Biodiversity and Conservation
Andrew V. Z. Brower, Randall T. Schuh
Abstract
This chapter assesses the role of biological systematics in conservation. Increasing awareness of the global destruction, diminishment, degradation, and fragmentation of natural habitats in terrestrial, aquatic, and marine environments has brought the study of “biodiversity” to a new level of intensity. Biodiversity, as the term is currently used, has many meanings, and its study ranges broadly across biology. There are, however, aspects of biodiversity that are strictly systematic, including (1) recognition and enumeration of the world's biota, and (2) inference of historical relations — both genealogical and geographical — among members of the biota. These types of knowledge can be used directly to inform our efforts for staving off continuing extinction at the hand of the human species.