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Biodiversity: A Diversity in Definition

Terminological utopia and scientific reality

  • Chapter
Assessment of Biodiversity for Improved Forest Planning

Part of the book series: Forestry Sciences ((FOSC,volume 51))

Abstract

A quantitative and qualitative assessment of the international scientific literature of the past ten years indicates major differences in the definitions and use of the term biodiversity. This in part reflects a steady increase in the number of occurrences of the term in the titles of scientific articles from year to year, as shown by a search of various online literature databases.

In addition, a survey of a sample of articles and books focusing on biodiversity, conservation biology and sustainability provides a variety of formal and informal definitions of the term biodiversity. The use of the term has expanded to cover a wide range of different aspects, at different scales and in different fields of activity, including natural and human sciences. The result is that while biodiversity can be referred to as a concept, its acceptation as a measurable phenomenon may have become more questionable.

Alternatives to misleading use of biodiversity as a buzzword include advising the use more context-specific, specialised terms, and suggesting that a panel of experts agree on an operational definition.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Swiss Federal Institute for Forest Snow and Landscape Research, Zürcherstr. 111, 8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland

    M. Kaennel

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  1. M. Kaennel
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Zentrum, Zürich, Switzerland

    Peter Bachmann (Professor, Chair of Forest Planning) (Professor, Chair of Forest Planning)

  2. Dresden University of Technology, Tharandt, Germany

    Michael Köhl (Professor, Chair of Forest Biometrics and Computer Sciences) (Professor, Chair of Forest Biometrics and Computer Sciences)

  3. European Forest Institute, Joensuu, Finland

    Risto Päivinen (Deputy Director) (Deputy Director)

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© 1998 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Kaennel, M. (1998). Biodiversity: A Diversity in Definition. In: Bachmann, P., Köhl, M., Päivinen, R. (eds) Assessment of Biodiversity for Improved Forest Planning. Forestry Sciences, vol 51. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9006-8_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9006-8_7

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-4962-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-015-9006-8

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