Biodiversity by John I. Spicer
_____Cameron Kashani_____, a review of: Spicer, John I. 2009. Biodiversity. New York: Rosen Pub
Biodiversity and its decline is a subject often overlooked when talking about the dangers facing our planets ecosystem. A main reason for this seclusion is the vague nature of the word biodiversity. It is a term that has so many different meanings because of people’s different subjective interpretations. However at the Convention on Biological Diversity at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992, the term was defined as “the variability among living organisms from all sources including [among other things] terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are a part… [including] diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems.” The issue is in the method of quantifying such a description.
The term Biodiversity is defined but is not measurable. This is the main issue for it being constantly overlooked. The book “Biodiversity” by John I. Spicer aims to bring light to the issue of its decline in our world’s ecosystems. Spicer begins by identifying what biodiversity is and to what extent it reaches. He continues then by describing the importance of biodiversity to the human race and the world. His goal is to communicate the relationship we have with biodiversity and how valuable it is to us. He then explains the harm being done to the ecosystems around the world, more specifically, how we as humans have been irresponsible in our relation to biodiversity and how our actions today are affecting the world tomorrow. Spicer is very adamant about his thoughts on this subject. His main objective in this book is to change the way people see biodiversity and make people feel the need to help keep it alive and fruitful. He concludes his book with his personal concerns and connections to the issue and implores us to become more responsible as a race and resident of this planet. Spicer breaks the book up in to three major parts. The
Biodiversity and its decline is a subject often overlooked when talking about the dangers facing our planets ecosystem. A main reason for this seclusion is the vague nature of the word biodiversity. It is a term that has so many different meanings because of people’s different subjective interpretations. However at the Convention on Biological Diversity at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992, the term was defined as “the variability among living organisms from all sources including [among other things] terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are a part… [including] diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems.” The issue is in the method of quantifying such a description.
The term Biodiversity is defined but is not measurable. This is the main issue for it being constantly overlooked. The book “Biodiversity” by John I. Spicer aims to bring light to the issue of its decline in our world’s ecosystems. Spicer begins by identifying what biodiversity is and to what extent it reaches. He continues then by describing the importance of biodiversity to the human race and the world. His goal is to communicate the relationship we have with biodiversity and how valuable it is to us. He then explains the harm being done to the ecosystems around the world, more specifically, how we as humans have been irresponsible in our relation to biodiversity and how our actions today are affecting the world tomorrow. Spicer is very adamant about his thoughts on this subject. His main objective in this book is to change the way people see biodiversity and make people feel the need to help keep it alive and fruitful. He concludes his book with his personal concerns and connections to the issue and implores us to become more responsible as a race and resident of this planet. Spicer breaks the book up in to three major parts. The