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Biodiversity: Past, Present, and Future

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

J. John Sepkoski Jr.
J. John Sepkoski Jr.*
Affiliation:
Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637
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Extract

Biodiversity is the number and variability of genes, species, and communities in space and time (Norse et al., 1986; Wilson, 1988; Heywood and Baste, 1995). The fundamental question that has governed its study in modern times is Hutchinson's (1959): “Why are there so many kinds of animals?” In more recent decades, a somber subquestion has been added: How many species are dying every year (e.g., Wilson, 1992)?

Type
Presidential Address
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 71 , Issue 4 , July 1997 , pp. 533 - 539
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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