Download or read book Phylogeny and Conservation written by Andy Purvis and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2005-09-22 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Phylogeny is a potentially powerful tool for conserving biodiversity. This book explores how it can be used to tackle questions of great practical importance and urgency for conservation. Using case studies from many different taxa and regions of the world, the volume evaluates how useful phylogeny is in understanding the processes that have generated today's diversity and the processes that now threaten it. The urgency with which conservation decisions have to be made as well as the need for the best possible decisions make this volume of great value to researchers, practitioners and policy-makers.