Genome Resource Banks

Abstract

B iological diversity is the key to maintaining life as we know it (Wilson 1992). However, rapidly growing human populations place extraordinary pressures on ecosystems, such as large-scale environmental destruction, habitat conversion, habitat fragmentation, and pollution. One reaction to these problems has been the emergence of conservation biology, an assemblage of scientific disciplines that are focused on sustaining biodiversity through a cooperative synthesis of ideas, information, and approaches. Virtually all conservation biologists agree that habitat preservation is the best way to conserve biodiversity. Setting aside large tracts of land so that they are free from human interference can protect many species, but this approach has also been charac-