1. How is biodiversity quantified?
1.1. Indices
1.1.1. Shannon
1.1.1.1. Measure if information entropy
1.1.2. Simpson
1.1.2.1. The probability that two random species drawn from the populatiio nwiol be the same.
1.2. Properties
1.2.1. Richness
1.2.2. Evenness
2. Social issues
2.1. Does biodiversity benefit society?
2.1.1. Pros
2.1.2. Cons
2.2. How might diversity affect society?
2.2.1. benefits
2.2.1.1. food
2.2.1.2. energy
2.2.1.3. ecosystem services
2.2.1.4. self preservation
2.2.1.5. proactive better than wait-and-see...why?
2.2.1.6. aesthetics
2.2.2. costs
2.2.2.1. with the growth of human societies, its only a matter of time before losses occur anyway...lots of 'wasted' money
3. Biological issues
3.1. Over which spatial and temporal scales should we measure diversity?
3.1.1. Alpha
3.1.2. Beta
3.1.3. Gamma
3.2. How is diversity distributed though space and time?
3.2.1. Global patterns
3.2.1.1. latitude
3.2.1.1.1. More species in the tropics than at higher latitudes
3.2.1.2. elevation
3.2.1.2.1. Fewer species at high elevation than low elevation
3.2.2. Local Patterns
3.2.2.1. Number of species increases with area
3.2.2.1.1. Equilibrium models
3.2.2.1.2. Dynamic models
3.3. What is the function of biodiversity?
3.4. Are diverse systems better systems?
3.5. What types of diversity are important?
3.5.1. Genetical
3.5.2. Species
3.5.3. ecosystem/habitat
4. Policy
4.1. How might we manage diversity?
4.1.1. Flagships
4.1.2. Inidicator
4.1.3. keystone species
4.1.4. Umbrella
4.1.5. Habitat
4.1.6. Humans are slow to change...how to convince others not to have what others have had
4.2. Should money be devoted to preserving biodiversity?
4.2.1. Pros
4.2.1.1. natural rates of evolution might not be able to keep pace with rates of anthropogenic change
4.2.2. Cons
4.2.2.1. evolution is our friend
4.2.2.1.1. new species will replace the old anyway
4.2.2.1.2. historically, biodiversity has fluctuated and recovered