v10i2.255

ISSN: 1800-427X (printed)
eISSN: 1800-427X (online)
DOI:10.47605/tapro.v10i2.255

Published date: 22 November 2021
Pp. 80–83

EDITORIAL : A research priority for biodiversity conservation

Chris Margules
Deputy Editor: Taprobanica, the journal of Asian Biodiversity

Conservation biology emerged as a scientific discipline in the mid-1980s with the explicit practical goal of conserving species and habitats. The term ‘biodiversity’ was coined soon after, apparently at some time during the organization of the September 1986 National Forum on Biodiversity held by the US National Academy of Sciences and the Smithsonian Institution. The science of conservation biology was quickly taken up. Journals proliferated and textbooks soon followed. Laboratories within university biology and ecology departments specialized in conservation biology. Along with a great many other young biologists and ecologists, I climbed the moral high ground and set about research to help change the future by discovering how to protect biodiversity.