A01=James Maclaurin
A01=Kim Sterelny
Author_James Maclaurin
Author_Kim Sterelny
biodiversity
boundaries
Category=PS
Category=RNCB
community
conservation
data
developmental biology
disparity
ecology
ecosystem
environment
environmentalism
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_science
evolution
fossils
gene regulation
individualism
land management
modularity
morphology
morphospaces
nature
nonfiction
option value theory
plasticity
preservation
region
science
speciation
species richness
taxonomy
Product details
- ISBN 9780226500812
- Weight: 340g
- Dimensions: 15 x 23mm
- Publication Date: 01 Jul 2008
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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In the life sciences, there is wide-ranging debate about biodiversity. While nearly everyone is in favor of biodiversity and its conservation, methods for its assessment vary enormously. So what exactly is biodiversity? Most theoretical work on the subject assumes it has something to do with species richness - the number of species in a particular region - but in reality, it is much more than that. Arguing that we can not make rational decisions about what it is to be protected without knowing what biodiversity is, James Maclaurin and Kim Sterelny offer in "What Is Biodiversity?" a theoretical and conceptual exploration of the biological world and how diversity is valued.Here, Maclaurin and Sterelny investigate not only the origins of the concept of biodiversity, but also how that concept has been shaped by ecology and more recently by conservation biology. They explain the different types of biodiversity important in evolutionary theory, developmental biology, ecology, morphology, and taxonomy and conclude that biological heritage is rich in not just one biodiversity but many.
Maclaurin and Sterelny also explore the case for the conservation of these biodiversities using option value theory, a tool borrowed from economics.An erudite, provocative, timely, and creative attempt to answer a fundamental question, "What Is Biodiversity?" will become a foundational text in the life sciences and studies thereof.
James Maclaurin is senior lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Otago in New Zealand. Kim Sterelny divides his time between Victoria University of Wellington, where he is professor of philosophy, and the Research School of Social Sciences at Australian National University. He is the coauthor, with Paul Griffiths, of Sex and Death: An Introduction to Philosophy of Biology.
