With increasing frequency, systematic and evolutionary biologists have turned to the techniques of molecular biology to complement their traditional morphological and anatomical approaches to questions of the historical relationship and descent among groups of animals and plants. In particular, the comparative analysis of DNA sequences is becoming a common and important focus of research attention today. The objective of this volume is to survey the emerging field of molecular systematics of DNA sequences, and to appraise the strengths and limitations of the different approaches yielded by...

With a foreword by Edward O. Wilson, this book brings together internationally known experts from the scientific, societal, and conservation policy areas who address policy responses to the problem of biodiversity loss: how to determine conservation priorities in a scientific fashion, how to weigh the long-term, often hidden value of conservation against the more immediate value of land development, the need for education in areas of rapid population growth, and how lack of knowledge about biodiversity can impede conservation efforts.

United in their belief that conservation of biological...