This amazing book should be a part of every course on biology in every high school! ja

The Earth's biodiversity—the rich variety of life on our planet—is disappearing at an alarming rate. And while many books have focused on the expected ecological consequences, or on the aesthetic, ethical, sociological, or economic dimensions of this loss, Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity, to be published in May, 2008 by Oxford University Press, is the first to examine the full range of potential threats that a loss of biodiversity poses to human health.

The chapters in the book and their authors are as follows:

1. What is Biodiversity?—Professor Stuart L. Pimm (Duke University), Professor Maria Alice dos Santos Alves (University of Rio de Janeiro), Eric Chivian M.D., and Aaron Bernstein M.D.
2. How is Biodiversity Threatened by Human Activity?—Eric Chivian and Aaron Bernstein
3. Ecosystem Services—Jerry Melillo Ph.D. (Ecosystem Center, Wood’s Hole) and Professor Osvaldo Sala (Brown University)
4. Medicines from Nature—David Newman Ph.D. (Natural Products Branch, National Cancer Institute), John Kilama Ph.D. (Global Bioscience Development Institute), Aaron Bernstein, and Eric Chivian
5. Biodiversity and Biomedical Research—Eric Chivian, Aaron Bernstein, and Joshua P. Rosenthal Ph.D. (Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health)
6. Threatened Groups of Organisms Valuable to Medicine—Eric Chivian and Aaron Bernstein
7. Ecosystem Disturbance, Biodiversity Loss, and Human Infectious Diseases—Professor David H. Molyneux (Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine), Richard S. Ostfeld Ph.D. (Institute of Ecosystem Studies), Aaron Bernstein, and Eric Chivian
8. Biodiversity and Food Production—Professor Emeritus Daniel Hillel (University of Massachusetts) and Professor Cynthia Rosenzweig (Columbia University)
9. Genetically Modified Foods and Organic Farming—Eric Chivian and Aaron Bernstein
10. What Each of Us Can Do to Help Conserve Biodiversity—Jeffrey A. McNeely (World Conservation Union), Eleanor Sterling Ph.D. (Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, American Museum of Natural History) and Kalemani Jo Mulongoy Ph.D. (U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity)

    Appendix—Agencies, Organizations, Treaties, Conventions, and NGOs Working to Conserve Biodiversity

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