by Andy Dobson

About Andy Dobson

Andy Dobson is an ecologist whose interests are focused on the role that parasites and infectious diseases play in natural ecosystems. His work uses a mixture of mathematical models, long-term field work, and collaborations with parasitologists and wildlife veterinarians; the principle research sites are Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, the coastal salt marshes of California, and the high Canadian Arctic.

Biodiversity

book Keywords for Environmental Studies

“Biodiversity” was coined by E. O. Wilson in 1988 to describe all living organisms on the planet (Wilson 1988); it is a condensation of “biological diversity.” It is more commonly used to describe all species other than humans; this creates an unfortunate dichotomy between the voting and nonvoting species! Economic, aesthetic, and health benefits that biodiversity contribute to the human economy are termed “ecosystem services” (Daily et al. 1997; Daily et al. 2000). We are only just beginning to quantify these and are rapidly realizing how dependent the quality of human life and economic well-being is upon biodiversity. Ironically, the current increasing rates of species extinction may provide the sharpest way to quantify human dependence upon biodiversity.