World Atlas of Biodiversity: Earth's Living Resources in the 21st Century - Hardcover

Groombridge, B.; Jenkins, M.D.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0520236688 ISBN 13: 9780520236684

Publisher: University of California Press, 2002

Synopsis

The World Atlas of Biodiversity is an updated edition of Global Biodiversity: Status of the Earth's Living Resources, originally published in 1992 and reissued in 2000 as Global Biodiversity: Earth's living resources in the 21st Century. This 2002 edition, totally redesigned and updated, includes new data and graphics, additional photos, and additional material on food issues and biodiversity, as well as an entirely new chapter on protected areas and other conservation issues.

World Atlas of Biodiversity addresses the remarkable growth in concern at all levels for living things and the environment, and increased appreciation of the links between the state of ecosystems and the state of humankind. Building on a wealth of research and analysis by the conservation community worldwide, this book provides a comprehensive and accessible view of key global issues in biodiversity. It outlines some of the broad ecological relationships between humans and the rest of the material world and summarizes information on the health of the planet. Opening with an outline of some fundamental aspects of material cycles and energy flow in the biosphere, the book goes on to discuss the expansion of this diversity through geological time and the pattern of its distribution over the surface of the Earth, and trends in the condition of the main ecosystem types and the species integral to them.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

"This is an exciting piece of work—well-written, well-researched, and authoritative."—Simon A. Levin, Editor-in-Chief of Encyclopedia of Biodiversity

"The book amounts to a detailed report card on the status of the world's biodiversity resources at the beginning of the new millenium. It brings together, and integrates to substantial degrees, huge amounts of information that is widely scattered in both technical literature and in governmental and NGO reports."—Malcolm Gordon, co-author of Invasions of the Land: The Transitions of Organisms from Aquatic to Terrestrial Life

"It is an amazingly diverse collection of data on global biological diversity--very effectively analysed and displayed."—David J. Chivers, Wildlife Research Group, University of Cambridge

"An indispensable resource on information about Earth's biological variety and why its conservation is crucially important for human survival and well being. This volume should be in the hands of biologists, policymakers, educators, and the general public concerned with our global environment."—Joel Cracraft, Curator-in-Charge, Department of Ornithology, American Museum of Natural History

"A thorough and up-to-the-minute account of the variety of life on Earth and how fast it is shrinking. One cannot plan strategically to prevent the loss of that variety without the information and maps that this excellent and timely book provides."—Stuart Pimm, Columbia University

About the Author:

Brian Groombridge is Senior Programme Officer, Forests, Drylands and Freshwater Programme of UNEP-WCMC. Martin D. Jenkins is Senior Advisor, Species Conservation at UNEP-WCMC.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0520236688
• ISBN 13: 9780520236684
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256