ABSTRACT
The period of European imperial expansion and colonization of the globe during the sixteenth to late nineteenth century also corresponded with the ‘golden age’ of scientific discovery and knowledge of the natural world. One important development was the birth and prominence of taxonomy – the science of classifying living organisms. Despite the difficulties that modern science has had in formulating a consensus on the definition and measurement of biodiversity, there is more or less agreement on some general aspects of the term. Conservationists, in particular, have almost invariably translated biodiversity conservation in terms of conserving species richness. Biodiversity as a focus of scientific study has always been linked to biodiversity as a conservation issue. Tropical deforestation is considered a significant factor in global biodiversity loss because the vast majority of terrestrial species occur in tropical moist forests. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
