Biodiversity includes different animals, plants, micro-organisms and their genes, water ecosystems, terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Conservation of this biological diversity which includes the variety of the whole species present on earth is important for our future, for human food to feed people on Earth. Biodiversity: Monitoring, Management & Utilization has been designed primarily for students studying biodiversity on a range of courses in botany, zoology, biotechnology, microbiology, environment and ecology. It is beneficial for teachers, as well as generalists and amateurs interested in exploring the fundamentals, uses, threats and conservation of biodiversity. It is also essential reading for anyone requiring an overview of the vast literature on this topic. This volume contains several contributions that illustrate the state of the art of the academic research in the field of biological interactions in its widest sense. The purpose is to increase understanding, awareness and appreciation of the diverse values of biodiversity, necessary to create the willingness to undertake the behavioural changes required to conserve and sustainably use biodiversity. The book has managed to present most of the critical issues surrounding debates over and relations between biodiversity, biotechnology, intellectual property and traditional knowledge. It underscores the ways in which our future is tied to that of Earth's threatened species and demonstrates exactly why conservation is so vitally important for us.
