Microevolution and conservation: Darwin's insights

Darwin provided not only the major element of our present understandings of microevolution through his theory of natural selection, but also key insights into particular issues relevant to the themes of this book – the nature of species, the co-evolutionary relationships between species, the evolution of humankind, the insights into domestication processes, the vulnerability of rare species, the impact of invasive species, and the evolutionary responses to climate change etc. Also, in his approach to testing hypotheses, Darwin was a major figure in the development of experimentation. For all these contributions, and many others not mentioned here, there is cause to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species in 2009.

Cultural landscapes

Historically, the initial influence of humans on the biosphere was likely to have been very small, but, as populations migrated across the world and increased in numbers, humankind has become a major, indeed decisive, force, influencing all the world's ecosystems. In the future, human impact is certain to increase, as population growth is predicted to increase dramatically.

There has been a complex transition from a ‘natural world’, in which humans played an insignificant role, to a world of cultural landscapes, where human activities dominate. Archaeologists are discovering that areas of apparent wilderness have been subjected to major human impacts in the past. In addition, such areas are increasingly being influenced by human activities.