The World Atlas of Biodiversity is an updated edition of Global Biodiversity: Status of the Earth's Living Resources, originally published in 1992 and reissued in 2000 as Global Biodiversity: Earth's living resources in the 21st Century. This 2002 edition, totally redesigned and updated, includes new data and graphics, additional photos, and additional material on food issues and biodiversity, as well as an entirely new chapter on protected areas and other conservation issues.

World Atlas of Biodiversity addresses the remarkable growth in concern at all levels for living things and the environment, and increased appreciation of the links between the state of ecosystems and the state of humankind. Building on a wealth of research and analysis by the conservation community worldwide, this book provides a comprehensive and accessible view of key global issues in biodiversity. It outlines some of the broad ecological relationships between humans and the rest of the material world and summarizes information on the health of the planet. Opening with an outline of some fundamental aspects of material cycles and energy flow in the biosphere, the book goes on to discuss the expansion of this diversity through geological time and the pattern of its distribution over the surface of the Earth, and trends in the condition of the main ecosystem types and the species integral to them.

Published in association with the United Nations Environmental Program World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) and in connection with the World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa. This attractively produced volume is a substantive, yet accessible view of key global environmental issues, for students, policymakers, and others who need the broad picture and/or current data (it updates an overview published for the 1992 Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit). Discussion includes fundamental aspects of the biosphere, diversity, and relationships between humans and biodiversity; the particulars of biodiversity in terrestrial environments and in marine and inland waters; and management and planning responses. Appendices supply data on phyla, food crops, livestock, vertebrate extinctions, country-by- country biodiversity, and freshwater biodiversity. Each chapter is well-referenced; maps, photos, and boxed features enhance the text. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Addressing the remarkable growth in concern at all levels for living things and the environment, this text also looks at increased appreciation of the links between the state of ecosystems and the state of humankind.

"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

"An indispensable resource on information about Earth's biological variety and why its conservation is crucially important for human survival and well being. This volume should be in the hands of biologists, policymakers, educators, and the general public concerned with our global environment."--Joel Cracraft, Curator-in-Charge, Department of Ornithology, American Museum of Natural History

"A thorough and up-to-the-minute account of the variety of life on Earth and how fast it is shrinking. One cannot plan strategically to prevent the loss of that variety without the information and maps that this excellent and timely book provides."--Stuart Pimm, Columbia University

3201 Includes bibliographical references and index.

A reference book on the history, trends, and current status of global biodiversity.