Table of Contents

List of tables, figures and maps Foreword Introduction CHAPTER 1: THE BIOSPHERE The living planet Productivity and the carbon cycle CHAPTER 2: THE DIVERSITY OF ORGANISMS Biodiversity Evolution and systematics Groups and names Species concepts and diversity assessment Numbers of living species The diversity of living organisms The phyla of living organisms CHAPTER 3: BIODIVERSITY THROUGH TIME The fossil record Patterns of diversification Patterns of extinction CHAPTER 4: HUMANS AND BIODIVERSITY Use of natural resources Human origins Impacts of early hominids on the environment Appropriation of net primary production Current use of wild resources CHAPTER 5: PATTERNS AND TRENDS IN GLOBAL BIODIVERSITY The distribution of biological diversity Diversity as a basis for conservation action Global trends in biodiversity Recent vertebrate extinctions CHAPTER 6: MARINE BIODIVERSITY The seas The composition and movement of seawater The major zones of the oceans The basis of life in the seas Biological diversity in the seas Vertebrate diversity in the seas Major marine communities Shallow water communities Corals and coral reefs Seagrasses Algae and kelp forests Oceanic pelagic communities Deep-sea communities Human use of and impact on the oceans World marine capture fisheries Other major impacts on the marine biosphere The current status of marine biodiversity Management of marine ecosystems CHAPTER 7: TERRESTRIAL BIODIVERSITY The terrestrial biosphere Forests Temperate needleleaf forests Tropical moist forests Tropical dry forests Sparse trees and parkland Forest plantations Changes in forest cover Pressures on forest biodiversity Forest protection and management Non-forest ecosystems Tundra Grasslands and savannas Shrublands Deserts and semi-deserts The status of terrestrial biodiversity CHAPTER 8: INLAND WATER BIODIVERSITY Inland water habitats Lotic systems: rivers and catchment basins Lentic systems Wetlands Diversity in inland waters Inland water animals Inland waters and humankind Uses of inland water species Other major factors influencing inland water ecosystems The current status of inland water biodiversity Assessment of the status of inland water ecosystems Index

About the Author

Brian Groombridge is Senior Programme Officer, Forests, Drylands and Freshwater Programme of UNEP-WCMC. Martin D. Jenkins is Senior Advisor, Species Conservation at UNEP-WCMC.

Reviews

"This is an exciting piece of work - well-written, well-researched, and authoritative."-Simon A. Levin, Editor-in-Chief of Encyclopedia of Biodiversity "The book amounts to a detailed report card on the status of the world's biodiversity resources at the beginning of the new millenium. It brings together, and integrates to substantial degrees, huge amounts of information that is widely scattered in both technical literature and in governmental and NGO reports."-Malcolm Gordon, co-author of Invasions of the Land: The Transitions of Organisms from Aquatic to Terrestrial Life "It is an amazingly diverse collection of data on global biological diversity-very effectively analysed and displayed."-David J. Chivers, Wildlife Research Group, University of Cambridge