Overview

Our future is closely tied to that of the variety of life on Earth, and yet there is no greater threat to this than us. From population explosions and habitat destruction to climate change and mass extinctions, John Spicer explores the causes and consequences of our biodiversity crisis. In this revised and updated edition, he examines how grave the situation has become over the past decade and outlines what we must do now to protect and preserve nature’s wonders before it’s too late.

Full Product Details

Author:   John Spicer
Publisher:   Oneworld Publications
Imprint:   Oneworld Publications
Edition:   revised and updated edition
Dimensions:   Width: 12.90cm , Height: 1.60cm , Length: 19.80cm
ISBN:  

9780861540174

ISBN 10:   0861540174
Pages:   272
Publication Date:   06 May 2021
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

1  The pandemic of wounded biodiversity Biodiversity – what was that again? A long, leisurely trip to La Jolla Directions   2  Teeming boisterous life The big picture The volleyball on Mission Beach ‘A rose by any other name’…what’s a species?    Morphological species    Identifying species without ever seeing them    Biological species    Evolutionary species    Naming species How many living species…and what are they?    1) To the nearest approximation (almost) every organism is an arthropod…?    2) Greenery: The Plantae    3) Fungi: Mushrooms, moulds and yeasts – The Fungi    4) Mollusca: Shell life    5) Chordata: Animals with backbones…mostly    6) Protozoa or Protista?    7) Nematoda: The roundworm that’s the fly in the ointment?    8) Bacteria and Archaea: Microbial life    Remaining animal groupings    Viruses: All the world’s a phage… or nearly New species Planting and growing the ‘tree of life’    The great chain of being    Linnaeus’s hierarchical classification    Influence of evolutionary ideas    Chatton’s two-domain idea    Whittaker’s five-kingdom approach    Woese and the three-domain model    A new twist to the three-domain model    …and when is a tree a bush? Designs on life    The phylum and the Bauplan    Most phyla are not very species rich An unequal distribution of life   3  Where on Earth is biodiversity? From Berkeley, south to the Sea of Cortez More is more    Back to Bird Rock    The species–area relationship Those who go down to the sea in ships Hotspots: A tale of two definitions Big-scale biodiversity: Biogeographical and political regions    On land    Sea    Biodiversity by country Latitude for life?    The land    The sea    Genetic diversity and latitude    Why is there a latitudinal gradient? Altitude    Lessons from the tops of Scottish mountains    Biodiversity takes the hump with altitude    Mountains as islands?    Aerial plankton and organisms in flight Depth    The short-lived azoic theory    Out of our depth    A journey to the centre of the Earth Staying close to home Congruence: The holy grail of diversity?   4  A world that was old when we came into it: Diversity, deep time and extinction One every twenty minutes? A life in the year of… Precambrian – before life?    A schoolgirl changes our understanding of life before life – but no one believes her    The garden of Ediacara    A world of chemical energy, not driven by sunlight?    How familiar is the Ediacaran fauna? Explosive Cambrian    Cambrian forms    Archaeocyatha: The only extinct phylum?    Why diversify now?    Cambrian explosion or short fuse? Cambrian biodiversity: Good designs… or just lucky?    How a small quarry in British Columbia changed our understanding of biodiversity     ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’    To conclude Post-Cambrian: Tinkering with successful designs?    Palaeozoic – ‘first life’    Middle and modern life    The present – not set in stone Beginnings of evolution: The origin of species End of evolution: Extinction    The ‘big five’    Causes of extinction    Extinctions as routine events in the history of life    Early humans and biodiversity    Extinctions post-1600s    Proving extinction?    The Red Data Book    Other takes on extinction    To conclude   5  Swept away and changed Threatening behaviour Living beyond our means Top five direct (or proximate) causes of biodiversity loss 1) Habitat loss and degradation 2) Direct exploitation    Home economics    Food, glorious food    Industrial materials    Medicine sans frontiers    Ecotourism    Controlling the natural world 3) Climate change 4) Introduced species The domino effect: Extinction cascades Some light relief: Complete elimination of biodiversity by extraterrestrial means The ultimate cause of biodiversity loss: You and me    Once upon a time there were two people…now look how many    Not just population size but where people live    Not just population size but what people do It’s the poor that do the suffering To conclude   6  Are the most beautiful things the most useless? ‘…and for everything else there’s Mastercard’ Costing a small planet Use now, pay when?    What bees do for free is expensive    Costing the Earth – literally    How Biosphere 1 works – as one    Earth, the Goldilocks planet – just right    Lovelock’s Gaia hypothesis    Critiques of Gaia How bits of Biosphere 1 work Build your own biosphere: Not-so-silent running    The home marine aquarium    Mysteries and hazards Valuable for what, and to whom?    Keeping options open Bequest and bequeathal Full-on philosophers and laid-back religion?    Value bestowed, not intrinsic    Intrinsic value    Valued as an object of worship or through kinship    A creator gives biodiversity value To conclude   7  Our greatest hazard and our only hope? Saving private land Antecedents Oh, Rio    Large brushstrokes    Louder than words    Arks in parks    Out of place – but alive    Buzzword for the twenty-first century Responses to Rio Millennium Assessment Aichi (2010) and ‘Pathway for Humanity’ (2015)    Strategic plan for biodiversity and Aichi biodiversity targets     ‘Pathway for Humanity’: UN Sustainable Development Goals (2015)    Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (2019)    Aichi    Target 11: Increasing protected areas    Goal 16: Nagoya protocol in force    Sustainability goals No room for the individual? Epilogue   8  No one is too small to make a difference   Going further: Suggestions for wider reading Index

