The biodiversity concept in crisis? Global tendencies and a view from Ukraine

Abstract

The concept of biological diversity (BD) emerged in the early 20th century, and since then the term has been widely used in both scientific and popular science, often as a substitute for the concepts of species richness and species diversity. ‘Biodiversity’ has grown into an extensive scientific concept that underpins the theoretical and practical foundations of nature conservation around the world. However, there are many critics of the concept of biodiversity, in particular because of the lack of unambiguous definitions that would simultaneously include the entire scope and all levels and aspects of the diversity of living matter. As a rule, diversity studies focus on such aspects as ‘rarity’, ‘threatened’, and ‘extinction’, which in practical terms is manifested in the attempt to preserve rare and endangered genetic, taxonomic, and ecological units, while the vast majority of living things are left out. So, is the concept of biodiversity in general in a real crisis, or is there only a crisis of diversity of definitions, that is, the theoretical foundations of this concept, particularly in the light of scientific achievements of the 20th and 21st centuries? In this paper, we examine the conceptual positions on biodiversity and the arguments against their paradigmatic nature and general viability, which were brought to public discussion in the article ‘The case against the concept of biodiversity’ by the well-known researcher and journalist Clare Fieseler, published on the well-known American news and explanatory journalism website Vox (2021). From this article, we have identified seven controversial aspects of the current understanding and perception of the concept of biodiversity. The problems associated with the interpretation of the term ‘biodiversity’, biotic diversity as a dynamic system, current trends in biodiversity research, and the contribution of Ukraine to the development of the concept of biodiversity are also discussed. The ideas of pluralism of biodiversity concepts and the possibility of an updated interpretation of this term are considered. The challenges Ukraine faces in times of a great upheaval, in particular in the context of war and catastrophic destruction of natural complexes, are detailed.