One of the fastest growing scientific disciplines in recent history is conservation biology. A response of the scientific community to the massive environmental changes taking place on Earth, its goal is to enable society to anticipate, prevent, and reduce ecological damage, and to generate the scientific information from which effective conservation strategies and policies can be designed and implemented.

In 1989, the Society for Conservation Biology and Island Press produced Research Priorities for Conservation Biology, a slim volume that set forth the findings of experts who had gathered to outline research needs for the near future, and which served as a guidepost for the field throughout the 1990s. In January 2000, leaders of the Society for Conservation Biology convened a similar group to reach consensus on where the field now stands and to determine the major, compelling research priorities for the next decade. Conservation Biology: Research Priorities for the Next Decade presents the results of that gathering.

The book:

• notes progress or changes in the state of global biodiversity over the past decade and discusses overarching themes that influence all areas of conservation
• offers ten chapters by leading experts that summarize the status of knowledge in key areas ranging from marine conservation to ecological restoration to conservation medicine
• sets forth research priorities for each area
• describes gaps in current knowledge that are impeding the ability of conservation practitioners to carry out their work

A final synthesis chapter brings together cross-cutting themes that integrate the diverse topics within the context of global biodiversity loss, and presents a call to action for scientists and others working in the field.

Conservation Biology: Research Priorities for the Next Decade represents an indispensable guide to the research that is most urgently needed to support effective conservation, and will be must reading for anyone involved with the field of conservation biology.