Reviews

'If you have any doubts about the meaning of the term biodiversity or its importance to the world, here is a book that explains it in an interesting and accessible way and challenges us to protect it better.' -- Professor Sir Ghillean Prance FRS, FLS, FRSB, botanist and former director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 'A stimulating, authoritative and deeply rewarding read that makes you think about the natural world in a novel way.' -- Dr Ahmed Djoghlaf, former executive secretary of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity 'Spicer spells out the chilling message...the findings of which have been backed by respected scientists from the United Nations, Yale University and the Eden Project.' * Herald * 'Will appeal to intelligent non-specialists and may provide the incentive to study the subject in greater depth.' * Journal of Biological Education * 'This is science for the general reader at its very best - clear, committed, fascinating and laser-focused on the crisis we face.' -- Randal Keynes, great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin and author of Creation: The True Story of Charles Darwin 'His gift for the telling analogy and his clear, lively writing make Biodiversity a pleasure to read.' -- Stephen C. Stearns, Edward P. Bass Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University

'His gift for the telling analogy and his clear, lively writing make Biodiversity a pleasure to read.' -- Stephen C. Stearns, Edward P. Bass Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University 'This is science for the general reader at its very best - clear, committed, fascinating and laser-focused on the crisis we face.' -- Randal Keynes, great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin and author of Creation: The True Story of Charles Darwin 'Will appeal to intelligent non-specialists and may provide the incentive to study the subject in greater depth.' * Journal of Biological Education * 'Spicer spells out the chilling message...the findings of which have been backed by respected scientists from the United Nations, Yale University and the Eden Project.' * Herald * 'A stimulating, authoritative and deeply rewarding read that makes you think about the natural world in a novel way.' -- Dr Ahmed Djoghlaf, former executive secretary of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity 'If you have any doubts about the meaning of the term biodiversity or its importance to the world here is a book that explains it in an interesting and accessible way and challenges us to protect it better.' -- Professor Sir Ghillean Prance FRS, VMH, Scientific Director of the Eden Project

'His gift for the telling analogy and his clear, lively writing make Biodiversity a pleasure to read.' -- Stephen C. Stearns, Edward P. Bass Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University 'This is science for the general reader at its very best - clear, committed, fascinating and laser-focused on the crisis we face.' -- Randal Keynes, great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin and author of Creation: The True Story of Charles Darwin 'Will appeal to intelligent non-specialists and may provide the incentive to study the subject in greater depth.' * Journal of Biological Education * 'Spicer spells out the chilling message...the findings of which have been backed by respected scientists from the United Nations, Yale University and the Eden Project.' * Herald * 'A stimulating, authoritative and deeply rewarding read that makes you think about the natural world in a novel way.' -- Dr Ahmed Djoghlaf, former executive secretary of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity 'If you have any doubts about the meaning of the term biodiversity or its importance to the world here is a book that explains it in an interesting and accessible way and challenges us to protect it better.' -- Professor Sir Ghillean Prance FRS, FLS, FRSB, botanist and former director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Author Information

John Spicer is Professor of Marine Zoology at the University of Plymouth. He is co-author of the bestselling textbooks Biodiversity: An Introduction and The Invertebrates.

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