Global biodiversity in a changing environment

The scientific community has voiced two general concerns about the future of the earth. Climatologists and oceanographers have focused on the changes in our physical environment changes in the climate, the oceans, and the chemistry of the air we breathe. Environmental biologists, on the other hand, have addressed issues of conservation and the extinction of species. There is increasing evidence that these two broad concerns are intertwined and mutually dependent. Past changes in biodiversity have both responded to and caused changes in the earth's environment. This book discusses the major factors influencing biodiversity in the earth's terrestrial biomes and their projected patterns of change. In its discussions of ten key terrestrial biomes and freshwater ecosystems, this volume uses our broad understanding of global environmental change to present the first comprehensive scenarios of biodiversity for the twenty-first century. Combining physical earth science with conservation biology, global biodiversity in a changing environment provides a starting point for regional assessments on ail scales. The book will be of interest to those concerned with guiding research on the changing environment of the earth and with planning future policy, especially in accordance with the global biodiversity convention.