Western Kentucky University TopSCHOLAR® DLPS Faculty Publications Library Public Services 5-2001 Biodiversity: The orW ld of Life Charles H. Smith Western Kentucky University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/dlps_fac_pub Part of the Biodiversity Commons, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons, Higher Education Commons, and the Library and Information Science Commons Recommended Citation Charles H. Smith, "Biodiversity: The orldW of Life" (May 2001). Choice 38(9): 1565-1580. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by TopSCHOLAR®. It has been accepted for inclusion in DLPS Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of TopSCHOLAR®. For more information, please contact [email protected]. I BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAY The World of Life: Biodiversity Studies BY CHARLES SMITH multifarious ecosystems of the world. The key to effective analysis ofbio­ the literature on the former, concerned as diversity is the precise definition of it is with the basic description of millions Introduction each level oforganization when it is of species of animals and plants-not to being addressed. mention suborganismallevels of organiza­ tion and communities, ecosystems, and Wbat i.J bioiJiverJity? This definition may strike some ob­ the biosphere as a whole-would exist ( and servers as being just the slightest bit vague, did exist) independent of the recent bio­ or some 15 years the public at least to the extent that it fails to explain diversity movement. Practically every state has witnessed a sustained world­ how the concept is related to the various in the nation is represented by at least one Fwide movement that concerns natural studies that make it up, and that monographic study of its resident mam­ itself with understanding the in fact have existed as independently con­ mals, as are many individual species of mam­ natural diversity oflife, and how such di­ ceived lines of research for more than a mals (and even particular mammals from versity can be conserved. The word "bio­ century in several cases. In Biodipersity: particular states!). The real gist of the bio­ diversity" itself (short for "biological di­ A Reference Handbook, author Anne Bech­ diversity movement, however, is the ef­ versity") is a recently coined term that has er has recognized three basic components fort to relate the details of such diversity to been in common use only during that pe­ to biological diversity: genetic, taxonom­ its various levels of manifestation, and es­ riod; nevertheless, the crisis that surrounds ic (species), and ecological, but while this pecially to our capacity for managing it the subject has quickly made it one of the division serves a categorical purpose, it may globally in a sustainable fashion. most frequently discussed topics in the nat­ first be more helpful to distinguish between ural and applied sciences. So what is this "biodiversity itself," and what may be termed The natural science part ofbiodiversity "biodiversity," and why do its defenders ar­ "biodiversity studies." The latter we can studies thus is concerned with systematic gue that its investigation should become recognize as the array of research approaches study of the causes of observed diversity a major human priority? that have come together to study the phe­ patterns. Such causes may have predomi­ nomena of natural diversity and its con­ nantly geographical, morphological, his­ The definition part of this question is servation. As Wtlson notes on the first page torical, ecological, or anthropogenic com­ the subject of a recent piece (in Biodiper­ of the same essay quoted above, " .. what ponents, or any combination of these. Re­ sity 11, ed. by M. Reaka-Kudla et al.) from finally has given it such widespread atten­ lated discoveries are sometimes extraordi­ one of the movement's primary figures, tion is the realization that it is disappear­ nary and have the most profound impli­ Harvard zoologist Edward o. Wilson: ing." More than this, however, only by the cations; for example, on the basis of a long mid-1980s was it realized that significant series of paleontological investigations it So what is it? Biologists are inclined loss ofbiodiversity might have serious world­ now seems reasonable to conclude that to agree that it is, in one sense, ev­ erything. Biodiversity is defined as wide ethical, economic, and even survival every so many years a mountain-sized chunk all hereditarily based variation at ramifications. At that point, the state of the of roc1,c has hit the earth, each time oblit­ all levels of organization, from genes planet'S biodiversity became more than erating a substantial percentage of the species within a single local population or just a matter of natural science alone, it living on it. How society is to deal with this species, to the species composing all became an identifiable worldwide crisis. and many other less traumatic realities of or part of a local community, and fi­ related type is ultimately a social problem, nally to the communities themselves As a