Phylogeny and biodiversity: conserving our evolutionary legacy

Biological Conservation 1992, 62, 143-148

Selected Abstracts The abstracts reproduced here have been selected from the coverage of Ecological

Abstracts. Further information on Ecological Abstracts, and the associated online database GEOBASE is available from Elsevier/Geo Abstracts, Regency House, 34 Duke Street, Norwich NR3 3AP, IIK. characterizing the interactions between those species and their environment. Incorporating this evolutionary information into conservation policies will broaden the base of options for making effective decisions about the preservation of biodiversity. -Authors

NATURE CONSERVATION General 92Z/00001

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92Z/00004 Population biology of checkerspot butterflies and the preservation of global biodiversity P.R. Ehrlich, Olkos, 63(I), 1992, pp 6-12. Long-term research on Euphydryas populations has yielded much insight into the requirements for conserving invertebrates, but too much time is required to obtain such insights species by species to preserve global biodiversity. Quick sampling methods must be devised to take inventories of the biota in prospective reserves, planning use patterns in those reserves, and monitoring results. Conservation biologists have about a decade to develop and deploy such systems if they are to play a significant role i n preventing the loss of more than half of terrestrial biodiversity. -Author

Blodiversily: social and ecological perspec-

V. Shiva, P. Anderson, H. Shucking, A. Gray, L. Lohmann & D. Cooper, (Zed Books/World Rainforest Movement, Penang), ISBN (hardback) 1 85649 053 X, (paperback) 1 85649 054 8, price £29.95 (US$49.95), £9.95 (US$15.00), 1992, 123 pp. This collection of six essays offers a critique of the ways in which the subject of biodiversity conservation has been discussed and conceptualised in recent publications. In particular, they are concerned that the crisis of biodiversity erosion is presented as yet another problem which lies in the South, b u t can be 'solved' by the superior knowledge and technology of the North. The authors argue that the issues should be approached from the viewpoint of those who practice and preserve diversity (forest dwellers and peasants) whose livelihoods are based on production systems which have diversity as their basis. Current global conservation strategies and economistic paradigms which underpin them are incapable of alleviatmg current problems or of dealing with future threats from emerging biotechnologies. The chapters cover, the dominant paradigm of conservation and its lacunae: the threat to biodiversity of production based on principles of uniformity; the impact of biodiversity conservation on indigenous peoples (based on experience in Latin America); the conservation strategies of thepeasant and forest dwelling communities in Thailand; and a critique of the global biodiversity convention currently being negotiated by UNEP. -M.Amos

92Z/00005 Tropical forest biodiversity: distributional patterns and their conservational significance A.H. Gentry, Oikos, 63(I), 1992, pp 19-28. Phytogeographical knowledge of the distribution of diversity and endemism in tropical forests are snmmarized. High diversity forests occur on all three continents and are concentrated in lowland areas with high and evenly distributed rainfall, but with greatest diversity usually occurring in NW South America forests. Tree and liana species richness is greatest in upper Amazone and non-tree species richness greatest in the H Andean foothillA and S Central America, suggesting conservational priority for these areas. Endemism is only partly correlated with diversity and is concenl~ated in isolated patches of unusual habitat, in cloud forests, in topographically dissected montane areas, and on continental fragment islands, areas which also deserve conservational priority. Since different taxa show different distributional patterns, herbs and epiphytes, as well as trees and large vertebrates, must be considered in tropical conservational planning. -from Author

927./00002 The origin and function of biodiversity O.T. Solbrig, Environment, 33(5), 1991, pp 16-20,34-38. The exact influence of biodiversity on ecosystem function is not fully understood, but forestry, fishing, agricultural activity, indnstrialisation, and pollution axe causing significant Iocalised environmental change, which in tum, is a major cause of extinction. The article examines the various processes that lead to population diversity, including: mutations and recombinations at genetic level; migration and immigration of individuals; speciation; and natural selection, and it also questions the theory of equilibrium in nature. The influences of resource availability, niche size and overlap, and trophic diversity are assessed. The greatest threat to biological diversity may be significant global climate change. Increased concentrations of atmospheric CO2, ozone depletion, higher mean sea temperatures with assocxated loss of coastal habitats, are major contributors to reducing species numbers. -M.Z.Barber

92Z/00006 The hiodiversity crisis: a challenge for biology D. Western, Oikos, 63(1), 1992, pp 29-38. Regarding the prospect of a biodiversity crisis, three priorities areas (identification, safeguarding and rescue-andrehabilitation) are the most immediate conservation priorities. Each topic calls for the development of simplifying theories, application criteria and conservation methods. The scale and urgency of the crisis calls for a big-science approach in which the academy of sciences could play a catalytic role by establishing an international commission for hiodiversity. -from Author 92Z/00007 The effects Of habitat fragmentation on chaparral plants and vertebrates M . E . Soule, A. C. Alberta & D.T. Bolger, Oikos, 63(I), 1992, pp 39-47. The effects of fl'agmentatiou in a scrub habitat in California on plants, birds and rodents are concordant. Extinctions within the habitat remnants occur quickly and the sequence

92Z/00003 Phylogeny and biodiversity: conserving our evolutionary legacy D . R . Brooks, R. L. Mayden & D. A. McLennan, Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 7(2), 1992, pp 55-59. Historical ecological studies provide information about the origins of species in an area and the origins of traits Biological Conservation 0006-3207/92/$05.00 © 1992 Elsevier Science Pubfishers Ltd. 143