Book Review

by Paul Ganderton

Dobson AP. 1996. Conservation and Biodiversity. Scientific American Library. pp vii + 264. ISBN 0 7167 5057 0. £19.95.

No wealth of material on biodiversity provides much for the advanced student and expert but less for the beginner and those wishing to take a broader perspective to the subject. This text addresses both issues. Dobson starts with a discussion of the nature of biodiversity and habitat loss. This is followed with a study of extinction rates in both theory and practice. These early chapters set the scene for finther discussion, in this case of the concept of "endangered", the economic value of wildlife and captive breeding. This leaves the final four chapters to examine the creation of, nature reserves and the role of biodiversity in the future.

As one would expect from a Scientific American publication the quality of illustration is extremely high. Although aimed at the North American market it takes examples from Warwickshire to Java. Dobson has taken a very broad picture. In so doing he has written a text which is both understandable for the beginner at school and sufficiently challenging for the more advanced.