result, we can now speak in rather and herein lies the rationale for a social that compose the living parts of the separate terms ofbiodiversity itself, and the science ofbiodiversity. Loosely speaking, agenda of the movement that has taken the main concerns involved are applied, con­ Dr. Charles H . Smith is Assistant Professor and up the study of the biodiversity crisis. This servation-oriented ones, but the arguments Science Librarian, Helm Library, Western Kentucky separation of concepts is particularly im­ extend far beyond conservation for con­ Unif'ersity, Bowling Green, KT. portant in the present context, because servation's sake. May 2001 CHOICE 1565 The World of Life Why JbouUJ we care? the entire biosphere. Less dramatic (but subject to appear was this writer's Biodi­ perhaps equally fatal) scenarios involving, versity Studies: A Bibliographic Review, pub­ very good question, at least for e.g., destruction of the ozone layer or glob­ lished in early 2000. Becher's introduc­ A those who have not already al overwarming are also imaginable; such tory handbook, written primarily for a col­ committed themselves to an concerns may seem remote to many ob­ lege freshman readership level, was pub­ involvement with the movement. Several servers, but inasmuch as the best scientif­ lished in 1998 (and is now available as an main reasons can be given: ic advice suggests that monumental dan­ online resource), but there is still no all­ gers could be involved, we would be well pmpose professional-level handbook on the (1) Aesthetic grounds. Since at least advised as a society to continue looking in­ subject. A promising event is the late 2000 the middle of the 19th century there have to such possibilities and how they might be publication of the multivolume Encyclo­ been those who have argued that to di­ treated should they actually take place. pedia ofBiodiversity, edited by noted ecol­ minish the grandeur of our natural sur­ ogist Simon A. Levin. In addition, a fine roundings is to invite a cheapening of the quality coffee table-like reference work, Pre­ human experience. As diversity in its var­ Bibliographic Control cious Heritage: The Status ofBiodiversity in ious other senses has always appeared to be the United States (edited by Bruce Stein connected with the maintenance ofa healthy n considering the concept ofbibli­ et al.), was recently published and promis­ human society, this argument is hard to dis­ I ographic control on biodiversity­ es to provide an excellent all-purpose re­ miss-whether one looks at the question related studies, it should first be view that can be appreciated by almost any purely in terms of a!sthetics, or in a more reiterated that there is a vast amount of level of educated readership. applied sense focussing on various aspects subject material. The literature of "bio­ of human education, recreation, and in­ diversity itself" has classically been arranged This essay does not concentrate on Web­ dustry. in library and other collections to mirror based resources, but the subject is in fact general systematic understandings of the being increasingly well served in that di­ (2) Moral and ethical grounds. The organisms and community/ecosystem types rection. Most biodiversity-related sites argument as to aesthetics can be taken one involved, e.g., according to protozoans, still concentrate on the animals and plants step further to embrace moral and ethical birds, or wetlands. But biodiversity stud­ themselves, but a number take a broader rationales. Some plead directly for the rights ies have no such logical association in our approach. See, for example, Biodiversity of animals, plants, or communities, or sec­ collections. To be sure, a "biological di­ (World Resources Institute); Biodiversity ondarily, in defending the notion that hu­ versity" subject heading has been estab­ and Biological Collections Web Server (Ju­ man beings have evolved into the planet's lished by the library of Congress, and many Han Humphries); Biodiversity: Digital Li­ caretakers, and that it is a responsibility of those items that concern the subject in brary (Academic Info); Biodiversity: Mea­ both to ourselves and the rest of the bio­ general may be found under QH 75, but suring the Variety ofNature (Biogeography sphere to contribute intelligently to its man­ this heading actually contains but a mi­ & Conservation Lab, Natural History Mu­ agement and maintenance. nuscule percentage of the entire related lit­ seum, London); Biodiversity Related Web erature. To find the rest requires poring Sites (The Natural Heritage Network); In­ (3) Economic grounds. The most co­ over the materials under subject headings formation Dissemination for Nature Con­ gent practical arguments for conserving bio­ as diverse as agroecology, bioethics, botany, servation (European Centre for Nature Con­ diversity concern the state of the human ecology, forestry, environmental law, en­ servation); The Virtual Library ofEcology pocketbook and our aspirations for a sus­ vironmental economics, ethnobotany, en­ & Biodiversity (Rice University and CCBN).