In August 2002, Fathom interviewed Sandra Knapp about the meaning and importance of biodiversity.

Fathom: When did the scholarship of biodiversity start and how has it changed since then?

Sandra Knapp: The scholarship of biodiversity has an enormously long history. It began, in the form we recognise it today--the "European" tradition--with the Greeks and Romans, because Greek and Roman herbalists were the first Europeans to formally describe the world around them. They looked at the world with which they co-existed and identified and described elements that could be useful to them. When Carolus Linnaeus, the Swedish botanist and the father of modern taxonomy, wrote his two great catalogues in the eighteenth century, Species Plantarum and Systema Naturae, he catalogued all life on Earth known to him. So even though he didn't use the word biodiversity--a very modern word--that's exactly what he was studying.

These days, the word biodiversity means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity defines biodiversity as the diversity of genes, species, habitats and ecosystems. So for some, it can cover the diversity of absolutely everything on Earth. But when I, as a taxonomist, think of biodiversity, I think of the other species with which we share the planet. And of course, species--including human beings--exist in habitats and ecosystems, and are made up of genes. So my own definition is actually the same as that used by the Convention, although my personal research focus is at the species level.

Fathom: In August 2002, ten years on from Rio, world leaders, policy-makers, non-governmental organizations and scientists will convene at the UN-sponsored World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. How does knowledge of biodiversity feed into the practise of sustainable development?

Knapp: The five main topics that UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has identified as being important for the Johannesburg conference on sustainable development are agriculture, water, energy, health and biodiversity. Of those five, biodiversity stands alone because although it does not have an obvious, direct impact on peoples' day to day lives, it affects and influences the other four topics. Biodiversity underpins the provision of clean water and can be studied to monitor water quality; biodiversity affects the quality of soils and is important to agriculture; biodiversity provides energy sources; biodiversity can severely impinge on peoples' health. I believe that knowledge about biodiversity underpins and enables the study of all these other topics that affect the interaction of humans with their environments. Thus, because we share the planet with so many different species, many of which have an effect on us or are useful to us, the study of biodiversity is essential for sustainable development.

As well as other species' usefulness to humans, I feel that we have a moral responsibility to preserve and protect those organisms with which we share the Earth. We shouldn't do it just for our own benefit but because we're the ones who are in the ascendancy, at the moment, so the onus is on us to safeguard the planet.

Rodrigo Gámez, one of the founders of the Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad in Costa Rica, has developed a paradigm in which the three apices of know-save-use form a triangle. In my interpretation of this model knowledge comes from science, saving from conservation and use from society. For me, this is an extremely important conceptual framework, whereby these three fundamentals work together promoting the development of a knowledge-based society which will, of course, ultimately feed into the sustainability of the human species on the planet.

Fathom: Why is taxonomy important for the study of biodiversity?

Knapp: If biodiversity is the study of the other organisms on the planet, the first information we need is an inventory of what's out there. As far as I'm concerned, one of the really big unanswered scientific questions is with what other species do we share this planet? The science of taxonomy is used to try to answer that question. Taxonomy has two strands; it documents and describes diversity, and it determines the relationships between different taxa, or sectors of diversity. Taxonomy is used, for example, to identify the relationships between different plant families, or to understand the relationships between chimpanzees, orang-utans and humans. Taxonomists also describe new species of plants and animals, from all sorts of habitats. Both of those strands are essential to the study of biodiversity; before biodiversity and its conservation can be assessed, it's necessary to know what species live where and how they fit into the larger framework.

Fathom: When will taxonomists finish the task of documenting all life on Earth?

Knapp: It would seem reasonable to assume that since taxonomy has been studied scientifically since the time of Linnaeus--the Enlightenment--we would have a fairly good idea of how many species there are on Earth by now, but estimates vary hugely, from five million to thirty million. So far only about one and a half million have been described so taking an average estimate of, say, fifteen million, that amounts to ten percent.

I work in the genus Solanum, which contains lots of useful plants such as the potato, tomato and aubergine (or eggplant). In 1753 Linnaeus described 23 species in the genus Solanum. Today we think there are approximately 2000 species, maybe more. So that's a hundred-fold increase in less than 300 years. Flowering plants, of which Solanum is one type, are relatively well known compared to other groups such as insects or microorganisms. The scale of the task facing us is big, but I think possible. There are still parts of this planet about which we know almost nothing; it is commonly said that we know more about the surface of the Moon than we do about the biodiversity of the deep ocean.

So taxonomists have a long, long way to go. To me, one of the great challenges for the future is to learn how can we obtain and make accessible this knowledge in an efficient way. How to document and describe the diversity in the natural world is an important challenge for taxonomists, and for the rest of society as well. Co-operation is the key to making it happen, people need to learn to work together and to pool their knowledge and resources.

Fathom: How can scientists get their message across?

Knapp: Traditionally, from the time of Linnaeus until the present day, the study of taxonomy has been confined to the closed world of scientists. In order to achieve sustainable development, we need to link science with society. To do that, we need to provide people with the tools for going out into the field and identifying what's around them. It's essential that people have knowledge of their world because people care about and conserve what they love.

For example, people in England love bluebell woods, and as a result are very worried about the loss of bluebell wood habitat. People are able to love bluebells in part because they can identify them. I grew up in the United States where we had bird books called Peterson's Field Guides, and that is how I started identifying organisms. Field guides are tools, built upon scholarly basic research, that translate taxonomy into language that everyone can access and easily use. But many people all over the world don't have these simple tools and so cannot even begin to access information about biodiversity that has been generated by the scientific community.

Fathom: How can educational institutions support public understanding of biodiversity and conservation?

Knapp: Educational institutions have a responsibility to support and encourage the understanding of conservation issues. That is the message of The Natural History Museum's new Darwin Centre, which is committed to making the results of scholarly taxonomy accessible to the widest possible public. The Internet is also an important new tool with which we can disseminate knowledge. Resources such as Fathom's Exploring Biodiversity Learning Centre, in which leading experts examine the rich, multidisciplinary scholarship of biodiversity through an exciting selection of learning resources, are so useful because they are freely available and can reach worldwide audiences.

To begin exploring this special Fathom Learning Center, close this window and click on a highlighted subtopic, learn from a free seminar or feature, or browse through the wide array of reference entries and relevant links. Return regularly to develop a deeper appreciation for the diversity of the Earth's species and perhaps develop ideas of how you can help to conserve life on Earth.

Sandra Knapp
The Natural History Museum, London