THE PHENOMENON OF BIODIVERSITY IN CONSERVATION BIOLOGY

'Biodiversity' has become a popular term in conservation biologY. We review the history of the term. It has several historical origins from ecology, genetics and evolutionary biology. The term 'biodiversity' refers to the fact that heterogeneity at different ecological levels is a fundamental property of natural systems. The term itself is abstract and descriptively complex, i.e., several alternative criteria can be used to operationalize the term. Consequently, the term is context-specific when used in conservation and management. The term 'biodiversity' should be used cautiously and carefully in management, and it is desirable to try to combine multiple-scale and multiple-level approaches simultaneously. Idiosyncrasies of particular systems and environments should be recognized and it seems unlikely that 'biodiversity' could be measured using a simple, single index.