The diversity of life forms, so numerous that we have yet to identify most of them, is the greatest wonder of this planet. The biosphere is an intricate tapestry of interwoven life forms. Even the seemingly desolate arctic tundra is sustained by a complex interaction of many species of plants and animals, including the rich arrays of symbiotic lichens. The book before you offers an overall view of this biological diversity and carries the urgent warning that we are rapidly altering and destroying the environments that have fostered the diversity of life forms for more than a billion years.

The source of the book is the National Forum on BioDiversity, held in Washington, D.C., on September 21–24, 1986, under the auspices of the National Academy of Sciences and Smithsonian Institution. The forum was notable for its large size and immediately perceived impact on the public. It featured more than 60 leading biologists, economists, agricultural experts, philosophers, representatives of assistance and lending agencies, and other professionals. The lectures and panels were regularly attended by hundreds of people, many of whom participated in the discussions, and various aspects of the forum were reported widely in the press. On the final evening, a panel of six of the participants conducted a teleconference downlinked to an estimated audience of 5,000 to 10,000 at over 100 sites, most of them hosted by Sigma Xi chapters at universities and colleges in the United States and Canada.

The forum coincided with a noticeable rise in interest, among scientists and portions of the public, in matters related to biodiversity and the problems of international conservation. I believe that this increased attention, which was evident by 1980 and had steadily picked up momentum by the time of the forum, can be ascribed to two more or less independent developments. The first was the accumulation of enough data on deforestation, species extinction, and tropical biology to bring global problems into sharper focus and warrant broader public exposure. It is no coincidence that 1986 was also the year that the Society for Conservation Biology was founded. The second development was the growing awareness of the close linkage between the conservation of biodiversity and economic development. In the United States and other industrial countries, the two are often seen in opposition, with environmentalists and developers struggling for compromise in a zero-sum game. But in the developing nations, the opposite is true. Destruction of the natural environment is usually accompanied by short-term profits and then rapid local economic decline. In addition, the immense richness of tropical biodiversity is a largely untapped reservoir of new foods, pharmaceuticals, fibers, petroleum substitutes, and other products.

Because of this set of historical circumstances, this book, which contains papers from the forum, should prove widely useful. It provides an updating of many of the principal issues in conservation biology and resource management. It also documents a new alliance between scientific, governmental, and commercial forces—one that can be expected to reshape the international conservation movement for decades to come.

The National Forum on BioDiversity and thence this volume were made possible by the cooperative efforts of many people. The forum was conceived by Walter G.Rosen, Senior Program Officer in the Board on Basic Biology—a unit of the Commission on Life Sciences, National Research Council/National Academy of Sciences (NRC/NAS). Dr. Rosen represented the NRC/NAS throughout the planning stages of the project. Furthermore, he introduced the term biodiversity, which aptly represents, as well as any term can, the vast array of topics and perspectives covered during the Washington forum. Edward W.Bastian, Smithsonian Institution, mobilized and orchestrated the diverse resources of the Smithsonian in the effort. Drs. Rosen and Bastian were codirectors of the forum. Michael H.Robinson (Director of the National Zoological Park) served as chairman of the Program Committee, organized one of the forum panels, and served as general master of ceremonies. The remainder of the Program Committee consisted of William Jordan III, Thomas E.Lovejoy III, Harold A.Mooney, Stanwyn Shetler, and Michael E.Soulé.

The various panels of the forum were organized and chaired by F.William Burley, William Conway, Paul R.Ehrlich, Michael Hanemann, William Jordan III, Thomas E.Lovejoy III, Harold A.Mooney, James D.Nations, Peter H.Raven, Michael H.Robinson, Ira Rubinoff, and Michael E.Soulé. David Johnson at the New York Botanical Garden was very helpful in verifying some of the botanical terms used in this book. Helen Taylor and Kathy Marshall of the NRC staff and Anne Peret of the Smithsonian Institution assisted with the wide variety of arrangements necessary to the successful conduct of the forum. Linda Miller Poore, also of the NRC staff, entered this entire document on a word processer and was responsible for formatting and checking the many references. Richard E.Morris of the National Academy Press guided this book through production.

The National Forum on BioDiversity was supported by the National Research Council Fund and the Smithsonian Institution, with supplemental support from the Town Creek Foundation, the Armand G.Erpf Fund, and the World Wildlife Fund. The National Research Council Fund is a pool of private, discretionary, nonfederal funds that is used to support a program of Academy-initiated studies of national issues in which science and technology figure significantly. The NRC Fund consists of contributions from a consortium of private foundations including the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Charles E.Culpeper Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T.MacArthur Foundation, the Andrew W.Mellon Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Alfred P.Sloan Foundation; the Academy Industry Program, which seeks annual contributions from companies that are concerned with the health of U.S. science and technology and with public policy issues with technological content; and the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering endowments. The publication of this volume was supported by the National Research Council Dissemination Fund, with supplemental support from the World Wildlife Fund. We are deeply grateful to all these organizations for making this project possible.