with such eyes the great gosha

      9 min read

    • Article

      Survival Of The Friendliest

      Aug 22, 2019

      Violence has been the sire of all the world’s values,” wrote poet Robinson Jeffers in 1940. “What but the wolf’s tooth whittled so fine the fleet limbs of the antelope? What but fear winged the birds, and hunger jeweled with such eyes the great gosha

      9 min read

    • Article

      On The Vine

      Aug 31, 2017

      On The Vine
      7 min read

    • Article

      Edward O.wilson

      Jul 1, 2020

      Edward O.wilson
      5 min read

    • Article

      Holy Misdirected Anger! Bats Not To Blame, Say Scientists.

      Sep 15, 2020

      Bats have long been associated with malevolence. But killing them only makes things worse, say biologists.

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Serengeti Rules

      Jan 9, 2020

      The Serengeti Rules
      2 min read

    • Article

      Extractive Delusions

      Feb 13, 2023

      We live today in environments polluted with plastics. And increasingly, public discourse is polluted with them too: from the image of a drinking straw being pulled from a turtle’s nose to reports of microplastics mingling inside all living beings. Am

      2 min read

    • Article

      Q&A YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

      Feb 15, 2024

      Q&A YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Superorganism That Created the Pandemic

      Mar 26, 2020

      I’ve spent years adventuring in exotic parts of the world seeking out wildlife—weeks in tents in remote wildernesses, nights uncomfortably holed up in hides in rainforests. I’ve drifted through mangroves on boats, even lodged in a tree-canopy camp. A

      5 min read

    • Article

      Our Earth Needs You!

      May 4, 2023

      Our Earth Needs You!
      2 min read

    • Article

      Model Or monster?

      Jun 12, 2022

      Model Or monster?
      16 min read

    • Article

      Chunky Monkeys Hint Obesity Risk Starts Before Birth

      Dec 21, 2017

      A new study with vervet monkeys suggests how genes, pedigree, and environment work together to influence adult obesity. In 2004, the monkeys of the Vervet Research Colony got an unpleasant surprise. Scientists noticed that the 350-or-so African green

      4 min read

    • Article

      Opinion: Bacterial Sex: The Promiscuous Process Driving Antibiotic Resistance

      Feb 20, 2018

      While overuse of antibiotics has been fingered as the driver of resistance to these drugs, the contribution of bacterial sex plays an underappreciated role.

      5 min read

    • Article

      Is Culture Missing From Conservation? Scientists Take Cues From Indigenous Peoples.

      Nov 24, 2017

      We typically think of conservation as removing humans from the ecosystem to return it to its 'natural' state. But the practices of many indigenous cultures offer a different way to view humanity's relationship with the natural world.

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Good Earth

      Oct 30, 2019

      The Good Earth
      10 min read

    • Article

      Pine Trees And Fertility

      Feb 13, 2022

      “Weed it & weep” (February 12), on invasive plant pests, made sobering reading. It also highlighted the conundrum that makes pine trees both a blessing and a blight. They are a blessing because they provide a useful and valuable product while also ab

      7 min read

    • Article

      Science And Knowledge

      Aug 15, 2021

      I would like to add to the debate (“The meaning of science”, August 7) by pointing out that although mātauranga Māori can well stand on its own, there is strong evidence of its value in addressing issues where the dominant discourse of science has fa

      8 min read

    • Article

      Great Unknowns Huge Questions Remain Unanswered About Life On Earth. We Asked Leading Scientists And Conservationists: What Is The One Thing You Would Like To Know About The Planet That Remains A Mystery?

      Dec 22, 2023

      Great Unknowns Huge Questions Remain Unanswered About Life On Earth. We Asked Leading Scientists And Conservationists: What Is The One Thing You Would Like To Know About The Planet That Remains A Mystery?
      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for What Is Biodiversity?

    5/5

    3 ratings1 review

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      amazing book

    Book preview

    What Is Biodiversity? - James Maclaurin

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1